Burned out or disenchanted, many physicians are moving from medicine into the business side of health care. But the transition can be a tough one. This article offers four tips for navigating the new landscape
With pressures on them mounting and job satisfaction declining, more and more physicians are leaving frontline medical care to take on roles in the business of health care in pharmaceutical companies, managed care companies, clinical administration, health care startups, venture capital, and financial services.
While these careers can be rewarding and afford more of the flexibility and creativity that physicians crave, many of them struggle mightily or stagnate when they move into these new roles. These difficulties, however, are avoidable.
Having mentored and led physicians in a variety of non-clinical settings—medical groups, managed care companies, the pharmaceutical industry, and government—I know that a few shifts in mindset can tremendously improve the outcomes of one’s career when transitioning outside of clinical care. With that in mind, I offer four recommendations that can help set physicians up for success in business.
Don’t expect others to do your job.
As a physician focused on patient care, one is most highly rewarded for arriving at the right answer: the correct diagnosis or treatment plan. There are often large visible (and, sometimes, invisible) teams of people ready to help with tasks required to make the diagnosis and implement the treatment plan. For example, a physician will enter an order for a medicine into an electronic medical record system. A pharmacist will then procure the medicine, confirm it doesn’t have any undesirable interactions with other medicines, and then send it to the patient’s floor to be administered. A medical assistant will take the patient’s vital signs, and a nurse will administer the patient at the bedside. The nub of one’s work as a practicing physician is cognitive decision-making, not action.
Many physicians wrongly believe that a similar infrastructure and value system await them in corporate settings. While there may occasionally be supporting project staff to assist and design with the execution of programs, it is more often the job of the physician in the corporate arena not just to develop ideas but also to build execution plans and implement them.
What many physicians fail to realize is that in most organizations, vision is cheap and implementation is king. Many physicians fail to get started with new projects or initiatives because they lack a team, rather than realizing that (at least at the start) they are the team. It’s this dynamic that often gets physicians labeled “bad operators.”
The best physicians who work in organizations roll up their sleeves and make things happen, owning both vision and execution—being close to every detail and shaping and doing the work.
Be thoughtful and curious, not reflexive and defensive.
Clinical care often demands reflexive, on-the-spot thinking in the midst of ambiguous situations. Presented with incomplete information in a complex, high-stakes situation, quick decision-making is necessary. If a patient is having a heart attack on the wards of a hospital, there isn’t time to think. A doctor who has well-honed instincts and knows what to do will be highly valued.
While there are some situations in business that require this type of approach, most complex situations require thoughtful consideration rather than reflexive responses. In these circumstances, it’s crucial to collect and process information. Faced with complicated situations, the best physician leaders in organizations lead with inquiry. Pausing to think about the question being asked and integrating as much data as possible into decision-making leads to measurably better-informed decisions and usually garners higher levels of respect for one’s executive skill set and function.
