I was delighted to read in this morning’s Globe & Mail how Steve Jobs’ college calligraphy class inspired his unmatched approach to product design.  In the classes he learned about different fonts, spacing of letters and the overall look and design of words on the page.  Intuitively, he understood that the words are only part of printed communication – how they look and feel on the page can be as important as what they say. 

Sounds a lot like the studies that say only 7% of face-to-face communication is verbal –  the rest lies in all the non-verbal cues we send.

Janet Carnegie

In the current debate about rising health care costs there is a commonly heard suggestion that we need to “bend the cost curve” of health care.  My fear is that this bend is going to happen on the backs of the already lowest-paid workers in the sector (think PSWs and home care staff, for example). 

Many of the strategies underway and coming are long overdue:

• Optimize the scope of practice of all of the health care professionals in the system;
• Instill more rigour in the measurement of institutional performance;
• Apply lean techniques and strategies in the health care sector;
• Review compensation and incentive plans for our health care providers; 
• Encourage the use of lower cost alternatives to hospital care; 
• Encourage patients to share responsibility for their health and their care. 

All of these strategies make sense.    

But a caution …  Community-based agencies and providers, who have for decades been quietly providing solid, high quality care, can’t be squeezed any further.  We can’t and shouldn’t be asking them to do more with budgets and pay scales that are already far less than their hospital-based counterparts.  Sure, they don’t have the overhead.  But we are asking them to provide more complex care, to more patients.  We are asking them to meet new and demanding contractual arrangements with no recognition of the cost.  We are pressing them to use their volunteers to provide services that we might otherwise have to pay for. 

We’ll bend the cost curve, possibly.  And we’ll bend it so far that we will be able to brag that we are looking after patients using the most demoralized, poorly paid, burnt-out health care workers anywhere. 

Melodie Zarzeczny

You’ve got a business to run.  You’re busy.  Everything is running smoothly.  As the Chair of the Board (or the CEO, Executive Director, or Board member), you’re feeling pretty confident that everything is under control.  No need to complicate life with Board meetings, Committees, policies and endless reporting. 

Or is there?  By ignoring the importance of good governance, have you left yourself open to risks that could pose a threat to your business?  Or to you and your directors personally?  Do you know the extent of your personal liability?

Does your Board meet regularly?  If not, you are probably not in compliance with your  ByLaw.  Are you in compliance with Bill 168?  If not, you are placing your organization and your Directors at risk of lawsuits and fines.  (Do you know what Bill 168 is?)  Are your policies sufficiently rigorous to withstand a lawsuit?  Are your Directors sufficiently well informed so as not to be held personally liable in the event of legal action?

But it’s not just about avoiding costly lawsuits.  Good governance also contributes to the bottom line – it builds social, human and financial capital in your organization.. 

Good corporate governance is not just for big business.  In fact, one could argue that it’s more important for smaller organizations, who can gain tremendous advantages from the effective use of their Boards and Directors.

Melodie Zarzeczny

Electric Heat Cheap - no way they say! Well here are some numbers that surprised me when helping a young entrepreneur develop his business plan to save homeowners with electric baseboard heat from the poor house. Ontario’s cost of electricity has doubled over the past 10 years and will continue to grow, particularly if nuclear energy’s share of the generation mix goes beyond 50%

Based on September 2011 unit cost of energy here is the top to bottom ranking of heating costs for a therm or 100,000 BTU’s by energy and technology.

Technology comes to the rescue and does make electricity with current technology a good heating alternative if your home does not have ducts and/or access to a natural gas line!

Bob Fisher

This summer I turned off the circulating electric fan motor on my gas furnace to CONSERVE energy, just like the ads say. But the house smelled stale and the basement musty. Turned on the furnace fan and in a few hours back to normal.

Using the hydro Smart Meter web site, I looked at my hourly/daily/peak/off peak electrical load. The furnace motor uses about half a kilowatt to operate. At the current hydro delivered HST included cost of some 15 cents per kWh, running the fan cost about $650 per year. Plus Toronto Hydro have just asked for another rate increase!

An new technology ECM motor in my not so old  furnace would save about 75 % or almost $500. New motors should cost about $700 installed - an ROI of 70%+ or 16 months to get my money back. A better investment than my stocks and bonds.

Do you know a good installer?

By the way if 2 M Ontario homes did this we would save several new nuclear reactors which are planned to cost billions of $.

Bob Fisher

One of the things that I like about being a contract executive is that it affords me the time to do some volunteering. I need to admit that I’m one of those people who have difficulty saying “no”, so sometimes I get myself overcommitted. Someone asked me why I do all the things that I do, and my answer is much like it is for being a regular blood donor – I have O negative blood, the universal donor, so I was given this gift and I have an obligation to use it to help others. I feel the same way about volunteering – I have skills and abilities, and there are organizations that need these abilities to do their good work.

Because there is such a need for volunteers, it is easy to get into something which is not enjoyable. I think finding the right volunteer opportunities is much like finding the right job. First and foremost, you need to believe in the work of the organization. Second, you need to understand yourself – what you enjoy and what you’re good at. Do you want to be part of the committee that organizes everything? Do you like to be behind the scenes preparing things? Or do you like to be on the front lines interacting with the recipients of the programs? If you don’t think through this carefully and choose correctly, then you will begrudge the time that you spend with the organization and likely won’t give it your best effort, so you won’t really be adding to the work of the organization. As one of my friends describes it, the time that you spend as a volunteer should be “life giving”.

I really like the thinking behind the requirement that all high school students in Ontario must spend 40 hours in community service. It’s important that we instil the practice of giving freely of their time to our youth. I know of many teens who have done something merely to get their required hours or to beef up their resume, but I hope that there are others who have had their eyes opened to this important part of making a difference to society.

Sheila Hamilton

If you’re anything like me, you cling to the last days of summer and try to squeeze in all your favourite things – barbecues, less formal clothing, freer schedules, sitting outside, long days – these are all things that I hate to see end every year. But with the winding down of summer, there is a new energy. We’ve already had some cooler nights, which remind us that fall is coming, and it’s time to get more serious about work life. For business owners, it may just be time to tackle some of the tough projects that you’ve been putting off. Before you start to get really busy again, think about whether you have all the resources that you need to get these projects done, or do you need a fresh perspective to help them get off the ground? A contract executive makes an ideal project manager because they can focus all of their time and energy on your project, not getting side-tracked with other issues.

Sheila Hamilton

With the days getting shorter and the evenings getting cooler, it really is starting to feel like the seasons are changing. It’s a good time to reflect on how you spent your work life last fall and winter, and make some serious choices about whether you want a repeat of that this year. A career as a contract executive, not an employee, gives you freedom, flexibility and control. It’s still a busy life, but you call the shots about who you want to work with and what type of work you want to do. And best of all, you can work with a variety of clients at the same time which gives you lots of intellectual challenge, keeps the days busy, and allows you to use the range of skills that you have developed over your long and successful career.

Sheila Hamilton

If you built a rural home in the 70’s the way to heat was electricity with inexpensive baseboard heaters - the electric utility may have even helped with the cost. If you are paying the electric heat bills in 2011 it’s now a huge OUCH. The electric utility will give trinkets for new Christmas tree lights or take your old beer fridge away; but they run away from being helpful with new ways to heat your home. Home heating is 50% of a typical family’s energy bills. Proven heat pump technology can cut the cost of electric heat by two thirds but electric utilities are not signing you up to save money - that is real energy conservation. Better to give pennies than dollars.

Bob Fisher