April 2001

Dear Anthony,

Thanks, the insights you offered were very helpful. I will browse Gardner’s book "Frames of Mind." I will also try to talk to some surgeons (I started as a volunteer at an ER here in Austin, so I’m hoping I will have some good discussions w/ the doctors there). I found the following quote from a biography of Ben Carson, the chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. He talks about his natural ability to see in three dimensions.

"Somewhere during that period of time I became acutely aware of an unusual ability—a divine gift, I believe—of extraordinary eye and hand coordination. It’s my belief that God gives us all gifts, special abilities that we have the privilege of developing to help us serve Him and humanity. And the gift of eye and hand coordination has been an invaluable asset in surgery. This gift goes beyond eye-hand coordination, encompassing the ability to understand physical relationships, to think in three dimensions. Good surgeons must understand the consequences of each action, for they’re often not able to see what’s happening on the other side of the area in which they’re actually working. For some reason, I am able to "see" in three dimensions. In fact, it seems incredible simple. It’s just something I happen to be able to do. However, many doctors don’t have this natural ability, and some, including surgeons, never learn this skill. Those who don't pick this up just don’t develop into outstanding surgeons, frequently encountering problems, constantly fighting complications."

It’s interesting that he appears to leave the door open for acquiring this skill. That gives me some hope, but I won’t take it too seriously since he probably is not as informed in which abilities are hard wired and which ones we can acquire. It’s also possible that since seeing in 3D is so easy for him that he just assumes that those for whom it doesn’t come as naturally can just pick it up through practice.

I’ll let you know what I learn from my research.

Sincerely,

Ryan

Updates: September 2001

Dear Anthony,

I hope you are doing well. I’m continuing to investigate medical careers, however, my enthusiasm and interest in medicine has waned over the past month. I’m taking some pre-med classes right now. Though I’m doing fine in them, they are not very interesting. I’m starting to
question whether I love science enough to pursue a career in medicine. The issue being a strong introvert in a field that is so people oriented also burdens me. I haven’t given up on medicine, but I’m broadening my horizons. I’m actually starting to reconsider business again. After my stint as an accountant I had a bad taste in my mouth about business. Nevertheless, I’m thinking that maybe I could look into some other aspect of business, such as general management, finance, etc. All that said, I was hoping to get your thoughts on two issues. First, how well do you think my profile fits with being a corporate executive? Second, do you think that pursuing an MBA would be a good option for me (I was thinking of doing that as a way to broaden my business education beyond just accounting)? Thanks for your help.

Anthony,

Thanks for all the great input! It was really helpful. Before I received your email, I was a little discouraged because I thought that my fate as an ISTJ was accounting, finance, or IT. Though I think I’m quantitatively skilled enough to perform positions in these areas, I find them somewhat boring. You mentioned two positions that made me feel more encouraged about my prospects in business. The idea
of being a right-hand-man kind of executive seems exciting and conforms well to my temperament. As I was thinking of executive positions I was a little uncomfortable about being the CEO and having to provide the vision for a company. Your suggestion about right-hand-man positions not only helped me see a better option, but also helped me to see more clearly why it is a better option. I also was interested in operations management positions. Though I don’t know much about them, they seem more interesting to me than accounting and finance
positions. Maybe it's because operations management is a "higher idea flow" position. Anyway, thanks again for the great input. I will research the new career options, as well as the pros/cons of attending B-school.

Thanks for the words of encouragement and the suggestions. You've been a tremendous help over the past 7 months.

I'll keep you posted.
Ryan