Management Lessons from the E.R.: Prescriptions for Success in Your Business - Hardcover

Auerbach, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743216350 ISBN 13: 9780743216357

Publisher: Free Press, 2002

Synopsis

A doctor, professor, and COO of a medical management company applies the processes, crises, and philosophies from the E.R. to business, providing an abundance of insightful advice that will help readers to overcome any business situation, whether it is a short-term problem or the onset of a more serious condition. 40,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Paul S. Auerbach, M.D., is a practicing physician, serving as Clinical Professor of Surgery in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University, as well as a partner at Delphi Ventures. A founder of the Wilderness Medical Society, he has written classic wilderness medicine books. He lives with his wife and three children in Los Altos, California.

Reviews

The premise is sound: life in the emergency room can be similar to life in the business world. Critical decisions often must be made quickly, and the penalty for reaching the wrong conclusion can be devastating. Auerbach, a professor of surgery in the emergency medicine division at Stanford University who also has extensive business experience as both chief operating officer of a medical management company and as a venture capitalist, would seem the perfect candidate for this book. But he fails to provide a useful framework for applying what he has learned in the emergency room to business situations. The author of Medicine for the Outdoors presents this material in a chapter-free, stream-of-consciousness fashion, resulting in a sequence of unlinked advice (e.g., the portion entitled "Sometimes Having to Keep Secrets Is Necessary" follows the one called "Golden Handcuffs Are Not Enough"). While there are occasional reflective insights ("when a problem arises, look for ordinary causes, not obscure configurations" and "stop talking and start listening to the patient"), many of Auerbach's prescriptions, such as "use metrics that make sense" are far too general to help most business people, leaving managers trying to heal themselves.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

When Auerbach is working, he rarely has the luxury of calling a meeting to make a critical decision. As a top surgeon of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University hospital, he must make on-the-spot calls that literally have life-or-death implications. Although most business situations don't carry this level of urgency, Auerbach maintains that the working interactions with patients and staff in the E.R. reveal a system for success that has parallels in the broader business world. Each of the short stories of drama in the E.R. that he writes about are similar to those we are accustomed to seeing on television, and at least as engaging, but here he reveals how the dynamics that motivate physicians, interns, and nurses to maintain impeccable standards can be applied to corporations that may also need some healing. Auerbach has many fresh ideas from the E.R. to show business owners and CEOs how to solve a number of managerial emergencies. This diagnostician of patients and companies brings a bit of humor and bedside manner to the world of business management. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743216350
• ISBN 13: 9780743216357
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272