Women make up most of the healthcare workforce. But when it comes to leading hospitals and practices, they’re vastly underrepresented. In today's SlideShare, two experienced Medical Directors share their advice for leading boldly while maintaining joy and balance.

1. How to Be on Fire
Without Burning Out
By Kristin Gershfield, MD; and Sofia Khan, MD
An Affirmation for Women in Healthcare

2. In medicine today,
women are (almost) everywhere.

3. We make up
Over 30% of physicians
Over 75% of PAs
Over 90% of NPs
88% of the healthcare workforce

4. But there’s one place we’re
underrepresented.
The boardroom.

5. 94% of working moms make
healthcare decisions for others.
They’re the CMOs of their families.

6. However.
Only 4% of healthcare CEOs
are women.

7. In fact, women hold only 20% of
healthcare leadership positions.
Why?

8. Well, the reasons are pretty
complex. But one thing we know:
Women want to lead.

9. Medscape surveyed over 3,000
female physicians about this.
88% said workplace leadership was
important for women.

10. Medscape also asked,
“What would be the biggest challenge
of taking on a leadership role?”

11. The top two answers
Not having enough
time to get things
done.
Work getting in the
way of my personal
life.

12. These women wanted to
burn brightly.
But they worried about burning out.

13. Maybe because their lives looked
like this …

15. “Mom’s at work. Dad’s at
work. But when the kids get
sick or need to come home
from school, guess who
they call?”
Kristin Gershfield, MD
Hospitalist Medical Director, CEP America

16. So before we go much further,
introductions.

17. Hi, I’m Kristin, and I’m a hospitalist medical
director in California.

18. Hi, Sofia here.
I’m ED Medical
Director and Chief
of Staff at my
hospital in
Georgia.

19. When it comes to being on fire,
we don’t have all the answers.
But we can both say that:
We passionately love
what we do.

20. So if you’re thinking about
leadership …
Or if you’re already in the
trenches …
Here are our tips on
maintaining passion, energy,
and balance.

21. The following is adapted from our
presentation at
CEP America Women
in Medicine Forum

22. 1. Accept that
You can’t do it all.

23. “It’s quite alright if
someone else does the
grocery shopping or cooks
a meal if it means you
spend quality time with
your children.”
Sofia Khan, MD
System Medical Director, CEP America

24. Smart Outsourcing
If you’ve never hired help, consider it. What are some tasks
you don’t enjoy? Who or what could do them for you?

25. Smart Outsourcing
Make outsourcing a financial priority, even if it means living
below your means. Consider putting a shift’s worth of pay
toward it each month. Or give up a regular expense.

26. Smart Outsourcing
One of the hardest things about burning brightly is having so
many things going on at once.
Find someone to help you manage everyday tasks. It could
be a house manager or a virtual assistant.
It could also mean working more closely with your practice
administrator or onsite assistant.

27. Smart Outsourcing
Even occasional help can make a difference. Consider using a
cleaning company or errand service. Or shop online.

28. Smart Outsourcing
Finally, don’t be afraid to ask friends and family for help. Even
younger kids can help with simple chores like picking up toys,
making beds, and pet care.

29. 2. Keep your
balance

30. Balance matters
Have you ever experienced a breakup that was extra painful
because you had neglected other areas of your life?
It’s like that with work and leadership, too.
When you’re overinvested in your career, you neglect other
things that are important to you. Work problems seem
bigger than they really are.

31. Balance Matters
When Kristin was a
teenager, she read a
book called Feel the Fear
and Do It Anyway.
Here’s an exercise from
that book that she still
uses …

32. Life Grid
Make a grid with nine squares. In each one, write down an
important area of your life. Here’s an example:

33. Life Grid
Take a look at your grid. Where does most of your
energy go?
Are there areas of your life you’re neglecting?
To live a balanced and healthy life, you have to invest in
all of these equally.

34. Rest and Recharge
Oh! Did you notice this square?
It’s totally OK to put this on your grid. (More about that later.)

35. “Every once in a while, I sit in my car
and just check in with myself. I ask,
‘Why am I doing what I’m doing?’ If
you keep that ‘why’ in the back of
your mind, that’s when the passion
and the energy comes out and work
becomes fun.”
Sofia Khan, MD
System Medical Director, CEP America

36. 3. Focus on
priorities

37. What’s Important?
Because you can’t do it all, you have to figure out what’s
really important.
Your Life Grid can be a great guide.
Or maybe you just know in your gut.

38. What’s Important?
When you’re prioritizing,
Stephen Covey
recommends asking
yourself two questions:
• Is it important?
• Is it urgent?

39. What’s Important?
When you try this approach, you might find yourself
super-focused on URGENT tasks. That’s fine for
tasks that are both URGENT and IMPORTANT.
These are things you really can’t let go.
Urgent Not Urgent
Important Medical Director
Academy
presentation
File taxes
Daughter breaks arm
Not Important

40. What’s Important?
What takes discipline is letting go of tasks that
are URGENT but aren’t important to you. Try
delegating these. Or just say no. (More on that
in a minute.)
Urgent Not Urgent
Important
Not Important Phone call with
marketing
PTA needs event
volunteers
Colleague asks for a
last-minute favor

41. What’s Important?
Letting go of unimportant tasks will allow you to
focus on more of what’s important, even if it’s not
urgent. This will reduce your stress level — and may
even reduce your time spent on urgent tasks.
Urgent Not Urgent
Important Planning
Entertaining
Working out
Date night
Reading
Volunteering
Not Important

42. Schedule Your Priorities
At the start of each week, list your goals for the next
seven days. Then schedule the important tasks that will
help you fulfill them.
!
Wednesday!
Relationships - Lunch with mom, 1 p.m.!
Wellness – Yoga, 6 p.m.!
!
Guard this time as carefully as you do your work time.!

43. 4. Learn the art of
saying no.

44. Because we can’t do it all, we have to say no to many
people. Sometimes it’s hard.

45. When we’re passionate about doing great work, we feel
like we need to be part of everything.
But you can say no and still be on fire.
Remember, if the flame’s too hot, you get burned.
(Trust us on that one.)

46. One of the hardest times to say “no” is when we’re
asked to lead.
Because didn’t we just get done talking about how we
need women leaders in healthcare so badly?
We do. But it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to lead
this thing right now.

47. The toughest part of saying no is realizing when you
need to do it.
Learn to listen to your gut.

48. Ask yourself …
Are you excited by the request?
If you like the idea of making change and motivating
others around this goal, that’s a sign you should say yes.
But if you’re not excited …

49. Ask, why not?
Write down your thoughts. Sometimes putting them on
paper puts them in perspective.
For example, let’s say you like the idea, but feel like the
timing is wrong. What’s in the way?
EHR implementation!
Teaching load!
Remodeling the house!
Son starting kindergarten!

50. Think About It.
Is there a way to say yes without sacrificing?
For example, maybe your partner can be more active in
the remodel, allowing you to step back and focus on
work.
Or maybe the big request can wait a few months until
the EHR is implemented and your son is settled in to
kindergarten.

51. And if I’m still not excited?
Well, then maybe the answer is no.
How do you say no?
Honestly and directly.

52. Planning for No
If you’re having a hard time saying no, try writing out a
script beforehand.
This sounds really exciting. I want to do
this. But to be honest, given what’s on my
plate right now, I know I can’t give it
100%. And it deserves 100 %.!

53. Saying No Can Be Positive
Especially if you do it the right way.
When you value your time and energy, you teach others
to value it, too.
No supervisor worth his or her salt is going to look down
on you for good self-management.
If fact, they may value you more after the conversation.!

54. 5. Let go of
guilt.

55. If the thought of “not doing it all”
makes you feel guilty, we can
totally relate.
We do it at work.

56. “When my kids were smaller, I
worked part-time. And actually, I
think that was harder in some
ways than working full-time. You
feel like you have to do everything
the stay-at-home moms do — and
do it just as well.”
Kristin Gershfield, MD
Hospitalist Medical Director, CEP America

57. We do it at home.

58. “I have two little girls, and I really
want them to know that going to
work for mom is the same as going
to work for dad. My husband never
feels guilty when he goes to work. It
took me 6 years to say, ‘I’m not
going to be guilty anymore.’”
Sofia Khan, MD
System Medical Director, CEP America

59. We feel guilty about “me time”
Because, isn’t it selfish to shop or get our nails done or
watch Real Housewives of Atlanta when we could be
spending time with our loved ones?
Well, no. Everyone needs downtime to recharge.
When you feel good, you have more positive energy to
give to others.

60. Newsflash: No One’s Perfect
Absolutely no one can do it all.
And everyone makes mistakes or lets priorities slip.
Letting go of guilt and accepting your imperfections can
be an important step in your personal growth.

61. “Medicine is full of perfectionists.
We feel guilty when we’re not
perfect. But accepting
imperfection in ourselves and
others actually helps us stay
happy and productive.”
Kristin Gershfield, MD
Hospitalist Medical Director, CEP America

62. Accepting your imperfections can also be a good role
model for others.

63. “My girls pretend play at going to
work. One will pick up a grocery bag
and put it on her shoulder and say,
‘I’ll be back in a little bit. I’m going to
a meeting.’ I love when they do it
with such confidence.”
Sofia Khan, MD
System Medical Director, CEP America

64. So at this point, you may still be a little skeptical.
You may wonder …

65. Is it really possible to be on fire
without burning out?

66. We think so!
And if we can return briefly to that Medscape survey we
mentioned in the intro ….

67. Women Leaders Agree
When Medscape asked woman healthcare leaders
about the challenges they faced …
The leaders perceived issues like time management and
work-life balance as less significant than the non-
leaders.
In other words, a lot of the challenges we anticipate may
actually be manageable in practice.

68. So We Believe in You
We know you can do it.
You can make a real difference for patients and our
profession.
You don’t have to superwoman.
Just Be You.

69. Thank You!
To learn more, visit www.cepamerica.com.