B-Time with Beth Bierbower

Endurance is the story of E.H. Shackleton and his crew of 27 men whose intent was to walk across the land mass of Antarctica.  The obstacles and challenges they faced in dealing with the natural elements were, by normal standards insurmountable. 

Mental Health issues are prominent today.  According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.  Anxiety disorders affect 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years old. 

These disorders are plaguing a large chunk of the American population.  When an individual is suffering from stress, anxiety or depression the impact reverberates far and wide.  Education or work might suffer.  Family relationships may become strained and more. 

Trip Hofer, CEO of AbleTo shares how his organization is empowering individuals to take control of their emotional and mental health from the comfort and convenience of their own homes.

Show Notes: Podcasts:  Slow Burn & Floodlines

The book Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow is not for the faint of heart.  At over 700 pages or 36 hours on audio, this book is a comprehensive documentation and assessment of Hamilton’s life.  Hamilton was a brilliant man who emerged from a childhood of shame as he was born out of wedlock and of poverty.  He attended Kings College (now Columbia University) and continued to be a voracious, life-long learner.  His speeches were known to be long, but his grasp of the issues often left people in awe. 

The book mentions that perhaps Hamilton did more for our country than any other founding father and this could possibly be true.  Some of Hamilton’s accomplishments include: Delegate to the Constitutional Convention and author of the Federalist Papers.  He served in the military with courage and as a confidante of General George Washington provided a great deal of sound advice.  He pushed hard for formation of the Bank of the United States to the dismay of popular opinion and of the opposing party.  His successor from the opposing political party looked deep to find fault with Hamilton’s management of the Bank and could not find any.

As a lawyer, he often defended those who were sanctioned for their opposing political views or taken advantage of due to their lack of education or financial status.  He also handle cases involving Constitutional issues in the courts.  His life in public service was long and his government dealings were always under a spot light.  In the end, he was shown to be extremely honest in his government affairs.  With a Public Servant’s salary and the need to provide for a large extended family, Hamilton barely scraped by and was often saddled with debt.  Hamilton was far from perfect as he had an extramarital affair and was often viewed as arrogant.  But like most individuals, Hamilton was human and the positive and lasting impact he had on our country will be felt for a long time. 

History helps us learn from our prior mistakes, understand how and why this country was shaped and to celebrate amazing victories and decisions that helped bring about and uphold our country’s freedoms.  If you want to go deep on an important time and with an important figure in our nation’s history, then Alexander Hamilton is for you.

Description: The CDC estimates that 34.2 million Americans have diabetes.  In 2018 1.5 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed and the prevalence of the disease is rising.  Diabetes is the leading cause of nontraumatic lower extremity amputations in the United States. As high as 1 in 4 people who develop a foot ulcer might have an amputation. 

It’s difficult to understand why so many amputations occur when they are preventable.  Today we will dig deeper and what can be done to ensure that foot ulcers either don’t occur or are caught early.  Dr. Jon Bloom, a board-certified physician and entrepreneur with more than two decades of experience in health care delivery, technology development, patient monitoring, and biomedical research will share his expertise on this issue and will tell us what his company is doing to prevent Diabetic foot ulcers.

Dr. Jon Bloom is the CEO of Podimetrics, a care management company that helps prevent diabetic amputations, one of the most debilitating and costly complications of diabetes.  Dr. Bloom co-founded Podimetrics in 2011 while a student at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Books:  Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins; What You Do Is Who You Are: How To Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz

Working from home has caused a massive shift in our lives.  We’ve had to develop new routines.  We’ve carved out new work and school spaces in our homes, which were designed to serve as respites from these two activities.  Employees are feeling isolated because they no longer have casual interactions in the office.  Working from home for the entire week, every week results in the days running together. We love our families, but all this togetherness is adding pressure.  With these changes come a great deal of stress and potentially, increased social isolation.  

With us today to tell us more about the impact from changes in our work routines and home environments is Arielle Trzcinski, a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research.  Today, Arielle will share her perspective as to why we must address these employee stressors and provide us with us steps we can take as leaders and colleagues to identify and help when issues arise.

Show Notes:  Book: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

Podcasts: Marketplace with  Kai Ryssdal; David Brancaccio; Molly Wood; Lizzie O'Leary; MakeMeSmart with Kai Ryssdal & Molly Wood;  99 Percent Invisible.

Other educational tools: NPR, Stat, Becker’s Healthcare, Fierce Healthcare, STATNews.com

Digital Transformation requires companies to develop new or better capabilities in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Agile Work, Product Management, Big Data, Emerging Technology, Customer Experience and more.  To succeed, organizations must acquire elite talent in a highly competitive talent recruitment environment.  Dan Foley shares how to attract “Purple Squirrels” to your organization.  He also challenges us to think about a different staffing model that can accelerate your digital transformation.  Dan provides important insights into Human Capital Management needs in the areas of Digital Transformation and Technology Innovation.  If your organization is undergoing a Digital Transformation, Dan’s insights and approaches will prove invaluable.

Show Notes: Our Iceberg Is Melting by John Kotter; The Alchemist by Paul Coelho and Let my People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard

We are living in an unprecedented time.  The world has changed dramatically since COVID-19 began to spread widely in the first quarter of 2020 putting large swaths of populations in partial to full lockdown.  There are still many unknowns about the virus and leaders have had to make decisions with limited or poor data.  Which leads us to ask the question, “Exactly how does one make decisions when operating in an environment with so many unknowns?”  And how does one balance the data with the potential impact on human lives and livelihoods?  To help me explore these questions, I am turning to Kurt Wrobel, a well-known and highly regarded Health Actuary and President of Geisinger Health Plan.

Show notes: Books: Apollo by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox; The Wright Brothers by David McCullough; Fire and Steam: A New History Of The Railways In Britain by Christian Wolmar.  Beth suggests watching the documentary: The Saturn V Story on Amazon Prime Video.  https://www.amazon.com/Saturn-V-Story-Phil-Hayward/dp/B01MRSJQKK#:~:text=April%2011%2C%202018-,%22The%20Saturn%20V%20Story%22%20is%20one%20of%20the%20most%20honest,reviewers%20complained%20about%20the%20sound.

Podcasts: Society of Actuaries; Russ Roberts on EconTalk

I was fortunate to have Ron Williams, the former Chairman and CEO of Aetna on the podcast in Episode 12.  During that episode, Ron shared his leadership journey as well as how he was able to lead one of the largest turnarounds in the healthcare industry. 

Ron has also authored a book titled: Learning to Lead and this book should be on every professional’s physical or electronic bookshelf.  This primer is divided into three parts which offers every professional – whether he or she desires to be a leader or individual contributor – pertinent information on how to approach his or her career.  In Part 1, Leading yourself, Williams suggests readers take initiative to better understand who they are, what they want to do and, perhaps more importantly, what they don’t want to do.  This section also helps people reframe their thinking (particularly as to how they view themselves) and encourages them to be viewed as the individual willing to take on the tough assignment. 

For professionals who do want to become people leaders, Part 2 provides a wealth of practical information such as getting to the truth by asking the right questions, understanding important versus urgent matters, and building a high performing team.  Williams’ “Two up, Two down” system is an effective tool for staying in touch with what is really happening within an organization.  Even if you are currently a people leader, Part 2 will serve as a good skills refresher. 

Finally, Part 3 offers a glimpse into the role of the CEO and what it takes to get and stay there.  Ron is honest about the time and effort it takes to succeed.  He also writes with humility and conveys clearly that you are always able and need to keep learning.

Anyone who knows Williams will hear his steady, calming voice throughout the book as he freely shares his wisdom.  As a colleague in the same industry, I was easily able to reconcile Williams words with his actions.  Williams has mentored and shaped the career of many individuals including several females who are now CEOs at other organizations. 

No matter where you are in your career, Williams’ advice will resonate.  I also recommend that this book be shared with individuals who are jus starting their careers.  If I had the benefit of Williams’s wisdom from the start, I would have saved myself and others the pains of making the mistakes of a young leader.  This book will be on my recommendation list for those next generation leaders who want to take on the world. 

Leaders in the healthcare industry speak to focusing on the home as the site of care in the future.  If that’s the plan then the issue of getting supplies and equipment to the home must be addressed. 

Today, the process to obtain medical equipment and supplies is fragmented across a wide base of providers, lacks reliability in getting the right product to meet a person’s clinical needs delivered on time. There is no transparency or visibility through the process.  Patient’s often share that equipment or supplies show up and they don’t know what to do with them.  Others state that the large quantity of supplies received speak to the waste in the healthcare system. 

Tomorrow Health is a startup that is tackling these issues and with me is Vijay Kedar, Co-founder and CEO. 

Show notes:

• Ben Horowitz – What you do is who you are?
• Zeke Emanuel’s – Reinventing American Healthcare
• Phil Knight – Shoe Dog

Podcasts

• A Healthy Dose – Steve Kraus and Trevor Price
• A16z podcast – healthcare and tech
• Reid Hoffman – masters of scale

The new front door of healthcare is more than a digital or physical presence, it’s who or where is top of mind when the consumer needs help accessing or navigating the health system.  The new front door of healthcare is about being that TRUSTED BRAND that people turn to FIRST when thinking of healthcare.  Many companies are competing to be that front door.

With us today, to talk more about this concept and what his company is doing to become a trusted brand is Marcus Osborne, SVP Walmart Health.  Walmart has experimented with offering several different types of health care services such as dental, vision and even some primary care.  But now, they’re “all in” to healthcare and more recently, have opened several new comprehensive Health Centers that offer primary care, dental and vision care, and health education, all for affordable fees.  When an industry giant makes its mark in a different industry, it means disruption and it’s time to take notice.

Show Notes:  Book:  The Splendid & the Vile: A Saga of Churchil, Family and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson; TedTalks: any that involve learning about the attributes, characteristics and traits that make people successful.