Recommendations

Today’s noon meeting was far better than I anticipated. Instead of just being something that got checked off my to-do list while I ate lunch, it was the best professional development workshop that I have attended.

The challenge of writing letters of recommendations for students/trainees awaits me in the near future, but I now feel prepared to rise to the occasion rather than fear underselling an outstanding individual or deceptively commending an average individual. Crafting effective letters of recommendation is thorny business, and has been described as a fantasy land. (Freidman, RB. Fantasy Land. N Engl J Med. 1983, 308: 651-653.)

“A wonderous place… where people have ‘excellent interpersonal skills’ and ‘good rapport with their peers’; about a tenth of the inhabitants are ‘among the finest I have ever worked with,’ a full quarter are ‘outstanding,’ and almost all are’ in the upper quarter.’ No one is ever poor, fair, or average; they are all ‘very good’ or ‘excellent.’”