Interesting 60 Minutes interview
Watching former Sen. Ben Sasse discuss America after his terminal diagnosis
Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley’s leadership saluted one of its own and one of the valley’s most valuable citizens last week when the crew named its Pleasanton board room for John Sensiba.
Sensiba, who heads the accounting/consulting firm that bears his name, played the key role in saving the ValleyCare Health System when it became clear to him that it could no longer make it financially as a stand-alone community organization. He negotiated the takeover by Stanford that truly was win-win. ValleyCare’s financial situation was so precarious that it could not afford the necessary equipment and system upgrades to remain viable. He participated in bringing three new CEOs to the local system that were instrumental in turning the system around.
The Stanford takeover solved that investment problem because it has poured millions into updating ValleyCare systems as well as purchasing a three-building complex in Hacienda Business Park for expansion. It has far exceeded the minimum investment required in the contract and established a new center that extends its service range much farther east than Palo Alto (an ugly drive from the East Bay at any time of day).
Sensiba is wrapping up 17 years of service on the two boards and we all owe him a huge thank you for his wisdom and effort over the years.
You also could add his leadership on other key boards: Embarcadero Media Foundation, the Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group, the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce and its political action group and the Three Valleys Foundation to cite just a few.
I will admit to the decades-long habit of watching 60 Minutes on Sunday night. This week, for the first time, I watched its uncut interview of former university president and senator Ben Sasse on the program’s YouTube channel. It was time well-spent. Last December, Sasse was diagnosed with metastied pancreatic cancer that already had spread to five areas in his body. As he says, thanks to plenty of prayer and a new drug in trials, he’s already living on borrowed time. Pastor Tim Keller, who shares Sasse’s conservative Presbyterian denomination, lived for two years after his diagnosis. Sasse’s tumors have shrunk 76% since starting the drug.
His thoughtful interview, conducted by Scott Pelley, is well worth your time if you want a thoughtful look at what’s wrong with Congress. For instance, he points out that the House of Representatives should probably have 2,000 members so citizens can know their representative. That’s by the founders’ standard. By contrast, the Senate needs to resume being a deliberative body instead of a bunch of pols seeking the cameras.
He recognizes, as others do, that we’re in the middle of the greatest technological revolution ever—artificial intelligence. AI will be both great and horrendous because it’s already reshaping the work force as we’ve known it. AI has created more millionaires in 2 years than the internet did in 20. But, it has profound implications that we need to wrestle with, particularly our policy leaders.
