The chance interaction occurred at a large medical conference I attended recently. I happened to bump into a leader in health care information technology from a major integrated medical system. As soon as I saw him and his name badge, I thought I would go over and introduce myself, seeing as I have an avid interest in health care IT myself.
He was standing alone having just finished lunch, and there was a bit of free time before the next scheduled lecture. I attempted to start a conversation, but quickly realized that this was not going to be an easy endeavor. The person initially came across as unfriendly, and then a bit awkward. I was accompanied by a couple of colleagues, and we are all reasonably jovial and cordial people who usually don’t have any problems with holding a good conversation.
We asked him about his thoughts on his hospital’s IT system and where the world of health care IT was heading. Topics that one would expect to be of keen interest to this gentleman, given his prominent position. However, throughout the attempted conversation, he barely maintained any eye contact, seemed somewhat dismissive, and then actually started coming across as rude and derogatory when he learned that we worked in smaller community hospitals. His rudeness was quickly noted by my colleagues, one of whom (who is the most pleasant person you could ever meet) even went so far as to later describe him a jerk!
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