Each glimpse of the “Agnew Clinic”1 painting attracts me with a deep thoughtfulness. It’s a constant inspiration that whispers me sincerely about expertise. It reminds me to be disciplined and focused on my studies which I want to gain expertise and practice for the rest of my life. Speaking of expertise in general brings vivid explanations into the context. It draws my attention to the most profound cardiovascular surgeon of our era, Dr. Michael Ellis DeBakey. He was fondly remembered as a “Cardiac Guru, Pioneer in Innovation and Trailblazer”2. He was the father of open-heart surgery3, first heart transplant and inventor of roller pump for heart lung machine4. A ground breaking researcher but also the man who changed the rules of the surgery
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But looking carefully at his education and career path, it seems as if opportunities came looking for him. One could argue because Dr. DeBakey was a male and in a world dominated by men that he had a higher probability to spread his wings. This argument can be well detested by couple of Harvard Business Review publications that discusses numerous quality case studies about acquiring expertise, e.g. “The making of an expert”5, “Emerging Expertise”6 and “How Experts Gain Influence”7. “The making of an expert” is based on a true story of two educators-parents who home-schooled their daughters. By doing so they intended to challenge the popular assumption that women don’t succeed in areas requiring spatial thinking, such as chess. They were successful their three daughters ranked among the top 10 chess players in the world. “It takes time to become an expert. Even the most gifted performers need a minimum of ten years of intense training before they win international competitions.” The article not only trashes gender specific myths but also establishes a well acceptable idea that higher IQ is not correlated to becoming an expert but deliberate practice. This emerges the curious hope that perhaps next expert in surgery could be a female
But looking carefully at his education and career path, it seems as if opportunities came looking for him. One could argue because Dr. DeBakey was a male and in a world dominated by men that he had a higher probability to spread his wings. This argument can be well detested by couple of Harvard Business Review publications that discusses numerous quality case studies about acquiring expertise, e.g. “The making of an expert”5, “Emerging Expertise”6 and “How Experts Gain Influence”7. “The making of an expert” is based on a true story of two educators-parents who home-schooled their daughters. By doing so they intended to challenge the popular assumption that women don’t succeed in areas requiring spatial thinking, such as chess. They were successful their three daughters ranked among the top 10 chess players in the world. “It takes time to become an expert. Even the most gifted performers need a minimum of ten years of intense training before they win international competitions.” The article not only trashes gender specific myths but also establishes a well acceptable idea that higher IQ is not correlated to becoming an expert but deliberate practice. This emerges the curious hope that perhaps next expert in surgery could be a female