Game On!
Jun 12, 2016
Oh the games people play now, every night and every day now, never meaning what they say now, never saying what they mean. While they wile away the hours, in their ivory towers, till they’re covered up with flowers, in the back of a black limousine.
These were the lyrics of a popular song sang by Joe South in my youth. I never really drilled down on the message of this song, but got the gist of it; people play games in life which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Or is it?
When I was the Regional Sales Director at U.S. Surgical, I had the pleasure of meeting a young surgeon by the name of James “Butch” Rosser. You know he is a character if he is a surgeon and goes by the name “Butch.” Butch grew up watching television shows like Star Trek and Ben Casey, and later discovered Pong and the world of video games. He didn’t realize it at the time, but he was preparing himself to become a surgeon. So much so, he conducted a study.
What Butch found was that if a surgeon warms up on certain video games for a minimum of six minutes prior to surgery, fewer errors and greater surgical efficiency result. Eliminating medical errors in surgery is a tremendous contribution to healthcare and great surgical efficiency has many benefits both clinical and financial. As a result of his research, Butch created the world’s first video-game warm-up suite for surgeons to use prior to laparoscopic surgery.
As Butch has taught us with his research, games can make a great contribution to mankind. Singer Joe South reminds us that games can also be devastating to mankind. So what kind of games are you playing? Are you using games to help you be a more effective leader?
Games People Play by Joe South
Oh the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say now
Never saying what they mean
While they wile away the hours
In their ivory towers
Till they’re covered up with flowers
In the back of a black limousine
La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking ’bout you and me
And the games people play
Oh we make one another cry
Break a heart then we say goodbye
Cross our hearts and we hope to die
That the other was to blame
But neither one ever will give in
So we gaze at an eight by ten
Thinking ’bout the things that might have been
and It’s a dirty rotten shame
La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking ’bout you and me
And the games people play
People walking up to you
Singing glory hallelujah
And they try to sock it to you
In the name of the Lord
They’re gonna teach you how to meditate
Read your horoscope, cheat your fate
And further more to hell with hate
Come on and get on board
La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking ’bout you and me
And the games people play
Look around tell me what you see
What’s happening to you and me
God grant me the serenity
To remember who I am
Cause you’ve given up your sanity
For your pride and your vanity
Turned your back on humanity
And you don’t give a da da da da da
La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking ’bout you and me
And the games people play
