Your career as a vehicle

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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills

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to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients.

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When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find

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that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research

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program.

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Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit.

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However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.

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For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians

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the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene.

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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast.

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I'm your host Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is an absolute pleasure to be talking with you right

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now.

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Thank you so much for tuning in.

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I am excited to bring you today's episode, which talks about getting the most out of

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your career.

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Now, I started our conversation on the last podcast, and I was talking about the things

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that you should be able to get out of your career.

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I talked about things like spiritual growth and personal development and increasing your

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social capital and making sure that your health is good.

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These all seem like, okay, why do you think my career should be able to deliver this?

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I thought today was the day to talk about how do you get what you need out of your career?

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Intuitively, we know that our career is a vehicle to get us to where we want to go,

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but it's not always clear exactly how to make the most out of the vehicle.

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I want to talk about the vehicle as the analogy for your career.

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Your career is a vehicle, and it's a vehicle that can do so many things for you, get you

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to so many places, get you to the destinations that you want to go.

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I say destinations in plural because there is not one single destination that you're

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getting to.

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There are a number of destinations, and the things I talked about, for example, financial

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health, those are some of the destinations that your career should get you to.

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But then how do you get the most out of your career?

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I think in doing that, we can think about our careers as vehicles.

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Okay, so I think about one of my first cars that I drove.

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It was a Cadillac, I think it was a GTS, I may be wrong, but it was white and it was

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old.

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When you say Cadillac, it sounds like it should be a nice car, and I'm not saying it wasn't

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in its heyday, but by the time I came into possession of it, it had been around for quite

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some time.

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So driving it around campus, no problem at all, and I finally decided I was going to

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drive this car home.

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And at the time, it was like a two-hour drive from campus to home, and in the middle of

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the drive, in the middle of the highway, the car packs up.

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We're fortunate enough to be able to pull over to the median, no less, and that's where

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we parked the car.

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And then we run across the street to be able to get to the other side where we're safer

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to await help towing the car.

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Oh, I'm so fortunate that it was okay, because when cars packed up in the middle of the highway,

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that could be dangerous.

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And so I was fortunate, I was driving with one of my roommates, and we got where we were

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going safely.

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The car didn't get me where I wanted to go.

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And since then, I've traded in and I've traded up to nicer cars that now get me where I'm

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going, and I don't have to be afraid that they're going to stop in the middle of the

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highway.

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And I think that that's one way to think about your career, is that over the lifetime of

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your career, over the lifetime of your working life, you're going to always have a vehicle

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to get you to where you want to go, or at least I hope you'll always have a vehicle.

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And you realize that over time, as a vehicle no longer serves you, you decide how you move

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to the next vehicle, or how you make the most of the vehicle you already have.

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Now the vehicle is just a vehicle.

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It doesn't have to be the same one your entire life, but you recognize that you always have

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a vehicle that transports you from one place to another.

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And let's think about your career in different ways in which it is a vehicle for you.

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Okay, so the first question is, what kind of vehicle do you drive?

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Now notice I haven't been talking about a car, because maybe you ride a bicycle.

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Maybe you're early on in your career and you feel like, yep, I'm definitely riding a bicycle

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only.

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I'm the only one who can get here who can use this particular vehicle.

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And it's a great bicycle, but it doesn't get me very far.

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I have to pedal really hard, especially when I'm going up hills.

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I change my own tires.

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I do a lot of things myself.

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And sometimes it can feel that way.

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But the question is, what kind of vehicle do you have?

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Or maybe you have a passenger vehicle where you have space for one passenger.

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And you're like, yeah, it's just me and my lab technician, or it's just me and my MA,

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whoever it is who supports you.

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And it works.

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It gets us from place to place, but we can't carry very much cargo.

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We can't carry too many passengers.

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And maybe it's an old model that breaks down a lot.

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But ask yourself, what kind of vehicle do you drive?

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What kind of vehicle is your career?

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Is your current career in its current state?

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Again, we're remembering that.

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We're going to change vehicles a number of times over time.

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We're going to upgrade over time.

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And your vehicle is not going to stay the same.

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But assess the kind of vehicle you drive right now.

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And I'd like you to pause and think about it and tell me.

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Maybe even send me a DM on LinkedIn.

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Tell me what kind of vehicle you drive.

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Right now, I will tell you that my vehicle, I believe, is at least a four-passenger stand.

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And it carries a number of people, including some collaborators who've been riding with

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me for some time.

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And we've gotten to a lot of great destinations together.

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Along the way, we've had some people exit the vehicle and others stay.

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And I'm thinking of trading up to an SUV that carries more passengers.

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Though if I'm trading up to an SUV, it's going to guzzle more gas and I'm going to need more

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resources.

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Yes.

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And my resources, I'm thinking along the lines of more funding to be able to really do some

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of the work that we really want to do.

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So when you think about the kind of vehicle you drive, think about your career as a vehicle

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and maybe you have a bicycle, maybe it's an SUV, a gas guzzling SUV, maybe it's a hybrid

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that you invest a lot in to be able to keep the cost down.

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Or maybe it's electric and you have to go from place to place getting your charge in

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so that you can make it to long distance destinations.

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So think about your career, the fact that it's like a vehicle and think about what kind

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of vehicle best describes your career.

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Okay, that's number one.

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The second thing is the kind of vehicle you have determines not necessarily what places

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you go, though, yes, it does determine what places you go, but it also determines how

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fast you go and how long it takes to get there.

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For example, let's say the terrain is water, while your car will not get you very far over

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water and maybe that's a time at which you get on a ferry, which is a seaworthy vessel.

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And then you ride the ferry as far as your car will take you, as far as fare will take

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you and then you can take your car off the ferry and continue your journey.

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So sometimes you cross terrain where you need help and your car can't get you there.

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But most of the time you're going to be on the road and your vehicle can get you there.

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You don't necessarily need to change modes of transportation.

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But think about how do you get the most out of what you have based on the terrain that

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you have, for example, or based on the terrain that you're in.

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For example, for many of us who started out with fully clinical careers or at least mostly

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clinical or partial clinical that kind of swallowed up the rest of our research time,

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we realized that, wow, this vehicle could get us to where we're going, but really, really

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slowly.

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And sometimes with some breakdowns along the way.

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And over time we've had to learn how do we get the most out of this vehicle, this mostly

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clinical career when we're trying to transition into research and we learn to get help.

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Who are the other vehicles that are also traveling on the same road that we can tag team and

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say, OK, well, why don't I park my car today and you ride your car so tomorrow we can carpool?

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And so thinking about what are the strategies that you have to be able to make the most

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out of the vehicle that you have, because it has limitations.

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Every type of vehicle has its own limitations and it doesn't mean it's not a great vehicle.

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It's just different.

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And you'll learn how to navigate and you'll learn how to get the help you need.

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Or maybe you say to someone else, like, oh, you don't have a vehicle, but I have a vehicle.

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Why don't you ride with me and you can chip in for gas.

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Right.

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And so the two of you may be both clinical and it's like, well, I'm going to help you

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because I have funding to do this.

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And why don't you help me in this way?

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And so think about how you get the most out of the vehicle you have and how you make the

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most out of the people who surround you to be able to make the most out of your career.

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Okay.

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The third thing is ask yourself, who are the passengers that ride with you?

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Now, again, this will depend on the vehicle you have.

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Sometimes when you're starting out and you're just on a bicycle or maybe it's a motorcycle,

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you can maybe carry yourself as a passenger or depending on what kind of two wheeled cycle

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it is, you might be able to actually carry another passenger.

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But ultimately, if you're going to carry more passengers, you're going to need to trade

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up to a bigger vehicle that seats more passengers.

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Now here's the thing.

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You might decide to go with your bicycle and just get a bicycle with an extra seat and

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that's okay.

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But there are some passengers that are not going to want to ride with you because they're

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like, well, it's a two wheeled bicycle and there's an extra seat.

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I have to ride with a helmet.

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I might fall.

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I'm not sure I want to ride with you.

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And so you have to think about the kind of vehicle you have determines what passengers

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will ride with you.

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And there are people who are there for the adventure.

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So let's say you have a motorcycle and it's like, okay, great.

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I'm going to come along for the ride because it's going to be so fun.

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There's a certain type of person that will ride with you.

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Most people are going to want to sit in air conditioning.

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They're going to want to roll up the window.

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They're going to want to be comfortable.

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They don't want to sit back and relax.

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And so you're going to need to invest in a bigger vehicle to allow them to ride with

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you.

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And what am I talking about?

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I'm talking about, well, if you're going to want collaborators to ride with you, then

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you're going to need to think about how can I fund my program to be able to have enough

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spaces in my vehicle to allow them to ride with me.

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And I'm not just talking about collaborators.

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I'm talking about students who may want to be in your program.

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I'm talking about post-docs who might want to work with you.

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I'm talking about hired staff that work in your research program.

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And so in order for you to have a larger vehicle that can transport people in a little bit

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more comfort, you are going to need to do the work.

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And that's sweat equity sometimes.

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And actually it always starts with sweat equity, but then it allows you to start to think about,

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well, what funding opportunities am I pursuing so that I have enough to be able to support

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the people who are going for the ride with me?

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And think about the people who are along for the ride.

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Are they people who ride all the time and make it a really unpleasant journey?

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Are they people who say, well, it might not be a great car, but we're here for the ride

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and we're going to help you to the best of our ability?

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Are they people who know how to change tires?

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Or are they people who are going to bail the moment the car packs up by the side of the

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road with a flat tire?

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Think about those things.

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Now, in your career, it feels as if, well, I'm not choosing, this is just what I have.

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But in reality, you are choosing.

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And you may not choose the first passenger that rides with you, but what you can do is

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learn from the passenger and decide, hmm, this is why this passenger didn't stay very

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long.

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What can I do differently?

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How do I optimize for the kind of passenger that can tolerate what vehicle I have at this

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stage knowing that as I trade up to a bigger vehicle, this passenger will continue to stay

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with me because they're not here just for the size of my vehicle.

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And the bigger your car, let's say you have a plane, they're going to be over there just

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for the ride.

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And the moment the plane touches down there like, sayonara, thank you for the ride.

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See ya.

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And it's OK.

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You just got to realize what kind of vehicle you have and what passengers you want to ride

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with you.

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And you may decide you never want to trade up to a plane.

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You may decide you want to stay with your three seater car.

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I mean, well, it's a three seater.

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It's probably like more like a moped, right?

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You may decide that.

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You might decide that because it's efficient.

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It gets you where you want to go.

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It gets you a certain type of passenger.

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And that's just the way you like it.

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So recognize that your passengers drive a lot of your experience.

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You've got to have a vehicle big enough to have passengers.

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And then you've got to make sure your passengers are comfortable, or at least you have the

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kind of passengers that don't mind the kind of conditions that you have in your vehicle.

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But at the end of the day, think about your passengers.

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Now, you may decide you don't want passengers at all.

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That's OK.

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You're going to be riding a bicycle and it'll get you where you want to go to just get you

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there slowly.

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And sometimes you'll need to change your own tires.

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And sometimes it'll take you a lot of work if you're going up a steep hill.

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But you just got to recognize that if you're going to really go further, faster, you're

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going to want to be able to have passengers ride with you and passengers who can contribute

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to the maintenance and the help that you need getting the vehicle to where it needs to be.

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OK, so we talked about maintenance.

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We started talking about maintenance activities.

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And that's number four.

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So you have work to do.

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So your vehicle is great.

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You bought it or you leased it.

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And you have it.

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It works for you.

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But you've got to do some maintenance activities to keep it going.

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And you can decide to ignore the maintenance activities.

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You can decide I don't need a community.

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I don't need to engage with mentors.

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You can decide to skip a lot of maintenance activities.

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But you also recognize that maintenance activities are what keep the car running longer, faster.

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And when you don't do maintenance activities, when you don't get the help that you need,

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you're going to run into some trouble like I did.

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On the highway, your car might pack up.

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And then you're going to need major help.

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And major help is OK.

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It's just recognizing that having a community that supports you, having a group of mentors.

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And I noticed I didn't say just one mentor.

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Having a group of mentors that can support you and encourage you is helpful so that you

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don't have to do the major overhauls or the major repairs because you weren't getting

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maintenance along the way.

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Now, that being said, you're going to want to know where to go, is the number five.

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When you do have a big repair issue that comes up, your check engine light comes on and you're

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like, I have no idea what's going on with this car, with this vehicle.

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Who do I go to?

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You're going to want to have a go to person or persons for major challenging repair jobs.

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And I would like you to know this person as to someone like your research mentor, like

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your primary research mentor.

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Now, you never have just one mentor, but you do.

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You can have a primary research mentor who's like the one stop shop.

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It's like your minik or like your Mr. Tire.

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The person you consistently go to for checkups and when a big repair job is needed.

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And depending on what's going on, you might actually need a specialist to step in.

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It might be a body shop, maybe body work that's needed.

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But you always want to have a go to person and think about again, your mentor, but it

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doesn't have to be just one mentor.

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Maybe it's a train.

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And so if you're not going to say the Toyota dealership on highway 54, you're going to

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the Toyota dealership in Raleigh and that kind of thing.

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So you want to make sure that you have a cadre of people that you trust that you can go to

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for maintenance, but also for major issues as well.

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Okay.

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Now, number six is you also need to know when the cost of maintenance becomes too high and

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you start to think about trading in your vehicle for the next vehicle.

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And sometimes that happens because you find yourself at the shop all the time.

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The cost of fixing continues to go up and you're maybe in the repair shop too many times

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or somehow the body work that was done last time needs to be redone.

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And you're saying, okay, well, at what point is this cost?

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Is this time spent getting maintenance or time spent getting major repairs?

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At what point is it too costly and I need to upgrade to something that doesn't cost

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as much?

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I mean, there's the upfront cost, right?

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And when you're trading in, you still have to bring some money to the table to be able

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to trade up to the next car, but you've got to decide at what point is the cost of the

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frequent repairs probably no longer worth it where you do need to find a chunk of investment

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to be able to get you traded up to the next vehicle.

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And what might that mean?

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It might be that your current role doesn't serve you anymore or it costs more than it's

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really benefiting you.

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And this may happen after you've done the same sort of experiments over and over again,

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and it's time to move into the next level of your research program.

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Or it may be that you've gotten to the point at which you feel like, okay, well, I feel

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like now I need to move into a leadership role, whatever that is, but just recognize

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that at some point you're getting less out of your investment than makes sense to you.

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And so then you have to decide, do I trade up to another vehicle and what vehicle do

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I trade up to?

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Do I change institutions?

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Do I change collaborators?

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Do I seek a new role?

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Do I do something different?

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And so recognizing that sometimes it's not so obvious, it's the signs that tell you,

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it's the challenging conversations, it's the restlessness that you feel, it's the feeling

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of, oh, I'm investing a lot, but I'm not getting what I want.

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And these are all important in recognizing when is the next step.

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Now you're not going to make this decision by yourself.

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Presumably you have a major repair shop that's going to advise you and say, hey, we've been

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repairing you for a long time.

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We've been doing your repairs for a long time.

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And we feel like you've gotten to the point where you really need to trade in.

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And so your mentors are going to help you with this and your sponsors are going to help

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you with this.

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In fact, your peer mentors as well can advise you.

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And so you're not on your own.

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You're not making decisions by yourself.

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But at some point, your investment is going to need to stop in the way that you're making

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the investment and you're going to need to think about a different investment so that

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you can trade up to a new level.

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Okay.

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And then number seven is to recognize that the most important passenger in the vehicle

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is you and that your vehicle, it serves you, but it's not you.

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It's an extension of you.

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You decorate it.

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You make it shine.

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You take it to the car wash.

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You get it fixed up.

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It represents you.

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You are proud of your vehicle, but it's not you.

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It's an extension of you in so many ways, but it's not you.

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Your vehicle is there to serve you.

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And you accept the limitations of your vehicle.

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You get the most of it out of it that you can, but it is there to serve you.

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And if at some point you get to a point where the vehicle doesn't serve you in the way you

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need it to serve you, you've got to be ready to separate from the vehicle and get another

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vehicle that does serve you.

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And so the most important passenger in the vehicle is you.

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And maybe you're writing with rowdy passengers who every time there's a flat, they just file

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out of the car and they're like, yeah, can you call us when you finish fixing the flat?

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And then they come back and ride with you again until the next challenge where they're

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like, I'll take a bus today.

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Let me know when everything is okay.

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You got to recognize that the vehicle serves you and you get to choose which passengers

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ride with you.

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You get to choose who are the people speaking into your career or helping you move forward.

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You do have choices.

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You are not stuck.

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So most importantly, the purpose of the vehicle is to serve you.

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And so if you realize that you're not getting to the destinations you want to go or because

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of the limitations of the vehicle, you're not getting as far as you want to, as fast

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as you want to consider that you are the one who invested in and got the vehicle in the

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first place and you can always make a change.

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You're not stuck.

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You are not stuck.

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You're not stuck with what you have.

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Change is hard and yes, it requires investment and yes, it will cost you, but it's doable.

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You are capable.

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You've done it before.

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You can do it again.

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Make sure that you're getting the most out of your career that you want.

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Don't feel like you're stuck.

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Don't feel like you can't make change happen because you can't and recognize, recognize,

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recognize that it is there to serve you.

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All right, so that's been the whole vehicle analogy.

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Recognize what kind of vehicle you drive.

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Figure out how to make the most out of the vehicle you drive.

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Recognize who your passengers are and how much they drive your experience and they drive

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the kind of vehicle that you can drive.

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Make sure you get help with maintenance activities.

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Know where to go when you need major repairs.

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Know when the cost of maintenance is high enough to necessitate a new vehicle and determine

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whether you're going to trade in or buy out, right?

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But finally recognize that you are the most important passenger in your vehicle and that

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your vehicle and its passengers are supposed to serve you to a great extent.

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All right, it's been a pleasure talking with you today.

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Thank you so much for tuning in.

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I look forward to talking with you again next time on the Clinician Researcher Podcast.

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Thank you for listening.

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Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic

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clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they

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have a mentor.

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If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself.

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Someone else needs to hear it.

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So take a minute right now and share it.

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As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation

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of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.