Save Your Tickets

In my personal leadership odyssey as a department chair that spanned 24 years, I confronted only two controversies that merited expenditure of my valuable tickets. When it was all over, no one could tell me how many I had left, but I am happy to pass the residual on to my successor. He may need them in the increasingly complex world in which surgeons live.

So the next time you purposely or inadvertently happen upon an after-dinner presentation, refuse that second glass of wine and tune your antenna into whatever rare bit of wisdom might be forthcoming. Although I can promise nothing, you just might gain an insight that will serve you well the rest of your life.