21st Century Enlightenment

Another video! This is one of my favorites and I highly recommend it. Below are the questions that came with the assignment and I will attempt to answer them but I hope that you, the reader, take away something of your own from the above video

1. Why do you think the talk is titled 21st Century Enlightenment?

Global societies are undergoing quite a bit of change and not all change is always good. 21st Century Enlightenment means that as people we need to change the way in which we think and interact within the societies that sustain us. One-tier concepts such as freedom, progress, or technology are great for breaking down complex concepts but they carry with the the trap of simple answers. Quite frankly, getting your philosophy from a bumper sticker means that you lack the relationships needed to be aware of your overall place in society. Additionally, this trap of simple thinking disconnects the individual from the society that provides the individual with the tools for success. Nothing ever happens in a vacuum and enlightenment is no different. 21st Century Enlightenment means that we govern ourselves with empathy and self-awareness and not just concerning ourselves with the individual. It will be a profound shift in thinking for many.

2. What does Matthew Taylor mean when he says "to live differently, you have to think differently"?

We cannot solve new problems with old thinking. Any fundamental shift in society comes from new modalities of thought. In order for us to create a more empathetic society we need to start to think in more empathetic ways. It isn't enough to ask "is this right for me" but to look past ourselves to how others view the world and attempt to reach across those boundaries.

3. At one point in the video (4:10), Taylor argues that we need "to resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange". What is he talking about? Can you think of an example within your company or your life that supports this point?

To make something right that is merely familiar means to ascribe logical fallacies to things that make us feel better. Some call this confirmation bias. You see this quite a bit in arguments such as gun control. Person A defended his home from an invader therefore we are safer with weapons in our homes. However the math does not support this argument. It just makes a person feel better to have a weapon in the home; thus it is true because it is merely familiar. On the other side of the coin we can look at the current gay-marriage debate in the US for an example of people attempting to make wrong what is merely strange. Current attempts to modify the Constitution to ban these marriages are people taking this argument to its absurd ends.

In my areas of patient care there are those that subscribe to the idea that things are wrong for being different and it can be rather infuriating to overcome. When it comes to addiction rehabilitation certain amounts of empathy are called for however this does not mean that there cannot be natural consequences for actions. For example, being intoxicated at work could lead to termination and this is a natural consequence. Empathy does not mean shielding those effects but to understand why one would see their actions as justifiable.

4. Taylor argues that our society should eschew elements of pop culture that degrade people and that we should spend more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens. Would this be possible?
I think we should but I am not so sure that it is possible. I've largely dropped most of pop culture from my life; I don't even have cable or antennae service. This allows me to pick and choose my entertainment through streaming or getting out and enjoying the arts. However, I have reached a point in my life where I can afford to make those choices. Not everyone is that fortunate or has that freedom. For many, entertainment is taken where it can be found and it would be understandable for peoples that are disenfranchised to experience a certain amount of schadenfreude over other's suffering. I wager most of you reading this has taken a fleeting pleasure at watching a Lindsay Lohan-type meltdown. Sure, we might feel guilty afterwards and the thoughts themselves are most likely fleeting but they are there.

I do believe that is a goal towards which we should all strive. There can be no harm come from less degradation and more empathy. If everyone already thought this way we wouldn't need an enlightenment in the first place.

5. At the end of the video, Taylor talks about atomizing people from collaborative environments and the destructive effect on their growth. What is the implication of these comments for organizational change efforts?

Overall organizations must seek collaborative environments. Even simple change mechanisms such as Lewin's Model state that collaboration and buy-in are key to successful change. The simple fact remains that we all need something from each other. Simplistic thinking and rugged individualism often leave out that a person's success is dependent on using the protection and resources the group provides. People cut off from adequate protection and resources do not grow as well as those that are provided those tools. Go to any impoverished school district and see how growth is stunted in areas cut off from the fruits of society. This paradigm can be scaled to sub-units in an organization and even down to the individual. Without support people are doomed to fail.

6. What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
This has re-enforced my need for a global perspective. The myth of rugged individualism is just that...a myth. We live in an increasingly global environment, we cannot isolate from it. It affects everything we do and buy. Typhoons in China raise prices on goods in the US. Shady investment practices in the US cause bankruptcies in the United Kingdom.Faster communication means we are more aware of the world around us than ever before. Hiding from this change does not make it go away, it just means you get left behind.

A630.1.4.RB - Board of Directors

Ahhhh...good to be back. I keep these informal rather than academic though I do link references and after such a lengthy absence I can only imagine my tone will be more conversational than ever! Well let's get to this shall we?

For those of you that aren't my instructor it may be beneficial to view this video before continuing. 

This week we are going to be discussing a situation in my organization similar to what is portrayed in the cartoon linked. As I work for the Department of Veteran's Affairs you would think that I would have no trouble finding areas where pessimism and resistance to change left obstacles unconquered; and you would be correct...but only to a point. The VA patients seem to enjoy their service almost as much, if not more, than their private sector counterparts. That survey may not have accounted for patients that have no other choice but to use VA hospitals, healthcare being what it is in the US, but it  still can lead to the conclusion that administrative bungling and in-fighting is largely transparent to the patient. Even the recent black-eye the VA received in the Phoenix patient deaths was only at the result of a "contributing" though not causal factor. While that statement reeks of bullet-dodging it also has a small kernel of truth. The point isn't to rehash that debate to clarify that even in its darkest moments the VA ranks above private healthcare outright killing people by the thousands simply from not being able to afford care. Comparing the two gets really close to a straw-man argument but it is still fair to say the VA isn't killing en mass due to lack of access. 

However, for those that work in the VA, the in-fighting is severe and resistance to change is quite severe. "We've always done it that way" seems to be the motto I most hear in meetings and it drives me up a wall. In my corner of patient care we teach life skills and vocational development to addicts, alcoholics, and to people suffering from mental illness. Usually they have all three. As just one of our tools we utilize internal contracts with departments such as housekeeping or medical supply to place patients in paid roles where they can gain stability and practice using life skills in a structured and sober environment. This allows us to transition the patient back into the community. Sounds great right? However the recidivism rate is very high. In many cases patients see these jobs as quick way to gain cash rather than be genuinely ill. So in essence there are a few bad apples that cause a great deal of work for the staff and therefore divert our attention from those that need care. A small group of us have proposed adding a step to our assessment process that would allow us to ask a few simple questions to those requesting admission that would screen patients, or at least give us information to help hold them accountable. However, the powers that be are resisting this change as it is a departure from standard procedures. There are some legitimate concerns that this information could be used to deny care and while in certain situations it is ethical to deny care in the current climate it is a public relations nightmare.  In any patient care scenario one must accept some "bad apples" in order to serve the greater body of patients. In truth, the worst cases are often the people that need the most care (even if these patients refuse to see it). In short, there is a great deal of grey area in which a compromise could be found however it seems that resistance to explore these options leads to no change at all.  

As it stands, some small progress is being made within the program by tightening our controls where we are able. We've implemented processes that don't need larger approval in order to apply a uniform admission process as well as allow us to better develop personalized treatment plans. These plans hold both the providers and patient accountable for success and allows for more outcome control. Through this we hope to see our patient outcomes improve and early indications are that it is working. However much more time will be needed to fully appraise our progress.