What’s Important

As the university’s hospitals, clinics, and research labs expanded, so too did their Department of Bioethics. This growth was powered by the ever-accelerating number of issues, challenges, and opportunities in the field of medicine and medical research. To keep pace while enhancing their best efforts, the university decided to restructure their bioethics department into three distinct, yet closely tied, divisions. The divisions would be Hospital Medicine, Clinic-Based Medicine, and Medical Research. 

One of the first challenges faced by the team charged with leading the reorganization was to find a coordinator for each of the three divisions. Following an extensive process, six finalists were identified. They would then determine which of the three candidates would be named coordinators. 

During a series of meetings with key players and stakeholders, the candidates were made well aware of the changes and adjustments they’d be expected to make in their professional lives. These meetings were candid and open, detailing how their professional responsibilities would change, what new opportunities would come with a coordinator position, and a detailed description of the compensation and benefits package the university was prepared to offer. It was also made clear that the three individuals chosen would be moving from a day-to-day and issue-to-issue practice of bioethics into administering a comprehensive bioethics program and leading those who power it. 

During one of the final pieces of this long and detailed process, in fact one of the most significant and telling pieces, each finalist was given the opportunity to provide written responses to a series of questions.  These questions were designed by a group of bioethicists from the current university department and from several teams and individuals from across the world.  What they developed was an instrument they called, “What’s Important to You as a Bioethicist?” It included five questions, each with a brief rationale for why it was included.  What follows are those five questions.

1. What’s a professional priority that challenges you, motivates you, and inspires your desire to      learn and do more in the field of bioethics? 

2. What is something you’d re-introduce or add, and something you’d eliminate or significantly       reduce from your current role in bioethics? 

3. What receives too much and what doesn’t receive enough financial support in bioethics? 

4. When you initiate professional conversations, and when you have some time to allow your          bioethical thoughts to run free, what are three of your go-to topics?

5. Identify three colleagues with whom you like to spend more time. 

A week before the deadline for their submissions, one of the candidates contacted the university provost, the designated contact person. The candidate offered a brief, hand-written note. Simply put, he thanked the team for considering him and for their confidence in him.  He also thanked them for sharing their expectations for the individuals who would be named to the positions. He then outlined what prompted then drove his decision.  

He carefully noted that after he had completed the five questions they had provided, he turned each of those questions into a personal exercise. During that exercise, he looked at his personal priorities and the attention he wanted to focus on them. He considered things he’d like to revitalize in his personal life and some things he like move to the back burner or eliminate altogether. He thought about his finances, and the word he kept coming back to was “comfortable.” He thought about what he most often used as his personal conversational currency and what came to mind when he thought about what he wanted to do with the remainder of his life. Finally, he thought about the people with whom he’d like to spend more time; and that was the clincher.

He made it clear that he was not closing the door to this opportunity permanently.  Instead, as he so eloquently stated it, “At this time in my life my current position with the university, is fulfilling, gratifying, and a healthy match for my personal life, which is also fulfilling, gratifying, and healthy. Not wishing to upset this balance, I respectfully request that my name be withdrawn from consideration.”

Would there come a time when he’d regret his decision? Only time would tell. Based on what he knew currently, could taking a coordinator position negatively alter the complex personal and professional life equilibrium that was working well for him? He didn’t know for certain, but it was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. 

The university went to great lengths to find candidates who were right for their position.  This candidate went to equally great lengths to see if their position was right for him. Regardless of your profession, career, or line of work, be ever mindful of the role unfettered, ambition-driven advancement can play in your life.