As the Wordle Churns

If you haven't already, check out Wordle! Basically, you type in a few words in a text box and it generates a cloud image of those words. You can wordle any website or del.icio.us feed as well. My clouds are below.

This blog:

My del.icio.us tags:

Words I used to create a collage for a friend's wedding:

Universal Health Care: Right, Privilege or Commodity?

Must-read intelligent and clear-cut article on the different perspectives behind universal health care. If you've ever wondered why the U.S. is having trouble solving the 47 million uninsured problem, this article gives you a glimpse into why. Here's an excerpt:

We Americans are truly a spoiled lot when it comes to consumerism - the medical industry is not spared. We want to go to the best doctor possible. We want choice, and we will pay for choice. If there is a special procedure, we want it done. What we do not realize is that those choices and tiers of medicine are only availed through a profit-driven capitalist medical industry. Where do we think all of those drug and device discoveries are coming from? From the company that spent billions of dollars researching it and who sells it at a handsome profit and whose stock is listed in the public markets!

Everyone deserves to be in the Credits

Movies are such a grand affair to make: lighting, makeup, production, set design, casting, assistant to the 2nd cameraman, and the list goes on. Why are we familiar with these terms? Because they're in the credits! Mind you, most of us don't watch the credits because we're really there for the big show, but it really really matters to the people involved in the making. They tell it to their family, friends and even acquaintances with a sense of pride and accomplishment. In fact, I was an extra in The Namesake for about seven seconds and its become one of those things that just gets mentioned off-hand in conversation. The notion of credits is very transferable to other arenas, especially in the work world.

No matter how hoaky, being mentioned at a picnic, a newsletter, a party, or conference has a very lasting effect on people. No one's really immune. The very best companies make use of this concept heavily in other ways as well through sophiscated-sounding titles, celebrations, and leadership opportunities (in anything; from taking charge of team projects to managing the company softball team). Whatever work efforts we're involved in, there is a beginning, a middle and an end. Focus is almost always on the first two; start-up and maintenance. Yet companies evolve just the same as TV sitcoms do. The "end" with credits and all is the shifting point to antoher theme, product or customer; think Apple, Google, Microsoft but also Johnson & Johnson, GE and Procter & Gamble.

Bottomline: Acclaim matters. Make it a part of your work and personal life. Commend yourself and others upon meeting deadlines, reaching milestones, achieving goals. Change has to be a part of the system (more on that in another post). Employees and customers continue to stay interested only if you remain interesting. Figure out how to get you and your organization there. Credit opportunistically and you'll only create more opportunities to credit.

You're Not Really As Old As Your Age

Preemies or premature infants are tracked closely during their first few years of their life to see how they develop. Weight, size, and head circumference are some of the growth factors used to adjust their age and calculate what’s called a “real age”. For example, a 6 month old baby who scores low on these metrics may be adjusted to an age of 4 months. It’s in this light that I’ve been thinking of adult age as being adjusted by maturity level. We’ve all seen or taken those “real age” tests that tell us our real age is 21 or 32 even though we might actually be 25. I want to explore the principle behind this a little more, but in the sense of how mature other adults (40+) view us to be.

The idea originates from the fact that we now live much longer lives and our personal and work lives have changed dramatically because of it. We have more time room to maneuver in. We don’t have to be “settled” at 24 anymore (ha!). A career isn’t forever and we explore possibilities related to our hobbies and interests rather than something we picked in our adolescence. This extension in our settlement as adults has a larger effect though on how we are perceived by other adults. Their generation did have to grow up fast (relatively) and we’re largely held to a similar framework. If we don’t meet expectation, then we’re treated, well, like children. Unlike the preemies, who are given the attention and care to catch up to their age, 20 and 30-somethings in a state of maturity flux (in school or changing careers) are pushed further down the “adult” totem pole.

A simple example is a 28-yr old married postgrad (med/law/PhD) with two kids. He/she obviously pays bills and has gone through some major “adult” experiences (marriage, childbirth) but being a student really cramps mature interactions with other adults. Or to turn it around, there’s the 24-yr old single marketing professional without any kids who still starts his/her weekend on a Wednesday night. Comes to work on time, is ambitiously climbing the ladder, but due to lifestyle choices is held to a lower maturity level. Both are well-functioning citizens of society and because they don’t fit the old career paradigm, they’re not afforded the same respect as adults who’ve made more PC choices.

Bottomline: Your boss can boss you around because you’re not working, but can’t parent you because you choose to play world of warcraft in your free time. Your professor can teach you his/her expertise, but can’t make you come to class (you’re paying for it!). Stick to roles and don’t adjust people’s age by your perception of their maturity level. Yes, a boss can be a parent and a professor can guide behavior, but not until they’re asked. Relationships are mutual agreements and too often adults take on added unasked-for responsibilities just because they think they can. If you’re a recipient of this sort of behavior, make your age and maturity clear. There’s no set definition for “adult.”

On the Ground instead of in a Parachute: How to Think when Choosing a Career

Most career books advise imagining a circumstance where you have an infinite or an unbelievably large sum of money and have no need to work. They ask; what would you do then? Where would you want to be? How would your ambition change? The answers to these questions are supposed to guide you to your calling or that daily endeavor that holds true personal value.

Make it more real. The questions are legit, but the hypothetical scenario suggested is just too fantastical. Think about it in terms of what you earn now (which also eliminates that initial desire to go on a superfluous shopping spree). If you could have the salary you have now without having to do the work you do now for it, what then? Say you earn $50,000/year and it was guaranteed no matter what. How would you plan your day to day?

Bottomline: Our imaginations are powerful and may be a little too convincing. Who hasn’t dreamed about possibly earning a million dollars? Planning out career options based on that dream though is a little far-fetched and unrealistic. Work with the numbers you have now because they actually affect your lifestyle. It’s a clearer perspective when you can understand it on today’s rather than tomorrow’s terms.

Prenup Economics: A friendly conversation on losing your shirt and then some

I had a conversation with a friend the other day about who a prenup matters to most. Someone with $80M dollars or someone with $20,000. Assume net worth here, and also assume that without the prenup, each person potentially faces to lose half their net worth.

My friend’s theory was the person with $20,000 has a lot more to lose without a prenup because his purchasing power decreases at a much greater magnitude than the person with $80M. The wealthier party’s lifestyle isn’t too dramatically affected by a 50% loss, whereas the opposing party most likely won’t be able to pay the bills anymore. So the poorer person should care about the prenup more.

I disagree and on the same basis of purchasing power. First of all, $10,000 is a lot easier to recover than $40M. Regardless of the person’s working capabilities, it will certainly take much less time for any given individual to redeem the smaller amount. Second, and the guiding principle behind my argument; the wealthier person can just do that much more with more money. This isn’t about buying cadillacs and islands, its about translating purchasing power to production power.

$10,000 will pay the bills and could possibly be invested/gambled/leveraged to produce more money. Considering the wealthier person’s expenses are proportional to the less wealthy person, the $40M will also be used to pay the bills, but the remaining balance will still produce greater relative purchasing power. So the wealthier person should care about the prenup more.

Bottomline: Prenups have a relative repugnancy cost depending on culture. Net worth may not be as important as other personal costs in determining the need for a prenup. Based on divorce rates upwards of 50% in America, it bodes well for most people to get a prenup. As the argument stands though, the wealthier person should care more about the prenup and not necessarily for the most obvious reasons.

1975-1985: The Liaison Generation

I use the computer for everything now, but I remember waiting in lines to sign up for courses and using library cards to find books and turning my homework in on paper! I’m not as plugged-in as 12 year olds, but I’m not adapting as much as someone 40+. Of course this is a generalization with quite a few outliers (one of my favorite people to work with is a 56-year old grandmother who is also a systems analyst for a 250-member physician group), yet I’ve found that people born between the 1975 and 1985 tend to share similar traits due to similar transitional experiences as they were growing up. They’re liaisons bridging the “old” and the “new” way of doing things.

The biggest disadvantage for this liaison generation is not belonging to either group. Just think of all the buzzwords that have emerged for the identity roadblocks faced earlier than ever before; quarter-life crisis, career angst, job hopping, corporate distrust, etc. The decade’s worth of experience with one mode – the “old” way – is lacking and the innate response to use technology as the first mode for anything – the “new” way – is also lacking.

Out of this though comes the advantage of being translators. Connecting the “old” and the “new”, using what works best depending on the situation, and most of all helping others along the way. For the “new”bies, the liaison generation can provide a sense of origin, where things began and grew from and why. For the “old”ies it’s much more obvious; providing a simple way to adjust to ever-evolving technology and convert from desk to desktop.

Bottomline: What does all this mean and why is it important? It’s about defining a role. Offering one possible reason (out of many) for the confusion faced by an entire generation. There are business opportunities here, jobs to be created, organizations that face to benefit. A unification of perspective can only help this cohort of liaisons pave its path more certainly.