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  • Be Reflexable, Avoid Destructions

    Jeffrey G. Chipman, MD, FACS

    I wrote previously about my orthopedic surgeon uncle.  I’m writing now about my country-city uncle.  He was born in 1930, making him a little too young to remember the Great Depression or to be part of World War II.  He was raised in rural Utah, and Wall Street’s crash probably didn’t affect his already humble way of life anyway. 

     
    My uncle has called me about every 3 weeks since society started to lock down and asked the same questions.  When can I go out again?  When is a vaccine going to come?  Should I take it? Will it work for someone my age?
     
    I’ve stopped asking what he’s been doing.  “The same thing – nothing, and I’m getting good at it.”  He told me he should get a PhD in hermitology and that when he gets too bored, “I go get on my tractor and dig a hole.”
     
    He claims to be country, but he has some serious city in him.  His first successful business was a company that managed the healthcare claims of large corporations back in the day when those benefits were internally funded and not purchased from an external insurance company. He may have worked in the city, but he never lost his horse sense – he could always tell a good horse from a bad one.  He has some country-city advice that can help us navigate the new normal. 
     
    “You’ve got to remain reflexable,” meaning you have to quickly adapt to new situations.  This one word adeptly summarizes a recent Harvard Business Review article about how to lead in today’s “three-dimensional” environment of “perpetual, pervasive, and exponential change.”  I think being reflexable is an old summary of this “new form of leadership.”
     
    A reflexable leader doesn’t give “destructions,” another of my uncle’s country-city no-nos.  Destructions are half-way between instructions and directions. They tell you neither how to drive the car nor how to get to your destination.  A reflexable leader has a vision and conveys it to her team.  A reflexable leader also has some idea of how to get there but doesn’t stifle input from his group.  A reflexable leader sails to the goal while continually trimming the sails to the wind pattern.
     
    It is easier for me to understand how to be reflexable and avoid destructions than how to develop a new, three-dimensional leadership style to account for perpetual, pervasive, and exponential change. Sometimes a degree in horse sense is more valuable than a Harvard MBA. Let’s continue to be reflexable in 2021.


    Jeffrey G. Chipman, MD, FACS
    Frank B. Cerra Professor of Critical Care Surgery
    Division Head, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery, 
    University of Minnesota
    Executive Medical Director, Critical Care Domain, M Health Fairview