To those that do business for the state of Oregon,
After about a month of mulling over the facts, it has come to my attention that we love Oregon– despite its rainy weather. And when I say, we, I mean the royal we, the collective we, the people that create this lovely green state, who partake in taxes and who read the daily funnies. Some of us prefer to be called weird, others progressive, and somehow we still manage to find room for the individualists with their personal ideals. Just yesterday, I saw a man walk down the street, an extra 5 feet off the ground because for some unknown reason he felt like being in a higher realm. Well, personally, I prefer my feet stationed squarely upon the ground, allowing my toes to tap into grassroot pursuits, but I am never one to judge and, thus, delighted in the uneven encounter. And so begins another round-about, rambling dialogue to my beloved readership. This time, I’d like to address those that choose to create change using the momentum of a business strategy.
Despite the flippant nature of our weather patterns, and the lull in our national economy, in Oregon it’s business as usual, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to say that it’s all good. I recently attended a Portland Business Journal luncheon about sustainability. You could say that I felt slightly out of place, but my boss said that you must understand how business works in order to be successful in any pursuit, as it is the pulsating vein that keeps ventures alive in the age of capitalism. Such is probably the case, and having recalled my graduate thesis on the Art of Medicine, based upon the Art of War, let’s just say that there were numerous books detailing how to get a strategic, business edge using the ancient arts of warfare.
So here I was, in the midst of mindful marketeers partaking in dozens of round-tabled discussions, rubbing elbows with individuals that I do not normally single out to associate with. However, just as my boss had described, I learned a lot from the experience. The intention behind the luncheon of industrialists quickly got to the point: sustainability and keeping a business in the green. The entire meeting can be summed up as: how to streamline costs and production from start to finish, so that a business remains profitable and able to grow flourishingly into the future. Well, this meeting wasn’t so foreign after all; in fact, this lapelled-laden language was quite akin to medicine.
So to make this worthwhile, in this letter I will formulate bridges of understanding so that anyone who chooses to learn how to create a prosperous business can also utilize these same principles to obtain optimum health. This integration of information is purposefully designed so that any businessman who successfully relates the two will have an immeasurable profitability for himself and for the greater community. Both practices are based upon similar rules: maintain awareness, understand all the components involved, keep costs down, exercise mindful decisions, and most obviously, have an dynamic plan or strategy to obtain your goals, projecting into the future so that your entity can continue to grow. Hey, in the very least, it might be worth your time to invest in this opportunity because we’re really talking about something bigger than business, we’re talking about your personal occupation, the ultimate definition of how you choose to live your life. Trust me, 10 minutes of your time, and I guarantee rewarding results.
Sustainability is certainly the buzzword these days, and aptly so because it denotes conservatism. Frivolity in business or health is not advantageous and depletes resources. Gordon Brinser, the VP of SolarWorld emphasized that its important to keep a sustainable system throughout, making sure that both suppliers and consumers understand the need for sustainability. If more businesses understand this, it puts Oregon into the driver seat as the leader in the new sustainable economy. 
Exactly, kinda common sense, yet it acts as a great marketing tool. In terms of health, do you have a sustainable lifestyle? Do you have enough energy to complete daily tasks? What type of fuel do you provide your body? How local is your fuel supply? These are questions that will enable you to identify if your production is running at an optimum level. Satisfaction is a rather lofty word, but does your lifestyle ultimately fulfill what you’d like to do with your personal lifetime? If it doesn’t then perhaps it’s time to reassess, find a personal plan that gives back, energizes you, and allows you to pursue your passions. Otherwise, my friend, chances are you are not truly in the driver’s seat, rather depleting the resources that you have, and, unfortunately, “going broke” in this business can have some unpleasant, invasive, and costly side effects.
Lean manufacturing was another hot topic during the business luncheon. Jake Nichol, Oregon’s Leatherman Tool Group president and CEO, cautioned companies to identify where “waste” exists and to eliminate it; streamline production so that operations can become more easily managed. Sound familiar? Now imagine if you conducted your daily routines with as much precision. Cutting out the fat so to speak, eliminating waste, such as unhealthy habits that undermine your true potential or mismanaged time where you wish you were somewhere else. Moreover, Nichol states that it’s best to invest in quality throughout production, skimping on value will inevitably short change your venture in the future because, as consequence, dissatisfaction and sub-standard results will occur. A sustainable business has a focus on high quality processes and outcomes, and in turn, possesses greater production values and a larger consumer demand for product. In terms of health, this means that anyone who deletes wasteful practices and incorporates more quality into the daily routine will have a more productive and satisfying life, less prone to sickness, suffering, and disease.
Now that’s a realistic line of thought to ask yourself: do you provide your body with quality products, such as wholesome food, fresh air, and relationships that support you? Stress is a good indicator if you haven’t quite figured out the ideas of quality. To expand upon this point, stress manifests in your life mentally as foggy thinking, physically as inflammation, and emotionally as unhappiness. Do you experience any one of these? Then sounds like it might be worth your while to reassess, realign values with routine, and make health happen for you. Disorganization and low quality choices lead to unhealthy circumstances and, ultimately, a mismanagement of monetary resources.
Next to take the stage was Intel’s General Manager, Lorie Wigle, who demonstrated the need to keep track of your carbon footprint, an elementary example of how efficient you are with any venture. This is a rather big deal within the context of global warming and nicely builds off the first two speakers. 
A carbon footprint enables you to measure how well you are able to adhere to the topics discussed above: efficiency and quality. And, more importantly, it’s best to keep an active awareness about your carbon impression on the planet so that you can continue to improve it, working towards the goal of neutral impaction. Neutral impaction means that there is an equal exchange between you and your environment, waste is at minimum, and you have more potential and energy for pursuing new enterprises. After achieving this, innovation is possible because you invested wisely. Innovation is about creativity compounded with ample resources, efficiency, refinement, and reduction of energy consumption. Are you in the creative driver’s seat for your health or are external circumstances defining how you identify and/or cope with your life? Carbon footprinting can be a valuable tool for those in search of how balanced one’s behavior actually is within the grand scheme of things, and can help direct those towards a low-impact, resource-rich lifestyle.
Towards the latter end of the discussion, PGE’s Vice President, Bill Nicholson, plainly stated that customers vote with their dollars, and that fundamentally the economy is driven by what consumers want. My ears perked up with this one. So even on the upper levels of business, they admit that power ultimately lies in the hands of the people. Yes, it is true, and also good to hear, and best left to the end of the discussion due to its double-sworded nature. Consumers represent a vast populace of untapped potential. If a business can convince the populace that their product is worth pursuing, then money will follow. For so long consumers have checked out, led by reigns of corporate greed, yet there is a great potential to alter the equation.
What if, as a collective, we clearly tell businesses what we want. In other words, vote with our dollars on products that scream quality, insist upon products that support health for ourselves and our environment; what if we buy with local economy in mind, sustaining community, getting to know and assisting the people who provide us with our products, and settle for nothing less than the best? We can set the standard, but it involves everyone one of us becoming mindful consumers, aware of ourselves, our interactions, and how we impact our external environment with our personal intentions. This is totally possible if we adopt a business strategy for our lifestyles based upon the principles outlined above. 
Moreover pursuing this possibility will give back tenfold with boundless bounty to ourselves and our communities.
Well, now that you are caught up with how business and health are related and what you can do as an individual to obtain optimum health with a business plan-approach for your lifestyle…. You might be wondering well, that’s all fine and dandy, C. Biscuit, but the focus of change is placed upon the small, individual scale. And although I can vote with my dollars to support the businesses that have my best interest at heart, the health care complex is pretty messed up. What can you tell me about the grander picture for the health care industry? Are there any strategic enterprises out there looking to reorganize, cut the waste, cut-to-the-chase within the health care industry? Yes, health care’s overarching organization is at an all-time low, and certain entities are actively profiting off of this, leading the innocent astray, but luckily there are benevolent movements working out the kinks, attempting the impossible: making health care sustainable. Hurray!
Please recall one very important fact: the health industry is made up of several businesses. Each of the businesses are dependant upon consumers and where the consumer dollar gets invested. A mobilization of public awareness about health care options, and thusly, rather obviously, grass rooted pursuits have a tremendous amount of potential. To assist those of you interested in becoming a more active part in the transition towards a viable solution for an effective, qualitative, and all-encompassing system of health care please read on.
One such venture that’s certainly worth a mention for the lovely state of Oregon is the Archimedes Movement. Talk about getting everyone involved. Archimedes is a bottom-up, top-down communication network, discussing the minute details for the business of health from the perspectives of legislation, insurance, private practice, to the delivery of quality health care to the average consumer patient. Moreover, the principles of sustainability discussed above are intimately part of its strategic structure and underline a clear road to a true solution. The idea is to accurately address how to clean up the mess so that everyone involved gets a fair piece of the pie. And they want you to be part of the dialogue: on June 14th, 2008, the first annual conference will be held at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Individuals from all walks of life across this fair state will convene and glean the tools for helping to organize our health care system for the better.
Access to health care on a grand scale means a genuinely sustainable, working system throughout, with an emphasis on quality and efficiency. An investment in this prospective venture has more than enough potential for change, and more importantly, change for the better. And if you’re still focused on monetary gain, there’s a HUGE demand for sustainable health care, locally and globally… that means there is an untapped niche market in search of a benevolent health care system that truly works, no smoke and mirrors. And to simplify even further, adopting the strategy above: happy workers = higher production. Are you providing your employees with optimum health coverage? The health care system that will ultimately triumph will succeed because it has the backing of millions of quality seeking individuals.
So I must ask you, where are you investing your dollars? Doesn’t it make sense to put your two cents where the investment can have a profound impact for yourself as well as for your community? Thanks for your time, astute business-minded people of Oregon, consider this a worthy tip that has the potential to surpass your wildest dreams. I guarantee it.
Now you have a friend in the health care business.
Best,
C. Biscuit
The ability of the brain to make sense out of nonsense is truly an art form. Musicians are able to interpret a vast sea of information; immaterial thoughts, ideas, and imagination and then weave it into the material world in the form of a musical composition. Neuroscientists are refining and defining where creativity and genius reside within the brain, literally pin-pointing where an insight hits plain view sight. Here’s what the brainy kids have discovered so far….
stigmatism view
