Weekly Bookmarks
49th Edition — January 12, 2020
Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.
Benjamin Franklin
1. Aviate – Navigate – Communicate
Those three words saved lives as Tammie Jo Shults was landing a crippled plane in Philadelphia after an engine exploded well after takeoff from New York.
Last week, I mentioned her memoir, Nerves of Steel, and I’ve been thinking of the last two chapters all week.
For years, Shults was told she could never fly. She was denied by the Air Force and Army, but after a tw0-year wait, the Navy said, “Yes.” Hardship, difficulties, and obstacles followed being a female fighter pilot in an airspace of mostly males. Yet, she persevered.
Should you read Tammie Jo’s book, I guarantee that your heart will race as she starts talking about the events that happened on flight 1380. You’ll also give her entire crew a standing ovation for their courage and bravery.
2. What’s Your Financial Archetype?
During the 1990s, I read many personal finance books because I wanted to learn how to invest. Today, I barely read 1-2 personal finance books a year.
This year, I’m changing that trend by reading at least one meaningful title in this genre annually. Brent Kessel is the co-founder of Abacus Wealth Partners where he combines personal financial planning with behavioral finance. His book, It’s Not About the Money, presents his view of what’s keeping people from reaching financial freedom through eight different archetypes:
- The Guardian (my third archetype)
- The Pleasure Seeker
- The Idealist
- The Saver (my second archetype)
- The Star
- The Innocent
- The Caretaker
- The Empire Builder (my first archetype)
How do I know my archetypes? I took the assessment where you can take it here. Don’t have time to read the book? You can speed your way through the video below.
3. Pricing and Healthcare
Over the holiday break, I caught up with some episodes from my favorite podcast, The Soul of Enterprise (shameful bragging rights – my name has been mentioned 3 times on their show).
I couldn’t help doing some more research on a pair of doctors stemming from two different interviews:
- Dr. Keith Smith is the co-founder of The Surgery Center of Oklahoma, and he blew me away when he stated every surgical procedure’s price is listed on their website. Sure enough, he’s right. For instance, elbow arthroscopy is $5,350 and not a penny more.
- Dr. Paul Thomas told my favorite podcast hosts that he didn’t go to school to work for the insurance company. After careful introspection and research, he started a subscription model based on direct primary care. Notice that monthly pricing is listed on the home page of their website, and it’s cheap.
I haven’t had time to read it, but I’ll soon be reading Direct Primary Care by Dr. Thomas. If you work in HR or have health benefits responsibilities, take a hard look at both of these models where significant dollars could be saved.
4. Is Out of Crisis Still Relevant?
Name two management gurus from the past, and I’m sure Peter Drucker and W. Edwards Deming will be in your top 5.
Out of Crisis is one of the many books in my antilibrary. In the first 20-plus pages, Deming offers 14 points that lead to transformational management excellence.
I had to do a doubletake when I read point 11 which is eliminating management by objective, by numbers, and numerical goals.
Say what?
Deming would not have been against a 4-minute mile. But he cared as much about quality than quantity. Deming continually asked how can the customer be better served. In short, Deming was more about continuous improvement over quotas which are the voice of the customer vs. the voice of the process.
5. The Lean Startup for Manufacturing
One of my favorite business books is the Lean Startup by Eric Ries who is standing on the shoulders of Steve Blank, one of my favorite writers.
If he’s seen it, I’d love to know what Eric thinks of the video below where Evan and Katelyn talk about bootstrapping a small manufacturing startup from their garage. This is hands-on, street-smarts MBA content all the way.
Recent Bookmarks – 48 | 47 | 46
Thank You For Reading
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Take care and have a great week. Always be learning.
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