Category Archives: leadership

For Holly

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https://pritzker.uchicago.edu/news/honoring-legacy-dr-holly-j-humphrey

Our friend, leader, and role model has passed.

What a surreal moment of sadness, reflection, slowing, and conviction.

I always knew you as simply Holly, not “Dr. Humphrey.”  The latter was a given and absolutely respected; it just felt too distant a title for how you showed up as program director to us residents.  Our respect for and deference to you was not commanded, demanded, or condescended by you.  It was a natural consequence of your presence: attuned, caring, earnest, authentic, and integrous.  Your essence emanated teacher, leader, mentor, steward, and patron.

I never knew you closely, but I felt known by you.  And that was enough.  Those three years were grueling and also bonding.  The culture you set of caring and encouragement, of looking after one another and always being on the same team, filtered through the chief residents, senior residents, and interns, so that we (when we had the bandwidth) could show caring and encouragement to the medical students.  Back before work hour restrictions existed, this was significant.  The University of Chicago Internal Medicine Residency Program was known as one of the most collegial and compassionate in the country, as well as one of the most rigorous and accomplished.  The longer I practice, the more I observe corporate and academic cultures from various perspectives, the more I appreciate and marvel at that incredible integration, at the uniquely holistic community of my training.  I knew it at the time; did not take it for granted.  And yet even now, more than twenty years out, the lasting impact on my own ethos and those of my classmates continues to move me.  I am so proud and grateful to have the privilege of calling myself a UofC IM graduate.

Reading the long list of initiatives, accomplishments, and accolades attributed to you after my time at UChicago ended, my psyche swells with pride for you, vicarious gratitude for all whom your programs touched, and inspiration to make my own contribution in kind.  Your mission and impact, as I understand from afar, was always to not only lift others directly, but show us all how to lift one another.  You were a leader of leaders—you helped us all identify and call forth that within each of us that would help make one another better.

What an honor and privilege to have shared even such a brief moment of this lifetime with you, Holly.  Those three years of residency, though short, were transformative.  Looking back, I was definitely not my best self at that time.  I cringe, and then I imagine how you might have counseled me, with honesty, compassion, and conviction to be my better self.  You empowered us through your confidence in us.  You held us accountable to a standard of conduct that made us worthy of our integrity.  Your leadership helped shape our character as clinicians and citizens of the profession.

Your life and memory are blessings on all who knew you. 
May we honor you and the impact you had on us all by carrying on the work you so bravely and generously began in innovative and connecting ways–the work of deepening compassion, inclusion, excellence, and humaneness in medicine.

Be Nerdy About Your Thing!

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My Insta story last week

“OK so:”

When you ask someone about something they love, that they’re expert in, and they get all excited to tell you all about it, isn’t this what they often say? Their energy is palpable, their smile wide, and you can tell they just can’t wait to get it out.

I love that feeling, as both the asker and the answerer. And when I come across someone who also appreciates this feeling, it’s another example of that exponential synergistic cosmic rocket fuel of connection that I live for.

In case you’re looking for folks who exude this, might I recommend:

Alton Brown. Specifically in his recent book of essays, Food For Thought.

AJ, Andy Wilson-Taylor. He nerds out on some of his Patreon posts, about music, noise cancelling, motorbikes, and so much else!

Keith Roach, MD. My first clinic preceptor, teacher, and mentor, we can all benefit from reading Dr. Roach’s columns answering medical questions. He isn’t effusive about the nerding, but you can tell he knows his stuff and loves to teach it.

Carolyn Mueller. My colleague and fitness professional, follow Carolyn on Instagram for her posts and stories on the science, psychology, and reality of staying fit and healthy.

Kasey McKenney. Director of Treatment at Ethos Training Systems in Chicago, Kasey integrates deep knowledge of the musculoskeletal system with expertise in Traditional Chinese Medicine. More often than not, our conversations circle from relationship to communication, to qi, and I always learn something new and relevant to my life and medical practice.

Who do you know like this? Please make your introductions in the comments!

Happy happy, friends–we’ got this!

The Leadership Skill That Matters Most

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Photo from my patient who prefers to remain anonymous 🙂

Ask more and better questions.

Here’s how:

Whenever you’re about to make a statement or directive, pause. Ask yourself, “What do I not know?” Be honest and humble, or prepare to be humbled. The mark of an excellent leader is the willingness to be schooled from ‘below’ for the sake of mission and team.

Once your ingnorance is identified, formulate a question. As well as you can, make it an open and honest question, the hallmark of which is that you truly do not know the answer and you are not attempting to lead it. Pause again. Is your question truly open, meaning it cannot be answered by yes or no? If so, proceed. If not, revise to a truly open question.

Listen to the answer without interrupting. Do not speak until the other person has stopped talking for at least two seconds. Resist the temptation to issue your previous directive anyway. Follow the thread of curiosity, however thin or faint, to explore what else you don’t know. Done well, one OHQ leads to multiple subsequent OHQs, often branching and diverging to adjacent arenas all interconnected and mutually influential to the central issue.

It can get overwhelming fast, and I suspect many of us do not engage in this kind of query because the emergent morass of complexity feels so daunting. Rabbit holes are to be avoided in leadership think.

If we ask more and better questions, however, we don’t get rabbit holes. We get ecosystem.

I do this every day interviewing patients. Regardless if it’s weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, insomnia, or depression, nothing occurs in a vacuum. Only by exploring the state of every domain of health (work, sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress, and relationships) can I see fully the interconnected origins and impacts of the issue I need to address (often multiple issues at once). Often about thirty minutes into the interview I say, “Wow, that’s a lot.” I sit with my patient a bit stymied at the muddle. Then we talk about their goals, their values, and what lights or dampens their spirit. Reliably, by the end of the day long exam, we get to an action plan that is both brutally realistic and fully aligned with their highest aspirations. It feels inspired an empowered, forward motion already initiated for the coming year.

The best questions help us survey the jungle, its density and pitfalls. It is only after querying the morass and seeing its wholeness that we can know where to act most incisively and effectively. We know we asked excellent questions when the answers provide the map that leads us through the jungle together and with confidence.

Humility. Honesty. Transparency. Safety. Clarity. Accountability. These are the imprints of leaders adept at asking more and better questions. Consider any organization in your experience; I bet these leaders stand out. How would you describe their presence? How do you feel when you’re with them? What effect do they have on the team and its operations?

In case it’s not already obvious, this practice of asking open and honest questions benefits all relationships. In a world of soundbites that continually overgeneralize and oversimplify, stoking judgment and othering, the more we can retain and protect our humility and curiosity, the more we can ask more and better questions that foster understanding and empathy, the better the world will be. We all lead. Let’s do it better, yes?