Accurate But Unwelcome

My dad described one of his first chances to scrub in with an orthopedic surgeon, on the day he was interviewing for an internship in that hospital. When the surgery was mostly done, the doctor offered him a chance to see the work, and my dad noticed, and pointed out, “I think you missed a bit of the meniscus there.”

I offered that any professional would welcome accurate corrections, regardless of the source. If I incorrectly notate something as a quarter instead of a dotted quarter, it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a fellow music professional or a freshman in high school – if you can recognize the error and share it with me, I am excited to make the work better.

My dad countered with: “That doctor had a huge ego.”

Too often, we can let ego get in the way of making the work better. No doubt we are more likely to get great accurate feedback from fellow professionals. But to reject feedback from any source because of ego is a failure in our desire to make our work as good as it can be.