What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race…by Michael Eric Dyson

Our 7th grader’s last writing assignments for the school year was to read Langston Hughes’ “I, Too” and to use a metaphor when writing his own poem. I was familiar with Langston Hughes mostly from the song he wrote with Nina Simone, “Backlash Blues.” Since poetry is easier than middle school math these days, I went deeper into his work in case I was asked about it. “I, Too”, “Mother to Son”, and his most prescient poem, “Let America Be America Again,” are incredible tributes to hope, despair, and American ideals.

It was around that time that Michael Eric Dyson was promoting his latest book, What Truth Sounds Like, and earned the top spot on my list. It’s the story of speaking truth to power. It’s about a once-in-a-lifetime meeting in 1963 between Robert F. Kennedy and James Baldwin, discussing race in America. Twenty-five years after Langston Hughes wrote Let America Be America Again, a few brave souls came together to address these wounds. I was taken by how much of our discourse today is rooted in this past. Fifty-five years later, we are still striving to be better.

In our work, we are fortunate to meet people and organizations who are bridging the gap between opportunity and equality in America in new and profound ways. Here are a few of the #ThePossibilists we admire: The Kapor Center, Dr. Tony Iton at The California Endowment and retiring Samuel Merritt University President Dr. Sharon Diaz.

Reverse Innovation in Health Care: How to Make Value-Based Delivery Work by Vijay Govindarajan and Ravi Ramamurt

Sara and I have both worked in global settings where resource constraints were a fact of life and examples of ingenuity at its finest are everywhere. We have an even greater appreciation now through our work with our client, MEDICC and their partners in Latin America.

“Reverse innovation” is the concept that ideas and innovations that work in low-and middle-income countries can also be of benefit to high income countries. In the case of healthcare, this would save and improve lives and while reducing costs.

The term gained notoriety when in 2009 Harvard Business Review published, “How GE is Disrupting Itself,” an article by General Electric’s CEO Jeff Immelt and Dartmouth Prof. Chris Timble, where GE’s reverse innovation strategy is discussed. The most famous result of this effort was GE’s $500 portable electrocardiogram machine captured in this commercial from 2008.

Govindarajan and Ramamurti have written a book about the “how” of reverse innovation and offer four case studies about organizations taking this holistic approach to value-based care. Given the ambiguous policy environment and uncertainty among healthcare actors and stakeholders, perhaps reverse innovation is our best chance of achieving better care at lower cost.

Innovation for the underserved is an important facet of our work. We see reverse innovation as a great source of ideas and inspiration to meet the needs of our most vulnerable populations. Here are some of the #ThePossibilists we admire in this space: PATH, Center for Care Innovations and the California Health Care Foundation Innovation Fund.

What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Mona Hanna-Attisha

This book really stands out for me. It's the story of a worried mother and local pediatrician who used readily available data to bring the Flint, Michigan, water crisis to public attention long before state and federal authorities decided to act. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a powerful reminder of how one individual can save a community using simple tools and uncommon commitment.

What’s inspiring and revealing about the Flint, Michigan, water crisis is how a simple solution - a $100 corrosion control chemical used daily by the water treatment plant – could have prevented thousands of children from exposure to lead and the lifelong cognitive and behavioral consequences.

Let’s keep #ThePossibilists like Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha working on behalf of our children. You can find many leaders like her at the Public Health Institute.

Telling the Stories of Social Entrepreneurship

Finally, here’s one for the digital only crowd. Earlier this year, Sally Osberg stepped down after as CEO of the Skoll Foundation after 17 years of incredible work transforming a movement into the field of social entrepreneurship. Listen and watch the multi-part series, “Sally Osberg Reflects on Her 17 Years of Leadership” and get inspired.