Dear Visitor,

Welcome to the Night of the Notables! My chosen eminent person is Dr. James R. Doty.

You can find my learning centre below in the embedded book. For an immersive experience, feel free to use the “fullscreen” feature in the bottom right.

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While conducting practice interviews as interviewer, interviewee, and observer, I learned several critical lessons and improvements which will help me while “actually” interviewing.

To begin with, while interviewing my partner and being interviewed in return, I found that I was much more calm, confident, and comfortable than I thought I would be. Not being excessively agitated allowed me to think and speak more clearly while creating engaging follow-up questions. I could also better contribute to the conversation, rather than simply reading off a list of pre-made ones. Simultaneously, this made interviewing far more interesting, and I managed to maintain eye contact, good body language, and regulate how loud my voice was. According to the feedback I received from the observing pair, I did improve – I interviewed significantly better than I’d anticipated.

Likewise, I discovered that keeping the conversation flowing requires actively contributing to it. Questions need following up, and they need careful planning so that they flow well together in succession. Similarly, I identified the need to use transition words and “remark” on what the interviewee says, to at the very least, appear interested. Following these guidelines was essential to eliminate awkwardness and is critical when interviewing someone busy to make the interview seem worthwhile for both sides. Conversely, while observing the other pair, I found that it was clear that neither attempted to contribute to the conversation. The interviewer was uninterested, and thus the interviewee gave simple and abrupt answers; both appeared bored. Such an episode is undeniably something that I will do my best to avoid during the “real” interview.

Undoubtedly, I can improve several issues with my interview. I did not thank the interviewee nor introduce myself; these allow for a better start, give background on myself, provide the reasons for interviewing in the first place and show appreciation for the interviewee. These are beneficial because they support a smooth start to the interview – giving a good impression – and show gratitude towards the interviewee, who has likely agreed to interview out of pure kindness, even when most likely busy. For example, my eminent person, Dr. Doty, is booked for speaking events into 2022. During my practice interview (as interviewer), I skipped over introducing and thanking, and I will strive not to forget when “really” interviewing.

Thus, from my experiences in the practice interview, I have learned several valuable lessons. First, being calm, comfortable, and confident allows me to properly “think” while conversing – for example, I can better react towards a comment or improvise follow-up questions. Second, I must actively contribute while communicating or else the conversation will not flow. Lastly, I should introduce myself, and more importantly, show appreciation towards the person I am interviewing.

In the process of looking at others’ blog posts, I observed a theme consistent between each eminent person – the fact that they all needed to overcome insurmountable obstacles on their paths to success. None found easy success and what they learned from these challenges and mistakes made it possible. For example, Kurt Cobain had a difficult childhood and had difficulty with publicity. Dmitri Shostakovich needed to find his voice even under Stalin’s regime, while C. S. Lewis continued writing even after failure, finally completing “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” after ten years. Barack Obama remained determined even when faced with criticism and opposition from the Republican party; last, Bertha Lamme needed unwavering courage and constant drive to break barriers regarded as impossible.

Moreover, I found that I could frequently connect with these people and with the connections made by my classmates, some more than others. I found that I often shared interests and passions and constantly learned new things about my classmates. I felt exceptionally inspired by some of these notables and found that the values my classmate had highlighted were precisely those I strongly supported. These occasions frequently occurred with quotes, many of which accurately underlined what the eminent person stood for.

In the next phase of this project, these insights will assist me by emphasizing what I should focus on with my research – connections and lessons or pieces of “wisdom” that make the eminent person worth learning.

“The brain, as busy as it can be, is actually very lazy… It sees what it expects to see.”

This quote, from Dr. Doty himself, embodies his life. It shows how he has used his mind to push through it, however difficult it may be. It also represents his current research on compassion at CCARE. The quote refers to how focusing your mind on something and changing your mindset will cause your brain to lead you to your goal.

I have chosen to research Dr. James Doty, a neurosurgeon, for my Eminent project. To begin with, I believe Dr. Doty is eminent because of the many considerable challenges he has faced in his life, the lives he has changed, and the contributions he has made to research on compassion. Most notably, his family was unfortunately poor – his father was an alcoholic, his mother had a chronic illness – and as a result, he has experienced far more challenges than the vast majority of people. In his family, he was the first to get accepted into college, to say the least, enter medical school and become a doctor. Key to his success include teachings from a kind woman named Ruth, who taught him how to relax and feel empathy by meditation and vividly visualize and work towards his goals. However, Dr. Doty has been met with overwhelming failure several times in his life. First, while still in medical school, he developed excessive arrogance and ignorance, believing he was invincible with his success, and as a result, nearly died in a car crash. Second, after becoming a neurosurgeon and investing in companies with potential, Dr. Doty effectively lost all his wealth from the dot-com crash. All these experiences caused him to rethink the values he stood for and realize the importance of compassion. He is the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford, focused on understanding – through rigorous scientific studies – the influences of compassion on human behaviour and educating its importance. Dr. Doty is also a philanthropist and innovator himself. For example, he has changed lives with how he funded and contributed to the development of the Cyberknife, which he believed had immense potential to change radiation therapy. He has also donated $30,000,000 to various charities, even while he was himself in $3 million in debt (from the dot-com bubble). Dr. Doty has created scholarships for disadvantaged students at universities, set up health clinics around the globe, and formed programs to support those with disabilities and disorders. In his life, we can learn many important lessons, whether from how he has overcome its obstacles or dedicated himself to a career of service and compassion. His contributions and research have had long-lasting effects on individuals and fields alike and are among the most important and influential. Second, I have many personal connections with Dr. Doty. For example, I am affected by his memoir, Into the Magic Shop, a book that tells his story, the considerable challenges and failures he has faced, and the techniques he learned that have helped him achieve success. Into the Magic Shop enters the events described above in detail, especially into his difficulties and failures. Therefore, it teaches many important lessons that have been highly instructive for me. Not only have I been inspired to become a neurosurgeon because of his work, but I have learned and applied visualization, meditation, and the importance of practicing compassion, the techniques described previously. These have helped me become less stressed, feel happier and more emphatic towards others, and have helped me to achieve my goals (and it will continue to). Likewise, I also believe that this wisdom is well worth learning and would be a crucial takeaway in a study of Dr. Doty. Next, qualities we share include insuppressible determination and persistence, while those I aim to emulate are his compassion, selflessness, bravery, leadership, and teamwork. These qualities, and my goal of becoming a neurosurgeon, clearly exemplify what I would like to become and guide my goals in TALONS. Finally, while there are many differences between myself and Dr. Doty (e.g., he was born poor, he lives in the U.S.), this does not affect my research – I will look to communicate with him as part of my project. These differences also encourage us to never judge someone by upbringing and help us better feel empathy. To conclude, I chose to research Dr. James Doty for my Eminent project because of his profound impact on society, my connections to him, and the lessons his life can teach us (and has taught me already).

For the next phase of my research, my goal is to reread Into the Magic Shop and find other sources to add to my knowledge of his life, challenges, and contributions and find a way to communicate with Dr. Doty.