A physician moves from the exam room to the C-suite [PODCAST]

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“The dictionary definition of learning is ‘the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught.’ For leaders, the most crucial and common way of learning happens through experience, and as we often say, leadership is flying the plane while building it. Moreover, the onus of making the process of learning an active one is on the leader, and self-reflection is the key to it.

So, what’s self-reflection? Simply put, reflection is a conscious consideration and analysis of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors for the sole purpose of learning. Experiences can be messy, but reflection gives us an opportunity to unravel and sort through our feelings and thoughts, and the ability to gauze new perspectives. Self-reflection helps us see the bigger picture, see ourselves in a richer multidimensional way, and create meaning.”

Priti Golechha is a pediatrician and a physician executive.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, “Lifelong learning through skillful self-reflection.”

This episode is sponsored by Elsevier Health. Looking to update your personal or professional medical library? Shop Elsevier Health’s Holiday Sale and save up to 35% on your purchase of medical books! Plus, you can take an extra 5% off your order with code KEVINMD at checkout. Take advantage of the biggest sale of the year from Elsevier, the world-leading provider of medical books and reference materials. Shop us.elsevierhealth.com now through December 31.

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Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.

Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show, where we share the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. My name is Kevin Pho, founder and editor of KevinMD. Today on the show we have Priti Golechha. She’s a health care physician executive, and she wrote the KevinMD article “Lifelong learning through skillful self-reflection.” Priti, welcome to the show.

Priti Golechha: Thank you, and it’s a pleasure to be here with you and with your audience.

Kevin Pho: So we’ll get into your article in a little bit, but first off, can you share your story and your journey to where you are today?

Priti Golechha: So I’m a pediatrician, and I have turned into a health care executive. I am a strong gender equality advocate. I finished med school in India, and I immigrated to the U.S. to actually escape patriarchy and a surgical field I was kind of pressured to get into, and to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a pediatrician. And when I got here, I realized there’s no escape from patriarchy. We are far from gender equality, and I had to speak for myself, and I have to speak for others who would follow me.

And within two years of my practice as a pediatrician, I saw that there were very few, or I barely saw anyone like me, among health care executives or in the C-suites. And that’s when I decided that I had to switch my career again. I wanted to get into leadership and actually advocate for women physicians to get a seat at the table. And now my day job is as associate chief medical officer for a nonprofit organization in California, and I also founded the Physician Women in Leadership organization to actually pull other women into leadership through mutual coaching and learning.

Kevin Pho: Now, tell me a little bit about that transition from a clinical medicine role into the C-suite. How difficult was it for you, and did you have any additional training to make that transition?

Priti Golechha: Actually, I didn’t have any training, and I was really raw. I was just one and a half years out of residency, and a position opened up for regional medical director. I actually went into leadership to fix everything. I was like, “Oh, you know, there are so many things which don’t work well. There are no women in the leadership. I’m going to go and change that overnight.” And that’s the mentality I went in with.

And I think as clinicians, that’s how we are taught in med school and residency. We are very focused on the problems, and we want to go and, like, I’m a fixer by nature, and that’s what my initial thought process was when I went into leadership. So it was pretty rough. The first year was really rough, and I was glad I found some good mentors and coaches. It really helped me with the transition.

Kevin Pho: So now you’ve been a physician executive for a little bit. Is it what you thought it would be?

Priti Golechha: Absolutely not. Again, I really thought I was going to go and fix everything. As I started growing up and started climbing the ladder, I realized it’s more about asking the right questions, asking lots of questions, actually, and just influencing your team and hoping they’ll get there. And sometimes they won’t, and that’s OK too, because, again, your team, your directors, they’re going to learn from their mistakes, and they are not going to learn from your mistakes. So I like it, but it’s very different than I imagined it would be.

Kevin Pho: Now, for other women physicians who are interested in making that transition from a clinical role into leadership, can you share some tips from your own journey with my audience?

Priti Golechha: One thing I realized, and this is a common observation, and I think there’s a lot of research about that too, is that people like to hire people who look like them, who are like them. And if we just waited and sat for an opportunity to come, it might never happen. As a physician, especially a woman physician, and women of color, we have to be more proactive and go and apply. A lot of us, being physicians, get a lot of training, and we feel, “Once I am ready, I’ll apply, and I have to get some training.” I don’t think that’s the right way of doing it. You just see an opportunity and you apply, and you learn on the way. Leadership is building a plane by flying it. You find the right coaches, you find the right mentors, and you learn while you are on it.

So don’t wait for an opportunity. Just apply. Ask for help, ask for mentors, ask for coaches. Let your CV reflect your experience, in whatever you might have done in a committee role or anything with leadership, or even your interests, like, “Hey, I really am seeking a position in leadership.” Because I feel a lot of women, and I speak to a lot of women through my work in the Physician Women in Leadership group, are really able, and they have great CVs, and there’s just that feeling of, “Oh, I’m not ready yet.” And I just feel we have to push ourselves and apply and see what happens. And that’s OK if we fail. Apply next time again.

Kevin Pho: So let’s transition now into your KevinMD article, “Lifelong learning through skillful self-reflection.” Now, for those who haven’t read that article, can you just walk my audience through it and maybe share the story of why you decided to write it?

Priti Golechha: So I write a lot of articles, and I write about my experience as a woman of color in a health care executive role, because I feel there are very few of us there. And when I started my journey, I couldn’t relate to other leaders. I didn’t feel they were like me. Even if they had great advice, I didn’t feel that I could rock that advice really well. It didn’t feel authentic. And that’s when I started writing blogs about my experience as a woman. And I wrote another article for you, Kevin. So it’s just putting all my thoughts together on how I am learning on my journey, and hoping that it would inspire other women leaders, or other leaders, even, or people of color, to get into leadership and learn from my mistakes a little bit, and then make their own mistakes.

Kevin Pho: What do you consider skillful self-reflection?

Priti Golechha: Initially, when I started my leadership role, I was really looking for resources outside. And there are great resources, and I do attend a lot of conferences and courses. But I feel unless I sit down and reflect and really spend time with myself thinking about my experience or my difficult conversations, all those resources are not going to help me. After every difficult conversation as a leader, and I had many, I spent 10 minutes with myself just for self-reflection and wrote down what went well, what didn’t go well, what is one thing I would like to do differently, what is one thing which went well, what were my triggers, and how I could make the conversation better next time. And those 10 minutes have really paid off well.

And then I started practicing with my coach for my next conversation: “Hey, this is what happens with me. If somebody said something, I get defensive, and these are my triggers.” And we started practicing, and I started doing a lot of self-reflection after every difficult conversation, and it started getting better and better. It started becoming quick and fast. Now I know my triggers right away. I know how I react. And sometimes I still react, and that’s OK, but at least I know, “Oh, this is happening now, and I’m going to react,” and then the next conversation is going to be better.

So I feel like leadership is a lot of self-reflection and self-learning and self-coaching, and not just outside resources. And you read about leadership, and it’s not like medicine, where you read about the Krebs cycle and now you know the Krebs cycle and you can answer all the questions.

Kevin Pho: Now, we have a lot of clinicians who listen to this podcast, and of course we have difficult conversations in the exam room every day. Now, how can we apply some of these self-reflection techniques to these difficult conversations that we have in the exam room?

Priti Golechha: I have used the same skills with my patients as well. It’s really crucial to have empathetic learning skills, even if I don’t relate with my patients sometimes, especially when some of the values might not align. I’m a pediatrician by training, and I’m a strong vaccine advocate, and sometimes there are patients who might not align with my values, and they might not believe in science or believe in vaccines, and it gets really tricky. But what I have learned is, if I spend enough time talking to them and listening to them, they might or might not agree with me this time, but at least I have created that first seed in the ground to have them come back and talk to me about this again. So a lot of listening, and not reacting right away. So that has really helped me.

Kevin Pho: We’re talking to Priti Golechha. She’s a physician executive, and she wrote the KevinMD article “Lifelong learning through skillful self-reflection.” Now, as a physician executive, one of the reasons you said you wanted this role was because you wanted to change the system. Now that you are a physician executive, has that happened? Have you made the changes you wanted?

Priti Golechha: I think we are getting there. And honestly, I don’t think it’s a destination; it’s a journey, and I’m just glad to be on this journey. I’m making the changes, and I’m glad I am. I’m advocating for other women, I’m advocating for our patients, and I’m advocating for the things which I feel are right for the health care system overall. But it’s not going to happen overnight, and I’m aware of that. It’s just a journey, and I’m glad we are in the right direction.

Kevin Pho: And what’s something that you know now that you wish you knew back before you made that journey to become a physician executive?

Priti Golechha: I think I needed to worry a lot less about what people think about me. I think as long as my behavior is aligned with my values and I know I’m doing the right thing, I didn’t have to worry about what people would say or how people are perceiving me. I don’t think humility and assertiveness, or strength, are counterintuitive. I can easily rock both of them.

Kevin Pho: And my final question: What’s your take-home message that you want to leave with the KevinMD audience?

Priti Golechha: I would say strive for excellence and do the right thing. You’ll get love for it, and you’ll get hate for it, but as long as you’re aligned with your values, do it anyway.

Kevin Pho: Priti, thank you so much for sharing your story and insight, and thanks again for being on the show.

Priti Golechha: Thank you, Kevin.

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