2014 in the Rear-View Mirror

Most of my 2014 was pretty geeky. One of the coolest things I did in 2014 was test my DNA through 23andme.com. For a quick refresher on genomics, check out these videos. I am, unsurprisingly 99.8% European. However, I’m also 0.2% Sub-Saharan African. This totally made my day when I found out. It’s not much but it’s cool to know that somewhere in my family tree is a little diversity – even if it is only 0.2%.

Another interesting fact that I learned is that an estimated 3.2% of my DNA is from Neanderthals. Even thought Neanderthals disappeared about 30,000 years ago, traces of their DNA — between 1% and 4% — are found in all modern humans outside of Africa. I happen to be in the 99th percentile which means that I’m actually mostly caveman. I’ve also attached some screenshots below with more details if you’re interested.

I also took a few classes online at Coursera.

• The Data Scientist’s Toolbox from Johns Hopkins University
• Foundations of Business Strategy from University of Virginia
• Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Duke University
• An Introduction to Population Health from University of Manchester
• Leading Strategic Innovation in Organizations from Vanderbilt University
• Creativity, Innovation, and Change from Pennsylvania State University
• Innovating in Health Care from Harvard
• Design Thinking for Innovative Problem Solving from University of Virginia, Darden School of Business

Read some books (I’ve bolded my favorites)…

• Decide and Deliver: Five Steps to Breakthrough Performance in Your Organization by Marcia Blenko, Michael C. Mankins, Paul Rogers
• Healthcare at a Turning Point: A Roadmap for Change by Rita E. Numerof
• Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation Harold L. Sirkin, John Butman James P. Andrew
• The Physics of Business Growth: Mindsets, System, and Processes by Edward Hess, Jeanne Liedtka
• The Innovator’s Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care by Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman M.D., Jason Hwang M.D.
• The Institute Way by Howard Rohm, David Wilsey, Gail Stout Perry, Dan Montgomery
• Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies by Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton
• Population Health: Creating a Culture of Wellness by David B. Nash, JoAnne Reifsnyder, Raymond J. Fabius, Valerie P. Pracilio
• Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking) by Christian Rudder
• Reinventing American Health Care by Ezekiel Emanuel
• The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry by Bryan Sykes
• Lord Ganesha’s Feast of Laughter by Meera Uberoi
• Biocentrism by Robert Lanza, Bob Berman
• The Q-Loop by Brian Klapper
• Kill the Company by Lisa Bodell
• William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher
• Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel
• Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe by Lee Smolin
• The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
• The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley, Jonathan Littman
• Innovation X by Adam Richardson
• Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn
• Seeing What’s Next by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony, Erik A. Roth
• The Innovator’s DNA by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clay Christensen
• The Cleveland Clinic Way by Toby Cosgrove
• Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father – and How We Can Fix It by David Goldhill
• Think Like a Freak by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
• The Disease Delusion by Jeffrey S. Bland, Mark Hyman
• Ninja Innovation by Gary Shapiro
• The Inclusion Dividend by Mark Kaplan, Mason Donovan
• Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman
• Business Without the Bullsh*t by Geoffrey James
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker
• The Innovator’s Solution by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor
• Keeping Up with the Quants by Thomas H. Davenport, Jinho Kim
• Fascinate by Sally Hogshead
• Gamify by Brian Burke
• The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
• Unaccountable by Marty Makary
• Where Does It Hurt? by Jonathan Bush, Stephen Baker
• Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
• Outside In by Harley Manning, Kerry Bodine
• Discover Magazine’s Vital Signs by Dr. Robert A. Norman
• Pandemics by Peter C. Doherty
• Rhythm by Patrick Thean
• Radiation by Robert Peter Gale, Eric Lax
• Understanding Michael Porter by Joan Magretta
• Path of Destruction: Star Wars: Darth Bane by Drew Karpyshyn
• Rule of Two: Star Wars: Darth Bane by Drew Karpyshyn
• Dynasty of Evil: Star Wars: Darth Bane by Drew Karpyshyn
• Think Big, Smart Small, Move Fast by Nicholas LaRusso, Barbara Spurrier, Gianrico Farrugia
• The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen