A starfish's dilemma
In my life here at UNM I have spent years trying to figure out how to solve world problems sprinkled with three intense bursts of entrepreneurial activity, each of which was eventually quenched. I have watched my own behavior with chagrin. Why was I so inconstant? Why didn't I focus on solving health care if that was my stated goal? This most recent burst of activity was quick enough to start and finish that I had a better chance to realize more consciously what I was doing.
You have heard the story of the man who walked along the beach saving starfish one by one by throwing them back into the ocean. The number of starfish was so large that he could never save even a small percentage. Still he continued to walk along and throw them into the water. A man stopped him and asked why he continued to save starfish when the number of beached ones was so large he would never make a difference. The man tossed another starfish in and said "I made a difference to this one."
I am not the man tossing starfish into the ocean. I am one of the starfish still in the ocean. I am studying the nature of the tides and of starfish motion to understand the socioeconomic process that puts so many starfish on the beach. Every once in awhile I see a threat to myself and my little starfish family. As the threat approaches I drop my observations and calculations and frantically build a shelter. But the threat swims right on by and I find that I don't want to spend my life building a shelter when threats are only illusionary: there is a bigger problem to solve. So I go back to normal life and to trying to crack the process that beaches so many starfish.
The health care system is the process that is beaching perhaps millions of human starfish. The threats are times when funding through graduate school looks shaky. Western Capital, SongPiper, and Lobo Mind Loan are the shelters that I have built when things seemed insecure. While finances have been iffy I have had a lot of drive to start something up. But when funding seemed secure the three ventures have seemed like distractions from the real problem that I want to solve, that is health care.
In this light my actions over the past 3.5 years make a lot of sense: when my family seems threatened I begin energetically building. Invariably I find shelter before the building is done and building begins to seem like a distraction because it no longer meets my most pressing need. Now the most pressing need is to solve a larger problem that all of us starfish are facing. However, the fact that the actions make sense is not enough: it would be better to have my actions succeed in meeting the needs that drive them. As the primary need has swung back and forth the actions have also swung back and forth and in the end I have accomplished little outside of learning and making much ado about nothing.
What I need to do is figure out how to meet both needs simultaneously. If I can impact health care substantially and support our family doing it then I have found a company that will work day in and day out. When we are just fine I can use my intuition and my head and my diligence. When things are much less assured I can use my heart and my intensity and determination to make things work.
I talked about the socio-economic problem of the starfish population. I am pretty convinced that the primary problem in health care is not a technical one but an economic and social one. And I think that the key solution to the problem will be informational. I want to create a truly competitive environment in the health care world by providing decision makers with information and health care providers with performance feedback. How to make a company out of that I don't know.
You have heard the story of the man who walked along the beach saving starfish one by one by throwing them back into the ocean. The number of starfish was so large that he could never save even a small percentage. Still he continued to walk along and throw them into the water. A man stopped him and asked why he continued to save starfish when the number of beached ones was so large he would never make a difference. The man tossed another starfish in and said "I made a difference to this one."
I am not the man tossing starfish into the ocean. I am one of the starfish still in the ocean. I am studying the nature of the tides and of starfish motion to understand the socioeconomic process that puts so many starfish on the beach. Every once in awhile I see a threat to myself and my little starfish family. As the threat approaches I drop my observations and calculations and frantically build a shelter. But the threat swims right on by and I find that I don't want to spend my life building a shelter when threats are only illusionary: there is a bigger problem to solve. So I go back to normal life and to trying to crack the process that beaches so many starfish.
The health care system is the process that is beaching perhaps millions of human starfish. The threats are times when funding through graduate school looks shaky. Western Capital, SongPiper, and Lobo Mind Loan are the shelters that I have built when things seemed insecure. While finances have been iffy I have had a lot of drive to start something up. But when funding seemed secure the three ventures have seemed like distractions from the real problem that I want to solve, that is health care.
In this light my actions over the past 3.5 years make a lot of sense: when my family seems threatened I begin energetically building. Invariably I find shelter before the building is done and building begins to seem like a distraction because it no longer meets my most pressing need. Now the most pressing need is to solve a larger problem that all of us starfish are facing. However, the fact that the actions make sense is not enough: it would be better to have my actions succeed in meeting the needs that drive them. As the primary need has swung back and forth the actions have also swung back and forth and in the end I have accomplished little outside of learning and making much ado about nothing.
What I need to do is figure out how to meet both needs simultaneously. If I can impact health care substantially and support our family doing it then I have found a company that will work day in and day out. When we are just fine I can use my intuition and my head and my diligence. When things are much less assured I can use my heart and my intensity and determination to make things work.
I talked about the socio-economic problem of the starfish population. I am pretty convinced that the primary problem in health care is not a technical one but an economic and social one. And I think that the key solution to the problem will be informational. I want to create a truly competitive environment in the health care world by providing decision makers with information and health care providers with performance feedback. How to make a company out of that I don't know.
posted by Douglas H. at 9:23 AM
2 Comments:
Doug, I love the starfish story. Kent Norton and some guys are putting a new TV network together where various charitable organizations can try to raise money for their various causes and it's called the Starfish Network. I hope to be part of it by providing some financing. I also loved your goals. I need to spend some time and do the same thing. Also, you know you have me and Western Capital if you need some help.
Dad, thanks. I know that you would be happy to help us out if worst came to worst. It is a personal goal never to need that help but it is still nice to know that it would be there.
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