There is always a little more down time to think and reflect in the summer. Whether you are away on vacation, or just finding a few more quiet moments in your summer calendar, you can use that time to look for inspiration for the busy Fall ahead.

I’ve gone back through my writing to revisit the ideas and people that most inspired me in my work during the past year. I hope you will use these ideas as a jumping-off point for your own reflections on ideas that inspire you and the people who make the ideas real.  

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.”