In the following excerpt from the afterword of BETTER, he offers some very practical advice for those wondering how to make "a worthy difference" in the world.

No doctor wants to believe that he or she is a bit player. After all, doctors are given the power to prescribe more than 6,600 potentially dangerous drugs. We are permitted to open human beings up like melons. Soon we will even be allowed to manipulate their DNA. People depend on us personally for their lives. And yet, as a doctor each of us is just one of 819,000 physicians and surgeons in this country tasked with helping people live lives as long and healthy as possible. And even that overestimates the size of our contributions. In on this work are also 2.4 million nurses, 388,000 medical assistants, 232,000 pharmacists, 294,000 lab technicians, 121,000 paramedics, 94,000 respiratory therapists, 85,000 nutritionists.

It can be hard not to feel that one is just a white-coated cog in a machine--an extraordinarily successful machine, but a machine nonetheless. How could it be otherwise? The average American can expect to live at least seventy-eight years. But reaching, and surpassing, that age depends more on this system of millions of people than on any one individual within it. None of us is irreplaceable. So not surprisingly, in this work one begins to wonder: How do I really matter?

I get to lecture to the students at our medical school on occasion. For one lecture, I decided to try to figure out an answer to this question, both for them and for myself. I came up with five--five suggestions for how one might make a worthy difference, for how one might become, in other words, a positive deviant. This is what I told them.

Arrive a day ahead of time or stay on after the conference to extend your learning experience with one of these useful skill-building workshops.

PRE01 - Applied Systems Thinking to Facilitate Change
Michael Goodman, Innovation Associates Organizational Learning; David Peter Stroh, Bridgeway Partners
Sunday, November 16; 9:00-5:00; $895
Practice with a proven framework for applying systems thinking to change, and learn a multi-stage process for engaging diverse stakeholders. More...

PRE02 - Embodied Presence: What It Takes to Make a True Move
Arawana Hayashi, Presencing Institute
Sunday, November 16; 9:00-5:00; $895
Experience a user-friendly method for individuals and groups to access embodied knowing as the source of innovative action. More...

PRE03 - The Change Lab: Putting the U-Process into Practice
LeAnne Grillo and Adam Kahane, Generon Reos LLC
Sunday, November 16; 9:00-5:00; $895
Take part in a "mini-lab," in which you will practice the capacities needed to navigate the "U," individually and collectively. More...

POST01 - Sustaining Excellence: The hidden challenges of perfectionism
Deb Ramsey and Phil Ramsey, Incite Learning
Thursday, November 20; 9:00-5:00; $895
Develop strategies for managing the costly, time-consuming dynamics of perfectionism and learn how to encourage healthy, sustainable pursuit of excellence. More...

POST02 - Facilitation Tools for Organizational Learning
Kristina Wile and Rebecca Niles Peretz, The Systems Thinking Collaborative
Thursday/Friday, November 20/21; 9:00-5:00; $1395
Master techniques for facilitating systems thinking interventions and leading groups in thinking systemically. More...

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Call for details at 1-800-272-0945.

No one likes conflict in the workplace; most of us will go out of our way to avoid it. But here's the paradox: Conflict is as essential as it is inevitable. Unchecked and unmanaged, conflict can be negative and corrosive. But when the competition of ideas is suppressed, conformity stifles creativity. The challenge is to reduce the corrosion while stimulating the creativity.

Conflict has many sources:

• Disputes about inequities, broken promises, preferential treatment
• Competition for diminishing resources
• Fault lines of age, gender, race, craft, status, authority
• Expectations, especially when they are unclear or unmet

Fear sustains conflict, often the fear of failure. Employees who lack the competence or confidence to take on a challenging assignment will resist in order to avoid potential failure. Newly appointed managers with high potential but limited management experience will often precipitate conflict as a way of diverting attention from their own deficiencies.

Resolving conflict is seldom easy, but the failure to confront it is often more damaging than the conflict itself. The problem will persist, and the reluctant leader will be seen as timid or inept. This also holds true when we send the problem up the ladder of authority. Not only do we clog the ladder, we miss opportunities to learn how to manage effectively.

Every workplace should have a "conflict-management plan." Here are some ideas that will help managers resolve conflict:

• Stop Blaming.
• Manage Your Emotions and Ego.
• Deal with the Impact, not the Intentions.
• Focus on Interests, not Staked-Out Positions.
• Repeat, Rephrase, Reflect.