This photograph is from the Ted archive, however it has not been posted until now. It shows Kaiser Permanente colleague and innovator Alex Lowenthal ( @Alex_inPDX ) being shown new technology at the AUSA Conference, held in Washington, DC, in October, 2011.
How did we end up here? Well, Alex was visiting from Kasier Permanente Northwest ( @KPNorthwest ) and when we went on a walking meeting, we happened on the conference and went in. I took some photographs (with permission) about many of the innovations that we saw:
- Weapons systems that seem tailored for the Facebook generation – you tag targets, and then eliminate them
- Huge investment in mobile technology
- Electronic noise filters that separate targets from the background
- Workforce planning – thinking about networked workers, planning for a good career AND a good life
Of course, we saw many analogies to the health care industry, and felt that maybe we are not thinking as much about the next generation of our workforce (and our patients) as we should. The rest of my photographs are below, see if you agree.
This week’s photograph also tells the story of an innovator like Alex, who’s open to new experiences, and curious to learn what he doesn’t know from teachers around every corner.