Politics: How the New Yorker?s Atul Gawande Caused the Debacle at UVA

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Politics How the New Yorker's Atul Gawande Caused the Debacle at UVA The university's board should have read Gawande more closely. By John Dickerson Posted Friday, Jun 22, 2012, at 09:52 PM ET What's the difference between a risk and a gamble? You can rescue yourself from a risk. If a gamble goes wrong, the consequences are irrevocable. I first learned this distinction from a battalion commander who had served several tours in Afghanistan. I interviewed him for a series of articles I wrote about risk. The lesson is now playing out in the pitched battle over the firing of Teresa Sullivan, the University of Virginia's president, whose pursuers completely ignored this distinction even though they imagined themselves to be brave risk-takers.  The central risk taker in the story is Helen Dragas, the rector of the university who orchestrated the plot to unseat Sullivan. Days before she pushed Sullivan out, she emailed her co-conspirator Mark Kington a transcript of a commencement address delivered at Williams College by the New Yorker's Atul Gawande on risk, failure, and recovering from failure. His thesis is that while commencement speakers talk about risk, they never offer the key to risk-taking, which is knowing how to rescue yourself when your risk goes wrong. That is a key insight and a gift to the students. People are always going on about how we need to take risks, but they never explain how exactly one goes about it. Gawande was unwinding the mystery a little and giving the students something extremely useful.  We don't know exactly why Dragas, a successful Virginia Beach real estate developer, sent a transcript of that speech. She just wrote to Kington ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Dickerson: How The New Yorker's Atul Gawande Caused the Debacle at UVA Angry Knitters at War With Olympic Committee Can Women Have It All? Dahlia Lithwick, Farhad Manjoo, and Other Slate Staffers Debate.	Advertisement
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