Thursday, November 12, 2009

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste"...

... so said White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, recently. We were reminded of this at a breakfast panel discussion hosted by the firms of Solomon McCown and Goulston & Storrs this morning, entitled "Rising in a Down Economy". One after another, each panelest recounted experiences and advice gleaned from a variety of settings, including managing special projects for a large real estate development company, running a not-for-profit health related foundation, overseeing multimedia for a major media and publishing enterprise and working in the communications and public relations field. Diverse experiences and perspectives, but one common theme: times of crisis, panic, and challenge can be fertile territory for revitalization, renewal and creativity. My two favorite moments came when Bennie DiNardo, deputy managing editor for The Boston Globe (and point man for the successful offshoot, Boston.com), stated that ten years ago, the paper knew it had to move onto the internet. And so, it began to port content over from the paid subscription model to the free internet site. They had no idea how they could make any money doing that, but they knew they had to. So they jumped... and it seems that things have worked out for them. Ashley McCown, president of one of the breakfast's co-hosting firms, described the Chinese symbol for crisis. It is comprised of two brushstrokes, one representing danger, the other, opportunity.

Many of the posts here on this blog pertain to the current health reform debate. It strikes me that, ultimately, the likely impact on home health care will be painted with both of these broad brushstrokes.

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