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Stating that you were hired as a casual contractor 31 years ago and you are in that same position perhaps says more about you in that you let it stay that way. Unless you put your name out there, ask for a promotion, show initiative, etc. in most business relationships you will be forgotten.
Did you really expect them to come to you asking if you would want something more? They may have seen you come and go, never asking more and thinking you were satisfied with your position. What would you have wanted? There are many people like that. There are many more who are not. But now you seem disappointed. So either you didn’t do your job, or they didn’t do theirs. Either this company is a bunch of buffoons for not recognizing all your efforts or you just dropped the ball.
For the remainder of this essay, I am going to put the blame squarely on you. But please accept my apologies if this is wrong and the company was a bunch of idiots who just didn’t recognize you. If that were the case, perhaps you should have left there a long time ago. Again, forgive me.
When I worked before I became a podiatrist, I let my bosses know what I did and why I deserved more. I showed them that I cared and that I could do more than what I was hired for. If all you do is show up for work and do the same thing day after day, then you are simply doing your job. I worked as a secretary for one of the deans at ICPM, took notes in biochemistry (because I placed out as I was a biochemistry major and made it impossible for the PhD in biochemistry to turn me down). Because of this, I was able to help my classmates through some pretty dark stuff with the administration.
That too was a lesson where I learned that you had to do more than just show up—you also had to do something for others. If you just show up and do nothing for others, why do you deserve any recognition, raise or promotion? Also, what extra credentials did you attain during these past 31 years and what talents did you display that would make someone take notice?
Whether acting as a consultant or physician, I always told my clients and patients they didn't need to thank me for my doing my job. But inwardly I knew if I gave more and went beyond what is expected of me, I would be rewarded. That continues to be the case with many of my consulting positions having to do with manufacturing DME of no relationship to podiatry.
There are many MDs/DOs in the same position as you. A friend of mine is a retired anesthesiologist who was head of his hospital's anesthesia department. He now has changed his career into a life coach for physicians. Guess what? He was taught the same thing I am espousing during his time as a practicing physician, learning how to be a physician career coach—that showing up for work every day does not guarantee you promotions, etc. He coaches MDs/DOs/DVMs/DPMs, and he would tell you it is not your degree. It is mostly you!
Backing him up is the fact that there are too many other DPMs who have succeeded in many other areas of health care. That includes administrators, IT professionals, fraud and abuse investigators, pharmaceutical physician liaisons who do way more than go door to door with samples, etc. All these people have a DPM degree, but they have other talents that, together with the DPM degree, make them invaluable.
On another note, my late father was an HR executive for Fortune 500 companies. He went to night school for eight years to get his BA. He had an MBA from the Ivies, who he could easily challenge and outsmart. Many of these Ivy Leaguers were stagnant in their careers and were never considered for promotion. He would often recount how many people with HS diplomas knew more about the systems they worked on than the MBAs who theoretically were supposed to supervise them. But guess who really was supervising the Ivies? These HS grads showed grit and initiative and did more than what was ever asked of them. They did get promotions and in some cases, with some additional training and education, leapfrogged the Ivies. That sounds a lot like your GED colleague. (And by the way, don’t denigrate yourself by insinuating that the GED degree is above a DPM degree. That is just not worthy of discussion.)
My DPM colleagues who have succeeded are not merely the lucky exception. We have worked hard and we have earned where we are. We did not gently knock on the C-suite door; we knocked it off its hinges or acted as though it was not there in the first place—or at least wasn’t an impediment to success. Some DPMs are also directors of surgery at major hospitals where, a generation ago, a DPM could not do anything more than provide routine foot care (if they were lucky).
There are few major trauma centers left in NYC without a three-year podiatry residency and without a DPM in the OR. How did that happen? Certainly not by waiting for someone to come to you, but by taking it to them. Showing them how you can make their institution better and simultaneously make them money!
The fact is, you need to do way more than provide conservative foot care, or even surgical care that may involve limb salvage. While this may give you satisfaction, it will not necessarily get you a promotion or recognition. In the past 35 years, have you ever walked into the nursing or medical director's office with an idea on how to improve their efficiency, save them money, promote podiatry, etc.? Or is that beyond your pay grade because you are only a casual contractor? If you are waiting for them to come to you to ask for suggestions, you may have a very long wait. That’s just the nature of the beast.
I am not saying this is right. All good organizations enlist suggestions from staff, and perhaps this institution needs help! (And not inviting you to a staff party is just rude!) Perhaps there were other MDs/DOs who also met the same fate? Did you talk with them? Did your lack of actions simply reaffirm to them your role as a casual contractor?
I’ve also known plenty of MDs/DOs on SNF staff who just go about their business, see patients as fast as they can, and leave. No suggestion box, no anything. They aren’t likely to get any rewards either. But you can be the one physician who makes suggestions to corporate, who works well with the nurses, and can be the one obtaining a medical director’s position. I know at least one podiatrist doing this. These positions are more about leadership and executive decision-making than about what degree or clinical skills you possess.
Just last week, during an interview for a consulting position, when the CEO and his partners (one is a vascular surgeon) asked me what I thought my role was, my response was quite simple. I told them my role was similar to that of an orchestra conductor, that while I was not a subject matter expert on their product (yet), I could quickly recognize who their subject matter experts were and fine-tune their abilities to testify so they could attain the recognition from CMS they were vying for. The CEO loved that and told me that he shared that vision. That is, the leader may not know all the aspects of the business, but they recognize the talents of others. That is what you have to do regardless of what you are doing. Go out of your own way to help who you are working for.
Let’s turn this back to you: What did you do to make a staff member’s job easier yesterday, or for the last few weeks? What did you tell an administrator that could have helped them with a resident or family or staff relations? How did you make the institution function better? This is hard stuff, and I am sorry to say that you are deflecting this onto your degree because it’s much easier than the alternative of blaming yourself. Speaking for other successful DPMs, not being successful is just not in our vocabulary. There are just too many DPMs out there who blew down the C-suite door to simply give you a pass.
Again, if the institution you worked for is a bunch of buffoons for not recognizing your hard work, then that’s on them, not your degree, but you should have asked yourself why you stuck it out for so long?
Lastly, there was a recent story of a young man from a poor family who worked at a fast-food restaurant and whose colleagues all admired his work initiative. He was smart and his bosses recognized this. When he was admitted to Yale without a scholarship, his bosses found out about this and gave him all the money he needed to attain his undergraduate degree. He was also promised a job in the C-suite once he completed his degree. Why? Because he worked his tail off, was an inspiration to others he worked with, and put himself out there for others.
There are many other stories like this out there, and I could write and talk about them for hours. Bottom line: blame only yourself. You are college educated with a professional degree. Now go out there and rattle the tree branches. Success is there for you but you and only you are responsible for grabbing that brass ring!
Don’t go quietly into the night!
—Paul Kesselman, DPM