empathy

Do You Protect Your Herd?

(Warning! Today I’m sharing a personal opinion for which I don’t expect total agreement. But I’m steadfast in my belief. I have science behind me. I’m girded for argument… bring it on!) When I began my patient empowerment work in 2005, I had little or no understanding of the benefits of getting a flu shot except that – maybe – it would protect me from getting the flu. But I didn’t feel like I was at risk; I lived alone, I worked from home, my kids were no longer in school (where flu runs rampant!), and I was still relatively …

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Making the Case for Nonsense

I suspect this discussion is going to surprise you as much as it surprised me. The topic is Nonsense, but not Nonsense by its classic definition. No, this Nonsense is quite different, and, frankly, sometimes it chokes me up. Just published a month ago, Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing is the title of a new book by Jamie Holmes. Jamie is a Future Tense Fellow at New America, a non-profit, think-tank / forum / media platform that promotes the intellectual study of politics, prosperity and purpose. Part science, part expos, part business lesson, Nonsense will surely leave you looking …

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Shark Tank, Narrative, Your Audiences – and Success

I’m a huge fan of TV’s Shark Tank. Not an episode goes by when I don’t learn something about business, investment, marketing or some other tidbit I can use in my work. My favorite “shark” is Barbara Corcoran because I find she bases her investment decisions on smart money-making plus appropriately enthusiastic entrepreneurs who share their stories of passion and work ethic. This season there is a new shark in the tank, Troy Carter, who prior to this was totally unknown to me. Seems he used to be Lady Gaga’s manager, and is known for media production. He’s certainly on …

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Broken Hearts Remind Us to Show Sympathy and Empathy

Joey Eisch, the 12-year-old son of friends of ours, was a major goofball with an enormous smile, a contagious laugh, and a sheer love of life.The photo above gives you a sense of him. It was taken at his parents’ wedding just two months ago – a wedding my husband and I attended, where we had a few minutes to spend with Joey. Just such a happy dynamo of a boy. Then, on Friday, July 24, Joey was killed while riding his bicycle.

Just Where Is that Privacy Line?

(Originally published June 2015. Updated June 2020) This week (2015) we were contacted by two major TV news outlets requesting interviews with advocates – one a national broadcast outlet, the other in Chicago. As we do when we receive these requests, we immediately alerted those Premium members who are on our Opportunities & Alerts notification lists so they could respond if they fit the profiles. In both cases, the media were looking to talk to APHA members – and even more so, client-patients of our members. These requests came on the heels of a post in the APHA Discussion Forum …

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Surprising Wisdom from Chipotle Will Make Your Day

About once every five or six weeks I splurge on Chipotle for lunch. Love it – guacamole and all (Have you tried their corn salsa? Yum.) On my most recent visit, I did something I had never taken the time to do. I read the take-out bag. That’s right. If you have never purchased take-out at Chipotle, you may not know that there is a great deal of what looks like plain old text on the bag. I had never paused to read it, assuming (uh-huh) that all that text was just promotional in nature – and who has time …

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Remembering the Mean Girls

In Fall 2010, about 150 health advocates, many of whom were just considering entering the profession, convened in Washington DC for the Second Annual NAHAC Conference. I was there at the invitation of NAHAC, to both be a vendor, and to give a presentation about marketing for advocates. The conference was a resounding success in my estimation, using my two conference-success measuring sticks: 1. I met so many smart, wonderful, passionate people and 2. I learned so much more than I imparted. But there was one aspect to the conference that left a bad taste in my mouth, marring the …

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