| Imagine the "sorcerer's apprentice" scene in the movie | | | | eligibility but still needed a few more credits to |
| Fantasia, fully remade for modern times. No longer | | | | graduate from UCLA. |
| would Mickey Mouse confront those fast-multiplying | | | | "I'd planned to do nothing but concentrate on |
| brooms as they splashed water everywhere. | | | | classwork," she recalls. |
| Instead, the onslaught would have a new-economy | | | | "That way I could get my grades up for applying to |
| twist. Torrents of email would come pouring out of a | | | | med school." Nice plan, but it went haywire when she |
| computer. | | | | was offered a chance to play basketball for UCLA. |
| Fresh projects would be announced on ever-tighter | | | | She took it, had a great time, and kept her grades up in |
| deadlines. And all sorts of people -- bosses, customers, | | | | advanced-science classes. |
| and recent hires in search of a mentor -- would march | | | | But when she sent out med-school applications, she |
| into the picture, each pleading for immediate attention | | | | had missed several deadlines and was accepted |
| and declaring: "You're the only person we trust to do | | | | nowhere. |
| this right." Ridiculous? No, reality. | | | | For the next four years, Richardson played at the |
| For countless workers and managers at startups or at | | | | highest level of amateur softball -- and labored to |
| revitalized older companies, the excitement of rewriting | | | | shore up her medical resume. She took classes to be |
| the rules of business -- and the elation of building | | | | an emergency medical technician in Florida and got a |
| high-performance organizations in record time -- is | | | | master's degree in health from Adelphi University. She |
| accompanied by a dark side. There just aren't enough | | | | helped run a rehab program for heart patients. In 1988, |
| hours in the day or enough days in the week to get | | | | she reapplied to medical schools and won a place at |
| everything done. | | | | the University of Louisville. |
| Important projects pile up at such a rate that they can't | | | | Suddenly, medicine became all-consuming. |
| all be finished by 6 PM Friday. As such tasks spill | | | | "Those first two years were all about memorizing, |
| further and further into evenings and weekends, | | | | memorizing," Richardson recalls. "I lost my ability to talk |
| something deeply troubling starts to happen. | | | | to people. It was like being stuck in a dark tunnel, just |
| Friendships with people outside work begin to | | | | reviewing anatomy and molecular-biology textbooks. |
| disappear. Cherished side interests -- such as training | | | | That was a very tough transition for me." Occasionally, |
| for a marathon or photographing a favorite beach -- | | | | she played catch with her boyfriend, but other than |
| become distant memories. Family rapport suffers. A | | | | that, she recalls, "I couldn't even practice softball. There |
| question looms: If I'm so smart, why am I not enjoying | | | | was no time." When Richardson took her medical |
| my life more? A year or two ago, true believers | | | | board exams at the end of her second year, to her |
| seldom worried openly about such tensions. The | | | | dismay, she fell two points short of passing. She knew |
| payoffs from a little more hard work seemed so | | | | that she could press ahead -- and try to pass a retest |
| immense, and the rewards seemed so close, that it | | | | in a month or two -- but faculty members encouraged |
| was easy to believe that only the halfhearted or the | | | | her to think about repeating her second-year |
| lazy needed to pause for breath. How times have | | | | coursework instead. That wasn't a glamorous choice, |
| changed. Suddenly, even well-run Internet companies | | | | but before long, she decided that it was the right |
| realize that they can't change the world in a matter of | | | | choice. |
| months. They and the people in them must pace | | | | This time, Richardson aced her courses. |
| themselves for a multiyear struggle to achieve their | | | | That cleared the way in 1991 for her to start third-year |
| goals. And the shakeout in the financial markets means | | | | instruction, when med students get to see patients. |
| that personal sacrifices can't be papered over by the | | | | She thrived -- and it was vindication for faculty |
| notion that you don't have to worry about how hard | | | | members who had recommended her admission. "She |
| you're working now, since you'll be in a position to retire | | | | had this absolutely infectious enthusiasm," recalls |
| wealthy in three years anyway. | | | | faculty member Steve Nettleton. |
| Indeed, at its worst, the new economy's fast track has | | | | Meanwhile, Richardson figured out how to keep her |
| become nothing more than a road to exhaustion and | | | | pro-softball career alive. In the summer, she would |
| disappointment -- a journey to nowhere. But the | | | | wrap up medical school on Friday afternoons, catch a |
| opportunities before us are so great, and our | | | | flight to New York and then drive up to Connecticut to |
| expectations of what we can do from within our | | | | take the field as a member of the Raybestos |
| companies are so high, that sitting passively on the side | | | | Brakettes. To save time, she would change into her |
| of the road is not an option either. That's why a new | | | | uniform en route. Even then, she sometimes didn't |
| question faces millions of ambitious people who still | | | | arrive until the second inning of a game. But her coach |
| want to do great work but who don't want to lose | | | | at the Brakettes, Ralph Raymond, would get her into |
| themselves in the process: Am I on the right track? | | | | the lineup at once. |
| Listen carefully, and you can hear that question being | | | | She had taken it for granted at the time, but now |
| debated at all levels of your organization, your | | | | Richardson sees Raymond as having played a special |
| neighborhood, your family, and your social circle. As | | | | role. He was the first in a series of mentors who really |
| people search for answers to that simple six-word | | | | wanted her to succeed in both worlds. |
| question, they must step back and ask a series of | | | | Yes, she was late to games, in a league where most |
| other soul-searching questions. What are my priorities? | | | | other players had dull day jobs that they chose mainly |
| Who are the people that matter most to me, and | | | | because such work wouldn't interfere with softball. |
| what should I be doing to strengthen those ties? Do I | | | | But instead of being annoyed at her tardiness, he was |
| know how to say no -- and if not, is there a way to | | | | proud. "I remember Coach Raymond telling me: 'Dot, be |
| learn how? Do I know how to say yes and make it | | | | different. Go and do something else with your life |
| count? Most fundamentally, what am I really trying to | | | | beyond softball. Don't let softball get in the way of your |
| accomplish? It's tempting to argue that there are no | | | | profession as a doctor,'" she recalls. |
| winning strategies, only a long line of barely tolerable | | | | At first, there wasn't anyone comparable in |
| trade-offs. By that line of thinking, you can check email | | | | Richardson's other world. Becoming a doctor was so |
| at 6:30 AM or help make your children's breakfast, but | | | | intense that no one was about to give her any extra |
| you can't do both. You can rush to the airport for a | | | | slack. But when she started her residency training at |
| hastily called client meeting in Chicago or linger over a | | | | the University of Southern California in 1993, things |
| romantic dinner with your spouse -- but there's no way | | | | changed. She had decided to specialize in orthopedics. |
| to be in both places at the same time. And if you want | | | | Some of the faculty doctors either were former |
| to be part of an exciting new project, say good-bye to | | | | athletes themselves or had meaningful sports-medicine |
| weekends that might have been spent backpacking, | | | | practices. They wouldn't let her cut corners, but they |
| volunteering, or simply relaxing. | | | | would help adjust her schedule so that she could |
| Yet some people are extricating themselves from the | | | | remind the world what Dr. Shortstop could do with a |
| worst aspects of the fast track -- to get on the right | | | | bat as well as with a scalpel. |
| track. | | | | David Thordarson, head of the USC |
| In Los Angeles, an aspiring doctor has carved out | | | | orthopedic-residency program, remembers the crucial |
| blocks of time during more than a decade of medical | | | | moment coming a year before the 1996 Olympics, |
| training so she could become an Olympic athlete as | | | | when softball for the first time would be an Olympic |
| well. | | | | sport. USC gave Richardson a year off -- and told her |
| In Springdale, Arkansas, one of the Internet's most | | | | to come back with a medal, if she could, in August |
| successful merchants has learned how to prevent | | | | 1996. "We had an extra resident that year, so it wasn't |
| overwork from wrecking his family life. And in San | | | | a burden on us," Thordarson recalls. |
| Francisco, two high-powered consultants have | | | | Richardson did even better. She hit the first home run |
| redefined their jobs so that they can be successful | | | | in the opening round of the Atlanta Olympics and then |
| parents too. | | | | hit the game-winning homer in the finals. When she |
| It's worth noting that these people are in the middle of | | | | came back to USC, she faced a mob scene of |
| their careers and are struggling right now to find | | | | reporters, hospital workers, patients -- all wanting to |
| answers to the question of how to do great work and | | | | see Dr. Dot and her gold medal. "She was surprisingly |
| still live lives of which they're proud. | | | | down-to-earth about it and eager to get back to |
| It's much easier to talk philosophically about balance, | | | | work," Thordarson recalls. |
| trade-offs, and life choices after you've made your | | | | Before long, though, the celebration was over. It was |
| millions: "Oh, I gave up so much to get here. If I had it to | | | | time for more tough choices. In early 1998, Richardson |
| do over again, I'd spend more time with my kids, my | | | | was doing an all day - all night rotation in the trauma |
| church, and with community groups." Really? Such | | | | unit just before tryouts for the U.S. national softball |
| sentiment is easier to express in retrospect than it is to | | | | team. She had planned to finish at the hospital at 8 AM |
| live in real time. | | | | and then catch a short flight to San Diego for the |
| As each of those people tries to get the balance right, | | | | tryouts. But just before her 24-hour shift ended, she |
| lessons big and small emerge from their experiences. | | | | realized that a patient with a broken leg and other |
| Simple edicts play an important role. ("Don't check | | | | serious internal injuries was doing poorly and was in |
| voice mail on weekends.") So does hard thinking about | | | | danger of crashing. |
| what's not essential at work. And at the highest level, | | | | Should she stay or should she go? "There wasn't any |
| three main strategies provide steady guidance. | | | | question in my mind," Richardson says. She ignored her |
| One, when there simply isn't time to do it all right now, | | | | official quitting time and stayed at the hospital until the |
| think about what might be called "the time-release | | | | patient was stabilized. She had missed her flight, but |
| career." Use each stage of life to center on different | | | | she decided that if she drove fast, she still could get to |
| goals -- so that work enjoys top billing for long | | | | tryouts on time. Partway through the drive, she asked |
| stretches but gives way to other priorities. Two, spell | | | | herself, Why am I doing this? "I decided that if I needed |
| out your own definition of success, so that you can | | | | to pull over and sleep, it was just God's way of telling |
| aim for your targets instead of constantly being | | | | me, Enough," Richardson recalls. |
| dependent on the shifting demands of others. Three, | | | | At 12:30 PM, after 30 sleepless hours, Richardson |
| find or create a supportive setting. If colleagues, | | | | made it to the tryouts. Picked once again for the U.S. |
| bosses, and clients understand that work is merely a | | | | national team, she decided to train afresh for the 2000 |
| part of an overall picture, there's hope. If not, the | | | | Olympics. By now, she was a half-generation older |
| burdens of the fast track can be endless. | | | | than many of the other top U.S. players. She was still a |
| Can You Chase Two Dreams at Once? Barely a | | | | standout, still good enough to bat leadoff. But it was |
| teenager, Dorothy "Dot" Richardson would draw | | | | time for her to move over to second base and |
| crowds to watch her play fast-pitch softball. In the | | | | relinquish the shortstop position to a dazzling new |
| early 1980s, she was a scholarship athlete at UCLA | | | | player, 21-year-old Crystl Bustos. |
| compiling a career batting average of .367 and | | | | At the Olympics in Sydney, Richardson turned in a |
| smacking extra-base hits with abandon. The moment | | | | bittersweet performance. She batted just .179 and had |
| when the afternoon games were finished, | | | | a dreadful preliminary-round game against Japan, |
| Richardson's most frantic dash began. Still dressed in | | | | making two 11th-inning errors that cost the United |
| her blue and gold uniform, she would race one and a | | | | States the game. But she drove in the winning run in a |
| half miles to the organic-chemistry lab. Arriving | | | | medal-round, 1-0 victory against host Australia. Then, |
| anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes late, she | | | | when the U.S. team played Japan again for the gold |
| would then scramble to her workbench -- and begin | | | | medal, she wheedled a walk to set up the |
| two to four hours of chemical synthesis as part of her | | | | game-winning run. At a press conference afterward, |
| pre-med training. | | | | she said that she "cherished every second" of the |
| Teammates thought that she was nuts. One of her | | | | Olympics. |
| coaches, Sue Enquist, watched bemusedly as this | | | | While her softball days were nearing their end, |
| shortstop with light-brown hair chased goals in two | | | | Richardson's medical career was taking off in |
| distinctly different worlds: sports and medicine. "She | | | | spectacular fashion. |
| was a blur all through college," Enquist recalls. "I don't | | | | After USC, she landed a fellowship at the prestigious |
| think I ever saw her slow down. And she had this | | | | Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles, where |
| unshakable belief that everything was going to work | | | | she put the finishing touches on her skills as an |
| out great." For the next 17 years, Richardson made | | | | orthopedic surgeon. There was a small competition, in |
| headlines with her softball skills while quietly inching her | | | | fact, among leading clinics in California and Alabama |
| way toward a lifelong career as a doctor. There were | | | | that were trying to recruit her to their fellowship |
| delays and detours, including a dismal stretch in Florida | | | | programs. |
| right after college when the only job that Richardson | | | | Once she started, partners at Kerlan-Jobe decided |
| could get was delivering pizza. Eventually, though, she | | | | that they liked what they saw. "She was good with |
| put all the pieces together, becoming both a fully | | | | her hands," veteran orthopedist Neal ElAttrache |
| trained orthopedic surgeon and a gold-medal-winning | | | | observes. "Technical ability in the operating room was |
| Olympic athlete. | | | | not an issue. And her interpersonal skills were |
| How Dot Richardson juggled those two goals is every | | | | outstanding. |
| bit as interesting as what she accomplished. Each of | | | | She could relate to young people, to elderly people -- |
| her callings had intensely busy periods that demanded | | | | to anyone." Partway through her fellowship year, in |
| total concentration, with success or failure hanging in | | | | fact, Richardson's two careers finally joined for a |
| the balance. Yet she gradually learned to space those | | | | moment. She and ElAttrache were asked to operate |
| high-intensity bursts so that medicine and softball took | | | | on UCLA's best young softball player, Julie Adams. |
| turns and collided as little as possible. She also got | | | | Something in Adams's shoulder just wasn't right. |
| steadily better at finding friends and mentors who | | | | X-rays showed a tiny tip of a needle, broken off from |
| wanted her to succeed in both worlds -- not just the | | | | a previous surgery. It was floating in the midst of |
| one that they knew best. | | | | Adams's shoulder. Extracting it wouldn't be easy. But |
| Richardson's story is rich with parallels for anyone | | | | everyone felt that it was Adams's best hope for a full |
| trying to excel both at work and at a special side | | | | recovery. |
| interest. | | | | Waiting anxiously outside the operating room was Sue |
| Lose control and you end up with two sets of friends, | | | | Enquist, still the UCLA softball coach. Finally the doors |
| two sets of promises -- and a never-ending sense | | | | opened. |
| that you're in the wrong city, wasting time on the | | | | Out came Richardson, dressed in green surgical |
| wrong project at any given moment. Yet as | | | | scrubs. "Sue!" she exclaimed. |
| Richardson puts it, it's unthinkable to lop off half your | | | | "We got the needle out! She's going to be all right." At |
| identity forever and to pretend that it never really | | | | that moment, Enquist remembers tears forming, partly |
| mattered. | | | | out of joy that her best young player would finally be |
| "All you can do is focus as hard as you can on one | | | | healed, but just as much to behold what Richardson |
| thing at a time," she says. | | | | had become. The sweet-hitting shortstop of 17 |
| "That's what we're taught to do as surgeons." At first, | | | | seasons earlier was now a big-league surgeon -- and |
| Richardson couldn't get the balance right. In 1983, after | | | | maybe even an all-star. |
| four years of college, she had exhausted her softball | | | | |