PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

Ninth-inning farewell

By Richard M. Suinn, PhD
APA President

My pleasure from sports has been cited in introductions: "Suinn skis enthusiastically in the winter, fishes persistently in the spring, protects a tennis elbow in the summer and is depressed in the fall waiting for the ski season." With this being my farewell column as APA president, I wanted to share some personal advice using sport as a metaphor for living.

Fishing: "Catching"--not simply "fishing"--is not guaranteed, just as life's goals are not guaranteed. Fish aren't interested in your goals or well-being, and we run into people who are as uncooperative as fish. Here is where patience and perseverance can serve us well.

Advice from a fisherman: Although your goals may seem unreachable, identify them clearly, determine the steps required, persist in achieving these steps. My perseverance was tested as a candidate for APA president. Although I addressed the issues, traveled extensively to meet members, offered my agenda and sought help from supporters, I was not elected. I spent hours fishing (not catching), re-energized patience, dealt with disappointments...and now am serving my year for APA.

Tennis: Doing well in tennis is more than being skilled in hitting and serving. Strategy becomes important, and implementing strategy requires flexibility. To be flexible, you must have diverse skills that enable you to meet the challenge: people skills, problem solving skills, listening and comprehension skills, leadership skills, skills with detail work, skills to see the big picture, skills to break out of ruts.

Advice from a tennis player: Acquire the skills you need. Sometimes that requires you to test yourself, to develop your potential. Being head of a psychology department was not in my self-image because of personal doubts. I doubted whether I had the right financing and budgeting skills, and I worried I would be incapable of giving faculty negative feedback when required. Because of circumstances, I accepted the risk of serving as acting head, had the opportunity to challenge my doubts, and discovered hidden skills waiting to be developed. As a result, I served as head for 20 years, and now am a retired "recovering administrator."

Skiing: There is emotion in downhill skiing--fear during the learning process...then exuberance! For me it provides balance to the intellectual life of an academic. It means flowing instead of analyzing, trusting the body instead of the brain, gratification from the moment instead of the future. We are thinking creatures. We plan, analyze, prepare, consider, comprehend, decide whether to fish or to catch. We must also feel, experience, encounter, permit emotions a place.

Advice from a skier: Our emotions can be influential in our lives. At APA's Annual Convention in Boston, I wanted to share the content of ethnic cultures. There was only one way to accomplish this: through experiences--an American Indian Cedar Ceremony, a Hawaiian chant, a Latino rhythm, a gospel choir. An amazing result occurred: Members told me they experienced excitement, a feeling of change, an optimism, an inclusiveness.

Not only did the opening ceremonies feel new and different, but members said that the overall convention and APA itself had changed in wonderful ways. And perhaps it has.

What was it like being APA president?

There were many satisfactions. Working with APA staff who did not allow obstacles to block progress, but helped me reach goals, often through creative ways. Although traveling was exhausting at times, experiencing the personal enthusiasm of students was exhilarating. We should always remember that they are in need of empowerment, encouragement and respect. I value the intensely meaningful relationship I developed with the special APA members on my planning committee. There was fun, too, such as calling the 160 member Council of Representatives to order by having a bugle blow "assembly."

Some disappointments include the lack of responsiveness of members to some of my invitations. Such as the Monitor call for "tips" for helping students, new professionals, etc. Or the call for members who are available to serve as mentors to students of color, or those who have expertise with cancer patients who could be included in a registry.

I end my term wishing good luck to you in your fishing--or catching--expeditions in life!

Last invitation: Send me what you consider to be the five top breakthroughs or major events in psychology this millennium: major research findings, theories, psychological instruments, methodologies. Tell me why you picked these. As a secondary list, you might also list any five breakthroughs outside psychology that you believe had an important effect on advancing the field.



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