Physician business owners - find (or create!) happiness at work
Friday, March 12, 2010 at 01:36PM 
I've long been a fan of Professor Srikumar Rao, the author of "Are You Ready for Success?" (reviewed here) and the soon to be released "Happiness at Work: Be Resilient, Motivated, and Successful - No Matter What". I love the measured calm and reassurance of his written voice as he reminds us over and over about what really matters.
He was kind enough to send me an advance copy of "Happiness at Work" and I was so inspired by the topic and his book that I invited him to be my March Business Development teleclass guest. To my delight, he said yes!
I feel passionately that, as physicians who have invested so much effort, time and money in our careers, we are entitled to experience happiness at work and I'm thrilled that we will have direct access to such an esteemed authority on the subject.
So ... back to the book and its impact on my thinking...
A few quick background details on Professor Rao:
- He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. He has an M. Phil. in Marketing from the same school, in addition to an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. His undergraduate training was in Physics at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University (How is that for credentials?!)
- He is a business school professor at London Business School and the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley
- He developed the enormously popular business school program on "Creativity and Personal Mastery", upon which he has based much of his writing.
Drawing upon parables, stories and his own experience, Dr. Rao invites us to re-examine our cherished but dysfunctional beliefs. He provokes with questions. He asks us to recall those bad moments that undermine our happiness, and then to tap into the resulting negative or unproductive feelings. He then flips our perspective and shows us how to consider less adrenalin-provoking alternatives.
As a business coach, I use the term "gremlin" to illustrate the judgmental, often negative Inner Critic that is so often the source of procrastination, frustration and lack of productivity on the job. Dr. Rao urges us to recognize the huge impact these stressful "gremlin" thoughts have on our lives at work.
Here is a small sample:
Notice how you immediately judge what happens to you and label it "bad thing" or "good thing"...
... Even if you cannot see how something could possibly be "good", refrain from labelling it "bad". If you break your leg, don't label it "bad thing". If you have to stick a label on it, use "broke my leg". This is descriptive and neutral. Be generous with the label "good thing".
It may take you a while to get the hang of it and even to recognize how many judgments you pass. Persist.
See how your life changes when you stop using the "bad thing" label.
He provokes effectively by showing why positive thinking is bad for you and why affirmations can actually hurt you, as well as asking if you are really happy - he suspects not!
How is this for an outrageous statement?
You do not experience the happiness that is your innate nature because you have spent your entire life learning to be unhappy.
How dare he throw out such a challenge?
I found myself nodding, aha-ing and yellow-lighting my pages throughout the book. I get that happiness is my birthright (can't picture a baby born unhappy!), that I am in charge through my choices, and that I am not what I do.
And I ruminated deeply over the challenge he offers in the "God-stuff" chapter. How true it is for me that "the logical mind is a great asset, but it is also a barrier to higher understanding".
What I got from the book that was even more valuable, and that I hope we will get in small part from our teleclass, is the wealth of reminders and tools to stay on track and retain my awareness that I am, deep down, very, very blessed AND happy - and entitled to feel this way forever, with help from living consciously!
Could this information be the antidote to physician burnout and doctor disillusionment?
I invite you to join us in this journey to the soul in our March free monthly Business Development teleclass with Dr Srikumar Rao as my guest. Together, we will discover how to embrace both the woo-woo (after all, he has managed to make this highly popular at business school) and the practical!
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