Episode
29: Dr Pierce And Mr Hyde
Henry: Your cuckoo stunts…Taking a
general for a ride to North Korea in a latrine.
McIntyre, what makes him do these things?
Trapper: He’s just unstable. He took this weird oath as a young man never
to stand around and watch people die.
Henry: I took the same oath,
pal. I didn’t ask to be here.
Trapper: Me neither. I guess that makes about 80,000 of us.
After three straight
days of surgery, Hawkeye, asleep on his feet, tries to figure out why they are
there in Korea. He attends Frank’s
orientation lecture and takes him literally when he suggests that North Korea wants
American plumbing, leading to a comedy of events that results in General
Clayton being taken for a ride in a latrine in an attempt to try and stop the
war.
By nature, leaders are hard-wired with a “bias toward
action” (Bill Hybels). They are action
oriented people who are discontent with the status quo and are driven towards
solving problems and fulfilling a purpose.
A leader will never settle for a “that’s just the way things are”
response to issues, but will always seek to understand the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’. While this leadership trait will often step
on toes and get leaders into trouble, it is this characteristic that facilitates
change and gets things done. At the end
of one of my favourite movies The American President, starring Michael Douglas
as President Andrew Shepherd, the President makes a passionate plea at a press
conference that captures this bias toward action; “We have serious
problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them.” Leaders don’t stand around and wonder why things
happen, but resolutely work towards making things happen!
