What to do about broken mentoring systems

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills 2 00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260 to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340 As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients. 4 00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380 When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find 5 00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780 that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research 6 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,200 program. 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,480 Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit. 8 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580 However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs. 9 00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200 For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800 the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor. 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,240 Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene. 12 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:03,020 Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast. 13 00:01:03,020 --> 00:01:08,020 I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and it's such a pleasure to be talking with you today. 14 00:01:08,020 --> 00:01:10,760 Last week, I feel like I started a little bit of a furor. 15 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:17,560 I talked about why the traditional mentoring system is broken, and honestly, I think I 16 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:23,140 recognized how many people have been hurt by the system, but I think I wasn't prepared 17 00:01:23,140 --> 00:01:25,680 for how many people have actually experienced hurt. 18 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,320 I just want to pause and just say, now that I'm a mentor, I just want to apologize on 19 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:32,360 behalf of all mentors out there. 20 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,600 To some extent, I don't necessarily have the right to do that because it's like, hey, I 21 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:41,440 probably haven't interacted with you and probably have not necessarily caused or been part of 22 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:47,760 your pain, but I just do want to stop and acknowledge the many hurts that happen in 23 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:49,560 our relationships with mentors. 24 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:54,840 I just acknowledge the fact that many times we have expectations that are not met, and 25 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,600 many times we wish our mentors would be more for us. 26 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,080 We wish they would do so much more, and we are disappointed. 27 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:06,720 We feel like the way our careers are now would be different if only we had had the support 28 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:07,720 that we needed. 29 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:13,560 I want to acknowledge that mentoring is necessary to help you move forward, and not having a 30 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:18,520 mentor can leave what feels like a big void in your life, especially not having the kind 31 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:24,440 of mentor that just takes you all the way through can make you feel inadequate, unwanted, 32 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,560 unsupported in the system. 33 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:33,720 I do want to acknowledge very specially women and underrepresented faculty in the academy 34 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:38,480 who many times have more issues with mentoring compared to other faculty. 35 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:44,760 I just want to say, hey, it's not your fault, and there are challenges that are beyond your 36 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:53,120 control, and you're going to be okay, but you've been hurt, you've had challenges, and 37 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:58,120 I just want to acknowledge the pain and the suffering that have come as a result of it, 38 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:04,800 and I want to say that it is real, it is valid, and I'm sorry that you've experienced these 39 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,520 things in the academy. 40 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,440 And I want to bring hope and healing to you through this episode, because I realized that 41 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:19,800 what I spent a long time doing last time was really setting up the challenge, and there 42 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:24,000 are many challenges, but I don't want you to focus on the challenge, because what you 43 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,280 focus on does grow, but I want you to focus on your power and your ability to fix the 44 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:31,280 challenges. 45 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:32,280 Okay? 46 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:33,520 So that's what this episode is about. 47 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:40,540 It's about you taking ownership, it's about you working in light of the challenging and 48 00:03:40,540 --> 00:03:41,880 the broken systems. 49 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:47,320 So today's episode, I'm talking about what you can do about these broken mentoring systems. 50 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:53,440 You know, when it comes to hurt, I want to share an episode of hurt and not to show up 51 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:58,280 a mentor in any way, but just to say that many times, you know, your being young makes 52 00:03:58,280 --> 00:03:59,600 you vulnerable to hurt. 53 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,800 So I had a mentor who was really lovely and so kind. 54 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,160 I mean, this is a lovely mentor. 55 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,200 And throughout my career, if anybody meets me and asks about this mentor, I will tell 56 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,880 you that this mentor is really, really an amazing and outstanding mentor. 57 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,520 This mentor knows their stuff, and they succeeded. 58 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:20,360 There is an excellent and amazing scientist. 59 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,200 One of the things I struggled with when I first started with said I was a people pleaser. 60 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:27,120 I really needed people to be happy with me. 61 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,040 And this mentor was hard to please. 62 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,840 And this mentor would get really mad if they felt that they had been crossed in any way. 63 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:37,880 And I think it speaks to this mentors insecurities, but I didn't know that then. 64 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,360 So there I was trying so hard to please this mentor. 65 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:42,520 And for the most part, I would succeed. 66 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,680 I would do something and get a well done. 67 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:52,880 But then when I didn't succeed, it would just be like a nightmare outburst of anger. 68 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:54,040 And I was very sensitive to that. 69 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,180 I've always been sensitive to outbursts of anger. 70 00:04:57,180 --> 00:05:00,820 And this was a mentor that I looked up to that I really respected, and I never wanted 71 00:05:00,820 --> 00:05:02,200 them to be angry. 72 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,360 So there I was like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, how can I make things better? 73 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:06,360 And then I would try harder. 74 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,060 And then the mentor would be happy again. 75 00:05:09,060 --> 00:05:12,720 And so really, to be honest, it started becoming like a cycle of abuse. 76 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:13,720 I got anxious. 77 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:14,720 I got nervous. 78 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,840 I got worried because I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me when I came into that 79 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:18,840 mentor's office. 80 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:23,360 Anyway, so I say all that to say that I'm okay now. 81 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:24,360 I'm healed. 82 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:30,200 It was a big, big, big source of psychological stressors and gosh, it was a really big challenge. 83 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:31,200 And I got help. 84 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:35,040 I'll tell you that I got help because those are situations in which it's hard to try to 85 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,260 come out of yourself, especially when you feel like it's something that you look up 86 00:05:38,260 --> 00:05:39,260 to and respect very much. 87 00:05:39,260 --> 00:05:40,840 But I got help. 88 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:45,880 And I'm no longer in a position anymore to be treated in such a way that this amazing 89 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,480 mentor and again, you're like, wait a minute, this mentor can't be that amazing if they 90 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:50,940 hurt you. 91 00:05:50,940 --> 00:05:51,940 People are just people. 92 00:05:51,940 --> 00:05:52,940 Okay. 93 00:05:52,940 --> 00:05:56,960 And in reality, if people have trouble managing anger towards you, it's not about you. 94 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:57,960 It's about them. 95 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,520 It's about the fact that they have trouble managing anger in general. 96 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:04,880 And if they have an outburst of anger at you, they're having outburst of anger at other 97 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:05,880 people. 98 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,300 And so maybe this mentor needed anger management. 99 00:06:08,300 --> 00:06:09,300 I don't know. 100 00:06:09,300 --> 00:06:10,300 But it wasn't me. 101 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:13,920 It was really about the mentor and what they needed to deal with. 102 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,440 And so this is someone who's highly successful and under so much stress and having trouble 103 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:18,440 with anger. 104 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,640 And to be honest, so many of us in the academy under so much pressure, we don't really get 105 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:23,640 to judge people. 106 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:24,640 We just don't. 107 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,880 We don't judge ourselves and we don't judge others as well. 108 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:31,560 And so I just want to encourage you to not judge this mentor in the story that I told 109 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:36,640 you, but just to recognize that that was my story of deep hurt in the academy where I 110 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,600 thought I depended on you to help me. 111 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,080 And instead you turned me. 112 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:42,080 Well, they didn't turn me. 113 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:46,480 I turned myself in the process of that experience into a nervous wreck. 114 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:51,720 And I just thought it was important to share that story because many of you have similar 115 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:56,680 or worse stories of horrible, horrible experiences at the hands of mentors. 116 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:01,120 And I just want to, I just, again, want to pause and say they are real. 117 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:02,260 They are hurtful. 118 00:07:02,260 --> 00:07:05,300 For some of you are like, I will never do academics again. 119 00:07:05,300 --> 00:07:06,560 I hope you'll change your mind. 120 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:12,600 But I do want to recognize and acknowledge that those kinds of experiences can be hurtful. 121 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:13,600 Okay. 122 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,160 Now I want to give you tools. 123 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,500 I want you to heal your hurts. 124 00:07:18,500 --> 00:07:24,300 And I know that this one podcast doesn't necessarily heal your hurts, but I want you to start the 125 00:07:24,300 --> 00:07:25,560 journey of your healing. 126 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:29,440 And so that involves talking with people, talking with other people, processing your 127 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,960 trauma if needed, getting, getting therapy. 128 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,320 But I also want you to have a bag of tools when you're ready. 129 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:37,040 So it may be that you're not ready right now. 130 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,960 You're still healing from trauma, but when you're ready, this podcast will be here for 131 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:41,960 you. 132 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:47,200 And I want you to have a bag of tools that can help you to succeed despite your broken 133 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:48,200 mentoring relationships. 134 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:49,200 Okay. 135 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:50,200 Okay. 136 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:51,200 That felt so heavy. 137 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:56,200 It's like, oh, gosh, there's so much pain. 138 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:57,200 Okay. 139 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,600 I had to do the big sigh. 140 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:01,720 Okay. 141 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:06,520 Number one, the tool you need is a tool of recognition. 142 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:07,520 This is important. 143 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:11,320 We talked about it at length last week about how the system is broken and how it's actually 144 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:13,120 structurally foundationally broken. 145 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:17,480 And I have to tell you, if the foundation of the building is messed up, it doesn't matter 146 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:18,760 how beautiful the building is. 147 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,400 Oh my gosh, it doesn't matter how amazing it is. 148 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:27,480 It doesn't matter that, you know, somebody bought like a really new helipad and now we're 149 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,840 going to be able to use the helipad daily and somebody brought in these new innovations 150 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,360 and the building is green. 151 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:39,400 If the foundation is broken, the entire building is actually condemned. 152 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,000 It's a matter of time before it totally falls apart. 153 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:47,120 And actually in academic medicine, if we're going to go with that metaphor, the building 154 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:48,200 is already falling apart. 155 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:50,500 We can see, we can see the cracks in the foundation. 156 00:08:50,500 --> 00:08:52,600 We can see light fixtures falling. 157 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,600 We know that this building is falling apart. 158 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,000 Anyway, so the foundation is broken. 159 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,320 And the reason that's a tool in your toolkit is because now you're going to lower your 160 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,400 expectations for a building of the broken foundation to serve your needs. 161 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:09,240 Actually, the first thing you're going to do is you're going to get out of the building. 162 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:10,240 Yes. 163 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:12,520 Let's reframe that. 164 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:13,520 The foundation is broken. 165 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:15,960 You see things falling apart around you. 166 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:20,040 And the number one tool in your toolkit is get out of the building. 167 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:21,640 Okay, this is a safety issue. 168 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,320 Can I just, can I just pause and say, this is a safety issue. 169 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:26,720 You're in a building. 170 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,480 It's falling apart because the foundation is broken. 171 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:30,480 Get out of the building. 172 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:31,480 Okay. 173 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,080 What does that mean for you? 174 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:41,480 Stop for stop focusing on one person as the source of your success. 175 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:42,480 Okay. 176 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:48,000 I know we said this last week, it bears repeating again, and this is the number one tool, tool 177 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:53,480 in your toolkit is to get out of the broken building by stopping asking one person to 178 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:58,800 be your mentor, by stopping saying it all depends on this one person and by developing 179 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:00,880 the systems that help you move forward. 180 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:01,880 Okay. 181 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:05,480 So you're getting out of the broken building of the one mentor, guru mentor, you'll take 182 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:07,680 care of all of my needs mentor. 183 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:13,040 You're now getting into the, into the building of creating systems that help you succeed. 184 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:16,620 Now we talked about the creating systems last week, so I'm not going to go into much more 185 00:10:16,620 --> 00:10:21,080 detail about that, but what I do want you to recognize is that there is a system that 186 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:26,160 exists at your institution and if not at your institution, beyond your institution, I'm 187 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,820 going to mention a couple of those resources here. 188 00:10:28,820 --> 00:10:36,160 So pride the programs to increase research among faculty who are from diverse backgrounds. 189 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:37,160 I said it wrong. 190 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,160 Research is from diverse, diverse backgrounds. 191 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:40,160 It's pride. 192 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:42,760 And there are a couple of purses across the country. 193 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:46,920 If you are someone from an underrepresented program, the background, you should take care 194 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,040 of that or you should look into that. 195 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:54,360 Another program is the NRMN, the National Research Mentoring Network. 196 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,960 That's I believe is open to all faculty. 197 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:58,480 You take advantage of that. 198 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:03,120 If you have a society like the American site of hematology, I know the American site of 199 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:04,120 nephrology. 200 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:06,600 Oh, I definitely know the American Heart Association. 201 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:11,360 Whatever your specialty, if a society that has resources to facilitate research. 202 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:12,360 Okay. 203 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:13,360 All right. 204 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:19,680 So whatever happens, there is a system that exists either at your institution or within 205 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:24,680 your national society or at large, right? 206 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:28,840 There are systems that exist to support your research development. 207 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,880 What I want you to do is figure out what those systems are and what resources they have. 208 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:37,720 I will tell you that the resources they have are so many. 209 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,240 Sometimes you look at them, you're like, I don't know what I need. 210 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:41,240 It's too overwhelming. 211 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:45,600 I'm going to just pause and say, we don't do overwhelm. 212 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:46,600 We just don't do it. 213 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:48,120 We just, we just, we just don't do it. 214 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,800 We're just like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to be overwhelmed. 215 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:53,720 I learned that from one of my mentors, Dr. Uda. 216 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,680 So I don't know who she learned it from, but that's, that's someone who she, she taught 217 00:11:57,680 --> 00:11:59,160 me that she's like, we just don't do it. 218 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:00,680 Or like, I'm not going to be overwhelmed. 219 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:01,960 I'm just going to say, what's the next step? 220 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:03,400 And I'm going to take it and do it. 221 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:04,400 All right. 222 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,160 But the first thing is you're going to look at the systems that exist for you. 223 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:11,160 And I want to pause and say that these systems exist for you. 224 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:12,960 They are for you. 225 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:16,080 I don't care whose name the systems have on them. 226 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,160 And sometimes you may be like, well, they only help underrepresented minorities. 227 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:21,160 Okay. 228 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,640 Still call and say, Hey, I'm not an underrepresented minority. 229 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,520 Are there any resources that are publicly available that I can access? 230 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:31,200 There will always be a resource you can access. 231 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:35,560 Or maybe you are, you know, the, the, maybe it's a resource for women. 232 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:37,400 You're like, well, I'm not a woman. 233 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:38,400 Okay. 234 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:42,000 So there are many resources that are not just for women, but if this is the resource that 235 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,760 you really feel like you need, call and say, Hey, I see that you make all these resources 236 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:46,760 available to women. 237 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:48,760 Are there any that are available publicly? 238 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,600 And to be honest, most of those resources are available publicly. 239 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:57,560 So there's no resource you cannot ask access and support of your career development. 240 00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:59,520 But what's more likely to happen is that you're going to be overwhelmed. 241 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,660 You're going to be like, Oh my gosh, there's so many resources. 242 00:13:02,660 --> 00:13:06,240 One that I just remembered is the climb CLIMB program at Northwestern. 243 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,840 Oh my goodness, they have a wealth of resources. 244 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:09,840 Okay. 245 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:11,480 So there's a wealth of resources out there. 246 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:13,600 Climb, we've talked about pride. 247 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,880 I've talked about the NRMN and I've talked about your national societies. 248 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:18,880 Okay. 249 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:20,640 I'll put all these in the, in the show notes. 250 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:21,640 Okay. 251 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,040 Now, one thing you need to recognize is that what you're likely going to have is just an 252 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:27,320 overwhelming list of resources. 253 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:29,940 What I want you to do is just write a list of five. 254 00:13:29,940 --> 00:13:35,400 These are five resources that are systems that support my research development. 255 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,000 I'm going to take advantage of these five. 256 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,680 You're gonna start with one because you're just going to take advantage of one. 257 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:44,200 Don't, don't, don't. 258 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:45,200 There are a million resources. 259 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,360 You can narrow it down to five that you need and then you're going to select one. 260 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:49,360 You're going to run with that. 261 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:50,360 Okay. 262 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,000 So the very first thing is to get out of the burning building or to get out the building 263 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:58,560 whose foundation is broken by removing your focus from one mentor as a source of all your 264 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:04,800 mentoring needs and working to develop systems that support you. 265 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:05,800 Okay. 266 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:10,520 So part of the system is saying what resources already exist and pursuing those resources. 267 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,000 Okay, so systems. 268 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,080 You're going to ask about establishing systems. 269 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:17,200 The second thing is community. 270 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:18,800 Okay. 271 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:23,000 You cannot do this alone. 272 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,240 You cannot do this alone. 273 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,920 You cannot succeed alone. 274 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,560 It's like a little newborn baby. 275 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:38,960 If they did not have a mother or father or some other concerned person to take care of 276 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:42,840 them, they would not do well. 277 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:47,360 And that's why I'm so glad that there are resources to support children when they're 278 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,480 first born and not able to care for themselves. 279 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:54,320 If you are early on in your career, you don't even yet know what you don't need or what 280 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:55,320 you need. 281 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:56,760 You have no idea. 282 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,840 And you do need people to help support you. 283 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:02,280 You don't need just the one mentoring parent member. 284 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,800 Our first tool bag in the toolkit was we got out of that thing. 285 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:06,800 We got out of that thing. 286 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,600 Well, what we do need is community, right? 287 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,040 It's a community of support. 288 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,920 And what I want you to do is to find your community. 289 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:18,920 Okay. 290 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:19,920 Find your community. 291 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:23,000 Now, let me tell you who's going to be in your community, okay? 292 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,440 Because I know that for some of you, you're fixated because your single parent is not 293 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:28,120 available for you. 294 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:29,120 That's your mentor. 295 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:30,400 Your mentor has not been available for you. 296 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:34,100 And you're still fixated on that one mentor who won't do for you what you think they 297 00:15:34,100 --> 00:15:35,100 should do. 298 00:15:35,100 --> 00:15:39,060 I need you to let it go. 299 00:15:39,060 --> 00:15:42,160 And as you're ready to let it go, I want you to think about who you need in your community. 300 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:43,160 Okay. 301 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,020 I'm talking to you about five people you need in your community. 302 00:15:46,020 --> 00:15:48,880 Number one is you need mentors who've gone ahead of you. 303 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:49,880 Okay. 304 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:51,880 Now I'm talking about a mentoring. 305 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:56,280 Actually, I'm saying the word mentors when I'm telling you to not focus on one mentor, 306 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,040 but I'm really saying you need multiple mentors, but that's number three. 307 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:00,040 So we'll get to it in a minute. 308 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,160 Number two is the community, right? 309 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:05,400 So the community, I need you to find people who have gone ahead of you. 310 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:06,400 Okay. 311 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:07,400 That's what I mean. 312 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:08,400 People who have gone ahead of you. 313 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:12,400 And then you don't have to look at them as mentors, but they've gone ahead of you in 314 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:13,400 whatever way. 315 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:14,400 Now, here's the thing. 316 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,600 Here's the thing about people who've gone ahead of you. 317 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,560 They may not be older than you. 318 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:24,720 They may not be more advanced than you, whatever advanced means. 319 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,520 They may not have gray hair. 320 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,280 They may be younger than you. 321 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,660 They may still be in medical school. 322 00:16:32,660 --> 00:16:33,660 They just may be. 323 00:16:33,660 --> 00:16:38,120 But they've gone ahead of you in areas in which you want to succeed. 324 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:42,140 That's the criteria for the members of this, these members of your community. 325 00:16:42,140 --> 00:16:45,520 There are people who have gone ahead of you in a way you want to succeed. 326 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:50,160 Now, again, they don't have to be one person fulfilling criteria of all the things you 327 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:51,320 ever want to do. 328 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:53,480 They just need to be ahead of you in anything. 329 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:57,400 For example, you've not submitted any manuscript yet for publication. 330 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,960 You need somebody who's ahead of you in doing that. 331 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:03,960 It could be a med student who submitted 20 manuscripts for publication, who's highly 332 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:08,640 published because in their prior life, they ran an epidemiology research program. 333 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:09,640 And now they're like, you know what? 334 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:11,080 I want to go back to med school. 335 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,600 That's why you can't judge a book by its cover. 336 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:14,600 Okay? 337 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:15,600 Okay. 338 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:20,560 So you're going to choose members of your community who are ahead of you in a specific 339 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:22,520 area in which you have a need. 340 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:26,240 Now don't look at your career and say, I want someone who's an associate professor. 341 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:27,240 It's not specific. 342 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,400 I want you to be as specific as possible. 343 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,960 I want somebody who's good at submitting manuscripts for publication. 344 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,200 You're going to have members of that community. 345 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:36,200 Okay. 346 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:41,320 You're going to have members of your community who've gone ahead of you in submitting publications. 347 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,360 You're like, oh, I need to submit grants for funding. 348 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:48,240 You're going to have members of your community who've done that successfully. 349 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:50,320 They don't have to be super far advanced. 350 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,600 They just have to have done it successfully. 351 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,520 What you're going to build in your community, the first group you're going to build in your 352 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,560 community is a group of people who've gone ahead of you. 353 00:17:58,560 --> 00:17:59,560 Okay. 354 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:01,280 That's the first group you're going to build in your community. 355 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,040 The second group you're going to build in your community is you're going to build the 356 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:08,240 community of people who are doing what you're doing, who are at the same level as you, who 357 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:09,440 are doing the same things. 358 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:11,320 Now in this area, you can be broad. 359 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,800 They don't have to be doing the same things as you in like, you know, one area. 360 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:16,680 They can be in multiple areas. 361 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:21,040 Maybe there are people like you who are just making the transition from fellowship to faculty. 362 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:25,000 Maybe there are people like you who are just making the transition to start submitting 363 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:26,000 grants. 364 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,360 There are people like you who are assistant professors. 365 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:30,360 Choose that community. 366 00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,420 It doesn't matter, but they do what you're doing. 367 00:18:32,420 --> 00:18:34,160 So that means not all clinicians, right? 368 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,720 It's not all clinicians want to lead programs through scholarship. 369 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,060 Not all clinicians want to lead research programs. 370 00:18:40,060 --> 00:18:41,440 And there's no good or bad choice here. 371 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:42,440 We're just making different choices. 372 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:47,440 I'm talking about a community that's going to support your aspirations in leading research. 373 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:48,440 Okay. 374 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,040 A community that's going to support your aspirations in leading research. 375 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:53,040 Okay. 376 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,040 All right. 377 00:18:55,040 --> 00:19:00,880 And the next group that you need within this community is a group of people who haven't 378 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:02,520 reached where you are. 379 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:03,520 Okay. 380 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:04,520 This third group is very important. 381 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,280 I think I know I said I started with five, but I'm just going to limit it to three because 382 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:10,080 I still have more things to tell you. 383 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:11,520 Three in this three. 384 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,320 So the third group, and this is the third group, is a group that's coming after you. 385 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:16,720 So there are people who are ahead of you. 386 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:20,920 There are people who are at your level, and then there are people who are coming behind 387 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:21,920 you. 388 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,960 And the reason you need this group is because instead of focusing on what you don't have, 389 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,120 you're going to start to focus on what you have so that you can give it to other people 390 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:30,960 who are coming behind you. 391 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:32,640 And it may be that you're like, well, I don't have much. 392 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,200 I can't really mentor anybody. 393 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:36,200 You've done something. 394 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:37,200 You've been successful in something. 395 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,440 And maybe you've been successful in publishing at least one manuscript. 396 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:41,440 You've been successful. 397 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,120 And now you can teach somebody else to publish like you have. 398 00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:48,800 And if you're like, it was just a case report, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. 399 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:53,080 That is exactly what you're going to help somebody along with. 400 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:54,760 So you can build community. 401 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:58,160 OK, so the first thing is you're going to develop systems, and you're going to look 402 00:19:58,160 --> 00:19:59,160 around at your systems. 403 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,520 And second thing is you're going to develop community. 404 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,400 OK, what's the third thing? 405 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,720 The third thing you're going to do is now you're going to develop mentoring networks. 406 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,520 Now, remember you have a whole community, right? 407 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,840 And so going back to the community thing, don't feel like you need to build the whole 408 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:15,200 community today. 409 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,560 Don't feel like, oh, my gosh, I don't have members of the community. 410 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:23,360 You know, whatever you're going to think about, don't think about it. 411 00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:28,960 But what you're going to do is within that whole community that you've identified, now 412 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,360 identify your mentoring networks. 413 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:34,440 OK, what do I mean by mentoring networks? 414 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:40,120 Who is the person or who are the list of people that you're going to give your early manuscript 415 00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:42,840 ideas to to give you feedback on? 416 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:46,120 Now these are not people who say, oh, yeah, you should submit this manuscript, but people 417 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:50,320 who will look at your ideas and say, you know what I think would be help if you add this 418 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:51,720 right now, people will tear you down. 419 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,400 You got to be selective about your networks. 420 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:58,760 And now you're going to select who are the four people in my group that can help me when 421 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:02,520 I'm going to write and when I want to develop a manuscript idea, they're just going to help 422 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:04,680 me with the idea generation. 423 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:06,040 Does this make sense to you? 424 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:07,040 Does this help you? 425 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:11,760 You know, what do you think is going to be the greatest impact of this manuscript? 426 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:12,760 Those kinds of things. 427 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:18,080 Then you're going to develop the next list of people who you can go to when you need 428 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:20,800 major career advice. 429 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,200 And now major career advice is a really broad category. 430 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,800 But I'm talking in specificities. 431 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,320 I just I just need to pause and tell you that I'm distracted right now because I'm in New 432 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:31,320 York. 433 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:35,560 It's a different background for those of you who can see my video. 434 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:37,600 And for those of you who cannot. 435 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:41,120 And I'm overwhelmed by the amount of noise that just pervades New York. 436 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:46,280 And you may not hear it because my editor is awesome and will remove most of these sounds. 437 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,080 But the noises are distracting. 438 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:52,400 And I just want to pause and say to some extent, I'm distracted by the noises of the heater 439 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,560 and I'm distracted by the noises of birds that are gathered outside the window right 440 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:56,560 now. 441 00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:00,960 OK, having said that, I can now release them and go back to talking about your mentor networks. 442 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:09,260 OK, so now you have a list of a group of people who will help you come up with like a plan 443 00:22:09,260 --> 00:22:12,080 whenever you're going to submit a manuscript for publication. 444 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,560 You're going to say, I'm going to get going to help me figure out like who might be the 445 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:20,120 best, you know, the best four journals or which journals may be the best for to submit 446 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:24,380 to and what should be my tier one, tier two, tier three. 447 00:22:24,380 --> 00:22:28,240 That might be a list of librarians who are skilled at doing that kind of thing. 448 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,080 So your mentoring networks don't have to involve clinician scientists. 449 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:37,440 OK, this is really good because your mentoring networks to be non clinicians who have resources 450 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:38,920 that help support you. 451 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,020 OK, so those are two examples. 452 00:22:41,020 --> 00:22:42,480 Just make a list of people. 453 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:43,480 Right. 454 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,720 Again, remember, we're we've gone out of the building, so there's not one person that does 455 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:47,720 anything for us. 456 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,640 There's a list of people who can't. 457 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:55,120 OK, that's that's a great is your mentoring networks. 458 00:22:55,120 --> 00:23:00,920 OK, now the fourth thing you're going to want to do is you're going to want to develop a 459 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:02,480 needs assessment for yourself. 460 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:04,200 OK, now this sounds pretty fancy. 461 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,920 It sounds pretty formal, but it's just saying, what do I need? 462 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:08,400 What do I need to succeed? 463 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,000 For some of you who are starting really early, you're like, well, I don't yet know what I 464 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,040 need to succeed. 465 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,200 And for the rest of you, you're like, well, I have an idea, but there's probably much 466 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:18,400 more that I don't know about. 467 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,760 OK, so the two parts to this piece, one is getting the information. 468 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,800 It's like you go to somebody who has gone ahead of you. 469 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,400 Remember, you have a whole community and you have within your community people who've done 470 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:33,000 what you've done, not the whole career, but just a piece of it. 471 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,520 And you say, hey, I'm just starting out in this area and I see that you succeeded in 472 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:37,520 this area. 473 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:41,160 What are the things I need to know that I may not be aware of? 474 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:45,240 Wow, that's powerful because they're going to tell you things that you don't already 475 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:46,240 know. 476 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,480 They're going to tell you some things you already know, and then they're going to tell 477 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,960 you things you don't already know. 478 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:57,360 You're going to make up a list of your needs based on what you didn't know that you needed, 479 00:23:57,360 --> 00:23:58,360 but you need. 480 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:00,160 They're going to give you this information. 481 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:05,840 OK, and then you're also going to now that you have the information, now you're going 482 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:11,560 to say, based on all this information I have about what's needed to succeed in this way, 483 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,280 what do I need to grow in this way? 484 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:18,880 One of the things we all mostly have to grow in, especially as clinicians who are making 485 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:23,180 this transition to lead research, is writing grants. 486 00:24:23,180 --> 00:24:24,840 What do you need as a grant writer? 487 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:25,920 I mean, it seems easy, right? 488 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:27,240 You sit down and you write the grant. 489 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:28,640 Well, much bigger than that, right? 490 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:29,640 Much bigger. 491 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,920 And when you go around to people who successfully write in grants, they tell you what's needed. 492 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:34,400 Let me give you an example. 493 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,640 I sat down with one of my mentors. 494 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:40,720 I have many, but this particular mentor is a mentor in a very specific career development 495 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:42,640 award program that I'm part of. 496 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,520 And we talked about a trial, clinical trial goal that I have. 497 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,840 And in asking about the things that I need, one of the things she helped me recognize, 498 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,440 she was like, you need to start writing the clinical trial protocol. 499 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,680 I was like, well, I'm not ready for the clinical trial protocol. 500 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:00,520 I'm still collecting preliminary data. 501 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:01,960 And she's like, no. 502 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,640 The thing about the clinical trial protocol is it helps you to start to think in advance 503 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:07,640 of the things you need leading up to the protocol. 504 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:09,000 That was so powerful for me. 505 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:13,040 I was like, okay, I don't need this yet, but I'm going to start working on writing it so 506 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:16,200 that it helps me keep in mind my end goal. 507 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,000 So I'm very focused on where I'm going. 508 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,400 But she was the one who helped me recognize this. 509 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:27,560 So now, I now recognize in my niece assessment that I need an example of a clinical trial 510 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,200 protocol of the kind of trial I want to do, right? 511 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,280 There are many clinical trial protocols that exist. 512 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:38,040 But I had a very specific type of trial that I want to accomplish, right? 513 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,560 A very specific kind of trial. 514 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:45,420 And so I asked somebody who's done that trial, and I said, can you share with me a clinical 515 00:25:45,420 --> 00:25:47,360 trial protocol in this area? 516 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:48,920 I didn't know I needed it. 517 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,000 I thought maybe it was something I would think about years before. 518 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,600 In fact, it had never even entered into my consciousness to ask about it. 519 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:59,760 But now that I had the conversation, I got information, and now I know that that's a 520 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,320 list of things that's on my needs list. 521 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:04,660 Okay, so that's the needs assessment list. 522 00:26:04,660 --> 00:26:08,360 You ask people questions about what you need to know or what you're missing. 523 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:12,960 They tell you, you create a list of what you need, what skills you need, what resources 524 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:18,080 you need, what networks you need to access to be able to accomplish your goals. 525 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:19,080 Okay? 526 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:20,080 Okay, so let's recap again. 527 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,120 Number one, we build systems. 528 00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:24,600 Number two, we build community. 529 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,120 Number three, we create mentoring networks. 530 00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:30,360 And number four, we create a needs assessment. 531 00:26:30,360 --> 00:26:31,900 Okay, number five. 532 00:26:31,900 --> 00:26:35,920 Number five is, wow, the most important. 533 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:37,920 The most important. 534 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:42,120 Actually, I'm thinking, is this the most important? 535 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:44,840 Well, to be honest, you've already been doing the things. 536 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:48,920 I don't want you to focus on this one thing, but it's really important. 537 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,400 Number four, gosh. 538 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:52,400 Number four, number four. 539 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,400 Is it number four or number five? 540 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:55,400 Number five. 541 00:26:55,400 --> 00:27:02,880 Okay, is to develop a plan for your forward motion. 542 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,940 In the traditional mentoring network, I mean, the traditional mentoring system that didn't 543 00:27:06,940 --> 00:27:11,640 work for us, we depended on one person to tell us where to go. 544 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:20,440 And in this particular new system that we're embracing, we are deciding where we go. 545 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:25,040 Because based on the information that you've gathered as you were creating your needs assessment, 546 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:29,560 based on the systems that you've accessed that you know are available for clinicians 547 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:35,360 leading research programs, based on the community you've built of people who are ahead of you, 548 00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:40,320 people who are on your peer level, people who are coming up behind you, and based on 549 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:46,200 your needs assessment, you now make a plan on where you're going. 550 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,760 This is so important. 551 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,720 And I was going to say it's the most important, but the reason I paused and stopped is recognizing 552 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,520 that executing on the plan may be more important than doing the planning itself. 553 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,880 But it's hard to execute when you have no plan. 554 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,080 That's why planning is important, right? 555 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,480 Plans are really important, not necessarily because of the plans themselves, but because 556 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:11,120 of the process it takes to get to the plans, because of what it means to have a plan that 557 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:12,120 you create. 558 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:17,240 Now, I'm going to pause and say that planning is something that I hope has come up for you 559 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:23,260 in any of your mentoring relationships, but even if it hasn't, there are different tools 560 00:28:23,260 --> 00:28:29,640 available to help people plan, and there's like the individual, I always say it wrong, 561 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,760 it's the IPDP, Individual Professional Development Plan, right? 562 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:38,840 It's a big document, it's got lots of components, and to be honest, it can be overwhelming. 563 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,480 And I don't necessarily care what tool you use. 564 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:44,240 I am not asking you to choose a specific tool. 565 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:46,840 I'm not even recommending a specific tool. 566 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,560 What I am asking you to do is to develop a plan. 567 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:57,200 A simple plan looks like in five years, yeah, you should have a five-year plan, and then 568 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,740 you should have at least a one-year plan. 569 00:28:59,740 --> 00:29:00,740 That's what they tell you. 570 00:29:00,740 --> 00:29:03,360 And I'm not for or against five-year plans. 571 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:10,520 I'm saying sometimes your planning is either over ambitious or it's not ambitious enough. 572 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:15,480 But what is important is that you should have a plan. 573 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:19,400 What do you want your career to look like in five years? 574 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,880 And five years is helpful because it pushes things out far enough into the future where 575 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,520 you don't feel like, oh my gosh, I need to try to get this all done. 576 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:27,880 But it's like, what do you want your career to look like? 577 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:33,120 Maybe like me, you start out as a fully, fully, full-time clinician. 578 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:34,120 That's how I started. 579 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:40,600 I started 80% of my time was seeing patients, and 80% is really a full-time clinician. 580 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:42,960 In private practice, nobody sees patients five days a week. 581 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,720 Actually, some people do, but in general, it's like that person came to mind, I was 582 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,000 like, yep, some people see patients five days a week. 583 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,200 But in general, people are not necessarily seeing patients five days a week in private 584 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:55,200 practice. 585 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:56,920 So I was a full-time clinician. 586 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:58,400 I'm getting ahead of myself here. 587 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:06,480 But okay, maybe in five years, your goal is that I want to have funding to support 50% 588 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:08,440 of my time in research. 589 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,160 That's doable within five years. 590 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:14,360 And so you write that down, that's your big, hairy, audacious goal. 591 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:19,080 In five years, I want to go from being a full-time clinician to being funded 50% for my research. 592 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,400 Now, I would say that you want to go with a bigger goal. 593 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:23,400 You want to be funded more. 594 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,000 You want a career development award. 595 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:30,840 In five years, I want to be funded on a career development award to support my research. 596 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:31,840 That's great. 597 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:33,560 That's part of your plan. 598 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:35,400 It's a big goal on your plan. 599 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:36,880 Now what are the steps to get there? 600 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:42,000 If I'm going to be funded 75% on a career development award, well, I do need to apply 601 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:43,280 for a career development award. 602 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:44,400 Like, okay, great. 603 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:50,840 Now I need support developing a proposal, and I need to figure out what research project 604 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,080 I want to use as my proposal for submission. 605 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:58,360 And then you're going to say, well, okay, I'm going to want to submit a proposal on 606 00:30:58,360 --> 00:30:59,360 this topic. 607 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,640 Let's say it's TTP, thrombotic, thrombocytopenic, purpura. 608 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,120 You're like, well, I'm going to need some preliminary data. 609 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:06,240 Okay. 610 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:10,920 What projects do I need to finish to take to the finish line so that I can have some 611 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:12,800 preliminary data? 612 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:19,840 Or who are the people I've worked with or who may be at my institution or elsewhere 613 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:26,000 who have worked in this area that might have a data set that I could acquire some data 614 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,260 from? 615 00:31:27,260 --> 00:31:34,000 And so based on this, you can now say, okay, well, my next step is to talk to this researcher 616 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,400 and acquire the data set. 617 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:37,400 Okay. 618 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:38,400 You have a plan. 619 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:39,840 Now, here's the thing about plan. 620 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,040 Here's the thing about plans. 621 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,880 The most important thing about plans is not the plans themselves, but it's the process 622 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:46,640 of planning. 623 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:50,160 And plans are worthless, but the planning is what's powerful. 624 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,600 So I say that to say that you're going to make plans and you're going to be like, oh, 625 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:55,320 my gosh, or you're going to be afraid to make plans. 626 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:59,040 You're going to be paralyzed because you're going to be like, oh, the plans are not perfect. 627 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:00,040 It's not about perfection. 628 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:01,920 It's just about making the plans. 629 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:05,800 And at any point in time, you can take the plans and say, I'm going to make a new set 630 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:06,800 of plans. 631 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:07,800 Okay. 632 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:11,080 Now, this is not an invitation to just keep making plans with no goal, but it's just to 633 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,480 tell you that you're not making a commitment for life. 634 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:15,480 You're not getting married. 635 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,560 You're not promising to marry anybody with these plans. 636 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,480 You just have a blueprint in your hand how you're going to move forward. 637 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:24,480 Okay. 638 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,480 Those are the five tools that I want to give you today. 639 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:33,240 Number one, again, we said creating systems or engaging the systems that are already available 640 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:34,240 to you. 641 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,840 Number two is creating the community or finding the community that you already have access 642 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,800 to those who are ahead of you, those who are your peers, those who are coming up behind 643 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:43,880 you. 644 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,680 Number three was developing and understanding your list of mentoring networks. 645 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:51,600 Who do you go to when you need one thing versus the other versus the other? 646 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:53,460 They don't have to be clinicians, scientists. 647 00:32:53,460 --> 00:32:56,720 They just have to be people who can help you move forward in these ways. 648 00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:00,680 Number four is that you create your own needs assessment to say, well, what do I need now 649 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:02,640 that I have identified all these things? 650 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:03,640 What do I need? 651 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:05,000 You go around and you ask people. 652 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:06,000 They give you information. 653 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,680 You make it part of your list of things that you need. 654 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,160 And then number five is create a plan. 655 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:13,960 Create a plan. 656 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:14,960 Create a plan. 657 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:15,960 Okay. 658 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:18,300 The next episode, I'm going to talk to you about what to do with your plan and what kinds 659 00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:21,040 of things you should be thinking about in your plan. 660 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:22,840 And I'm just so excited about that episode. 661 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,880 And anyway, somebody else needs to hear about this. 662 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:31,880 Somebody else needs to let go of the traditional mentoring system, be healed from it, be released 663 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,320 from its brokenness. 664 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,320 And I invite you to be part of their healing by sharing this episode with them. 665 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:45,200 And imagine if every researcher, every clinician who's aspiring to lead research, let's go 666 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:49,640 of this whole concept of one person as the mentor for their lives. 667 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:53,800 Imagine how much ownership we could have of our own careers, how much power we would have 668 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,880 to engage other people that traditionally we had not engaged to be part of a mentoring 669 00:33:57,880 --> 00:33:59,640 networks would not be so awesome. 670 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,200 It would be so awesome. 671 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:06,400 And you can be part of that change by supporting their listening to this podcast episode. 672 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:07,700 So please share. 673 00:34:07,700 --> 00:34:10,520 And I look forward to talking with you again the next time. 674 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:21,080 Thank you for listening. 675 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:26,480 Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic 676 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:31,880 clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they 677 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:33,280 have a mentor. 678 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:39,400 If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself. 679 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,120 Someone else needs to hear it. 680 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:45,180 So take a minute right now and share it. 681 00:34:45,180 --> 00:34:50,640 As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation 682 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:56,600 of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.