Writing has been a passion of mine since I was a small child. As it is for so many, writing serves as an outlet to indulge my imagination, thoughtfully document my observations, flesh out strategy, and share the insights and ideas that build in my brain.
Equal to my passion for writing is reading. During my years working in publishing, I often pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. While a few of the authors I represented proved to be, shall I say, challenging, the majority were exceptional and a joy to work with.
My enormous library (some on my shelves, many in boxes until we have the space to have a room dedicated to books) consists of works on organizational development, human performance, and all things related to leadership, emotional intelligence, and communications. In truth, my absolute favorite genre is autobiographies. I’m awestruck at the courage of those who share their stories with the intent of bringing hope and healing to others. If you’re looking for a recommendation, let me know. I’ll email you a list of my all-time favorites.
In this forum, I thought I’d share some of the pieces I’ve written on a variety of topics and hope that you will find a few that spark an idea or deliver an ah-ha moment.
The Health Care Workforce Shortage is Ablaze
I read another article this morning about hospital staffing shortages on the rise and desperately needed relief funding for vulnerable health institutions ending, even with increases in cases, rising costs of staffing and supplies, and other unknown damages pending. When we ignore a climate crisis in the making, all the warning signs that epic fires [...]
Confronting the Workplace Whataboutism
How often have you encountered someone who's taken the "whataboutism" approach in conversation or conflict with coworkers or employees? If you've lost count, they’re likely destabilizing your organization's culture. Whataboutism is more than a clever portmanteau, validated by the fact that the blended term was entered into the Merriam-Webster dictionary in October of 2021. In [...]
The Underlying Effect of Untruthfulness During a Pandemic
-Michelle Rathman, President Impact! Communications, Inc. "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics," so said Mark Twain in his Chapters from My Autobiography, published in the year 1906. These words could not be more relevant today. We have in America a lying epidemic. Lying is bringing dis-ease to every aspect of our lives. In government, [...]
Achieving Operational Excellence in Community Hospitals
As published by Cerner prior to the 2019 Cerner CommunityWorks Summit 2019 where Michelle was the industry professional keynote speaker. Our nation’s small, rural and community hospitals (I refer to the collective as “right-sized”) are experiencing a tidal wave of uncertainty and change. Some of it is desperately needed, and much of it is uncomfortable [...]
Why Rural Health Must Matter
by Michelle Rathman I have worked in the healthcare sector for the past 21 years, first in public health, and now in rural for over 15 years. As I travel from state to state, town to town, small hospital to small hospital, I shake hands and have conversations with dedicated, talented, and selfless men and [...]
What’s our Rural Health Plan B
I have worked in the healthcare sector for the past 21 years, first in public health, and now in rural for over 15 years. As I travel from state to state, town to town, small hospital to small hospital, I shake hands and have conversations with dedicated, talented, and selfless men and women working tirelessly [...]
Make an Impact May!
May is a special month for me, for many reasons. For starters, on May 2nd, my second child was born, and I could not have asked for a more kind and loving son. Brody happens to be an incredibly talented visionary, entrepreneur and loving husband to Bethany. May is also the month we recognize Mother’s Day. I have [...]
Moving beyond this Healthcare Headache
Last week, like many of you, I contacted my congressional representatives, posted many pieces, tweeted and retweeted dozens of pleas from the American Hospital Association, several State Hospital Associations, the National Rural Health Association, American Nurses Association, AARP and several more to say, "NO" to the AHCA. I also cautioned (myself included) that killing the Bill was nothing to [...]
Entrepreneurship is a Family Business
So this is my son and his wife's company, https://bbkustomkennels.com. Their product was recently featured on an HGTV program, and they're receiving all sorts of great industry press and social media success. I'm sharing it with my LinkedIn community because, well, first and foremost, I'm so very proud of them. After attending college, securing a really good job and doing [...]