1993 A’s game

I’m not sure why there was friction between me and the new pediatrician on staff.  She just seemed unfriendly—little eye contact, unhelpful remarks in meetings, I can’t recall exactly.  I was technically her supervisor—medical director overseeing all medical staff—and I got a feeling she considered me to be “them”.  The administrators.

Could it really be that simple?

Of course, she didn’t know me when I started out as a lowly, newly-graduated family physician who almost immediately got caught up in a fierce unionization battle against an unappreciative administration.  It was only after years of persistence that I decided to see if I could represent the line staff better from management and worked hard to maintain medical collegiality.

I groused about the new hire to Sally, who suggested I make more overtly friendly overtures.  Was she a baseball fan?  Maybe invite her to an A’s game—we had season tickets.  That seemed a little calculating and phony but agreed to give it a go.  Much to my surprise, she was indeed quite the fan and lit up at the prospect of going to a game with us. After a few innings and beers, it was smiles all around.

The person who was so distressing turned into almost my new best friend—eye contact, smiles, no snide comments.  I was astounded.  Could it really be that simple?  Maybe sometimes it really is on me to reach out more.

Perhaps not surprisingly, my attempts to mend fences with the other administrators I had opposed for so long were significantly more difficult.  On the other hand, I never invited any of them to a baseball game.