Keep doing your homework

At a seminar a few years back, I heard an interesting statistic: the average preschooler asks around 500 questions every day, whereas the average adult asks only five. If you’ve raised children, you’ll know that 500 is a lot, but only five seems a shame.

To stay current in our industry and our careers, we have to learn, ask questions and investigate. When you’ve been working in the ophthalmic marketplace for more than 20 years, you may have a great deal of expertise, built on a variety of experience, but our industry is constantly changing and it’s crucial to keep up.

When you start a new position, you are overwhelmed with new information. You can’t avoid learning about the state of the industry and how it impacts your daily responsibilities. However, as you become tenured, you can easily fall into a comfort zone, so it’s vital to make a conscious effort to stay current.

Beth Marsh

For example, I regularly attend the Ophthalmic Innovation Summit — a great way to hear about the latest technologies and trends in our industry. During last fall’s meeting in New Orleans, I heard about two companies developing pharmaceuticals to be administered during surgery instead of the traditional pre- or postoperative medications. I was intrigued, both by the science behind intraoperative pharmaceuticals and by the nontraditional reimbursement pathway. With my interest piqued, I continued to read about the companies online and, when a client asked me to evaluate a similar technology, my newfound knowledge paid off.

Back in the day, it was commonplace to see a business traveler on a flight pulling out a stack of industry journals and periodicals to get caught up on what was going on in their field. Now, though, industry news doesn’t show up monthly in a journal; it’s there at our fingertips every day, in blogs, online subscriptions and email alerts. It’s good practice to take 15 minutes out of each day to read up on what’s new, and even more important to watch trends and use the available information to learn how the industry is changing.

Just as change comes to technology, it also comes to organizations. When new roles arise, within your organization or outside of it, being up-to-date and well-read can help position you to take advantage of opportunities.

Our teachers always used to tell us that there are no stupid questions, and I’m sure that they are still right. Our challenge in this industry is to hold on to our sense of wonder and keep asking those questions.

In the previous post, Molly shared John Adam’s definition of leadership: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Making a visible effort to stay informed is a great way to show leadership in your organization.

Watch out for our next post on Aug. 1, with Marsha Link writing on collaboration as a key for success.

Beth Marsh is Principal of BAM Ophthalmology Consultants, LLC. She can be reached at beth.ann.marsh@gmail.com.