Some worthwhile reads while relaxing on vacation.
The kids are out of school and my vacation is earlier than usual this summer, so I’ve been compiling my reading list for some time. If you’re looking for something to read that is entertaining, professionally interesting (but outside of our usual literature) and can enhance your skill set as a leader or manager, here are my recommendations.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl
The book is written by an Austrian Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor. It was first published in 1946. The book came up in a recent discussion about burnout and moral injury at the ACEP Leadership and Advocacy conference I attended. The first half of the book is the authors experiences as a prisoner at Nazi Concentration camps, including Auschwitz, during World War II. This is not an easy read but it’s important to understand his background for the second half of the book. The second half is Frankl’s psychotherapeutic approach, known as logotherapy, which he developed as a result of his time in the camps.
Frankl suggests that meaning can be found through three main avenues—by creating a work or doing a deed, by experiencing something or encountering someone (such as love), and by adopting an attitude of acceptance and courage in the face of unavoidable suffering. He emphasizes that each person’s meaning is unique and cannot be dictated by external circumstances but rather needs to be discovered within oneself.
There is no comparison between by the burnout experienced by healthcare workers secondary to the pandemic and the Nazi concentration camps. However, the concept is interesting to me. I thought the pandemic was the most important work I ever did. I also really enjoyed the work. Perhaps that was the “courage” component. Since hearing about this book and reading it, I realize I enjoy so many of my patient interactions more. Perhaps that is the “deed” component. The bottom line, the author advocates, is that finding meaning in the work we’re doing can help us feel better about our purpose.
This is ultimately inspirational built about finding resilience and purpose even when forced into unimaginable circumstances. Quoting Nietzsche, “He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How.”
Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 10 Powerful Tools for Life and Work by Marilee G. Adams, Marshall Goldsmith (Foreword)
This book was recommended by a long time chair who I consider to be one of the smartest and most thoughtful people I’ve come across in emergency medicine. He told me this is his go to book to recommend to future ED leaders. The premise is that the questions we ask ourselves and others shape our thinking, emotions, and actions. But we can learn to ask more empowering questions and ultimately change our perspectives, behaviors, and outcomes.
The author uses a visual tool called a “Choice Map,” that helps readers understand the connection between their questions and the results they get. The critical action is learning to switch from “Judger Questions,” which are characterized by blame, negativity and limiting assumptions, to “Learner Questions,” which are more open, curious, and solution-focused. The author uses real life examples and provides tools for the readers to help create positive change.
The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now. By Meg Jay PhD
This book is more self-help than leadership and management and in my case, interesting because of the ages of my kids. A colleague suggested it as my daughter graduated, and while the intended audience is for twenty-somethings, I knew she wouldn’t read it unless I did first. I’m including it since I can’t be the only ER doc with kids approaching or in their twenties, and parts of it also seem relevant for med students, residents, and the scribes we work with. With that said, the author points out that “approximately 80% of life’s defining events take place by age 35.”
The author draws the comparison that for child development, the first five years of life are considered critical for language, attachment, and brain development, while the twenties are equally critical adulting with language, work, and brain development. Many of our young attendings have the “identity capital” (your successful resume) that other twentysomethings may lack but will need work on relationships and the understanding of how to benefit from “weak links” (networking). If you want an abridged version, consider her TED talk, “Why 30 is Not the New 20.”
You’re the Leader, Now What? Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic by Richard Winters, MD
Many of my hospital colleagues got to see Dr Winters speak at a conference late last year. I didn’t make the trip but I was excited to get a copy of the book. Dr Winters was the leader of a democratic group, a department chair, and president of the medical staff. Now he’s faculty at Mayo and an executive coach. He knows how to lead organizations and more importantly, he can teach you to be a better leader. Dr Winters shares his own mistakes, teaches specific tactics, and provides a framework to work through particularly complex issues. I particularly liked the executive summary at the end of each chapter that highlights the lessons and key points in the chapter.
The 2% Way by Myron L Rolle, MD
Dr Rolle is a neurosurgery resident who was a Rhodes Scholar and had a brief career as a pro football player. That alone had me pre-ordering the book last summer and spending a couple of afternoons reading it under my beach umbrella. Dr Rolle shares his experiences as the son of Bahamian immigrant parents and as a minority in a private high school that was filled with privileged students. He became a top football prospect and then chose to pursue education as a Rhodes Scholar before the NFL.
I found each area of his life interesting, particularly his time as a Rhodes Scholar and the impact of putting his football career aside to pursue education. The title and them is based on something his college football coach repeatedly said—get 2% better each day. Another favorite book of mine (It’s Our ship by Captain Michael Abrashoff) used a similar theme and I’ve discussed this concept with my ER team regularly over the last few years. Dr Rolle achieved success in many ways, but the common theme was hard work. This was an inspiring and fun to read book of overcoming adversity by working hard to get a little better each day.
The Founders Mentality by Chris Zook and James Allen
This book discusses the fundamental principles that drives successful organizations and the pitfalls that predictably occur along the way. One of the core principles is maintaining a “founder’s mentality.” That is, bold and ambitious behaviors to get the company back on course. The authors found that “when companies fail to meet their growth targets, 90% of the time the root causes are internal, not external, factors.” These internal factors include “increasing distance from the front lines, loss of accountability, proliferating processes, and bureaucracy, to name a few.” Leaders need to establish a clear mission and have a “relentless obsession” with the front line.
This is a well-researched book with a practical, comprehensive, and actionable toolkit of strategies and tactics to restore the founder’s mentality in your organization. William Burroughs said it first, “When you stop growing, you’re dying.” Our ED volumes continue to grow and many of us are in groups that are also growing. Either way, if you’re a leader, you may have new responsibilities compared to even a couple of years ago and be a little more removed from the front-line issues.
The AI Revolution in Medicine: GPT-4 and Beyond by Peter Lee, Carey Goldberg, and Isaac Kohane
This list would not be complete without something on the use of Chat GPT and artificial intelligence. AI is likely going to change how we work in the near future and I think all of us need to understand it’s potential and how it may best help us in medicine. A Congressman local to where I work is actually going back to graduate school to better understand AI and it’s potential impact to society, both good and bad.
The authors in this book got an early look at Chat GPT-4 and outline its potential for frontline docs, including improving diagnosis, creating patient visit summaries, and streamlining processes.
I don’t expect everyone in medicine to embrace the technology. But as leaders, we owe it to our departments to understand the potential roles and limitations as machine learning enters our domain and this book is a really good place to start.
