Saturday, May 10, 2008

What can we learn from Business Leaders about success and change?

This week's issue (May 12th, 2008) of Fortune magazine, has a very good section entitled, "The Best Advice I Ever Got," by J.Birger, C.Chandler, et.al. Business leaders from walks of life were asked to answer the above question.

Here are some quotes:

"Doing the wrong thing is not worth the loss of one night's good sleep," by Thomas S. Murphy, Former CEO of Capital Cities/ABC.(P.76). This topic pertains to ethics. Do you practice what your preach of being ethical in your practice or profession? For example, do you bill accurately? The choice is yours. Another quote by Murphy,"Don't spend your time on things you can't control. Instead, spend your time thinking what you can?" (P.76). How does this apply to you? Are therapists promoting self-care when they feel overwhelmed from the magnitude of their clients' problems?

"Customers will give you the reality. They don't care about your title, they just want value. You'll never get anything straighter than from a customer," by Charlene Begley, President and CEO, GE Enterprise Solutions (P.77). Are private practitioners providing quality and value services to their clients? How about in clinics? Graduate programs need to teach customer service skills to future clinicians so they can retain their clients and grow their practice, if they wish to do so.

"Humor takes away tension and helps you realize you're wrong," by Craig Newmark of Craigslist, (P.78). This pertains to the work culture and using humor to decrease or break the thick paste that develops in trying times at clinics or in private practice. How do you handle tough times in your job? I have been using my humor in observing how some clinicians in private practice are not respectful of each other in possible networking situations. I went to an interview for a group practice. I asked about peer supervision among the clinicians in the practice. The head leader make a face and looked up in the air while the other followers were repositioning their "feathers" after being ruffled by this question. I laughed when I left the interview because I could not believe how educated professionals can be so rude to a prospective group member. To say the least, I found another group practice to go to.

In summary, we can learn from business leaders in growing our practice, making changes in our profession, and treating each other respectfully through humor.

Robbin Miller, LMHC
Facilitator

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