seswan5436 – 3Pines M.D. Strategies

Thinking Around Corners: Crisis Leadership, June 2020

The SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic is a tectonic force exposing the fault lines underlying current medical practice, care delivery models, and physician career expectations. The professional uncertainty, financial disruption, and personal risk encountered by physicians creates a crisis of confidence that can lead to burnout and career disruption. It seems that this is the classic VUCA …

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Thinking Around Corners: The Black Swan, May 2020

Uncategorized / By seswan5436

Last month I introduced the concept of learning to “think around corners”; and, how my expertise as a practicing neurosurgeon didn’t necessarily prepare me well for the career transitions I made over the past decade of my medical career. Perhaps I relied too much on my clinical experience and pattern recognition to “predict” what might, …

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Thinking Around Corners: Introduction, April 2020

Uncategorized / By seswan5436

I was recently invited to visit a major academic medical center as a Visiting Professor in Neurosurgery. My intent was not to teach “neurosurgery” but rather to discuss broad topics around decision science, judgement, emotional intelligence, executive communication, and change management. The planned title of my presentation was: “Learning to Think Around Corners: a brain …

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The “Pretty Good” Leader: Part II

Uncategorized / By seswan5436

Last November, I wrote the blog post “The “Pretty Good” Leader: Part I”, in which I compared “good” leadership to “great” leadership. I consider this current blog post—“Part II”—to be a companion to the original article rather than a sequel. I doubt there will be a “Part III”. I would like to share a few …

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Reframing a “Crisis of Relevance”

Leadership / By seswan5436

One of the reasons I write a blog is to share my thoughts on tough issues faced by physicians who are in career transition for any number of reasons including, but not limited to, retirement (voluntary or otherwise), physical disability, burnout, family issues, or new life priorities. As 2018 begins, I am facing down the …

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The “Pretty Good” Leader: Part I

Leadership / By seswan5436

In November of 1979 (yes, 38 years ago), I got a phone call on a Friday night that changed my life. OK, before I get to that, I probably need to provide some context. I was a first-year resident in surgery at the University of Michigan and had recently finished a two-month rotation on the …

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Unlearning to Lead

Uncategorized / By seswan5436

Last week I gave a talk at the Minnesota Neurosurgical Society meeting in Rochester, Minnesota entitled “Unlearning to Lead: A Physician Executive’s Perspective”. I talked about behaviors and work habits I had developed over time as a practicing neurosurgeon that created some barriers to my effectiveness as an executive leader. As a surgeon, I was …

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Author name: seswan5436