CNBC technology reporter Chrissy Farr raised a question about doctrepreneurs on Twitter this week: What are your thoughts on the trend of high-quality doctors leaving medicine to join start-ups/become "doctrepreneurs"? Anecdotally, it seems to be driven by push factors (medicine isn't what I expected) and pull (start-ups are sexy). According to Farr’s own 2015 KQED ... Continue Reading about Doctrepreneurs and the Silicon Valley Brain Drain
The Legacy of the Physician Mother
Raising children as a physician is part of modern professional life. But it wasn’t always viewed that way. My mother was accepted to Harvard Medical School in 1954 but turned down the offer. I learned this too late in my mother’s life for details but my father suggested that she struggled with the decision but was ultimately afraid that she couldn’t be a mother and ... Continue Reading about The Legacy of the Physician Mother
Intimacy, Mission and a Physician’s Public Role
This weekend at Stanford Medicine X I’m co-teaching with Wendy Swanson a Master Class on physician online identity. As I was working through some of my thoughts on the plane, I settled into the idea that being public with our thinking is a pretty big deal for providers. Being out and open in the virtual space carries with it a whole new set of preoccupations. ... Continue Reading about Intimacy, Mission and a Physician’s Public Role
The Branded Doctor
Every doctor has a brand. But when I mention this, people throw things at me. Because everybody knows a brand is for potato chips and toilet paper. This has nothing do with promotion or commercials. Your brand is what people think about you. It's what comes to mind when your name is mentioned. It's a tattoo on the brain that's been created by your clinical ... Continue Reading about The Branded Doctor
One Physician and His Paid Twitter Promotion
Physician executive and coach Richard Winters recently paid to promote his work on Twitter. It created a small kerfuffle. Not surprising, really. We get wiggy when doctors do something different. Hats off for poking the box. But it’s really not surprising that promoted tweets ‘worked.’ Google adwords, banner ads and sponsored tweets will get you eyeballs, ... Continue Reading about One Physician and His Paid Twitter Promotion
The First Mover Advantage
In social networks there's a phenomenon called the first mover advantage. The first person who shows up gets some advantage. This happens in business as well. The first person to create a commodity always has the upper hand over the next guy who replicates it. I showed up early to Twitter as a physician. I was a unicorn and people followed me to see what I’d ... Continue Reading about The First Mover Advantage