A Matter Of Perspective

Episode 21:  Sticky Wicket

Henry:    Look, you’re losing your perspective.  You’ve got your 

          guts in a knot because one patient has gone sour.  In 

          an outfit like this, that’s bad.

Hawkeye:  I don’t buy that.

Henry:    You don’t buy it because you’re dedicated.

Hawkeye:  Well, shouldn’t I be?

Henry:    Depends… on whether you’re dedicated to your patient 

          or your ego.

After insulting Frank Burns’ surgical skills in the OR, Hawkeye gets a patient that has complications causing him to become consumed by his inability to figure out the problem.  Colonel Blake challenges Hawkeye to get a bit perspective.

There are moments for every leader when something we organize or lead doesn’t turn out to plan, or when those we lead don’t respond to our leadership as we expect.  It is in these moments that I find myself doing a whole lot of self assessment to try and figure out where I’ve gone wrong.  If I’m not careful, my failures can easily distort my perspective of my successes. Perspective enables a leader to step back from their failures and to right-size their reality.  I have found it helpful to engage other trusted people in my circle of influence to broaden my perspective when I am consumed by a failure or problem.  More often than not, an alternative point of view reveals that things are not as bad or broken as first thought and provides shared wisdom to find effective solutions.