Be Like Mike

On Thursday last week I attended a memorial service for Mike Kattan. Mike was my department chair in Quantitative Health Sciences at Cleveland Clinic for 7 years. He was a great leader and very supportive of my clinical research informatics team. At his memorial, several speakers including his daughters and collaborators identified several characteristics of this man throughout his life which focused on character rather than accomplishments (although he had many). These include:

• humility
• supportive leader and collaborator
• hands-off, meaning he hired good people and then encouraged them to go for it
• an analytic mind, not just limited to his work but also his hobbies
• ability to visualize solutions quickly
• innovative
• humorous even if he laughed at his own jokes
• enjoying life to the fullest.

Whether these characteristics emerged from his experience with cancer in his 20s or were from a supportive home environment or just born with them, these are enviable qualities.

So be like Mike, especially if you manage people, and not like the others who may be mean spirited and vindictive towards those they manage.

More on Mike here.