Writing Samples
911
Chapter 2 of Healing A Hospital
by David Herdlinger
On a warm day in January 2001, unseasonably warm even for south coastal Georgia, an unshaven man in a T-shirt and shorts entered the front door of the Southeast Georgia Regional Medical Center in Brunswick. He reached to take an informational flyer from the "Take Me" rack, but it was empty.
The visitor walked across the lobby and proceeded down a hallway, entering areas where he should not have been permitted to go. Finally, a nurse approached him. "May I help you?"
"I'm from out of town and I'm contemplating a move to this area," replied the stranger. "Can you tell me what kind of healthcare is available for my family? What's this hospital like?"
The mysterious man was Gary R. Colberg. That morning he had flown into Jacksonville, Florida, from Birmingham, Alabama, rented a car, and driven an hour north to Brunswick. Tomorrow the hospital's board of directors would interview him for the job of president and CEO. Gary regarded interviews as two-way conversations, and he had come a day early to do his homework.
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Stuck In the Starting Blocks
Chapter 1 of Ready, Set, PLAN, Go!
by Joan Walsh
Imagine you're watching an Olympic hundred-meter dash. Can you visualize the scene? The runners are pacing nervously around the starting area, stretching.
"Ready," calls the starting official.
The runners carefully place their feet in the starting blocks and crouch into their starting positions.
"Set."
Like coiled springs they wait, eyes focused on the finish line. The starting pistol is poised high in the air.
BANG!
They're off! A blur of finely tuned bodies catapults down the track.
But wait! One runner is still stuck in the blocks. He hasn't moved! There's something — could it be glue, or flypaper, or something — holding him back.
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What if that really happened? How would you react? I suspect I'd be inclined to laugh. What a funny scene — a runner stuck in the blocks!
But then I'd empathize with that poor runner. I wouldn't want that to happen to me or to anyone I know.
Actually, something similar to that happens to many of us at different times in our lives. We get stuck and can't seem to get traction. But I'm thankful that I'm often able to help people in this situation, because I'm a business coach.
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The World is Calling
Article for Regent Seven Seas Cruises
by Michael Dowling
"Far away places, with strange sounding names, Far away over the sea…
Far away places, with their strange sounding names, Calling, calling me…"
Do the words of that popular 1948 song stir your sense of adventure? Are far away places calling you? Places like South America, the South Pacific, and the Far East?
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