Tag: health

Radium Girls – The dark times of luminous watches

This is very sad. After radium was discovered in 1898, it resulted in the development of many products. Besides being included in tonics, foods and clothing, it was also used to give the nighttime glow in watches.



This article provides an insight into one group of people who were effected the most, “The Radium Girls”.

http://www.cnn.com/style/article/radium-girls-radioactive-paint/index.html

Leading change

I came across a great presentation by Ron Williams, Chairman and CEO of Aetna on innovation and leadership. He made a turnaround at Aetna with new focus on employees and customers and using information technology and fact-based decisions. He spoke at MIT Sloan School of Management. This is a really great session, don’t miss it.

If you only have a few minutes, the first 2/3 of the video is what you should watch. Some key points:

  • making the case for change
  • transformation through technology in a very short period of time
  • 92% of employees take the employee survey (45 minutes)
  • key question – is my manager / supervisor practicing the Aetna way (at 83%)
  • they had a situation where staff did not admit they worked for Aetna
  • employee engagement moved from 48% to 78%
  • the are focusing on a high performance organization (expectation, not fear based)
  • their performance management system is based on results AND leadership (can’t get results while not developing and leading staff  – if you achieve good results but have poor leadership = no reward!

Source: MIT World