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"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." - HL Mencken
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"The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease" - Sir William Osler
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" The best test of a person's character is how he or she treats those with less power." - Bob Sutton
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesman and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it." - Hillel, Talmud, Shabbath 31a
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"If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." - Abraham Maslow
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"A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not to dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves." - Herbie Hancock
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"There are no facts, only interpretations." - Nietzsche
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"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." - Anatole France
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Advice for students, trainees and faculty
22 Oct2009
I am currently working on a talk for the Academic Hospitalist Academy on promotion. The first half of this talk will focus on career success. Recently I have been doing some web research on additional nuances to add to that talk. The two issues that I am adding today pertain to anyone who wants long term success.
1. Walk the walk – once you have any supervisory responsibility then you must be thoughtful in what you ask others to do. As a physician you have a responsibility to live a healthy lifestyle, so that you can provide appropriate lifestyle advice. You fail when you expect others to do as I say rather than do as I do.
We all have a low opinion of those who “dump” on their “underlings”. We all have a low opinion of leaders who never chip in when things get tough.
I have just bought a book with that title – will report back on its worth.
2. Follow through! If I could give any aspiring academic physician one piece of advice, this is it. Follow through!
Follow through…it seems like a pretty basic concept doesn’t it? When I was just starting out in business one of my original mentors told me to “just do what you say you’re going to do, and that, in and of itself, will place you in a very select group within the business world.” Being young and naive at the time, it seemed impossible to me that doing something so basic could lead to great success. Well, now that I’m older and more experienced, all I can say is “how right he was!” It never ceases to amaze me at the number of people that fail to deliver on their commitments. The old cliche of “over-promising and under-delivering” has sadly become all too commonplace in business. Is it really that hard to fulfill on promises made? So my question to you is this…Can you, and do you, walk the talk?
I see this problem in residents who want to get excellent fellowships. I see this problem in junior faculty who want future success in academics. I see this problem in organizations.
Do not sign up for opportunities if you cannot follow through. It is much better to turn down an opportunity than to sign up and fail to deliver.
The implication of this point is that you must choose your tasks carefully. Do not agree to serve on a committee unless you plan to attend. Do not agree to write a paper and then never write the first draft.
Success does not come to those who wish it. Success is not owed to anyone. Success results from hard work.
If you are happy to be a good doctor and do a good job caring for patients that is wonderful. Be a good doctor and follow through with your patients. Follow through with you consultants.
If you want academic success you must go the extra mile. We have plenty of good academicians. We need great ones.
Related posts:
- Evidence for a healthy lifestyle
- Thoughts on the Academic Hospitalist Academy
- The curse of knowledge and presentations
- Top search items that reached medrants in the last year
- Yes – it really matters
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3 Responses to Advice for students, trainees and faculty
Ben Rothwell
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:44 pm
I will be at the conference and can’t wait to hear this and the other talks. Keep up the good work on this great site!
AnnR
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I’d say develop your underlings. It serves several purposes.
You can “dump” on them because they know that what you’re asking them to do is developmental for them – it’s not merely more work, it’s better work.
It paves the way for you to move on. A shop where the second in command can step in, where everybody knows what they’re supposed to do – that’s a shop with space leftover for the leader to be furthering his/her own career.
Mike Myatt
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Thanks for the mention, and for linking back to my post. Best wishes for continued success…