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Leadership Lessons From History

Physicians Can Use The Lessons From History in Their Careers

By Calvin J. Maestro, Jr., MD, FAAFP, MBA in Healthcare Management

Control Your Resources

Point: People will serve their own interests first.

Http://baptismatbullrun.muster-roll.com/BaptismAtBullRun/Default.aspx

Story line: Before the Civil War battle, the Union Army’s main medical officer repeatedly petitioned his superiors for direct control of enough wagons to evacuate the expected casualties. Instead, Headquarters insisted he utilize the regular Army’s supply wagons. But, the Union soldiers then lost the battle, and they and their generals beat a hasty retreat back to Washington D.C., taking all the supply wagons with them. With no means to evacuate the wounded, many northern soldiers perished in the summer heat. In the ensuing public outcry, the physician officer was fired by the politicians for failing to properly care for his patients.

Lesson: You can be held accountable even though you may not be responsible.

Point: The most difficult, but necessary, word to say is, “No”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster

On 28 January 1986, the American Space Shuttle Challenger blew up after takeoff; this tragedy was caused by freezing temperatures compromising the O-rings in the shuttle's solid rocket boosters (SBRs). Morton Thiokol was the contractor for the SRBs and, on the evening of January 27, a teleconference was held between Thiokol and the NASA launch people; NASA told them they were impatient for a go-launch recommendation. In making their final decision “to go ahead,” Thiokol managers pressured their main engineer to suppress his concerns by – paraphrasing – telling him, “For once in your life, think like a manager not like an engineer!” http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/investigations/q0122.shtml

Lesson: Do not surrender your identity out of fear of not fitting in.

Practice Teamwork

Apply Psychology

Point: Psychology is where leverage can be applied to move others.

http://faq.macedonia.org/history/aleander.the.great.html

Story line: Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) was the greatest general that ever lived. Before choosing a strategy, Alexander analyzed the psychological states of his opponents. Years later, George Washington, before crossing the Delaware River, on the night of December 25-26, 1776, sent a message to the Hessian commander in Trenton, N.J., saying he was coming. In June 1944, taking a clue from History, General Eisenhower, through captured and turned Nazi spies in England, sent a message to Germany, on the eve of the Normandy Invasion, warning them of his plans; they also did not believe the report!

Lesson: Consider the psychological state of all the stakeholders.

Trust, But Verify

Point: President Reagan once said, “Trust but verify!”

http://www.civilwarhome.com/rosecransbio.htm

Story line: At the battle of Chickamauga, during the American Civil War, General William Starke Rosecrans -- "Old Rosy" -- (1819-1898), was told by a trusted officer that a gap existed in his battle line; that all the troops assigned there were missing! Immediately, Rosecrans ordered the other regiments to “close in.” Just at that moment, by coincidence or ill luck, his exposed soldiers were attacked by the South, under General Longstreet, and Rosecrans and his army were routed!

As for the hole in the line, the “missing soldiers” had been so entrenched in the heavy woods that the reporting officer missed seeing them!

Lesson: Naivety is the Achilles heel of physicians.

Pace Yourself

Learn To Say “No”

Point: Teams achieve their goals through synergy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4HIT2CQUxc; www.olympics.org

Story line: Men's 4X100M Relay - Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Teamwork is essential for success and requires consistency in personnel. At the Olympics, for the medal race, the men’s U.S. track and field coaches could run the team of four runners that got them to the finals, or… substitute these athletes with their best track stars who had been competing in the individual races that had been run so far. The coaches opted to substitute the current runners with their star athletes for the finals. AND LOST! In fact, they did not medal at all. With little time to practice their handoffs, the “A” team dropped their baton and were disqualified.

Lesson: Even small groups can accomplish much if they are well trained & motivated, and led right.

Point: “It’s all about outcomes!”

Cyrano de-Bergerac. http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;

Story line: A psychological study confirmed something long suspected. During peacetime, the U.S. military preferentially promoted officers who looked the part: they were tall, handsome, and had a full set of hair. However, come wartime, and after the initial shake out period, the military promoted effective officers, even if they were short, fat, and bald! The same image bias exists in our political system. As per a 2009 article in TIME magazine, as compared to the leaders in Europe and the rest of the world, Americans tend to elect charismatic business and political representatives who look the part.*

•Elliott, Michael. No Charisma? Don't Worry, You Can Still Be a Leader. Time Magazine; Monday, July 20, 2009.

Lesson: Do not be fooled by superficialities; value results.

Conclusions

Point: Just as George Santayana once said …,

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

Physician leaders would do well to study the leaders of the past and learn from their successes and failures.

C.J. Maestro, Jr., MD

* Top photos from: Yahoo.com

Point: Fatigue is the twin sibling of failure.

http://milesconsulting.org/clients/gre

Story line: Seabiscuit, the famous record-winning racehorse of the 1930s, was a pace stalker; a horse that ran from the middle of the pack, and then would pull ahead at the end. Not everyone is a pace-setter (someone who races up front), nor should every situation or current condition be run from the front, or judged by his or her position in the middle of a race. Seabiscuit’s first owner did not realize the horse’s true potential and sold him; a mistake the new owner’s trainer rectified.

Lesson: Life is a long-distance race; do not run it as if it were a series of 100-yard dashes!

Trust, But Verify

Promote Effective People