Nice girls don't ask

Inspiring class @Creator Institute with my favorite Professor Eric Koester where he schooled us on Chance The Rapper. You want to know this artist who carved his own road to the top, being the first ever unsigned artist to be nominated for a Grammy. Taking three big wins : best new artist, rap album and rap performance, his hattrick stands for the importance of Owning Your Work. This rapper's access was staying true to his art and refusing to sign onto any deal that took away his final word. Taking opinion direct from the public , he let them stream his music for free. He changed the industry by knowing his value and sticking to it.

While researching for my book, the Wounds of a Woman Healer, I think back on the bad deals I’ve negotiated and all the ways my desire to “ people please” has gotten in the way of asking for my true value. Thinking back to 2010, I was already burning out after a decade into my career. Case after case interpreting an MRI to rule out Infection in the Diabetic foot. In that disease, little blisters turned into nasty ulcers which turned into a relentless bone infection followed by the dreaded amputation. To really give this my best effort, I got familiar with the world of podiatry, studied their surgeries, went to their lectures, and even lectured at their podiatry schools. I encouraged them to ask A LOT of questions and in our common ground we found the antidote to burnout.

Inspired to create community and collaborate, I developed 24 Rad Pod lectures and went out to see if the CME world would want them and while they did, it didn't pay much. I didn't want to be overbearing, so I accepted. I figured if I gave more lectures eventually I could create a series and consoled myself that I was making a real difference ( and of course you can't make money on that

). However, once the company had the lectures taped, they didn't need to pay me anymore. Since I missed the clause in the contracts granting them lifetime rights to distribute in perpetuity, they laughed and I learned.

Turns out , this is not uncommon and we women in medicine have a lot to learn from Chance . It is well known that “Nice Girls Don’t Ask” (Babcock et al, 2003). Though there are many reasons, top among them being fear of being called pushy or bitchy. As a doctor, we graduate with a huge gap and no training on how to negotiate, this costing women docs as much as 2 million in their careers compared with men. From someone who wants to belong, negotiations can be downright anxiety producing and many of us say to ourselves, “I’m so lucky to have what I have.” ( Swaminathan A. 2019). Lets all learn together and make a seat for everyone at the Table of Medicine. There's never been a better time to Own Your Worth-"Hey, Why Not You?"

Jennifer Tam, MDKellie Lease Stecher, MDPringl Miller, MD, FACSBarbara Duffy, DHSc, MPH, RNJonathan Fisher, MD FACCHieu Bui, MD MBA FACHEAnn M. Richardson, MBANavin Goyal MDMichelle Chestovich

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/health/women-doctors-salary-pay-gap.html