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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2004;127:1235-1244
© 2004 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Presidential address

Who moved my heart? Adaptive responses to disruptive challenges

^a Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA

Read at the Twenty-ninth Annual Meeting of The Western Thoracic Surgical Association, Carlsbad, Calif, June 18-21, 2003.

Received for publication September 23, 2003; revisions received October 6, 2003; accepted for publication October 16, 2003.

^* Address for reprints: Edward D. Verrier, MD, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Box 356310, 1959 Pacific NE, Seattle, WA 98195-6310, USA
edver@u.washington.edu

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Edward D. Verrier, MD

A remarkable little book was published in 1998 titled Who Moved My Cheese?¹ written by a physician named Spencer Johnson. It has been on the New York Times bestseller list since that time. In the foreword, Johnson notes:

The four imaginary characters

Depicted in this story—

The mice: "Sniff" and "Scurry,"

and The Littlepeople: "Hem" and "Haw"—

Are intended to represent the simple and

The complex parts of ourselves, regardless of

Our age, gender, race or nationality

Sometimes we may act like

Sniff

Who sniffs out change early, or

Scurry

Who scurries into action, or

Hem

Who denies and resists change as he fears

It will lead to something worse, or

Haw

Who learns to adapt in time when he sees

Changing leads to something better!

Whatever parts of us we choose to use,

We all share something in common:

A need to find our way in the maze

And succeed in changing times.^*

We do have challenges, or perceived threats, as cardiothoracic surgeons in 2003 that will require change—change in attitude, behavior, priorities, training, relationships, self-image, and rewards. We must adapt to these potentially disruptive challenges in a mature, constructive manner, embracing our core values yet setting new expectations and directions. We must have some sense of shared values and unity of vision because without such a common focus, we risk confusion, the lack of supportable operational plans, and certainly retraction, if not possible disintegration, of our specialty. Probably more important than any other single factor necessary for our ultimate success is to understand not only the art but also the science of leadership. Without such an understanding of leadership, we have the same potential to fall into the similar quandary that beset many of the unfortunate technology start-up companies who did not adapt to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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