Category: Other
How to Prevent Personal Obsolescence
CAUTION! Personal obsolescence in a leader/manager can manifest itself in organizational under-performance, less than optimal personal compensation, and even unemployment. Don’t let this happen to you! Here are three simple actions you can take NOW to help prevent your own personal obsolescence. 1. Embrace Your Industry & Market More than 2,500 years ago the great Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (544 BC to 496 BC) wisely observed: “If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles”. To modify this ancient axiom a little, “You need not fear a hundred salary reviews, decisions, or market/industry changes, if you know the industry and the market”. Having worked a dozen years for a large conglomerate before founding my own companies, I witnessed a common mistake by new division executives who often believed they didn’t need to put in the considerable extra time required to learn the industry, market, and or even their products. This mistake was most often rooted in the erroneous belief that their highly developed “soft” skills would win the day for them. Soft skills, which include people skills, are important. However, it is the preponderance of a combination of hard and soft skills that will make your organization— and you—successful. If you don’t take the time
Spruce Up Your POC with a Designer Bag Look
A new craze has been sweeping the country: rock painting! It’s being hailed as a new way of spreading happiness and kindness throughout your community. Now the concept has even been used to give a designer look to the cover that holds your POC in place. Meet Anita Ross, a retired resident of Clinton, OH, who paints rocks for sheer happiness. Because of COPD, she has been on oxygen for years. For the past six months she has used her background as an artist to paint rocks and then hide them in plain sight—maybe at a post office… maybe at a grocery store… maybe on a hiking trail. The front of the rock has her drawing. The back has a label asking the finder to take a picture and post it on the Facebook group page, along with information on where it was found. When they are found, people smile, take the photo, and post it on Facebook. The word spreads quickly. In NE Ohio there are several thousand Facebook members of a rock painting group. In Washington State, where the fad started about seven months ago, some rock painting groups have over 40,000 members. It’s estimated that today there are over 70,000 members of Facebook rock painting groups nationally and the number continues to grow. The idea is to spread the virtues of kindness and happiness throughout your community. When people find a painted rock it brings smiles. They log on to the g
Separating the Healthcare Millions, Billions, and Trillions
If you are like me, keeping track and making sense of all the zeroes in the millions, billions and trillions of dollars spent on U.S. healthcare is daunting. I first started getting acquainted with difficult to grasp numbers when discussing the national debt in an economics class years ago. Trillions of dollars are big, but how big, really? Now, some years down the road and a member of the producing class we so assiduously studied in those classes, I still have trouble putting really large numbers into context. They are important to understand because we see them before us every single day—in the newspapers, on TV, on the Internet. Annual U.S. healthcare expenditures are staggering—over $3 trillion annually. To help put this and other gigantic numbers into context, I have done some investigating to bring their comparative size into clearer focus. The difference between the zeroes attached to $10, $100, $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 are easy to see. But what about $1,000,000? Six zeroes makes a million. A million is one thousand thousands. A million in seconds passed is 12 days ago. And what about $1 billion? That’s one thousand millions and it has nine zeroes. A billion in seconds passed is 31 years ago. But a trillion dollars, that’s truly staggering. A trillion has 12 zeroes. A trillion dollars is one thousand billions of dollars. A trillion seconds passed is 31,688 years ago. So at $3 trillion, we are, indeed, all part of a very
Latest Healthcare Stats Show Solid Growth
Newest healthcare data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau show continued growth in the size, scope and cost of the U.S. healthcare market. Here is a compilation of some the most recent statistical findings from 2016 and 2017 BLS surveys and Census Bureau projections.. Respiratory therapists average median income is about $58,000 per year. The median annual wage for healthcare practitioners was $62,610 in May of 2015. That’s higher than the median annual wage for all workers, which was $36,200. EMPLOYMENT Healthcare related occupations have employment of 12 million people or about 9% of the total national employment. Home healthcare aides as an occupation are projected to grow as the fastest occupation in the United States through 2024 — 35%. Changes in the population growth participation rates over the next several decades will significantly impact the labor force, including healthcare. Even though the size of the U.S. population will grow overall, its annual growth rate is expected to slow down significantly in the coming decades due to a variety of factors, such as the aging of baby boomers, declining fertility rates, and a lessening of growth in immigration. The rate of population growth by 2060 may be only about 20% of today’s growth rate. BENEFITS The participation rate for employee sponsored retirement benefits, which include defined benefits and contribution plans, was 49% for private industry and 81% fo
Then ... and Now
This past May, I wrote a column called “Keeping Concentrators New Car Smell Fresh”. It referenced how to deal with foul smelling rental equipment being returned to a DME company. The odor could have come from several sources, but the most common cause was almost always smoking. The odor had been absorbed into the machine and the DME had found it next to impossible to get out. I detailed how, when I was at the Cleveland Clinic, we purchased a purifier that would take these odors out easily and effectively. It allowed us to restore the equipment to pristine condition for use by the next patient. I received many requests asking where they could find this product. I forwarded the information and asked each respondent to let me know how it was working. Here are just a few of the many responses I received: JM said: “Yes. We have the purifier and it works wonders.” BW said: “Thanks for the great article. We purchased the purifier and have used it several times on equipment that had odors our cleaning tech could not remove. After only one hour the odors were completely gone. Thanks again, Bob.” DC said: “Great article regarding equipment cleaning. We purchased the purifier after you gave us the name and I must say it really works. We no longer are deciding whether to throw out bad smelling equipment or just store it on the shelf. Usually a one hour treatment will take care of the odor. Thanks again for the information. T
Healthcare Is The Fastest Growing Of All Occupations
2.3 MILLION NEW JOBS PROJECTED The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has made it official… Healthcare employment is leading the nation in fast paced growth. Statistics available to Home HealthCare TODAY show how incredibly important the healthcare industry is to the U.S. economy overall. Employment of healthcare occupations is projected to grow 19 percent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations, adding about 2.3 million new jobs. Healthcare occupations will add more jobs than any other group of occupations. This growth is expected due to an aging population and because federal health insurance reform is expected to increase the number of individuals who have access to health insurance. BLS reports that the median annual wage for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations (such as registered nurses, physicians and surgeons, and dental hygienists) was $62,610 in May 2015, which was higher than the median annual wage for all occupations in the economy of $36,200. On the flip side, healthcare support occupations (such as home health aides, occupational therapy assistants, and medical transcriptionists) had a median annual wage of $27,040 in May 2015, lower than the median annual wage for all occupations in the economy. Here is how the Bureau of Labor Statistics pegged median salaries for healthcare professionals as of 2015. Athletic Trainers
Blog - Other
Category: Other
How to Prevent Personal Obsolescence
CAUTION! Personal obsolescence in a leader/manager can manifest itself in organizational under-performance, less than optimal personal compensation, and even unemployment. Don’t let this happen to you! Here are three simple actions you can take NOW to help prevent your own personal obsolescence. 1. Embrace Your Industry & Market More than 2,500 years ago the great Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (544 BC to 496 BC) wisely observed: “If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles”. To modify this ancient axiom a little, “You need not fear a hundred salary reviews, decisions, or market/industry changes, if you know the industry and the market”. Having worked a dozen years for a large conglomerate before founding my own companies, I witnessed a common mistake by new division executives who often believed they didn’t need to put in the considerable extra time required to learn the industry, market, and or even their products. This mistake was most often rooted in the erroneous belief that their highly developed “soft” skills would win the day for them. Soft skills, which include people skills, are important. However, it is the preponderance of a combination of hard and soft skills that will make your organization— and you—successful. If you don’t take the time
Spruce Up Your POC with a Designer Bag Look
A new craze has been sweeping the country: rock painting! It’s being hailed as a new way of spreading happiness and kindness throughout your community. Now the concept has even been used to give a designer look to the cover that holds your POC in place. Meet Anita Ross, a retired resident of Clinton, OH, who paints rocks for sheer happiness. Because of COPD, she has been on oxygen for years. For the past six months she has used her background as an artist to paint rocks and then hide them in plain sight—maybe at a post office… maybe at a grocery store… maybe on a hiking trail. The front of the rock has her drawing. The back has a label asking the finder to take a picture and post it on the Facebook group page, along with information on where it was found. When they are found, people smile, take the photo, and post it on Facebook. The word spreads quickly. In NE Ohio there are several thousand Facebook members of a rock painting group. In Washington State, where the fad started about seven months ago, some rock painting groups have over 40,000 members. It’s estimated that today there are over 70,000 members of Facebook rock painting groups nationally and the number continues to grow. The idea is to spread the virtues of kindness and happiness throughout your community. When people find a painted rock it brings smiles. They log on to the g
Separating the Healthcare Millions, Billions, and Trillions
If you are like me, keeping track and making sense of all the zeroes in the millions, billions and trillions of dollars spent on U.S. healthcare is daunting. I first started getting acquainted with difficult to grasp numbers when discussing the national debt in an economics class years ago. Trillions of dollars are big, but how big, really? Now, some years down the road and a member of the producing class we so assiduously studied in those classes, I still have trouble putting really large numbers into context. They are important to understand because we see them before us every single day—in the newspapers, on TV, on the Internet. Annual U.S. healthcare expenditures are staggering—over $3 trillion annually. To help put this and other gigantic numbers into context, I have done some investigating to bring their comparative size into clearer focus. The difference between the zeroes attached to $10, $100, $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 are easy to see. But what about $1,000,000? Six zeroes makes a million. A million is one thousand thousands. A million in seconds passed is 12 days ago. And what about $1 billion? That’s one thousand millions and it has nine zeroes. A billion in seconds passed is 31 years ago. But a trillion dollars, that’s truly staggering. A trillion has 12 zeroes. A trillion dollars is one thousand billions of dollars. A trillion seconds passed is 31,688 years ago. So at $3 trillion, we are, indeed, all part of a very
Latest Healthcare Stats Show Solid Growth
Newest healthcare data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau show continued growth in the size, scope and cost of the U.S. healthcare market. Here is a compilation of some the most recent statistical findings from 2016 and 2017 BLS surveys and Census Bureau projections.. Respiratory therapists average median income is about $58,000 per year. The median annual wage for healthcare practitioners was $62,610 in May of 2015. That’s higher than the median annual wage for all workers, which was $36,200. EMPLOYMENT Healthcare related occupations have employment of 12 million people or about 9% of the total national employment. Home healthcare aides as an occupation are projected to grow as the fastest occupation in the United States through 2024 — 35%. Changes in the population growth participation rates over the next several decades will significantly impact the labor force, including healthcare. Even though the size of the U.S. population will grow overall, its annual growth rate is expected to slow down significantly in the coming decades due to a variety of factors, such as the aging of baby boomers, declining fertility rates, and a lessening of growth in immigration. The rate of population growth by 2060 may be only about 20% of today’s growth rate. BENEFITS The participation rate for employee sponsored retirement benefits, which include defined benefits and contribution plans, was 49% for private industry and 81% fo
Then ... and Now
This past May, I wrote a column called “Keeping Concentrators New Car Smell Fresh”. It referenced how to deal with foul smelling rental equipment being returned to a DME company. The odor could have come from several sources, but the most common cause was almost always smoking. The odor had been absorbed into the machine and the DME had found it next to impossible to get out. I detailed how, when I was at the Cleveland Clinic, we purchased a purifier that would take these odors out easily and effectively. It allowed us to restore the equipment to pristine condition for use by the next patient. I received many requests asking where they could find this product. I forwarded the information and asked each respondent to let me know how it was working. Here are just a few of the many responses I received: JM said: “Yes. We have the purifier and it works wonders.” BW said: “Thanks for the great article. We purchased the purifier and have used it several times on equipment that had odors our cleaning tech could not remove. After only one hour the odors were completely gone. Thanks again, Bob.” DC said: “Great article regarding equipment cleaning. We purchased the purifier after you gave us the name and I must say it really works. We no longer are deciding whether to throw out bad smelling equipment or just store it on the shelf. Usually a one hour treatment will take care of the odor. Thanks again for the information. T
Healthcare Is The Fastest Growing Of All Occupations
2.3 MILLION NEW JOBS PROJECTED The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has made it official… Healthcare employment is leading the nation in fast paced growth. Statistics available to Home HealthCare TODAY show how incredibly important the healthcare industry is to the U.S. economy overall. Employment of healthcare occupations is projected to grow 19 percent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations, adding about 2.3 million new jobs. Healthcare occupations will add more jobs than any other group of occupations. This growth is expected due to an aging population and because federal health insurance reform is expected to increase the number of individuals who have access to health insurance. BLS reports that the median annual wage for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations (such as registered nurses, physicians and surgeons, and dental hygienists) was $62,610 in May 2015, which was higher than the median annual wage for all occupations in the economy of $36,200. On the flip side, healthcare support occupations (such as home health aides, occupational therapy assistants, and medical transcriptionists) had a median annual wage of $27,040 in May 2015, lower than the median annual wage for all occupations in the economy. Here is how the Bureau of Labor Statistics pegged median salaries for healthcare professionals as of 2015. Athletic Trainers
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