
Chapter 33: Fostering Collaboration and Collegiality
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Description
In this chapter, Dr. Hortobagyi explains that he is most gratified that he was able together a diverse individuals interested in breast cancer into a collaborative and collegial group. He reflects on his own leadership style: a reluctant leader, but one that is good at organization and gets pleasure from seeing others grow. Dr. Hortobagyi lists some of his leadership principles. In closing, he says that it is wise to remember that one looks good because of others. He makes some comments on awards and notes that he is currently enjoying his “senior statesman” status.
Identifier
HortobagyiGN_05_20130315_C33
Publication Date
3-15-2013
Publisher
The Making Cancer History® Voices Oral History Collection, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Gabriel Hortobagyi, MD, Oral History Interview, March 15, 2013
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - View on Career and Accomplishments Career and Accomplishments The Leader Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents Professional Values, Ethics, Purpose
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
May I ask one more question? We’re at three o’clock, and I don’t want to take too much of your time. I wanted to ask as you look back over what you’ve contributed to the institution, what is it that you’re most gratified by?
Gabriel Hortobagyi, MD:
You know, that’s hard because there’s not one thing. I’ve done many things. I’ve worn many hats in the institution. But if I were to pick one, it is probably bringing together this group—the entire breast cancer group—in a way that it is a collaborative, collegial, and productive group with enormous diversity—enormous at originating interests, backgrounds, and passions—but everybody focused on moving the field forward. Of course, in order to do that you have to do some research. You have to talk to a lot of people. You have to continuously press. You have to teach. You have to train. You have to cajole, twist arms, do all kinds of things. But that’s probably my—in retrospect that’s, I think, my major contribution to the institution.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
How would you characterize your own leadership style?
Gabriel Hortobagyi, MD:
(laughing) Imperfect in every way you can imagine. Some I might have mentioned in previous conversations I’m sort of a reluctant leader. I enjoy seeing other people grow and succeed and accomplish things. I’m pretty good at organization, but I’m impatient at doing things that I don’t like to do. I think that’s clearly a shortcoming, but there’s nothing I can do about that.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Are there some leadership principles that you’ve focused on or come across in your experience over the years?
Gabriel Hortobagyi, MD:
Well, yes. So there are some pretty no-brainers. Number one, I think, is to have goals and to focus on those goals and not go bunny trailing—just continuously focus and not let others distract you with side trips to nowhere—so that’s very important. The second is that leadership is, to a large extent, a service, and you don’t do it for yourself. You do it for everybody else. Yes, you benefit from it yourself in many ways, including the satisfaction of having accomplished something. But it is a service. It’s like being president. You don’t do it because you want to have a big head, but you are serving the country. So those are very important principles. The third one is to be very respectful of others because you learn something every single day, and sometimes you learn from the most unexpected source. The fourth I would say is to never give an order that someone will not follow. And while that sounds totally ridiculous, you really have to have that sense of where the limits of your power are. And sort of a corollary of that is that it is much better to accomplish things by persuasion than by obligation. Getting buy in and getting consensus are very important activities to indulge in. There are some other things that are secondary: the organizational skills, dealing with money, dealing with crisis management, and that type of stuff. But I think those first four are probably the more important ones. And of course, giving example—giving a good example to people—not expect that people will do stuff that you are not willing to do yourself.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Is there anything else that you would like to add? We didn’t touch on awards or anything like that, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to see if there’s anything else that I’ve missed that you’d like to say about your roles.
Gabriel Hortobagyi, MD:
No, I think that’s pretty well enough. Awards are nice recognition that other people give you. I never expected any, never looked for any. I’m happy whenever I get one, but I always realized that I look a whole lot better because of the people I work with than because of myself. I have a number of colleagues—not in this institution—but a number of colleagues who call me periodically and ask for either a nomination or a letter of recommendation because they are seeking an award. I find that mind boggling because then it becomes totally meaningless. If you’re nominating yourself for an award, it’s because others have not nominated you. The whole point of an award is that someone else recognizes that you have contributed to some extent to something. Otherwise, it’s sort of a joke. So I never indulged in that nor am I planning to. But people have been kind to me, and that’s nice.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Gabriel Hortobagyi, MD:
Well, it’s been a good run. I’m enjoying my senior statesman role, and it’s fun. I just look forward to the next several decades.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Thank you very much for all the time you’ve taken with the interviews, Dr. Hortobagyi. I really appreciate it.
Gabriel Hortobagyi, MD:
My pleasure. Thank you very much.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I’m turning off the recorder at fourteen minutes after 3:00.
(end of audio 2)
Recommended Citation
Hortobagyi, Gabriel N. MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 33: Fostering Collaboration and Collegiality" (2013). Interview Chapters. 1138.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1138
Conditions Governing Access
Open
