7:01am. A push notification arrives on my smart phone from surfline.com. “8’ to 10’ swell arriving in three days. Powerful surf.  Extreme Caution Recommended.” 

Avid surfers like me love these push notes and when they arrive, the blood courses, the mind triggers into high alert, and preparations begin for a big day.  

At certain breaks, the wave will tube. This means the top portion of the wave launches out over the bottom and creates a hollow tube of air. The light, refracting against the water, the ocean floor and sky, transforms to green. A surfer, going at high speeds will race through the green room either crouched or standing and experience a beauty and exhilaration perhaps like no other. At the end, he or she knows they've been to “the green room” and it was a near holy experience. 

We all face moments in our lives where we have an option to push ourselves beyond current limits, try new adventures, take new risks, launch a new, uncharted path. It may be something you’ve always wanted to do, but you weren’t sure you had it in you to break through. It might be a new opportunity just presented to you and you have to make a decision - go or no go.  

Mark Bertolini is an innovator. He likes to push the boundaries of common thinking and find new solutions to big problems. One huge problem we face today is America’s bureaucratic spaghetti mess in health care. Aetna is committed to tackling this problem and is working to redesign health care’s future. As Mark said, “Aetna is a 165 year old company. We have always found a way to make a difference and to lead and innovate in the businesses we run.”  

Aetna does not just want to change health care gradually, but is rethinking the whole system, looking for dramatic changes that will lead to the best possible outcomes for patients.  Mark has said, “Some problems are so complicated you have to step back from the current realities and think through how a new system can be created.” 

When Paul Krugman of the New York Times and Brett Stevens from the Wall Street Journal both agree that Trump is a bad idea for America and Brexit is a bad idea for Britain, you’d think we’d have a clean sweep majority on what’s best for the world.  Not the case.  Why?  Because the votes are not about left and right.  The votes are about winners and losers in the global economy.  I was shocked when Trump secured one win after the other.  I thought he would fade quickly.  I was dismayed by the Brexit vote and thought in the end, Britain would vote to remain in the EU.  What this teaches me is that I’m out of touch with a segment of America and the world that is feeling angry, disenfranchised, and tired of shibboleths by both conservative and liberal politicians.  People are hoping for a new world that involves trade barriers, bashing bankers, and blocking immigrants.  

The message is a wake-up call for capitalism in America and the world.  We all know globalization is creating winners and losers - many of us were just not aware of how bad it is.  Anyone reading this blog is probably on the winning side of globalization.  The losers in the massive economic shift are hungry for solutions.  American companies must get involved in the business of providing hope.