How can you use the principles of neurosurgery to maximize your leadership performance?

In this episode, Rich sits down with Dr. Theodore Schwartz, a pioneering neurosurgeon at Weill Cornell Medicine, known for developing minimally invasive techniques for brain tumor and epilepsy surgery.

Dr. Schwartz explores the mental and physical preparation required for surgery, navigating the challenge of making hundreds of cascading decisions and cultivating the personal resilience needed to persevere in such a high stakes environment.

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Key Quotes:

“I often say to the residents when we're operating, ‘Don't forget to listen to the tumor.’ And they're like, ‘What do you mean?’ I'm like, ‘You have to listen to the tumor. The tumor is telling you where it's going to hold on and where it's going to let you go. And you can't always impose your will on the tumor, but you have to listen to it and see what it's telling you, and react to that to change your plan.’ So you have to be receptive to the information coming in in order to create the most productive plan to move forward.”

“Although we erect a certain amount of emotional armor to deal when things go wrong, you then have to also be very, very sensitive and be able to let down that armor and be a human being.”

“And the question is, how do you put yourself in that mental space and in that physical space to function at a hundred percent, literally three days a week, I'm operating, you know, 48 weeks a year. Going on 25 years, right? I mean, it's just, it's relentless. It's every day. You have to show up because you have to be there for your patient.”

Practice Makes Profit: Assessing competition using the competitive landscape framework.

League of Strategic Minds [listener question]: What's the best way to communicate strategy?

Winsights: Ideas for Advantage: Sarah Blakely, self made billionaire and CEO of Spanx said, “Insights are gifts from the universe. Every time I have them, I capture them right away. The more that you write them down and pay attention to them, the stronger that the gift and the connection will become.” Where are you recording your insights and how often are you reviewing these insights to transform them into new value?

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Time stamps:

(00:40) Deep Dive Interview with Dr. Ted Schwartz

(045:42) Practice Makes Profit

(47:22) League of Strategic Minds

(49:21) Winsights, Ideas for Advantage

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Links:

Submit a question for Rich to the League of Strategic Minds

Theodore Schwartz on LinkedIn

Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery

Rich Horwath on LinkedIn

Rich Horwath on YouTube

Rich Horwath on Instagram

Strategic Thinking Institute Website

Inc. Magazine’s Top 4 book for 2024: STRATEGIC Book

New executive development platform: Strategic Fitness System
Sign up for Rich’s free Strategic Thinker Newsletter

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