UNDERCURRENTS BLOG »

Can Undercover Patients Improve Quality?

Very few things impact us more than the quality of our health care services, which is why I was intrigued by this news story about hospitals using “undercover patients” to judge doctors’ performances.  In fact, the American Medical Association recently considered endorsing this practice.  The debate generated some heated discussion - just check out the [ » ]

Nike, Adidas . . . Under Armour?

Nike’s Just Do It turns 20 this month.  And I bought Nikes before they had the slogan? What was I thinking? Now the slogan has become part of everyday parlance. Why does that matter? Nike practiced something many companies forget: message simplicity and message consistency. For twenty years, we’ve heard mostly one thing [ » ]

Cell Phones For Kids

Newsweek technology writer Daniel McGinn (no relation to our very own Dan McGinn) recently took note of a paradigm shift in the mobile phone industry - it’s running out of new customers (with my emphasis): According to the latest data, the U.S. “adoption rate” for mobile phones stands at 85 percent. That’s higher than the percentage [ » ]
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