SPECIAL SUMMER MESSAGE FROM THE VP

Special Summer Message from the VP

Traditionally, the FOCUS Newsletter provided an opportunity for the Vice President/CFO to relay a message to staff that focuses on a specific objective or theme of the season. This summer, we decided to change it up a bit and interview Dr. Ming-Ting “Mike” Lee about something that is near and dear to him, happiness.

For those of you who have either worked with Mike Lee or experienced one of his inspiring speeches at an all-staff professional meeting, you know that he cares deeply about his staff, the division of ABA, and Sacramento State, in general. He supports student success in a multitude of ways, taking on the interim provost position for over a year and adding over a thousand sections for students to raise Sacramento State’s graduation rate. His accomplishments are abounding, but if you ask him, one if his greatest accomplishments is having such a great team of ABA employees. More specifically, leading a healthy and happy workforce. He has tried, throughout his tenure, to promote employee engagement and happiness. As he puts it, “I want my team to know that I value a work-life balance personally, and want them to value it as well.”

Mike’s work-life balance permeates in his passion for reading and learning, after all, he is a professor at heart. His most recent interest in the world of literature and research is in the psychology of happiness. He has learned that, “the study of psychology is extensive and complex, just like the human brain. However, we tend to focus our study on the negative aspects of the brain, like depression, anxiety. We should be focusing more on the study of happiness.” Many researchers have Mike’s exact sentiment and the study of happiness is becoming a more mainstream topic of study. One such study, the longest and most extensive of its kind was conducted by Harvard University over the last 80 years. The longitudinal study, called the Grant study, followed 268 Harvard sophomores in 1938, collecting data regarding their health and happiness over the course of their lives. The study has expanded over the years with the expansion of the controls, such as the addition of the original participants’ wives and children. Needless to say, the data is vast and expansive. The researchers found the following conclusions to lead a healthier and happier life you should  1) focus on building good relationships 2) make sure you are contributing something to someone 3) do more of what you are good at and less of what you are not so good at 4) take care of yourself, your health and well-being, financially, physically and emotionally. This last point is especially important to Mike and something he hopes his staff focuses on as well.  

Mike knows that self-care is one of the first things that we all forgot about when we are overworked and stressed out. It even happens to him sometimes and he has to reevaluate his balance. As he puts it, “we all deal with highly important, sometimes stressful situations, where we are focusing on caring for others. We have to stop and take care of ourselves too.” One way that Mike takes care of himself is through his favorite hobby, cooking. Cooking is something that makes Mike happy, he truly enjoys the art of cooking, including every aspect of the cooking process. “I love going to the farmer’s market to pick my produce. I love the idea of farm to fork.” You might catch Mike at the downtown farmer’s market any given Sunday, especially in the summer when heirloom tomatoes are in season. One of Mike’s favorite recipes is simply taking a vine ripe heirloom tomato, slicing it in half and then dosing it with olive oil, salt, pepper and basil. “It is the perfect summer dish because all of your ingredients are fresh.” As Mike reminds us, “we have such great opportunities in California because we have such great fresh food. The abundance of fresh and local food is great in the season that it is offered.”

Buying the food at the local market is only the beginning of the cooking experience that Mike enjoys. The next best thing is the preparation of purchasing the food by studying the culture and season of the food he is going to cook. “I love studying the cuisine, the people and the culture. By learning about their food, you learn so much about them – you can expand your worldview.” Mike has recently studied several world cuisines and has gained great insights.

One of the current cuisines that Mike is especially interested in is Cajun food. He looks at New Orleans, Louisiana as a great source for inspiration with both culture and food. Like any issue that comes across Mike’s desk at work, he dove right in to learn all of the important aspects. He learned about the French and Creole influences on the food through studying the history and culture of New Orleans. Evidence of the Cajun influence in Mike’s cooking is visible in a family favorite dish, a crawfish boil. He loves getting the best quality and freshest crawfish, putting them in a huge boil and then gathering his entire family around a large picnic table in his backyard. He places newspaper on the table and throws the crawfish on the table for all to eat. Mike describes it as, “a great experience sharing fresh food with family and watching each member enjoy the delicious fish – that brings me a lot of happiness.”

Another cuisine that Mike is especially interested in is Japanese fare. The trick to Japanese cuisine, according to Mike, is getting seasonal ingredients that are as fresh as possible. One of Mike’s favorite types of Japanese food is sashimi, which is raw fish without rice, much like sushi. The trick with this type of food is to limit the amount of human touch to as little as possible. The best way to ensure that is preparing the food yourself and having the right tools to do so. Mike has an extensive knife collection that help him cut the most beautiful cuts of fish. As he puts it, “good tools make any job easier.”

Many of us probably see the food preparation process as labor intensive. With mounting work and family responsibilities, most of us want whatever is the easiest and fastest after work when you are exhausted. It might be surprising, but Mike would agree. That is why he does most of his food preparation and planning on the weekends. He and his wife also divide and conquer in the actual cooking responsibilities. He cooks mostly on the weekends and his wife prepares the meals during the week. Together, they proudly eat nearly 95% of all their food at home and prepare it themselves. They have been successful in making freshly prepared food a high priority for their family, that they avoid restaurants for the most part, even while on vacation. They plan ahead and make arrangements that meet their needs with a kitchen and local farmer’s markets. Mike will even incorporate the local culture and food of where they are vacationing so it becomes a learning opportunity for him and his family.

Overall, Mike likes to believe he has become more open in trying new things by connecting different cuisines to different cultures. However, the bigger message is really about finding something that makes you happy outside of work and really spending the time to refine it and make it your own. Perhaps you have a hobby but never get around to it, perhaps you had a hobby years ago but life has taken control preventing you from focusing on it, or perhaps you never built the capacity for a hobby. Mike says, “Take this opportunity to think out your work-life balance and what brings you happiness. Consider making the space for something special that brings you joy and hang onto it.” We can all agree that it is always best to slow down and think about your capacity for balance and building the space for happiness outside of work.  

Sources:

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2015/05/27/the-secret-of-happiness-revealed-by-harvard-study/#5d6443006786

 

Front Page

ABA FOCUS
is published by the Administration & Business Affairs

Office of Strategic Planning & Quality Improvement

California State University, Sacramento

PRESIDENT
Robert Nelsen

VICE PRESIDENT/CFO

Ming Tung "Mike" Lee

 

EDITOR
Elisa Chohan

Andrew Stiffler

WEB EDITORS

Andrew Stiffler

WRITERS
Elisa Chohan

Susan Colley-Monk

Don Nahhas

Andrew Stiffler

PHOTOGRAPHY
Bruce Clarke

Don Nahhas

Andrew Stiffler