Non Technically Speaking / My Dad CONNECTed me to Dale Carnegie and here's what I learned

Non Technically Speaking is my professional blog appearing on NEXT WAVE CONNECT a collaborative social network for Healthcare professionals. 

As a very young child my parents taught me many things. Two things I remember are my home phone number P I 7 – 8 5 2 6. The PI was PIoneer. Eventually it was okay to just use numbers: 7 4 7 – 8 5 2 6. No need for area codes back then. The other thing was “never talk to strangers.”

Then somewhere in time the “paradigm shifted” and I was heading off to Friday Night Recreation from 7-9 pm at the Willets Road Middle School. Things start to shift in middle school, but back in 1973, I don’t think we were talking about paradigms. Shy, quiet me was suppose to be talking to my classmates on a Friday night. That meant casual interactions with classmates. And my father was coaching me from one his Dale Carnegie books on “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

That’s Dale’s quote, but my Dad just paraphrased it and encouraged me to take an interest in other people. Ask questions, and if they start to talk about something they seem to enjoy talking about, ask more questions. When I went off to my college interviews, Dad reminded me again to ask questions. He was always reminding my sister and me to take an interest in others. Be inquisitive!

So that brings me to today, the paradigms keep shifting and we’re playing with social networking as a collaborative tool. We are bringing together health care professionals eager to interact and learn from each other. But stop dangling your toes in the water and really start to play. What brings you on-board? What is your biggest challenge? Why haven’t you been back? What was your biggest success last year? Who do you want to talk to? How can I help?

I miss the old white World Book Encyclopedias my Dad bought one year that sat on a walnut book rack in the center hallway and I paraphrased for many a school report. I don’t have to run up and down the stairs to look up something any longer, now I can just shift over to another open window and search Wikipedia. Thomas Kuhn first mentioned a paradigm shift in his 1962 book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” Somewhere in the late 80s and early 90s, Paradigm became a pretty popular management buzzword. And the frog in boiling water was a popular analogy. I’m no scientist but I think the acceleration rate for shifting paradigms is rapid these days. However, I’m not sure it is too cool to talk about shifting paradigms any longer, as I’m probably dating myself. But today you can reach out easily and CONNECT with colleagues across the country, no need for area codes or even phone numbers.

I’m going start asking questions, as I make CONNECTions, I’m hoping some of you will answer, and in return reach out to others and ask the more questions. Post those questions in the communities you are interested in and let’s watch what happens.

The way we do our work keeps changing.

CONNECT is an exciting way to be part of yet another change. In a lot of ways, CONNECT is your Friday Night Recreation, but available all hours, every day. If you want to hang out in the gym and talk ICD-10 check it out, there’s arts and crafts and ACOs in the cafeteria, and if you want to step outside and hide in the bushes… for a private chat… well yeah, that’s possible too... you can set up a private community within CONNECT... you get the idea.

Talk to strangers! I think my parent would approve.

Start with asking questions. And suddenly you’ll realize we’re not strangers, we’re all healthcare professionals working, exploring and solving together today’s healthcare challenges! Collaborative networking and problem solving, learning together and from each other. Make CONNECTions; it’s for the patient!

Thanks for reading.

John McDowell

Senior Community Manager / Next Wave Connect
February 6, 2014