Ignored common sense

Going through medical school, I have spoken with many mid-career, rising faculty members at various institutions. I noticed that these somewhat prominent faculty physicians somehow made it without the most simple of common sense in human interaction - learn the names of the people you're talking to and listen to what they say.

It is so important that I will repeat it again - to achieve a desirable result with others, it is of utmost importance to:

1. Know their names, and

2. Listen to what they say

Sounds simple enough, but it is mind-boggling to learn that many successful people fail to do this, especially in the medical field, where everyone (patients AND providers) somehow thinks it's ok to be nasty to each other in a way that wouldn't fly outside the hospital. This is another area where other professions lead the medical field by leaps and bounds - Any good politician/leader/businessman knows the importance of these two etiquettes - it is how Joe-the-Plumber got media's attention. Most people follow these rules well when they talk to a more important person - it takes real character to follow these rules when talking to someone less important, and these faculty physicians have failed miserably in my opinion. By not learning my name and listening to what I'm saying, they come off as arrogant and uncaring, none of which makes for a good educator/physician.

Read more in "How to make friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie, a time-tested book that creates successful leaders and businessmen over decades, but really it is something that everyone should do on a daily basis, aspiring businessman or not. Know people's names and listen to what they say - other human beings deserve this much from us.