I am a fan of Clint Eastwood movies of all types, especially the old westerns. Some pieces of some movies stick in my head more than others. The first time I heard the theme song to “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” it stuck. That was many years ago. To this day, though, I think of those opening notes when I find myself in the middle of some situation that looks like it will turn out to be either really good or really bad, with little chance of it being mediocre. It’s too bad there isn’t a way to add an audio link to a magazine article. The best I can do is tell you where to find it if you aren’t hearing it in your head already. Go to your favorite search engine and look for something on YouTube about “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” theme song.
I’m not sure if “ugly” in the title of the movie was actually meant to describe the situations depicted or the physical appearance of some of the characters. I guess it could fit either way. To clarify, I often use the word “ugly” in reference to circumstances and conditions, not people. In our current situation, I am not even sure that “ugly” fits, so I will just use “undefined” for now. Following up from the last article I wrote, we have landed downriver and for the most part, the raft and the family are all still whole. Now, we are starting to see enough of the new surroundings to begin to be able to start categorizing some aspects of what we have discovered.
I am typically an optimist until something or someone really makes me angry, and even then I usually get back to a positive perspective pretty quickly. In my experience, most people only stay negative when they feel there is no hope of changing the root cause of a problem. Some are willing to devote more effort to driving change than others, so there is always variation in each individual’s perceptions of hopelessness. Likewise, there may be variations in whether things are perceived as good or bad, depending on the perspective.
So, from my perspective (and please don’t forget about that opening disclaimer), there are a few things that look like they are going to be really “good” in this new environment. The natives we encountered have been very friendly and helpful, showing us how to survive in some unfamiliar circumstances. The families who arrived before us had cleared rocks and trees from part of the land as they built the foundations of their own future. We are the beneficiaries of their efforts, and can start from where they left off to further remove some obvious obstructions and improve productivity for everyone. Certain relationships have already been forged, allowing us to begin trading immediately with reliable suppliers, steering us away from the trappers and miners who are potentially less trustworthy.
At the same time, we have some experiences and processes to share with our new neighbors, which are helping create mutually advantageous opportunities for further expansion of the settlement. All of this is expected to work together to produce a bountiful harvest in the long run. Laying aside the analogies for a moment, it looks like this new service arrangement for our organization may result in cost savings for the healthcare system, additional supportive resources for our employees. We are also seeing actions being taken that provide some assurance that we are working with individuals who understand the business of Healthcare Technology Management. Things like creating new positions and hiring necessary additional employees are able to happen without getting buried under all the layers of hospital processes.
As in all new situations, there are some things that were not anticipated, and a few of those fall into the “bad” category. There are definite language barriers, with significant differences in slang and dialect that require someone to provide translation at times. Unfortunately, the interpreters are not always immediately available when and where needed, so miscommunication is a common occurrence. We did lose some things of value as we made the move, many of which were previously taken for granted. In that respect, we are living the old saying of “you never know what you have until it’s gone.” Beyond the loss of some personal material benefits, the whole aspect of having complete autonomy to design and build freely within our surroundings has vanished. We are now accountable for demonstrating that any investment of time and energy will result in significant positive impact for everyone, since many more people will be affected by anything that does get built in this new environment.
Since change is a continuous process and not a single event, it is impossible to classify every aspect as either good or bad, which leads to the fact that most of this adventure is still “undefined.” Once we arrived at this place, we diligently investigated the surroundings before we committed to settling here. Even after all of that effort, a few things are not exactly what they appeared to be from the outsider’s vantage point. Like the typical Clint Eastwood character, there is no such thing as giving up and going back. We will continue to explore and map out the paths as we go deeper into the unknown areas.
So perhaps you are wondering if there is any message in all of this that applies to your situation, or if it was just a story to fill a couple pages in the magazine. There are two big messages. First, as with all changes in your life, the outcome will depend on you to a great extent. It will be whatever you make it, depending on how you choose to respond to your new situation. Second, as things are going on around you, you can choose to watch and learn, or you can choose to ignore it and think it won’t happen to you. I prefer to be more in the role of watching and learning, and perhaps adjusting future responses based on what I see as success or failure from previous experiences (my own or someone else’s).
For us, it remains to be seen whether the projected “Fistful of Dollars” will be saved, or whether in reality the decision will cost “A Few Dollars More”, but what fun is a movie if you know the ending before you watch it?
DISCLAIMER: All comments, ideas, opinions or suggestions expressed herein are those of the author and are not in any way representative of the author’s employer or of any organization the author may be associated with.