Ingredients of a Successful Career

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    What Are the Ingredients of a

    Successful Career?

    Benjamin Littenberg, MD

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    The Problem

    Many young faculty join academic units to

    develop careers in investigation along with

    patient care and teaching.

    However, despite best intentions, few

    become independent investigators.

    Leadership view vs. faculty view

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    The Analysis

    Informal conversations with many

    experienced academics and young

    investigators have identified five factorsessential for success as an investigative

    academic physician.

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    The Big Five

    Personal Characteristics

    Protected Time

    Skills

    Mentoring

    Supportive Environment

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    Advice to Leadership

    If investigators dont have all 5 ingredients,

    they will not flourish.

    Your job as a research unit leader (Director,

    Chair, Dean, etc.) is to make sure that all 5

    are in place in your unit.

    Exactly how do I do that?

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    Personal Characteristics

    Faculty must have:

    Intelligence

    Energy

    Perseverance

    Creativity

    Organization

    Recruit carefully!

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    Protected time to study and work

    Protected from Clinical, Educational, and

    Administrative tasks

    Devoted to research Optimal: 80% for three years

    Some can succeed with as little as 50% protected

    time, but this is unusual.

    Failure to protect young faculty is the leading

    cause of failed research programs.

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    Specific Skills

    The mechanisms, knowledge, techniques,tools and lore of a specific field

    Gene sequencingSecondary data manipulation

    Decision Analysis

    Meta-analysis

    Qualitative research

    Cell culture

    .the list goes on

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    General skills:

    The 3 Rs of Research Design, analysis, and communication

    reading (critical review of the literature)

    riting (presentation of proposals and results)

    rithmetic (statistics, epidemiology, and study design)

    Fellowship level training

    Many post-fellowship faculty do not have a

    structured approach to acquiring and updatingresearch skills.

    Leadership must model life-long learning.

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    Mentoring

    Virtually all successful faculty have high qualitymentors who provide:

    unvarnished constructive criticism

    introductions to interesting people and opportunities

    exposure to useful literatures and worthy topics

    encouragement balanced with rigor.

    Not a natural skill: Many mentors are ineffective

    Leadership must train and develop mentors aswell as protgs.

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    A supportive environment of

    inquiry Investigators rarely flourish in isolation.

    An environment of collaboration and collegialityhas frequent formal and informal opportunities to communicate with others in their field

    safely present their ideas

    receive feedback

    develop collaborative relationships.

    Many academic units have no structuredenvironmental supports to foster young

    investigator development.

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    Advice to Investigators

    Consider your own characteristics

    Get protected time

    Build your skills systematically

    Cultivate mentors

    Seek out a supportive environment

    Exactly how do I do that?

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    Consider your own characteristics

    Do you have the intelligence and creativity?

    Probably yes

    Do you have the energy? Competing factors: Doctoring, teaching, relationships,

    family, exercise, hobbies , sleep

    Do you have the perseverance?

    Gratifications are very delayed in academics

    Are you well organized?

    Be very, very critical!

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    Protected Time

    Negotiate, wheedle, beg, borrow, steal

    Institutional training grants (K12,etc.)

    Fellowships (ACP, ACS, AHA, etc.)

    Career development awards (K23, etc.)

    Self-fund by working part-time

    Time = Money

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    Assess Your Skills

    Figure out what you need to know

    Figure out how you like to learn

    Be resourceful: Degree programs

    Classes

    Readings

    Tutorials Web-based learning

    Meetings

    This never stops!

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    Get Mentored

    Approach a potential mentor:

    Willing and able to give you time and attention and

    honest feedback Not necessarily in your department or field

    Not necessarily likable

    Negotiate the terms of engagement

    Nothing is free

    Maintain multiple mentors over time and space.

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    Environment: Buy or Build?

    Know what you want: peers and collaborators

    Move to the right place

    Create it locally Local interest group

    Coffee klatsch

    Book club

    Call up strangers Advertise: E-mail lists, newsletters

    Take responsibility for your community.

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    The Big Five

    Personal Characteristics

    Protected Time

    Skills Mentoring

    Supportive Environment

    Dont be fooled: without all 5, you will notbecome an independent investigator.

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    Thank you!

    Benjamin Littenberg, MD

    University of Vermont

    [email protected]

    802-847-8268

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    Belief

    In order for you to achieve anything in your

    career, in fact your life - you have to first

    believe. You need to believe in yourself that you can

    achieve it.

    You need to have faith in your goals andyour path to that Success.

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    Belief

    Once your mind is convinced that you can

    do it, nothing is impossible.

    Belief is the mind and heart part of your 3critical success factors.

    It is the think and feel part of it.

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    Action

    Nothing moves until you do something.

    Believing alone is not going to achieve

    anything for you.

    It must be followed up with concrete action.

    Your plan for Career successis nothing

    unless you act upon it whole-heartedly.

    When you act upon what you believe, there

    is focus.22

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    Action

    And there is energy.

    That energy propels you to greater heights.

    Action is the hands and legs part of your

    3 critical success factors.

    It is the do part of it.

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    Discipline

    Action in itself is not enough to increase the

    chances of success.

    But disciplined action would do that.

    One of the main reasons why people fail is

    that there is no discipline in their action.

    They give themselves excuses why they

    cannot consistently follow up on their plans.

    There is no self-control to their action.24

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    Discipline

    You would need some form of sacrifice if

    you were to achieve a certain degree of

    success in your career. For example, sacrificing some personal time

    to do initiatives.

    That sacrifice takes discipline.

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    http://www.career-success-for-newbies.com/define-success.htmlhttp://www.career-success-for-newbies.com/define-success.htmlhttp://www.career-success-for-newbies.com/define-success.htmlhttp://www.career-success-for-newbies.com/define-success.html
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    Discipline

    Discipline also ensures that you can be

    persistent.

    Especially when faced with challenges afterchallenges in their journey to success.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    8 Rules forCareer Success

    Dianne P. OLearyUniversity of Maryland

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    These slides are from a 15 minute presentation at a workshop sponsored byWomen in Engineering (WIE).

    I was asked to speak about my work and how I balance career and personal life.The slides are incomplete, since much of what I said is not contained here.

    Given here are my personal rules for career success. I was asked to post them

    because others found them helpful, but one size doesnt fit all. Writing theserules was an interesting exercise in assessing what is important to me and howwell my actions fit my principles.

    Perhaps others will find a similar exercise helpful.

    Dianne [email protected]

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Rule 1:

    Be passionateabout what you do.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Passion is

    a luxury,

    but essential to high success.

    If you cant be with the one youlove, .

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Rule 2:

    Establish goals.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Goals: things that you plan to do.

    Short term: finish project, organizea meeting, teach child to swim, take

    a course, plant a garden,

    Long term: find better job, pay off

    mortgage, write a book,

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    These are not goals:

    I want to be a grandmother.

    I want to be promoted.

    I want to win the Nobel Prize.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    These are wishes:

    I want to be a grandmother.

    I want to be promoted.

    I want to win the Nobel Prize.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    NotI want to be a grandmother,

    butI want to be more involved

    with children.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    NotI want to be promoted.

    butI want my record to merit promotion.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    NotI want to win the Nobel Prize,

    butI want my work to be good enough

    to merit an award.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Rule 3:

    Demand reasons.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Reasons:

    Know why your supervisor

    wants a task done.

    More importantly, know why

    you are doing the task!

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Your reason should be drawn

    from a short list:

    I want to.

    It is a step toward my goals.

    It gives back to the community.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Rule 4:

    Set priorities.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Setting priorities

    (a.k.a., time management)

    Pay yourself first.

    Take yourtime off the top, notfrom the leftovers.

    Put the big rocks in first Steven Covey

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women inEngineering Presentation May 3,

    Put the big rocks in first. Steven Covey

    If you care about your research,schedule it for a substantial block of

    your most productive time.

    If you care about your family, save

    some energy for them!

    If anything is important to you,

    schedule time for yourself.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Rule 5:

    Networkup and down.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Networking:

    Get to know the senior people.Right now, you need to be known

    by them.

    Get to know the junior people.

    Right now, they need you.

    Later, you will need them!

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Rule 6:

    Communicatewell and often.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Communicate well and often.

    Make sure that your supervisor

    and your colleagues know what

    you do.

    Have an elevator speech.

    Keep your resume updated.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Rule 7:

    Hone your skills.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Hone your skills.

    Never stop learning.

    Be appropriately confident of yourabilities.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Rule 8:

    Get a life.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Get a life.

    Keep a balance in your life.

    Make sure all of you self-esteemeggs are not in one basket.

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    Dianne P. O'Leary Women in

    Engineering Presentation May 3,

    Support system:

    faith

    family

    friends

    fitness

    fun

    Skills

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    Dianne P O'Leary Women in

    Skills

    Life

    Communication

    Networ

    k

    ReasonsPriorities

    Goals

    Passion