Weekend Digest: The Healthcare From Starbucks Edition

TV PREVIEW: CHARLES MORGAN ON LIFE, TECHNOLOGY & HIS NEW BOOK
On this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, which airs Sundays at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7, tune in for the following:

The legislature puts the private option and tax cuts behind them – sort of – our roundtable guests Impact Management Group’s Clint Reed, Hendrix College’s Dr. Jay Barth, and KATV’s Janelle Lilley discuss what comes next.

The deadline for constitutional proposals passes. What might you see on the ballot in 2016? Bradley Phillips from Lobby Up joins us for a rundown.

And with this weekend’s business hall of fame taking place, TB&P Editor-in-Chief Roby Brock sits down with a longtime member – former Acxiom CEO Charles Morgan. His new memoir on growing up, his marriage, building a public company, and how all of that impacted you is a subject of discussion.

Tune in Sunday at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7.

For our weekend business and political readers:

NOT-FOR-PROFIT INNOVATIVE GIANTS
Fast Company has picked the world’s “Top 10 Most Innovative Companies” in the not-for-profit space.

From the saviors of Detroit to the Ice Bucket Challenge, the best in not-for-profit innovation.

To learn who they are and what they represent, go to this link.

STARTUP RULES FROM MARK CUBAN
He’s young, he’s brash and he is the billionaire owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. And Mark Cuban has decided to add a “memo” of his own about startup rules.

My “rules” below aren’t just for those founding the companies, but for those who are considering going to work for them, as well.

Check out Cuban’s list here from Entrepreneur.

MERCEDES-BENZ USA MOVES ITS HEADQUARTERS TO THE SOUTH
Mercedes-Benz USA has called New Jersey home for more than 40 years, but that’s about to change.

Mercedes-Benz USA is leaving New Jersey, where it has been headquartered since the early 70’s, for the Atlanta metro region.

But it wasn’t only “good, old-fashioned southern hospitality” that lured Mercedes to an Atlanta suburb.

Marketplace has full details at this link.

WANT A HAPPIER LIFE?
Maybe you need to talk to a happiness scholar. Yes…you heard that right. A happiness scholar, like Paul Dolan.

Most people assume that they know whether they are happy or not, but in reality, judging our own happiness can be very difficult. There is often a disconnect between what our brains are telling us and what we actually feel.

“We tell stories about the things we think should make us happy, but sometimes, when we look a bit closer, we’re not really that happy at all,” says Paul Dolan, a professor at the London School of Economics, a government policy advisor and one of the world’s leading happiness scholars.

(Yes, that’s a real field of study.)

So now that you see we’re not kidding around, how would you like strategies for identifying what really makes you happy and doing more of those things?

You got it. Just go to this link.

‘THE JOYFUL, BLOODY MEDIA CIRCUS OF BRINGING DOWN BRIAN WILLIAMS’
Brian Williams’ anchor seat at NBC News fell out from under him so fast it was almost impossible to believe. America’s #1 network newsman disgraced and suspended six months for lying. A lie that seemed to weave its own more sophisticated trail in recent years, until he finally got caught.

And Bloomberg News says, “America loves when journalists get taken down. It confirms everything they already believe.”

Even given its obvious appeal, the power and breadth of this story has still been surprising to many in the media. It’s one thing for us to get excited about a successful colleague having his career go up in flames. (Particularly when that colleague is more successful than we are.) It’s quite another to see the public thirst for this story. Today, scandals multiply in intensity not because of increasing revelations, but because of increasing evidence of public interest. The beast must be fed.

And that’s why, as much as some in the church of journalism want to make this into a “trust” issue, trust has very little to do with it. The American people never trusted Williams in the first place.

For the complete analysis from Bloomberg, connect to this link.

ARE THEY REALLY SAD TO SEE JON STEWART GO?
Politicians and news media personalities that is. Jon Stewart is set to leave The Daily Show after years of skewering politicians, news personalities and other folks who drifted into the national spotlight.

He has all but called them losers and fools, but when Jon Stewart announced on Tuesday that he would leave “The Daily Show” sometime this year, many politicians and news media personalities had something of an unusual reaction: grief.

As The New York Times points out, “The joke may be at their expense. But they’re laughing nonetheless.”

Why? Find out at this link.

HOUSE GOP LEADERS BRING DOWN THE HAMMER
Politico reports, “House Republicans are continuing to threaten the rebels within their ranks.”

Vote with us or step down.

“Subcommittee chairs received warnings that they should give up their posts if they vote against procedural motions on the floor.”

At least three committee chairmen have issued formal warnings to subcommittee chairmen that lawmakers planning to vote against procedural motions on the House floor should give up their posts — the third time in just six weeks that Republican leaders have made it known they will not tolerate members stepping out of line.

And they are not kidding as the ax has already fallen for two GOP lawmakers who previously dared to step out-of-line.

Read more at this link.

‘WHY ISN’T HEALTH CARE MORE LIKE STARBUCKS?’
That’s an interesting question posed by Forbes, but what does it mean exactly?

Across the country in thousands of Starbucks stores each day, millions of Americans order their beverages according to their preferences: skim milk instead of 2%, two pumps instead of four, extra whip cream or no whip. And for its attention to individual preferences, Starbucks is rewarded with tens of billions of dollars in sales each year and remains one of Wall Street’s most valued stocks.

But what if your barista got your order wrong? What if Starbucks baristas got orders wrong consistently all across the country?

Getting the picture?

A company that delivers a product that does not honor and respect the individual preferences of its customers is a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately this “misalignment” is all too often the case in health care especially with end of life care, says Forbes.

Go to this link for a deeper read.

TOO MANY BIG HITS FOR COWBOYS’ HALL OF FAMER
Dallas Cowboy great Tony Dorsett has been diagnosed with chronic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease “linked to head trauma, depression, dementia and suicide in former NFL players.”

He admitted then at the time (November 2013) that the news hit him “like a ton of bricks” and, since then, he has been dealing with the onset of symptoms every single day. Last week, the Dallas Cowboys’ Hall of Fame running back described his life in an interview with Dallas’ The Ticket radio (via DallasNews.com).

For more of what the former running back had to say including, unlike some others, why he has little reservation about having played the game, go to this link from The Washington Post.

IS PLANET X OUT THERE?
What is Planet X?

“Planet X is kind of a catchall name given to any speculation about an unseen companion orbiting the sun,” says Kevin Luhman, an astronomer at Penn State University.

For more than a century, scientists have observed various things that they thought could be explained by the presence of an unknown planet lurking at the edge of our solar system.

Or has it already been found as some conspiracy types believe. But if it hasn’t been found and actually exists, what is the best shot for astronomers and scientists to find it?

Do a little star-gazing with NPR for some clues at this link.

OLD HABITS
“Australia’s oldest man likes to knit mini sweaters for injured penguins,” read the headline in this Mashable article.

109 year old Alfred Date remembers the declaration of World War I and the sinking of the Titanic. He’s spending his time these days not reminiscing about the past, but helping a future generation – a generation of miniature penguins.

Read this quirky story on this centenarian and why he’s using his 70-year old knitting skills to help an endangered species down under.