Write it down

Write it down

In 2016, I was working for a company and I was incredibly frustrated.  My partners and I had merged our business with a larger organization in 2014.   We thought the larger group would allow us to practice better medicine and give us access to resources that we needed to continue to build the business.  But two years in to the change,  I was frustrated both by the hospital and with myself.  I felt that my communication skills were not allowing me to make change and advocate in the way I wanted.  I have always spoken directly and I realized I wasn’t very good at managing “up”.  I felt like I was going to say something in a meeting that would get me fired.

I made the decision to hire a professional coach. I wanted someone to help me figure out how to be successful in a larger organization.  Coaching ended up being a great learning experience. The coach helped me with communication skills and with analyzing the situation. She provided me some excellent resources for team building.

She also helped me realize that I likely had to move on.  One exercise she had me do, as I was trying to decide whether to stay or go, was to write a resignation letter saying what I really wanted to say but without sending it.  So in 2016 I wrote:

Words from 2016

At this point in my life, I need to work for or help create an organization that has a clear and present “hedgehog” which is compelling as part of a vision for overall making our world a better place to live. I want to work for a company that always wants to do the best for its customers, its employees, its community, and the environment in which we live. I want that organization to be transparent, continuously improving, intellectually stimulating, collaborative, curious and above all, inclusive. I want that company to communicate its mission and vision so well and to be so operationally competent, that it can move quickly and change creatively. I want the company I work for to welcome fierce and open dialog so that all voices are heard and that we come to the best discussions after listening carefully.

Present Day

The amazing thing is now in 2023, I am working to build exactly this.  I found great partners and a team willing to believe in us. Together, we are creating an organization with all these characteristics.

It might not happen right away. But, if you can make yourself imagine and articulate what you really want, you are much more likely to achieve it. So write down your dreams.  Honestly and bravely.  Dreams can come true.