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Article #11: Is your bussiness on the right track

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






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