EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/511377
EW MEETING REPORTER 82 Reporting from the 2015 ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress, April 17–21, 2015 San Diego learned the clinical and surgical ex- pertise that could not have evolved without my involvement in this society." Dr. Cionni said he will continue to advance the society in 6 ways: by understanding the members; collab- orating with other like organizations and societies; bolstering charitable efforts through the ASCRS Founda- tion; aligning with ASOA; through entrepreneurship and innovation; and by supporting advocacy and increasing involvement. ASOA opening speaker presents a guide to invisible leadership Whether it's a team of 3 people or a team of 300 people, every team needs a competent leader. That was the message that mountaineer and global adventurer Paul Deegan, Phil- adelphia, delivered to attendees at the ASOA Opening General Session. In a riveting and inspiring presentation, Mr. Deegan explained how he cultivated a philosophy of invisible leadership over several decades of participating in moun- taineering expeditions to some of the world's tallest peaks. Mr. Deegan demonstrated how he applies that philosophy to his life every day and to every expedition he leads or is a part of. One of Mr. Deegan's first e - periences with being a leader came when he was a teenager, when he found out that mountaineers climb- ing Mount Everest had been leaving trash on the pristine mountain since their first ascent in 1953. "I thought this was wrong, I thought something should be done about it, but nobody else seemed to be stepping up to the plate," he said. "So I figured that person may as well be me." Mr. Deegan shared his idea with an experienced expedition leader, and the 2 men decided to lead a trip to Everest base camp with the sole purpose of removing the mountain's trash. Several weeks before they were to depart, however, Mr. Deegan's co-leader told him he would have to meet the team on the mountain a few weeks into the trip, presenting him with the opportunity to lead solo. "Back then I thought leading a team was all about standing in the front and telling people what to do," he said. "That attitude lasted for less than 3 minutes." Mr. Deegan began to seek out opportunities to learn from experi- enced expedition leaders, and joined an expedition to Mount McKinley with John Barry, a former U.S. ma- rine and expert in alpine defense. This expedition turned out to be one of Mr. Deegan's most difficult climbs. "The summit was static, but ev- erything else was in a state of flux," he said. Weather conditions were worsening, crevasses were opening up, and the team members' health was in jeopardy, but Mr. Barry's leadership got the team through the ordeal. Every day, Mr. Barry brought the entire team together to discuss what was going on and to solicit their thoughts before making a final decision, Mr. Deegan recalled. Mr. Barry asked the less experienced team members to speak first, he said, to get their opinions before opinions of more experienced climbers could sway them. One of the lessons he learned from this experience was that a less experienced person is in a better position to propose a novel solution to an existing problem than a more experienced person, because a more experienced person becomes accus- tomed to doing the same thing the same way day in and day out. Mr. Deegan recommends that leaders of all organizations sit down with new staff members to ask them what anomalies they see in the organiza- tion. Editors' note: Mr. Deegan has no fina - cial interests related to his comments. Resolving controversies in anterior segment surgery The second annual "60 Minutes" session took place on Sunday morn- ing with a focus on controversies in anterior segment surgery. In this though-provoking session, experts in the field shared their views on 4 major issues cataract and refractive surgeons face today. Their ideas were then questioned and debated by ASCRS Young Eye Surgeons (YES) Clinical Committee members Eliz- abeth Yeu, MD, Norfolk, Va., John Berdahl, MD, Sioux Falls, S.D., and Preeya Gutpa, MD, Durham, N.C. Eric D. Donnenfeld, MD, Rock- ville Centre, N.Y., presented the first controversy, dropless drug delivery. According to Dr. Donnenfeld, this is an idea whose time has finally come. Patients go blind every day because they don't take their medications, Dr. Donnenfeld said, so efficient continued on page 84 May 2015 View videos from Saturday at 2015 ASCRS•ASOA: EWrePlay.org Renato Ambrosio, MD, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, discusses the importance of terminology when describing keratoconus and its variants. Supported by