Ten Surprising Ways To Love Wine In 2015

Maybe wine has made it onto your New Year’s resolution list. Maybe you’d like to learn more about it, or drink more of it, or finally — finally! — look like you actually know what you’re doing when you taste it.

If that’s the case, then this list is not for you.

This list is not for you if wine is an item to check off your to-do list. It is not for you, either, if you want to be a “wine expert.”

If, on the other hand, you have a curiosity about wine, if you’re willing to take your time with it, if you think about wine as part of life, as integrated into a bigger picture… If you want toenjoy wine, then yes, this list is for you.

Here are ten ways to increase your chances of enjoying wine — and of going all the way to loving it — in 2015.

This year, make it a point to try grapes you’ve never heard of, from places you’ve never been. Your experience will be so much more interesting if you do.

1. Try a grape you’ve never heard of. Please. Your experience will be so much more interesting if you do.
2. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the rigamarole of how to taste and sniff and evaluate wine. Instead of, How do I taste this wine? Ask instead, What is the story behind this wine?
3. Try wine from a US state that is not California. I love California wines, and they are the US benchmark for good reason. But I’m encouraging you to expand your horizons here. Break your own trail to a different part of the wine shop or the wine list.
4. You might start with wines from Oregon, Washington, New York, and Virginia. But there are 45 other states after that, and they all produce wine. Which means there’s a winery near you.
5. Visit a winery. It doesn’t have to be a big, expensive, trip-of-a-lifetime deal. The point is to look around the environment where the wine comes from, and especially to talk to the people who work there.
6. Start identifying to yourself what you smell when you first walk into a room. Identifying smells takes practice, and there’s no reason to wait until you’ve got a glass in your hand to do it. The idea is to get into the routine, and to increase your memory bank of smells.
7. Read about wine. Sure, there are reference books that might come off as fairly dry. They serve their purpose too. But there are also wine books with a plot, with engaging writing, and with narratives that make you forget you’re absorbing information about wine while you’re reading the story.
8. “Read” non-books. Find bloggers you like who post frequently. Listen to podcasts. Search YouTube. Start following photographers who specialize in wine. Wine is not a linear subject, and there are lots of ways to “flesh out” your experience of it.
9. Learn what bitter is, and how to describe it. It’s a misunderstood sensation but, as one of the four or five basic tastes, it’s worth getting to know it better.
10. Consider that the news you may usually skim actually has big implications for wine. News items related to agriculture, sustainability, legal classifications, trade agreements, labor and migration all have a direct bearing on how the wine tastes, how much you paid for it, and what it took to bring that particular bottle to your table. (See number 2, above.)

The True Cost Of Low Drug Prices

India is not, yet, a wealthy country. Nevertheless its people experience many of the same expensive-to-treat illnesses as wealthier populations in the U.S. and Europe. Therefore the country has made a series of policy decisions designed to lower the cost of medical treatments. For example, until 2005, it offered no – I repeat, no – patent protection for pharmaceutical products, thereby spurring the development of its robust and relatively inexpensive generic industry. Even when India passed patent laws in 2005, the laws only offered weak protections. When new drugs come on to the Indian market, they typically face generic competition less than, gulp, 12 months after their launch.

The upside of these policies is straight forward. Drugs in India are cheap, often way less expensive than the cost of the same medications in the U.S. or Europe. But India’s policies create a less obvious, but very important, downside – they delay the entry of new pharmaceutical products into the Indian market. This delay is powerfully rendered in the following figure, reproduced from a study published in Health Affairs, and conducted by Ernst Berndt, an economist at MIT, and Iain Cockburn, a management professor at Boston University:

The figure shows how quickly new drugs come to market after they receive FDA approval in the U.S., a relatively high regulatory hurdle requiring the kind of scientific evidence that typically meets the standards required by European and Indian regulators too. Within one to two years, most of these products have been launched in the U.S., launches that suggest that the companies believe they can profit from the drugs, thereby justifying the enormous marketing and other costs associated with bringing them to market. Germany does not see quite as many of these drugs come to market so quickly, likely reflecting the lower prices such products demand in that heavily regulated country. But India? It takes almost five years for even half of those products to come to market there. As Berndt and Cockburn put it: “These low prices have arguably come at the cost of significant delays in the availability of new drugs.”

That’s an understatement. There is little doubt that the dismal odds of profiting in India deter pharmaceutical companies from quickly entering that market. But that does not therefore mean that India is making a mistake by promoting such stingy policies. India’s approach involves a value judgment, hopefully a well thought out one. The Indian government must decide the importance of lowering the price of available drugs, given that such policies will delay how quickly its citizens will get access to new ones. The government has to decide how to balance these two important goals, of controlling costs versus expanding access. India is not wealthy enough to have it all, to be able to pay full price for all the latest treatments while providing medical care to most of its citizens. As its economy grows, I expect India to tighten up its patent laws, or to somehow give pharmaceutical companies more incentives to launch products in their markets more quickly.

In the meantime, India’s situation serves as a reminder. Both high and low drug costs come at a price.

Doctors Face A Huge Medicare And Medicaid Pay Cut In 2015

If you thought it was getting increasingly difficult for Medicare and Medicaid patients to see a doctor, you’re right—and that problem may get even worse in 2015.

Doctors who still accept Medicare patients could see an average reduction of  21.2 percent in Medicare reimbursement rates, according the Department of Health and Human Services.  And a new Urban Institute study claims primary care physicians who still take Medicaid patients could see an average reduction of 42.8 percent.

Think those pay cuts just might affect access to medical care?

At issue is what the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, did and did not do.

First, what it did do: Obamacare increased Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care physicians to Medicare levels—but only for two years, 2013 and 2014.

Medicare, which provides health coverage for seniors, pays doctors, on average,about 80 percent of what private health insurance pays.  However, Medicaid, which provides health coverage for the poor, pays a much lower rate, about 56 percent.

And yet one of the primary ways Democrats planned to increase the number of insured under Obamacare was by expanding Medicaid to millions more.  In order to stifle opposition from physicians and states to their Medicaid expansion, Democrats drafting Obamacare included a two-year bribe to buy support. That increase just expired and lower Medicaid reimbursement rates are back.

The Urban Institute just released a report estimating the decrease by state.  Across all states, Urban estimates a 42.8 percent reduction in primary care fees for eligible physicians in 2015.

But Urban breaks the analysis down by various groups.  It estimates that doctors in the 27 states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare will see a 46.2 percent reduction, while primary care doctors in states that did not expand Medicaid will face a 36.8 percent reduction.

So maybe there were good reasons for not expanding Medicaid.

For several years, doctors have increasingly refused to take new, and in some cases any, Medicaid patients.  The Physicians Foundation’s “2014 Survey of America’s Physicians” reports that 38 percent of physicians either do not see Medicaid patients or limit the number they see.  Generally speaking, primary care doctors have been more willing than specialists to continue taking Medicaid patients.

In the recent budget negotiations, President Obama proposed, and several Democrats supported, a one-year extension of the Medicaid bribe, but that provision was not part of the final agreement.

If Republicans (appropriately) refuse to re-instate the “temporary” increase, we will likely see doctors abandoning Medicaid even faster than they have been, and Obama’s promise to improve access to health care may turn out to be as good as his promise that you could keep your doctor.

Second, what Obamacare didn’t do: It did not resolve the “doc fix” problem.  In 1997 Congress passed legislation that said if its efforts to slow Medicare’s growth rate to match GDP were unsuccessful—referred to as the “sustainable growth rate,” or SGR—Medicare would lower what it paid doctors to achieve the goal.

Congressional efforts to stem Medicare’s growth rate failed for more than a decade; it started slowing some years ago, mostly because of the recession.

But Congress repeatedly postponed those required cuts by passing legislation that temporarily kept reimbursement rates roughly unchanged.  It has until April 1 to come up with a solution or doctors treating Medicare patients will see an average 21.2 percent reimbursement cut.

Democrats initially wanted to include a permanent doc fix in Obamacare, but doing so raised the official cost of the legislation well above Obama’s stated—though fraudulent—target of $1 trillion.  And so that provision was dropped.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)now estimates that keeping the current rates the same for 10 years will cost $119 billion.

Now that Republicans are in charge, they will probably (and reasonably) want to offset the additional cost of the doc fix with other budget cuts, known as “pay fors.”  Or Republicans might attach the doc fix, which Obama and Democrats want, to legislation they don’t want—like approving the Keystone XL pipeline, limiting some of the Environmental Protection Agency’s overreaches, or rolling back part of Obama’s amnesty executive order.

The point is that while there will likely be bipartisan support for some type of doc fix, it might get bogged down in legislative maneuvers.

So doctors could be in for a bruising financial year, losing 21 percent of their Medicare reimbursements and 43 percent of Medicaid.  And that means patients, both seniors and the poor, may not be able to find a doctor who will take them.

There is nothing new in these types of access problems; countries with socialized medicine experience them frequently.  And the U.S. will see even more of them as we move closer to the health care system Obama has acknowledged he really wants—a government-run, single-payer system.

truth about full time employment

About fifteen years ago I started consulting. I got two juicy projects right away, and I was over the moon. I had been a corporate Sally since the dawn of time.

One of the projects was very cutting-edge for its day. The other one was a more conventional organizational development project. I dug into both projects with gusto.

After the first milestones were met I sat down for strategy meetings with each of my two CEO clients. The fellow with the cutting-edge project wanted to do lots more work together. I was wary. I had worked full-time for the past twenty years without a break.

I said to the CEO “Maybe you need a VP of Human Resources and Organizational Development. It doesn't matter what you call the person. It could be VP of People. Maybe you need someone to do the kind of work I've been doing with your team on a full-time basis.”

The CEO said “Why don’t you come and work for me?”

“I am on a different path,” I said. “My flame goes in a different direction.”

The CEO wasn't happy. He still wanted me to do lots of projects for him. I went home distraught.

“Great client, great start, and now I feel like I can’t win,” I told my husband. “Paul will be unhappy with me if I stop working with him. If I do all the work he wants me to do with his company, I’ll practically be on the payroll, and I don’t want to tie up my time.”

“Why don’t you tell him you’ll do a certain amount of stuff and stop there?” asked my husband, sensibly.

“Paul likes to call and email with in-the-moment requests,” I said. “He is comfortable with me. He wants to get on the phone and talk. It’s all billable, but I still feel like the HR person slash office wife at times.”

“Then this is exactly the push you need to get out of that box,” said my husband. “Just walk away.”

My heart was pounding just thinking about dropping one of the only two consulting clients I had. I was a big people pleaser back then. I panicked at the thought of making anyone unhappy with me.

“Look at it this way,” said my husband. “At least if you walk away from Paul, that’s only fifty percent of your income affected. You can make that up. You haven’t had a spare minute to think about business development. What if your problem were with a guy who controlled a hundred percent of your income?”

That is the principal problem with full-time employment. One person controls your entire income, and that’s not healthy. That’s why so many people go underground and stop bringing their personalities, opinions and trusty instincts to work. They tune into the frequency called What My Boss Wants and then they don’t touch that dial, sometimes for years.

They rationalize like crazy. “Yeah, maybe I don’t sleep that well all the time, but at least I have a job with  benefits,” they say. It’s very hard to look at what might not be working on the job, because in our gut of guts we know we need that job just to stay alive.

I called Paul and told him that I didn't think the partnership could continue in the same form. He was devastated and angry. He was emotional when I told him that I could refer him to another consultant. His reaction reinforced my husband’s guidance. How terrified would I have been if I’d received that angry reaction from my full-time boss instead of a fifty-percent client?

Paul calmed down. Three months later he told me that the reason he freaked out at me was that he had just been about to go into the vault with me, and he had waited too long.

He had never said “I want to talk to you about my personal situation with this job.” When I stopped working with him, he felt that he’d missed his chance to have that conversation.

Paul had wanted my help sorting out his own career situation, not sure that he wanted to stay on as CEO of the startup where I met him. Paul left the 

The 7 "C's" to Guide You in 2015

Adhering to a rigid list of New Year’s resolutions has never been my forte. But looking towards a new year, I will focus on 7 “C’s” and hope you will find them useful for a prosperous and fulfilling year ahead.

1. CENTER Yourself. Take time to center your journey before starting something new. Check in with yourself and ask “Is it important? Should it be a priority?” If it feels right in your core being, then embrace it. Through the years, I have found myself in such a hurry and in a rush to do everything that I commit myself to things that I shouldn’t. It brings to mind the lyrics of an Alabama song: “I’m in a hurry to get things done. I rush and rush until life’s no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die, but I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.” Think about that!

2. Be CURIOUS. It is a wonderful gift to be curious. Listen and learn from the many people and experiences in your life. You will find wonder in discovery. When you are eager to learn you will possess a beauty that is irresistible and contagious. A favorite line of mine from the movie, “The Power of One” is, “We have so much to learn we do not have a second to waste.”

3. Be COURAGEOUS. The definition of courageous tells us that it is a quality of mind and spirit that enables us to face difficulty, danger and pain without fear. Furthermore, it is to act in accordance with one’s beliefs especially in the face of criticism. Courageousness is a learned response and behavior that requires discipline.  Fear is a wicked demon and when we are gripped with fear we cannot act in the best interest of those we are responsible for, especially ourselves.

4. Be CANDID. Be candid. If you are not candid with people, you are going to find yourself really disappointed down the line. When you are candid, you express the truth, as you know it.





















Many times you will find yourself in “Fierce Conversations”, the title of a book I recommend by Susan Scott. Although these conversations are difficult, if you approach them with honesty and decency you will reach new understanding with your family, colleagues and friends. It is human nature to try to avoid these conversations because they are tough. For me, I have always said that if I lie I will forget what I said and then really be in a mess. Best to just be candid and you can sleep at night. 

5.Be COMPETITIVE. As you say goodbye to another year, it is time to reset your goals, expectations and move on. No need to linger in the past because you have a new beginning. I always think about each year like a football team or sports team approaches it. We learn from our past, but last year is over. You may have set records (or not), but this is no time to rest on your laurels. Whether or not we were successful or failed, we have a chance to be new again. Study your competition, get smart about it and find ways to put yourself ahead of the hunt.

 Winning isn’t everything, but the hope is to always have an overall “winning record.”

6. Instill CHARACTER. When it is all said and done, the one thing you have left to fall back on is your character. Your character should be based on honesty and integrity because by having a strong foundational character, colleagues and friends will build trust and respect you as you do for them. We all slip from time to time, but it is the long haul that counts. Great leaders are admired because of the character they display and live by year after year.

7. Embrace CHANGE. Rapid change is a fundamental part of business today. We are all changing in an increasingly fast paced technology-driven world. In the words of author, Spencer Johnson, “Someone is going to move your cheese” if you wait around in a changing environment. If you do not initiate and discover ways to change, someone else will do it for you. Count on change, and be prepared to zig when others are zagging.

As you think about these 7 “C’s” I hope you will embrace a life with few or no regrets. Let go of anger and resentment for people and you will truly soar. Happy New Year!