When [disease] Can't Be Stopped, That's Where

What Is Needed, However, Isn't Just That People Working Together Be Nice To Each Other. It Is Discipline. Discipline Is Hard--harder Than Trustworthiness And Skill And Perhaps Even Than Selflessness. We Are By Nature Flawed And Inconstant Creatures. We Can't Even Keep From Snacking Between Meals. We Are Not Built For Discipline. We Are Built For Novelty And Excitement, Not For Careful Attention To Detail. Discipline Is Something We Have To Work At.

My Own Son Has A Congenital Heart Condition, Where His Life Was Saved By A Cardiac Surgeon Stepping In At 11 Days Of Life To Save His Life. But He Is Now 21 Years Old Because Of Constant Monitoring And Working With Him With A Primary Care Physician. That's The Only Reason Now That He's Getting To Live A Long And Healthy Life. That's What We're Not Rewarding. They Don't Have The Kind Of Resources And Commitment That We Are Giving To People Like Me. I Have Millions Of Dollars Of Equipment Available To Me When I Go To Work Every Day In An Operating Room.

What About Regular Professionals, Who Just Want To Do What They Do As Well As They Can?

There Are Times When You Have Sharp Elbows, And People Are Trying To Muscle You Out Of Certain Meetings - Because Then People Could Leak To The Press That You Had A Role In Certain Decisions. I, At Twenty-six, Was Very Impatient And Didn't Know How To Keep My Powder Dry. I Was Running A Team Of Seventy-five People When I Had Never Been A Boss. I Was The Worst Boss Ever.

Having Great Components Is Not Enough, And Yet We've Been Obsessed In Medicine With Components. We Want The Best Drugs, The Best Technologies, The Best Specialists, But We Don't Think Too Much About How It All Comes Together.