I wish everyone a very Happy Diwali.

What is Diwali? It is a festival celebrated by Hindus all across the world to celebrate the victory of Sri Rama, a great king of ethical and moral perfection, over Ravana, a demon-king. But more than that, Deepavali, the original name, is a celebration of light; it is the worship of the Divine as opulence, harmony and beauty.

Compliance means to comply with the law, the ethical standards and professional standards of care. That is what we are trying to do. Down to each employee from the highest to the lowest level.
We will empower our employees to raise the red flag immediately if they see anything outside of compliance. If they see any quality of care being compromised, a patient not being taken care of with compassion, or processes of excellence not being followed. This will be the Access Way

I came across this very nice description of what a brand signifies

This is written by Mirza Yawar Baig who is a management consultant and is the brother of our own Mirza Baig.

I couldn't have said it better. This is what we are trying to do. This is what we are trying to become. A company whose brand is integrity, service, quality and compassion. I would like everyone to read it and reflect on it.

Last year, I turned 40. And an interesting thing happened. I realized my own mortality. I began looking back at myself, my life and my place in the world. I would often put my feet up, look at the sky, and stare. I thought I had earned the right to sit back and reflect.

Modern Physics has shown us that the presence of the observer affects the ‘objectivity' of the experiment or observation. The subject affects the object. To be truly objective, there must be no subject. Is that possible? Yes, only if there is total attention to the subject as well as object.

Well, I did not realize that someone does read my blog. My friend from 6th grade, Madhu Alur had this following comment (and I quote verbatim):

The most important thing I learned was that they spend an immense amount of time, money and effort to retain patients

They get the jitters every time a patient leaves the practice, especially if it is due to their own fault or misbehavior

Perhaps they are so retentive about retention because they are in a very competitive area (Miami Dade) and the market is hot

I got several interesting responses to my blog last week on the Kung Fu Panda. One was from Dr Jude Farley Pierre and I quote it verbatim:

"I guess great minds think alike. I have watched kung fu panda with my son countless times and each time He and I figure out one more thing about the movie that we can apply to our daily life.

My son figured out that if he practices his violin like the panda practiced his kung fu that one day he will be awesome.

If it is not quite obvious by now that I am a father of several little children, it will be after I am done with this review.

My children are my management gurus. I feel that the day I am able to manage my children without getting tired, exasperated, upset, or losing my joie de vivre, I will become a master in management. If I can manage my children with perfect balance, or better still, not manage them at all with perfect balance, I shall be able to manage or non-manage anyone.

So, after seeing the Kung Fu Panda for the tenth time with my son (without his losing the slightest interest in it even with the tenth replay), I feel I am ready to write a dissertation on the movie.

Any corporate entity is like an organism, alive, vibrant, teeming with activity that is (hopefully) directed towards an end.

A corporate entity has a body and a soul.

We have a body of about 200 people, working, living, interacting with each other every day, every hour. As our consultant Swami Partho noted that we spend more time at work and with each other than at home or with family. What Access Health Care does for you and what you do with and at Access Health Care, it seems to me, are extremely important. We must understand that our work place must be made better and better, so that our lives may improve every day.

An empty mind is the devil’s workshop.

Our Moral Sciences teacher used to emphasize this when we were growing up.

Keep your mind busy, stay active, do something. Always. This was her mantra.