How 2 Train Heroes?

Harvard Business School's Linda Hill describes her team's research into the innovation behind Pixar and other pioneering corporations. For a leader today, success is no longer just about defining a vision and achieving goals. Instead, creating innovation requires a leader to first invert the organizational pyramid by setting the stage for others to walk upon, with a common goal, shared values, and clear rule of engagement. Next, the innovative leader encourages open and honest horizontal collaboration, continuous discovery driven learning, and integrative decision making. Check out the TED Talk and the her book too - great read!

Provocative TED Talk on defining your own definition of success in today's world. Check it out!

Coach Woodenism for the Week: Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights. In previous weeks, we discussed the Attitude and Effort cornerstone of legendary Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success applied to medical education. Now we begin to move into the middle of our foundation starting with a review of the building block of Friendship. Last week, we focused on bringing our best Effort to every shift. One of the seven principles that John Wooden lived by was Make Each Day Your Masterpiece. Coach Wooden prepared every practice to the minute. Great coaches and teachers always do. We can prepare for the unpredictable nature of our actual shifts by visualizing a great game plan, then mentally reviewing our performance on the commute home. I cranked out three night shifts last week. Two of the three shifts I did this very well. On one, I simply drove into work in a daze. My effectiveness as a physician and teacher suffer

Coach Woodenism for the Week:  Be true to yourself. Make each day a masterpiece. Help others. Drink deeply from good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build a shelter against a rainy day. This month we are discussing the second Effort cornerstone of legendary Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success applied to medical education. As clinicians, we all have the requisite Attitude and work Effort. Bringing out the best in our trainees, first begins with being the example of these cornerstones. Last week, we focused on being an example of the team Effort we expect from our trainees. We made the Effort to get to the bedside with our trainees, teach a pearl on every case, and give feedback on every shift. The days when I practiced these tips with my were far better the when I failed to give my best Effort.  How do we bring our "A" game to the bedside everyday? Joshua Wooden gave his sons severn principles to live by. His son, Coach John Wooden gave these same princip

Inspirational TED Talk on the power of vision, persistence and effort from the first person to ever swim the 100 miles from Cuba to Florida! Check it out at

Coach Woodenism for the Week: "Never cease trying to be the very best you can become - Effort is the ultimate measure of success. I required the same in every practice, nothing less than their best effort. And I always gave the same." This month we will discuss the second Effort cornerstone of Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success applied to EM. Many educators mistakenly think that Attitude and Effort can not be taught. Comfortably preferring  to say that these cornerstones are only learned before medical training even begins. By the time the trainee arrives in the trench, Attitude and Effort are either present or absent. After a decade of training hundreds of medical students, residents, fellows and colleagues, I wholeheartedly disagree.  All clinical trainees have the prerequisite Attitude and Effort. No one excels in life enough to matriculate into a quality training program without these cornerstones. If the trainee no longer exhibits the Attitude and Effort requ