What I learned from a TED Talk by Atul Gawande

Continuing from last week, today I will talk about another TED talk by Atul Gawande. If you have about 16 minutes, you can listen to this talk on Ted by clicking here. Else please read the following few lines to get the gist of it.

Want to get better? Get a coach.

Many of us believe that we are already experts and that now we have the right and to extent moral duty to help others. This may start with criticizing, commenting and can graduate to teaching, helping. We know for sure that even our criticism is useful to the people, as long as they accept the feedback. We forget that there are others who may be able to help us get better and that there is always some improvement possible.

Atul says it is a popular belief that a professional is someone who can manage their own improvement. He then talks about the start difference with the sports world that has a coaching tradition, where even the best of the best need a coach. This started when Harvard and Yale started a football league. Yale hired a coach and Harvard did not. In next three decades, Harvard won just 4 times. In the end Harvard hired a coach. Now everyone has a coach. Remember that the coach may not better that the sportsperson that he/she coaches. But even then, they can help the sportsperson improve and get the best out of himself/herself.

“It’s not how good you are now; it’s how good you’re going to be that really matters,” Atul says. He also cites his own case where he worked on his own improvements as a surgeon but leveled out after some time. He could not improve till he hired a coach to help him figure out what he could do to improve.

I guess, it is in all of us to continue to improve all our lives. All we really need to do is get over our ego and accept help.

I hope all leaders be always open to become a better version of themselves. May you all find the coach who can help you.

Stay tuned for more next week.