My latest guilty pleasure during this circuit breaker is a
Japanese TV series on Netflix called “Dr. X – Surgeon Michiko Daimon.” Apart from
the obvious charms of Ryoko Yonekura, the actress who plays the titular character,
the thing that makes the show so enjoyable is a main issue for anyone living in
an Asian Society, particularly if you’re the type of person who doesn’t accept
things as they are.
Dr. Michiko Daimon is a freelance surgeon in a university hospital
in central Tokyo. The show underlines the fact that she’s a lone wolf surgeon
who “Hates Crowds” and “Hates Authority.” These characteristics clash very
visibly with the culture of the hospital, which is deferential to authority and
there is plenty of group think. She only gets away with her antics because she’s
a brilliant surgeon who manages to do the things that no one else does.
The entire story was something relatable, especially after more
than a decade as a freelance consultant in Asia, which is a part of the world
that doesn’t have a culture that looks too kindly on people who stand out too
obviously. Confucius, the founding philosopher of Chinese and by extension
Japanese and Korean cultures, believed that everyone had a place in life and
there was a great reverence for established authority, which in turn had an obligation
to “look after” the people below.
While I do admire people, who can put the community above
themselves, there are dangers in this approach.
The most obvious point is that the people who achieve great
power aren’t always the most honourable and righteous. Even if a person starts out
with the purest of intentions, a long spell in power often have a way of corrupting
the best and brightest. As ethnic Chinese, I think of Mao, who lead the liberation
of peasants against corrupt warlords and then ended up becoming nastier than
the people he replaced. His contemporary in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh by contrast had
good fortune to die before he could go nuts.
The next point with linear or top down systems is that
people in them tend to lose focus. The problem in such systems is that the only
way of moving in life is either up or down. It goes without saying that if your
only way of getting anywhere is based on whether the top man likes you, your
focus becomes pleasing the top man. The show illustrates this perfectly. In the
hospital where Dr. Daimon works, everyone is terrified of the “Professors,” who
are quite often the least able to perform basic surgery. Yet, nobody questions
the diagnosis of the professors and they end up doing all sorts of crap to keep
on the good side of the professors, including cover up for them when dealing
with mistresses. The show inevitably starts with the entire hospital rushing up
stairs to greet the director (who takes the lift) to accompany him on his
rounds. The most prominent incident comes when a pediatric surgeon refuses to
examine a child who is complaining of various pains that occur randomly
throughout her body because his boss, the Professor of Pediatrics, performed
the surgery and he won’t do anything that makes his boss look bad.
While a certain amount of deference to established authority
is warranted, an obsession with looking up and down is unhealthy. The problem
that the hospital faces is the doctors are more focused on keeping their
professors happy and the professors are only interested in their research papers.
The needs of patients are ignored and this is where Dr. Daimon comes in. She’s
terrible at fitting in but she acts in the best interest of patients giving
them medical advice they need rather than what they want. In one episode she antagonizes
a celebrity cook because she refuses to admire her cooking (which is awful).
However, she is the one who rescues the celebrity who has cancer and needs
surgery. She goes as far as to perform the surgery with a consent form because it
is a life and death situation and that is more important than the prospect of
being sued.
In hierarchical systems, the reality of becoming too
obsessed with climbing the ladder and our boss’s opinion of us that we forget
that the people keeping the business running are the customers. I think of my “career”
path. Couldn’t make it in PR agency. Either rubbed bosses or colleagues the wrong
way. Yet, as a freelancer I actually did jobs that most people would say I had
no right to do as a lone individual (think Saudi Embassy, IIM and IIT).
The next point is that you got to do the work and be prepared
to cast your net ass widely as possible to get information. In the first
series, Dr. Diamon chats with a patient who worked in the rubber industry. From
there, she realizes that the patient has allergy to latex and she quickly
orders non latex gloves before the surgery. So, when she has to step in to
perform the surgery, she’s able to ensure that everyone else has gloves that won’t
cause the patient to have an allergic reaction.
Lesson here is to be open to things and knowledge doesn’t
necessarily comes from where you expect it. As my favourite liquidator says
when looking for financial shenanigans, don’t just look at financial records –
simple emails can also give you plenty of information.
Dr. Diamon is also the only doctor in the hospital to check x-rays
and when she questions her superiors, she’s doing so from a point of knowledge
rather than taking things in on a wholesale basis. To get knowledge, you have
to actually look for it.
Next point is that Dr. Diamon is good at getting people onto
her side. In one instance, she concedes defeat and gets another doctor to take
charge and look good. This is a doctor who refused to work with her until forced
to because he didn’t trust her. It’s only as he’s been operating that he realizes
that he’s doing what she wants him to do and gives her respect when she allows
him to be the hero. Her main point is that she knew she couldn’t achieve the
mission without his help and so is willing to give away credit
This leads to the next point, which is, although Dr. Diamon
does not make “friends,” she has them. There is her “agent” Akira, who handles
the money. While Dr. Diamon is a brilliant surgeon, she’s terrible with money
and her agent ensures that she gets well compensated for her work. Moral of the
story – work with people who will cover for your weaknesses.
Many years ago, I remember the Bishop of Lewes, who was our
guest at “Speech Day” urged us to become “eccentric.” I remember this because this
wasn’t something that you’d expect a guest at a public-school speech day to
mention, especially when that guest was a monk.
I never quite appreciated this until I started watching Dr.
X. One should not be afraid of being a little unusual. It helps shield one from
the dangers of group think and when you’re not afraid to stand out from time to
time, you get the chance of focusing on the things that you actually need to
focus on rather than on the things that people would like you to be distracted
by.
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