A new chapter,
and a place to
think out loud.
On keeping a record of what I learn—and seeing familiar questions through a new lens.
While reading The Personal MBA, a thought occurred to me: why not write down what I’m learning? I wanted a place to collect ideas, work through questions, and return to them later. And perhaps, in the process, something I write might be useful to someone else.
That simple thought is the beginning of this journal.
A familiar curiosity, a new subject
My professional life has been rooted in healthcare. As a physician and health systems researcher, I have spent around 25 years working in global health, trying to understand how systems function and how they can serve people more equitably.
Now, as I prepare to begin my Doctor of Business Administration in October, I am entering a field that brings a new vocabulary and new ways of looking at familiar challenges. I’m curious about what business thinking might help me understand—and which ideas will need rethinking when the goal is better health for everyone.
Connecting ideas to experience
Healthcare has long given me reasons to think about resources, organisations, leadership, and value. Studying business offers an opportunity to revisit these questions more deliberately.
What does value mean to a patient, a provider, or a community? How do organisations turn good intentions into dependable services? How can financial sustainability and equity support one another? These are some of the questions I hope to explore here.
What have I learned—and what might I do differently because of it?
A record of learning in progress
Some entries may be brief reading notes. Others may connect a concept from my DBA studies with an experience in healthcare or a question about health systems. I want to leave room for uncertainty, and for my understanding to change.
Writing gives me a reason to slow down and ask whether I can explain an idea in my own words. Keeping those explanations in one place will let me look back at how my thinking develops.
If you are also learning something new, returning to study, or trying to connect ideas across disciplines, I hope you find something useful here.
For now, I’m glad to have made a beginning.
Kiran