The Good Doctor

Flying out of Hong Kong this weekend, I was seated next to a young, professional-looking Indian man who said he was an "international business guru." (Honest - he really said that. I couldn't help but wonder if he saw the irony.) As intellectual ballast, on my opposite side sat a delightful older gentleman, a medical doctor, who also happened to be Indian.

As the "guru" loudly regaled me with his exploits and espoused his management philosophies (yes, he had many; yes, they were tediously insane; yes, it was my fault for asking), the good doctor finally interrupted in a very pleasant, "I'm about to tell you to go to hell but in a way that makes you look forward to the trip" kind of way:

"Young man, if doctors practiced medicine the way you practice management, we should all be dead." In a huff, the young guru excused himself to sing a song in the happy room (the latest euphemism for using the toilet that I picked up from a tour guide in China - there seems to be no end of these worldwide).

More irony here... for a doctor to be saying such things... After all, it wasn't that long ago that doctors subscribed to a fondness for leeches and bloodletting. George Washington presumably died of epiglottitis - but is actually believed to have died from shock due to dehydration and asphyxia after being "treated" by having five pints of blood drained from his body.

But the good doctor's remark reminded me of something I'd read almost verbatim just before boarding the flight in a recent book by Bob Sutton. I pulled the book out of my backpack and looked it up...

"Business decisions, as many of our colleagues in business and your own experience can attest, are frequently based on fear, what others seem to be doing, what senior leaders have done and believe has worked in the past, and their dearly held ideologies -- in short, on a lot of things other than facts. [...] If doctors practiced medicine the way many companies practice management, there would be far more sick and dead patients, and many more doctors would be in jail. [my emphasis.]"

Unbelievable coincidence. I showed the doctor and we had a good chuckle.

I was feeling pretty smug when a happier Mr. Guru returned to his seat, until the doctor, in that wonderful, soft but strong voice asked, "so, what do you do?" After several attempts at explaining what MBM is and my relationship to it, it dawned on me that perhaps I was just using different words that probably sounded like, "I'm an international business guru." Which I clearly am not. The doctor and I spent the rest of the flight talking about many things - it was one of the most enjoyable travel experiences I've had in a long time... and I was most thankful for the lesson in humility which he probably didn't even realize he'd taught me.

Comments

[Gregory Rehmke]

There is at least some check for consultants. They have to find buyers for their presentations year after year. If their past advice proves bad, firms should remember.

Imagine academia, where this fellow will probably land when he can't find business customers. There he can lecture for decades to students about how business "really works."

[Ben]

And my next lesson in humility (I am afforded so many!) was kindly pointed out to me by a colleague.

Originally the last paragraph ended bluntly - something like: "... until that same sing-song voice asked, "so, what do you do?" It was an attempt at situational humor to show how quickly the tables had turned on me. But I probably didn't use proper grammer so that a reader might be confused about who I was referring to - the doctor or the "guru."

Also, just a few paragraphs prior I'd used "singing a song" and folks might thing I was casting an aspersion to that, further confusing the reader - or worse, giving the reader an impression that I was making fun of the doctor's accent.

Hopefully the longer version of the last paragraph is easier to parse and gets across my thoughts more accurately.

[Kevin]

I liked it the first way, though I could see how the grammar/reference could have been misinterpreted. It may have been a little confusing, but the sharp bite of humility came through. Who hasn't been in the situation of feeling smug (especially in business), just to have the rug pulled out from under moments later? Principle #8 has a way of slapping you in the face!