Coach Woodenism for the Week: "As you strive to reach your personal best, Alertness will make the task much easier". In this series, we're applying Coach John Wooden's Pyramid of Success to medical education and leadership. We began by discussing the foundation of Attitude, Effort, Friendship, Loyalty, and Cooperation. The second row focuses on the mind, beginning with Self Control, followed by Alertness. Alertness is the ability to be continuously "observing, absorbing, and learning from what is happening around you." For the leader, teacher, and clinician alertness is always essential. We must always be alert to our own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Then we must be always aware of these same characteristics for our team, and most importantly, our patients and their families. Often times, the greatest threat to team alertness and ultimately patient safety is the the very culture of medicine itself. As students, clinicians, and suppo...