BY JOHN M. OLDHAM, M.D. It’s now the spring baseball season, but we’re in an upside-down world in which it’s hard to imagine sitting in a crowded stadium. Anyway, so far we don’t have a choice, since the season is postponed and the stadiums are closed. But in the spirit of the season, I […]
BY JOHN M. OLDHAM, M.D. The defensive cloak of denial works only so long. COVID-19, we wanted to believe, was over there. For as long as we could, we refused to see that this ruthless pandemic could take over our country, our town, our street. But no more. Now we know the savage nature […]
BY JOHN M. OLDHAM, M.D. Consider the case of Prince William vs. Prince Harry: Do you need a princely temperament to wear the royal crown? “This isn’t a power struggle,” acknowledges Sam Walker, The Wall Street Journal leadership columnist. “William is the heir by birth and Harry, sixth in line to the throne, has no […]
BY JOHN M. OLDHAM, MD How to be a good leader: Learn by listening. That struck me as the main message of a small book sent to department chairs throughout the country some time ago by the American Association of Medical Schools. I’ve tried to do just that throughout my career, sometimes more successfully than […]
BY JOHN M. OLDHAM, M.D. If you are expecting holiday harmony, you may have to think twice. The family gathering just may not turn out like the Norman Rockwell images of perfect family bliss. Instead, as a Thanksgiving-day op-ed in the New York Times put it, “Make Room at the Table for Difficult People.” Grumble, […]
BY JOHN M. OLDHAM, M.D. “Humility Is Something to Boast About.” That was the headline on a recent article in the print edition of The New York Times. Benedict Carey reports on a recent review of studies of people with a personality trait characterized by an ability to perceive one’s own flaws and strengths, and […]
BY JOHN M. OLDHAM, M.D. Personality influences behavior. No doubt about it, certainly for someone in my field. So information about someone’s personality should help make sense of how–and how successfully–that person acts at school, in the workplace, at home, in social relationships, and in the world of politics. The New York Times recently reported […]
