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"The attending is a light!" Power Move

#1 · October 7, 2023, 2:00 am

Quote from John Freeman on October 7, 2023, 2:00 am
Hello TPM community,
today at the daily meeting where we review the x-rays with radiologists and orthopedists. I was using the fleshlight from my phone to light the sheets of paper from which the resident reads the cases we are discussing. Because we are in the dark and it's helpful to her.
one of the staff physician of the adult ER told out loud:
ER staff physician: This attending, he's a light! ("c'est une lumière", which is an expression meaning that someone is smart in French).
Me: I try! (chuckles)
Analysis
ER staff physician: This attending, he's a light! ("c'est une lumière", which is an expression meaning that someone is smart in French).
It's a power move and he implies that I'm smart which is a backhand compliment implying that I'm dumb. Or he was just proud of his joke.
Me: I try! (chuckles)
Here I copied (remember my icon is a chameleon, thanks to Lucio) an earlier interaction with another ER staff physician:
Me: you still have your tan! (complimenting him, he came back from holiday)
Him: I try!
I thought that this is socially smart. It's a form of humble-bragging and/or philosopher frame. It's downplaying the compliment. I don't exactly know what it does but I find it elegant.
So I used the same: "I try!" to deflect as it could mean anything:
I do my best to be smart (but I'm not as much as you are)
Thank you for thinking I'm smart
Just joking around back
There is a trap here that the ER staff physician could do, that Lucio talks about in PU (When you had this presentation to earn the talent program abroad): being framed as arrogant. I could have replied: "not as much as you" but it would have gone into a confrontational frame.
Also I laughed to respect the hierarchy. It was an ok joke, not bad not good. Ok. So I laughed as a way to bond a bit with him.
What I will change
I realized that in terms of power dynamics it's bad: I'm holding the light to the resident. My goal was to help and then I realized it shows that we're a close team and that I'm not looking to frame myself as above. In short: servant leadership.
However, his remark helped me to notice a simple thing: she could hold a light herself. But it's difficult to hold 3-7 sheets of paper, switching them and holding a light.
Maybe I should not change anything. I'll experiment.
If you guys feel like commenting on this interaction, I'm curious to know what you think.

Hello TPM community,

today at the daily meeting where we review the x-rays with radiologists and orthopedists. I was using the fleshlight from my phone to light the sheets of paper from which the resident reads the cases we are discussing. Because we are in the dark and it's helpful to her.

one of the staff physician of the adult ER told out loud:

ER staff physician: This attending, he's a light! ("c'est une lumière", which is an expression meaning that someone is smart in French).
Me: I try! (chuckles)

Analysis

ER staff physician: This attending, he's a light! ("c'est une lumière", which is an expression meaning that someone is smart in French).

It's a power move and he implies that I'm smart which is a backhand compliment implying that I'm dumb. Or he was just proud of his joke.

Me: I try! (chuckles)

Here I copied (remember my icon is a chameleon, thanks to Lucio) an earlier interaction with another ER staff physician:

Me: you still have your tan! (complimenting him, he came back from holiday)
Him: I try!

I thought that this is socially smart. It's a form of humble-bragging and/or philosopher frame. It's downplaying the compliment. I don't exactly know what it does but I find it elegant.

So I used the same: "I try!" to deflect as it could mean anything:

I do my best to be smart (but I'm not as much as you are)
Thank you for thinking I'm smart
Just joking around back

There is a trap here that the ER staff physician could do, that Lucio talks about in PU (When you had this presentation to earn the talent program abroad): being framed as arrogant. I could have replied: "not as much as you" but it would have gone into a confrontational frame.

Also I laughed to respect the hierarchy. It was an ok joke, not bad not good. Ok. So I laughed as a way to bond a bit with him.

What I will change

I realized that in terms of power dynamics it's bad: I'm holding the light to the resident. My goal was to help and then I realized it shows that we're a close team and that I'm not looking to frame myself as above. In short: servant leadership.

However, his remark helped me to notice a simple thing: she could hold a light herself. But it's difficult to hold 3-7 sheets of paper, switching them and holding a light.

Maybe I should not change anything. I'll experiment.

If you guys feel like commenting on this interaction, I'm curious to know what you think.

Lucio Buffalmano, Kavalier and 2 other users have reacted to this post.