What are Pearls? "Small bits of free-standing, clinically relevant information based on experience or observation. They are part of the vast domain of experience-based medicine, and can be helpful for dealing with problems for which controlled data do not exist" (Lorin, Palazzi, and Turner)

Table of Contents

FIRST THINGS FIRST
The power of story, including the most important story (Jim Loehr and Michelle Gielan)
Wired at birth (so don't take too much credit or blame for your SAT scores, sense of optimism/cynicism, or athletic ability/inability).
Choice trumps circumstances (Roger Crawford)
The pursuit of happiness: it's not about you (Rick Warren)
Individual achievement in a team environment (Arthur Sulzberger)
The importance of connection and relationships (featuring Richard Swenson and a cameo appearance by Harvard)
Effective communication: listen more, talk less
Friends for the journey (including pallbearer buddies)
A strategy for winning (Robert Burgelman)
More "and" and less "but"
Making pretend decisions (Lesli Chuck)
Nobody's looking at you (Lesli Chuck)

THE WORK WORLD
Why you need money
Why people pay you (Alfred Osborne)
Work hard, be kind (Judy Davis)
The importance of showing up (Dave Cox) and follow-through (The Shadow from T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men)
Get along with people and be flexible (Jorge Garcia)
Creativity is all about connecting the dots (Steve Jobs)
Calendars and checklists
UNIVERSALLY WANTED AND ADORED: people with a demonstrated capacity for hard work, the ability to make progress amid chaos, and a commitment to be part of the solution.

LOFTY GOALS
What are your convictions and how did you come to hold them? (James Chuck)
Are you interested in going public, or in serving the public? (David Talbot)
Breaking away from the thundering herd
Change the trajectory of the human race (Guy Benstead)
Paint the picture perfect postcard
Live a values congruent life
Benevolence = wanting for other people's children what you want for your own (James Chuck)
Make a commitment to work with others for a cause greater than yourself (Mr. Kevin Williams)
We need more mingas (Craig Kielburger)
Be rich in the currency that is meaningful to you (Jessica Jackley)
Eulogy virtues trump resume virtues (David Brooks)
Authentic humility is about seeing the value and worth in others (Courtney Jimenez)
Meaning = the deep satisfaction of knowing that your existence matters and that what you do makes a difference in the world and the lives of others (Rachel Remen)
Be a deep and longstanding positive influence in the life of others in your community (Glen Snyder)
The trick of life (Tom Stoppard)
The gosh darn beautiful hum of contentment in your chest (Animesh Sinha)
The trifecta: meaningful work, the strength to do it, and people to do it with
"I'll just rent." (Tyler Chuck)
Greatness redefined (James Chuck)



GETTING THINGS DONE
The first and second halves of life (Richard Rohr) aka "getting there and staying there"
If you're getting motion sickness from sitting in the back of the bus, get up and drive (Maria Ansare)
Lead from where you stand
Excellence = design x culture (Frei and Morriss)
Servant leadership (Robert Greenleaf)
"Call me Don." (Don Berwick)
Authentic curiosity (Paul Batalden)
Appreciative inquiry: change starts with conversations (Cooperrider and Srivastva)
Diversity and inclusion begin with finding common ground (Ricky Winardi)
What's working? What's not? (Brad Crutchfield)
Inversion (making the audience the speaker; making the followers the leaders)
Generous listening (Rachel Remen)
People are inspired to do what they are part of creating (John Riccitiello)
The rider and the elephant (Jonathan Haidt) aka Emotion eats logic for lunch 7 days a week aka Emotion bats last and bats 1.000
Data science + emotional intuition = mike drop
Contracts protect interests; covenants protect relationships (David Brooks)
Core leaders and participative management (IHI)
Aligning people and resources
D1PI: everyone's on the same page; everyone on the team contributes; the team gets better every day (Kelly Chuck)
Be prepared to deliver your elevator pitch (Dick Butterfield)
It's an email, not an essay
Between Buddhism and Catholicism lie non-negotiables and guardrails (Sutton & Rao)
When it comes to spreading the news, circulation trumps distribution (Henry Jenkins)
Be it a sprint or marathon, rest and recovery are required on a regular basis
Veggie burger with bacon (thinking outside the box, Tracy Kaplan style)
A hundy, a forty, and fishnet stockings (Khandi Alexander)
If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction (Bonhoeffer)
You can do anything, but not everything (David Allen)
On a lag putt, speed and distance trump direction (Brad Brewer)
Calendars and checklists (encore appearance means this must be important)
With a short horizon comes clarity

FUNDRAISING
"What can we do with your money that would be meaningful to you?"
If you want money, ask for advice; if you want advice, ask for money (Gary May)

STRUGGLES
Loneliness (and belonging)
Shame, guilt, and humiliation
"Comparison is the thief of joy" (Teddy Roosevelt)
Awe, the escape hatch from your small self to a world of wonder (Dacher Keltner)
This is the game; the game is hard (Jose Rosa Bonilla)
"The world breaks everyone . . . " (Ernest Hemingway)
"People make mistakes.  It's why they put rubbers on the ends of pencils." (Fleabag)
Multiple simultaneous conflicting imperatives (John Chuck)
Mindset: If you think it's going to kill you, it will (Kelly McGonigal)
Negativity bias: "The mind is like Velcro for the bad and Teflon for the good" (Rick Hanson)
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen, philosopher, and divines (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Are they burdens or responsibilities? (Bruce Blumberg)
The inevitability and joy of suffering (John Gardner, Richard Rohr, Carl Sagan)
The essential roles of stress and recovery in growing strength (Human Performance Institute)
Resilience (Bandler)
"I don't need easy; I need possible." (Jorge Guittierez)
"Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up." (Divergent)
Be a sugar cookie (Navy SEAL training)
Feed the right inner wolf (Cherokee story)
You don't have to feel good to do good (AF)
"Gratitude is the greatest of virtues, and the parent of all the others." (Cicero)
How to GEAR up for wellness (Robert Emmons, Mike Evans, Chip Heath, Richard Swenson) by focusing on Gratitude, Exercise, Adaptability, & Relationships.
The 3 Legs of Wellness: Insight, Purpose, & Choice (John Chuck)
The "liger" as your composite role model (Napoleon Dynamite)
Salutogenesis and the all important sense of coherence (Antonovsky)
Continuous change meets the 4 C's
Disappointed but not surprised (James Chuck)
"That's just Gilbert being Gilbert"
Kintsugi: breakage and repair as essential elements of who we are
"Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted." (Sylvia Plath)
Why bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists
Two bad days a week (Vietnam medic Larry Blackman)
"I wake up with very few real problems."
The most beautiful people (Kubler-Ross)
"Between stimulus and response there is a space." (Viktor Frankl)
When shot by an arrow . . . don't shoot yourself with more arrows (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
Happiness (Emiliana Simon-Thomas) and Awe (Jennifer Stellar)
The real badasses: the people who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories (Brene Brown)
Secrets of the most effective coaches and counselors (LPE)
We must reaffirm one another (Vivek Murthy)
Ultimately it's a matter of perspective and choice

Don't let the turkeys keep you down
Enjoy Every Sandwich (Lee Lipsenthal)

DOCTOR STUFF
Your body and brain only get worse

Your heart beats, precious and few
The fragility of the good (the Anna Karenina principle)
"I floss my teeth, wear a seatbelt, and max out my 401k; other than that, I live each day as if it could be my last." (John Chuck)
We've created a world that is only endurable under sedation (Richard Swenson)
It's mostly about lifestyle choices
There's no one magic bullet; rather, a symphony of partial solutions (T. Colin Campbell)
Integrative medicine = expanding our walls beyond randomized clinical trials
Chocolate is good, chocolate is bad (the oscillating nature of medical dogma)
The deadly combination of substance abuse and sex
If you can only have one kind of health, let it be mental health
The four humors meet the humor of Martin Short. Martin Short wins.
Matters of the nether region: the pap smear; the finger wave; turn your head to the right and cough
Sexual dysfunction: the misnomer that has launched many a wayward ship
"The worst thing ever" (according to Sidney Fujita)
Why doctor's cringe when a patient says, "I have a high pain threshhold."
At the root of all healthy diets lies a root
Be a good listener (Dean Sherman Melinkoff)
Soliciting the chief concern
Find out what patients really enjoy, what they are willing to change, and how they plan to do it (David Sobel)
Helping people in a state of dependence sustain the value of existence (Atul Gawande's Being Mortal).
Above all, the two things we need to provide to our patients: compassion and hope (Kevin Anderson The Middle of Infinity)

GOD
Reductionism: the sure path to a dinky life
Mendel was Mendel. God is God.
Not irrational, transrational
More than #1
Made in God's image (creator, redeemer)
What does the Lord require of you? (Micah 6:8)
In all things . . . (Romans 8:28)
The peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7)
Convicted but not convicting (the legacy of James Chuck)
When God says yes and your spouse says maybe
Make a decision
The saddest thing about death? Wasting the life you have. (James Chuck)
Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)
Easter means love wins, we all matter, and God cares about you (Rev. William MacDonald Tully)