Joe Tye

23/09/2021

One day last week I had a long airport layover. It was the end of a long day so when I went into Hudson’s bookstore, I was looking for the sort of book that was not work-related and would be hard to put down.

22/09/2021

20/09/2021

I read The Mind and the Brain about 15 years ago. It was one of the first books to explain the science of brain plasticity in a way that the average layperson could begin to understand it.

18/09/2021

It’s been said that leaders are readers and readers become leaders. Sadly, for most of us reading has taken a backseat to keeping up with email and social media and surfing the web.

13/09/2021

A great statement of values should define who you are, what you stand for, and what you won’t stand for. Core values are the foundation in what we call the Invisible Architecture.

10/08/2021

I recently had a phone call with my friend Bob Siebel, President of Carriage Healthcare Companies. We were talking about the challenges the covid pandemic has forced upon long-term care organizations, and about why it will be so important going forward to bring down the silo walls that currently sta

28/06/2021

Published: June 28, 2021. All emotional pain is caused by mini out-of-body experiences. Your conscious awareness is in a time zone and/or a zip code that is different than that of your physical, corporeal body.

21/12/2020

Why Ali was the Greatest
And Why We Need You to Stay Strong For Us

The first time Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton it was supposed to be an easy tune-up in preparation for his ballyhooed rematch with Smokin’ Joe Frazier. Ali took the fight too lightly and did not train like he should have.

Norton fractured Ali’s jaw in several places and won a split decision. After the fight, Ali made no excuses and did not disparage his opponent. Quite to the contrary, he said that Ken Norton was the toughest man he’d ever fought.

He also trained harder than ever for the rematch. He beat Norton in their next two fights. And he beat Frazier the next two times they fought.

Ali wasn’t just The Greatest because of the way he knocked other fighters down; he was the greatest because of the way he got back up after he’d been knocked down. He wasn’t The Greatest just because of who he was as a fighter; he was The Greatest because of who he was as a man.

Footnote: In my previous career as chief operating officer for a large community teaching hospital, I came in one Monday morning to learn that over the weekend Muhammad Ali had shown up unannounced and gone up to the children’s unit to visit with the kids. That simple act of human kindness, more than his 56–5 (35 by KO) boxing record, makes Muhammad Ali The Greatest in my eyes.

And Why We Need You to Stay Strong For Us The first time Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton it was supposed to be an easy tune-up […]

06/05/2020

Happy Nurses Day! We remember Florence as having been founder of nursing as a true profession, but should also recognize her many other pioneering roles. Among other things, she was the first modern hospital administrator and created the org structure still in use today; was the original architect of the hospital as we know it; and was a ferocious advocate for the healthcare of soldiers, veterans and their families. Learn more by downloading the afterword to the 10th Anniversary edition of my book The Florence Prescription here: https://bit.ly/10thAnnivAfterword

The book and new audiobook are available on Amazon or: https://www.TheFlorenceChallenge.com

23/04/2020

For all the tragedy and sadness of the coronavirus pandemic, the tragedy will be compounded if we waste the crisis by not making some good come from it.

I fervently hope that one good thing will be the eradication of the word Justa from the English language. When applied to a human being, by others or by individuals themselves, Justa is one of the most unjust words conceivable.

I hope that we will remember that:

Justa Housekeeper was the first one on the beach making it safe for others to follow.

Justa Lab Tech was double and triple checking results, knowing that if they didn't get it right everything else will go wrong.

Justa UPS Driver was going door-to-door delivering all the stuff that the rest of us didn't or couldn't leave the house to go buy.

Justa First Responder was running toward the emergencies that the rest of us watched on television.

Justa Nurse was celebrating the International Year of the Nurse by working longer hours with sicker patients at greater personal risk then could reasonably have been expected.

After years of being underpaid and underappreciated, all of the Justas are finally being recognized for being the heroes they always have been.

When things get back to normal, whatever the new normal proves to be, will we remember that in the darkest hours of the coronavirus pandemic, all of the Justas were there doing what they always had done?

I recorded this 3-minute video several years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7eFiecAY5c but the message has never been more relevant, never been more urgent, than it is today. Please share it with your team and ask your colleagues what they will do to make sure we don't forget the people we're calling heroes today will still be heroes when the crisis has passed. Thank you.

07/04/2020

Pray for your friends...

14/02/2020

"I have often marveled at the thin line which separates success from failure."
Sir Ernest Shackleton

Our dog Dumpster, who is also the Values Coach office mascot, knows about resilience.

Fourteen years ago, when Dumpster was just a 5-week-old puppy, he was thrown into a garbage dumpster on a frigid winter night. Fortunately, a passerby heard him whimpering and took him to the emergency veterinary hospital. At the time my daughter worked there as a vet tech. Dumpster has been a member of our family ever since.

Dumpster has now reached the average life expectancy for his breed. Arthritis has slowed his running to an awkward trot, but he bears up with the stoicism of a Roman gladiator.

Several weeks ago Dumpster was viciously mauled by two other dogs. We rushed him to the emergency vet hospital where several of the long-term people remembered him as a puppy.

After a week of intensive care he had made very little progress and was still, despite being on multiple painkillers, in obvious pain. On the seventh day we had a melancholy talk with the veterinarian about Dumpster's (dismal) prospects, and his likely quality of life (even more dismal) if he did survive
Sally and I went home that evening and decided that we simply couldn't put him through that sort of life, and that the time had come for him to join the many other rescued hounds that had been with us over the years before passing on.

The next morning, brokenhearted, we went back to the animal hospital to have the dreaded conversation with the vet. When we got there, though, Dumpster was alert, sitting up, and waiting for one of the vet techs to give him a treat.

A week later we were able to bring him home. He still moves slowly and awkwardly and sleeps a lot (well, he's always slept a lot). At his age we know that we have to be realistic about how much recovery is possible - though he continues to surprise us.

Napoleon Hill, the author of the classic self-help book Think and Grow Rich, wrote that every successful person finds their greatest accomplishment occurs just after they have become convinced that their ideas will not work - but they succeed because they keep working despite their despair.

If Dumpster could talk, he would say something very similar. If you are ready to give up on something, he'd say, give it one more day, one more try. You just might find that you step across "the thin line which separates success from failure" after all.

Happy Valentine's Day from Dumpster and the team at Values Coach!