Tamara R. Fountain, MD, on the virtue of remaining ‘calm in the storm’

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Hello everyone. My name is Tamara Fountain. I practice Oculoplastic surgery in the Chicago land area. I am professor of ophthalmology at Rush University Medical Center. I have had the fortune in my career of being part of some terrific organizations and sitting around the table when great decisions are made. I've been a past chair of Ophthalmic Mutual Insurance Company or OMIC. I have been president of the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, ASOPRS, and I was also recently the president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. All along the way, what I have enjoyed most about my leadership positions is the opportunity to sit around a table with like-minded people who are selflessly interested in making an impact on the profession, not only in their own clinic areas with their patients, but making the whole practice of ophthalmology better for the people who practice it and the patients who we treat. And that's been such a rewarding journey for me, and I'm so honored to be invited to be on this panel with some of the women here who I respect and know well and love. So thank you so much for having me.

Thank you, Tamara. It's great to have you join our Women's Leadership Series sponsored by Healio. Can you please share one or two leadership pearls that you've found to be helpful in your career?

You know, what's interesting is I think when all of us volunteer to be parts of organizations we are asked our opinions. We work hard, we complete assignments, we talk a lot, we have our voices heard and that's in part how one gets recognized and put on you, so to speak, a leadership track. What I found interesting is when you're holding the gavel at least in my experiences, that oftentimes when I'm at the top of an organization, I find that I am more silent than I've ever been in my career. And I think that's because as a leader you really have to respect the power that you have in your position and the power that your words have. And I think when you have the opportunity of being in a leadership position, it's vitally important, more important than any time on your journey to that position in making sure that all the voices around the table are heard. You know, instead of being the first chair in an orchestra ensemble, you're now the conductor and you're the one who's then responsible for bringing out all the notes, all the sounds, all the layers, all the flavors in that body. And so I think what was surprising to me is how little I actually said during my years as leader, making sure instead that we heard from everybody around the table. It doesn't mean that as a leader you don't have your opinions or make them known when necessary, but in general I think it's important that we get everybody's buy-in, that we constantly have to fight against the tendency for really good groups to get into a group think rut. And so that's empowering to make sure that you hear from everybody. We all know in meetings when people are very involved and maybe monopolize the conversation. So it's up to us to make sure that people who might have something to say but maybe aren't raising their hands make sure we invite them also to be part of that decision making. So, I've found it very interesting how little I said during my year of presidency during the academy, how much I said the year before as president-elect and how much I said as past president, but how little I actually said during my year. And I think that was interesting. That was not something that I expected.
I loved your analogy with being the conductor of the orchestra and really trying to make sure every note at the table is heard, you know, I love that.

Thank you, Tamara.

Thank you.

Well, my question for you is you've had such amazing leadership roles, presidency of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, director of ASOPRS and so many other incredibly prestigious positions that you've held. I am sure along the way you have come across some hurdles, Tamara, as we all have. What leadership skills have you used to navigate around these hurdles and come to a resolution?

When you are in a position where you have authority, it's sometimes impossible to make everybody happy. And part of your job is to put the organization above the individual. And I think we all encounter situations where we've got to make very unpopular decisions or have very uncomfortable conversations with individuals who may or may not be your friend or your colleague because you've got to make a decision about something that is going to perhaps hurt a person's feelings or make them unhappy. And you know, there have been times along the way when I think we had to navigate on one of the organizations that I was involved with, a person who was not playing well in the sandbox and it was clear to everybody that this person was holding the organization back, but it was difficult to take a step to alleviate that situation. So those are always very difficult, but once you address that and then move on, I think everybody has a collective sense of relief. But it is very difficult to initiate those because it's so much easier sometimes to simply kick the can down the road and not deal with these things. And I think crisis management, it's a broader topic as well, that it's most important at that time to have frequent communication with your organization. People during a crisis situation sometimes are not able to hear your entire message at first because of the stress that they're under. So, I think that's an important time for all of us to make sure that we're communicating effectively and frequently because I think everybody will look towards the leader as the captain of the ship just as all of us who have had young children, and they'll stumble out on the playground and they're not sure if they should scream. They'll look around and see what your reaction is before they scream. And if you are looking like, “Hey, no big deal,” they'll dust themselves off and go on about their business. But if you have a look of horror on your face, that's going to be transmitted to your child. And I think as leaders that our members look to us for calm in the storm as well.

I love your analogies. Those are fantastic. Thank you for giving us real world applications as well. So, my last question to you is what advice would you give to your 20-year younger self?

20 years younger self? Oh, my goodness. Well, I would definitely try to buy some stock in this little company that sells books called Amazon. I would've purchased that a long time ago. That was one piece of advice I would give my younger self. I think one of the reasons why if you ask somebody middle age as I am maybe further than middle age, if you could wave a wand and go back 20, 30 years or so, most of us would say no. And the reason why we would say that is because it's so stressful as you're learning to know who you are as a person and to know your way in the world as you look around you and see what everybody else is doing. And I think that puts a lot of stress on ourselves, especially when we start comparing ourselves to others. And I think one of the things I would tell my 20-year-old self is whether things are good or whether things are bad, it's all temporary. So, we exalt when things are going well and we might get complacent, but do know those good times will end, but also know the bad times will end too. And we shouldn't despair because we just need to hang on in there. I would say to my younger self that it's okay to stretch yourself even if you fall. Most of us, most of the time you're still moving forward, you're falling forward, you're learning something along the way. And I think it was Wayne Gretzky who said something to the effect of, you miss a hundred percent of the shots that you never take. So that would, I guess my take home message for that would be that as you stretch yourself and challenge yourself, be open, especially in the in the early stages of your career to opportunities and to the chances to do things with other people, to join things. And I think once you find your way and feel your way onto what resonates with you and as you get busier in your career then it's okay to kind of pull back and start focusing on those things that really bring you joy. But when you're first starting out, really, the world is your oyster. You might not know what appeals to you. And I'd say try to be more open to those opportunities when you are younger. And I think my younger 20 years ago my kids were little, and I would say some of the greatest moments in life have to do with parenting and some of the most horrific moments in life have to do with parenting and sometimes those could be within the same hour. So I would tell myself also that it's okay, and that my kids are going to turn out okay. And that if I were feeling guilty about not being around as much, to remind myself that putting a roof over my children's head is another form of parenting and there's value in that as well.

Well, I love the Edmonton Oilers message. You know, I'm a diehard Oilers fan growing up in Edmonton, so Wayne Gretzky was a household name and thank you for bringing that home to me. I love that: you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take. And that's really, that's what we all have to do is take our shots, all of them.

All of them. Take your shot just like Hamilton, right? Well, maybe not that kind of shot.

Okay Tamara, you were wonderful. It was an honor and a pleasure for you to share your pearls of wisdom with us on leadership. Thank you very much.

Well, I appreciate the opportunity and quite frankly, I am lucky sometimes to have a mic put in front of me, but I always get so much out of the stories of other people who tell theirs. And I know each one of you, I've heard your stories, and so I really appreciate what you are doing on this weeknight. I'm just one of many. I'm just here for 15 minutes. You're here with all these other people. So, thank you so much for your efforts to really bring our voices to other people. So, thank you.