The Mentor: Lisa Herbert, MD, FAAFP
- Nov 14, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 6, 2024
Dr. Lisa Herbert is an executive leadership coach, speaker, respected family physician and DE&I consultant who brings over 20 years’ experience of providing primary care and serving as a healthcare leader. Dr. Herbert has a unique background and extensive experience of being a physician and a healthcare leader in hospital administration, public health, academic medicine, and the health insurance industry. She has held roles as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ, Physician Advisor/Medical Director for a large hospital system, Medical Director for a six-center family planning agency and Medical Director at a local and national insurance company.
As the Founder and CEO of Just The Right Balance LLC, she offers coaching, consulting, workshops and training to help physicians and healthcare providers transition into high performing leaders who will improve the healthcare landscape by building healthy communities and strong organizations. With the creation of the Physician Rising Up Leadership Program, organizations can have access to the Physicians Leadership Academy training and resources needed to support physicians in their transition from medical practice to medical leadership. Dr. Herbert also offers specialty training for women physician leaders.
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As a DE&I coach and consultant she helps organizations create a strategy of identifying opportunities to develop a culture of inclusion, begin to create equitable systems and retain high performing leaders from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Dr. Herbert’s private clientele include major hospitals and healthcare organizations who have taken the steps to develop and retain and high performing physician leaders. This has resulted in reduced turnover and improved physician wellbeing and career satisfaction. She speaks, teaches and consults on topics such as physician burnout, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, improving the patient experience and customer service.
Dr. Herbert volunteers in her community as a volunteer faculty member with the Morehouse School of Medicine where she mentors and trains medical students. Her years of service led her to receive the distinguished Degree of Fellow from the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Dr. Herbert earned her undergraduate degree from Stonybrook University, her Doctor of Medicine degree from Upstate Medical Center, completed her residency at Mountainside Hospital, NJ and completed her certification in Personal and Executive Coaching from the CaPP Institute. She is a proud mom of two adult children, Nigel and Janelle. When she is not working, Dr. Herbert achieves balance by enjoying the arts, traveling, reading a good book and hanging out with her family
Connect with Dr. Herbert:
Dr. Herbert’s Prescription for Success:
Number 1: Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Number 2: Have a life outside of work.
Number 3: Trust your gut.
Notable quotes from Dr. Herbert’s interview:
I think I started to realize that there was a lot more that I could give outside of my practice, and there was a lot more I could do outside of just the one-on-one that we do as practicing physicians.
A Coach will be helpful for you to figure it out. Are you on the right career path? Are you getting the resources that you need? Are you asking for the resources that you need? I took her up on it, and hired the coach. And it was one of the best decisions I could have made, because there were things that I just didn’t know.
Who better are physicians going to really gel with other than another physician who’s walked that walk.
I’m really looking to be that bridge and to help organizations to become effective in their roles of serving others.
I couldn’t give to those I loved and serviced if my cup was empty.
Access the Show Transcript Here
Transcript
[0:00] You can accomplish so much more and a lot faster if you have help if you have people operating in their genius and providing you with what you may lack or those people who may be able to fill in the gaps.
[0:14] Music.
[0:20] Paging dr. cook paging dr. cook dr. Kirk you’re wanted in the OR dr. cook.
[0:27] Music.
[0:49] Hello everyone and welcome to prescription for Success I’m dr. Randy cook your host for the podcast.
[0:57] Which is a production of MD coaches providing leadership and Executive coaching for Physicians by physicians to overcome burnout.
[1:07] Transition your career.
[1:09] Develop as a leader or whatever your goal might be visit MD coaches on the web at my MD coaches.com.
[1:18] Because you’re not in this alone.
[1:21] My guest today is a board certified family physician and certified executive leadership coach she is also the founder and CEO of just the right balance.Where she offers coaching Consulting workshops and training to help Physicians and other healthcare providers.Transition into high-performing leaders so thank you very much for joining us today and now let’s hear my conversation.With dr. Lisa Herbert.
[1:52] What an honor it is for me today to be talking with dr. Lisa Herbert who is.Coming to us from the Atlanta area Lisa thank you so much for being with us today I’m really looking forward to the conversation.
[2:10] And thank you Randall for inviting me to be a guest on your show and I’m also looking forward to this conversation as well well I’m glad to hear that and what I would like to do is.Get us underway with yourbeginnings and let’s see if we can figure out how you arrived at where you are and I know that you were born in Brooklyn New York and.I’m curious where the idea to get into medicine came from was it a medical family or did it come from someplace else.Yeah so I’m I would love to share my story with you and you’re right I am from Brooklyn New York that’s where I wasborn and raised and the time that I lived in Brooklyn I actually for the first five years of my life lived with my.So as myself my mom my dad and my grandmother and my grandfather.
[3:04] And unfortunately at the age of five my grandfather who I was very close with had died of a massive heart attackand we lived actually in the inner city of Brooklyn where I wouldn’t say Healthcare was limited but certainly there were someyou know as there still are today a lot of healthcare disparities there were not a lot of doctors who know who lived in our area are so my grandfather didn’t receive the best of medical care and I think that that sort ofyou know led to him having this massive heart attack at the age of 50.
[3:44] So it was from that incident that I knew as a little girl that I wanted to helppeople because I knew my grandfather didn’t have the access to the health care that he needed andI grew up in the inner city again where people would just pretty much you know trying to make it from day to day so I wanted to sort of.
[4:05] At the age of five I guess give back you know do something that mattered to help my community yeah that makes a lot of senseyeah yeah so that was really the foundation and you know I started my journey of exploring sort of what being a physician would look like you know starting at the age of fivedo you mind if I ask you mentioned that you realized that there was a disparity in the way that people were served and Healthcare and even if that very young agehow was it that you became aware of that how did you know that different people were getting a different level of Health Careyeah so I don’t know if I realized that at age 5 but certainly as I started to evolve and become older and just sort of become more aware of my surroundings I realized thatfor instance where I live do you know the hospital was.
[5:04] Probably about I don’t know 20 minutes away so there wasn’t really like a local hospital in the area so even access for my grandfather to then be you know escorted to the hospital at that time.Took time you know it took some time and really has to get there took time for him to get to the hospital so that was one thingI also realized that for me you know there weren’t a lot of.Doctors at that time who served in our community right so there wasn’t the community doctor there wasn’t a lot of Physicians or a lot of medical professionalsat that time in health care who looked like me so there were there wasn’t a lot of diversity so those are the things that I really I think started to realize.
[5:53] As far as the disparity is concerned about how old were you do you think when that began to make sense to youso that began to make sense I would say probably around the age of 10and what’s that’s pretty young pretty yeah what resonated at that age was I had then moved on so I moved from the area which I live with my grandparents to a differentpart of Brooklyn and then all of a sudden you know I was surrounded bya doctor who did look like me a doctor who was in my community who was you know serving people there whose office wasyou know a ten minute walk so there started to be these things that I realize weren’t present five years ago from what I could recollect.
[6:39] To you know now starting to emerge and starting to really impact the community in a way in which it had not in those previous years yeah.Were you always a pretty good studentI was you know I was always very dedicated you know in the books I wasn’t you know one of those kids that sort of did a lot outside of school going to school everything coming home you know reading and doing my homeworkvery I would sayhate to use for a competitive but I was I was very competitive at a young age in the sense that I was always pushing myself to do better and to do more and to you know get straight A’s so I was I yes I was always a very good student and what I couldremember I’m did you feel different from your peers because of that absolutely I did you know so where I grew up obviously.As far as not only were their health care decisions.But they were educational disparities as well so you know the schools that I went to didn’t have the updated you know books and all of the maybe technology and some of the other things thatschools that were not in the city head and I was grateful and blessed enough to have.
[7:59] Parents who valued education although they did not have a college degree and just finished high school themselves they knew the value of education and what it meantin terms of being able to do better so and not all of the kids who lived in my area you know we’re fortunate enough to have that so I certainly felt different in that sense yeahthey had it made a big difference just the parental interest in the parental involvement were there.
[8:28] Other Role Models around who.Might have planted the seed in your head that there is something out there that’s Way Beyond the world that yougrown up in like a college education or did that just spring up on its own.For yes so I definitely had mentors so one would be actually the position that I talked about right that that was in my community so he was my own personal and my family physician soyou know he would always take time to talk to me about the importance of getting an educationyou know I was curious about medicine so he would always you know try to give me as muchinspiration as much information as he could when I did see him and then there was also an older cousin of mine whoshe was actually the first in our family to go to college so she was actually my second cousin and she became an educatorand I remember as a young childshe would sit me down and basically we would have you know classroom sessions because she she was just so encouraged about.
[9:40] Hell yeah she was so encouraged about teaching that she took me under her wings and you know yeah and basically became like my second teacher outside of what I was already getting you know in the classroomyeah so it sounds like by the time you finished high school you knew that you were headed for a university somewhere yesand it turned out to be Stony Brook can you want to tell us about how that came about yeah so you know it’s hard as it’s hard as a high school student in general but then it’s also I think harder as a student whoreally was the first I’ll go I’m going to say again the first in my family to go to college because my parents did not so I really didn’t have ayou know say school to look forward to there was no one who had an alma mater right there there was no one who really sort of went through that process of what it meant to apply to college and all of those things but.
[10:39] I was able to have some really goodyou know counselors and Mike in my school I also had friends so there was about three or four of us and we formed a pact in high school and wewe said we were all going to college these are my girlfriend’s we’re all going to college each of us had different areas that we were going into but all within the health field so we also are going to college and so we would basically just explore colleges on our own read about colleges my really good friends said that she was looking at Stoney.Because she was interested in pre-med at the time and a friend of hers had told her how great the school was it was closed you know it wasn’t far from where we lived in Brooklyn it was a nice campus we would get to stay on campus it wasat that time you know one of theinexpensive campuses or colleges to apply to there was a lot of support for New York students to go there and they had a high rate of med schoolit’s so that really is what pretty muchhad me look at Stony Brook and when I went to the campus I fell in love with it and yeah and decided to make it my first choice and.The rest is history and did you find that the the academic challenge was.Intimidating at all but or was it just that you were accustomed to being a good student and it was actually not so bad.
[12:05] I think it was a little bit of both you know I think because I had the discipline of being a good student that that helped tremendously especially you know carrying on a pre-med curriculum you know how intense and hard that isbut I think also the institution was was challenging as well but I think I was prepared for in the sense that.The high school that I went to but it reallyprepared me for the rigor of college which I was very grateful for and so yes so I think that it was just a really good fit for me.And what was your undergraduate major by the way so I actually just I’ve actually made jizz in Liberal Arts with the with the pre-med trackyou know I was interested in other things outside of just the science and math courses that we obviously had to take to get into Medical Supply I actually loved writing so English I took a couple of English classes you know which really served me really well and.
[13:07] So I love the the broadness of the liberal arts background sounds like you did exactly whatmost medical schools say they want and that is somebody with a well-rounded education yes and so the next step was SUNY Upstate and Syracuse in medical school was that the onlyschool that you applied to or were there several or tell us tell us about getting into medical schoolyeah so as you know you know as a meds as a college student rather pre-med student it’s very stressful finally medical just a bit of it rightso you know I had you had to look at you know different factors you know the where you where youwhat you want it to hopefully maybe eventually study where you want it to go geographicallyyou know all of those things basically take into account the cost and so basically I decided to apply to mostly medical schools in the tri-state area so New York New Jersey Connecticutit because I knew I didn’t want to be too far away from home hopefully when it’s a kind of stasis you know somewhat close try to stay Within.
[14:22] Possibly the SUNY system just because it has served me so well in college so I thought why not supplied thereto those schools so I ended up applying to just such a long time ago but I ended up applying to I think about 10 seconds 10 schools so in the upstate was definitely at the top of my list so wasUMDNJ actually went to a summer program at UMDNJ as well just to sort of get a little taste of whatit to be a med student that’s the University of medicine and dentistry in Jersey right exactlyyeah okay yeah so that was another school Buffalo also and an Upstate New York was another school that I recall that time so when it came down to really choosing SUNY Upstate was the firstmed school to say yes.
[15:12] You know I didn’t have to go through a waiting list and have to go through anything else they offered me a great package wanted me to come there was apathologist there by the name of doctor three he was the dean ofpathology but he also was in charge of this program that he developed many years ago which was to really kind of help too.
[15:36] Increase the number of minority Physicians going into medicine so I was really fascinated by hisfelon throught be as well as his ability to be able to create this this program and to see the need so it sort of ties back to what I was talking about in the beginning which is you know addressing those Healthcare disparities so when they said they wanted me that I think that was sort of itat the me but I definitely was still.I remember being on the waiting list for UMDNJ and I remember also the waiting list for Buffalo but by that time I had made my mind up that that’s where I was going soand in once they’re you know once the reality of your medical education was underway did it seem.
[16:21] Daunting any in any way that you find it terribly difficult or was it just more of well you know this is just more education and all I have to do is hit the books and everything will be okay what would what was the feelingyou know I knew that I had again the motivation and the drive to really justput my head down and do what I needed to do to graduate I think what became really daunting with the amountinformation commission the variable that we had to remember so you know I’m just thinking back tooh gosh you know all the courses where the textbooks were like thousands of pages long you know thatsemesters were shorter the time to your first test was shorterand all of the things that we were kind of used to in college just becoming just accelerated you know 34 times so that that was the most daunting you know for me was the volumehi I’m Rhonda Crowe founder and CEO Forum D coacheshere on RX for Success we interview a lot of great medical professionals on how they grew their careers how they overcame challenges.And how they handle day-to-day work I really hope you’re getting a lot of great information.
[17:42] But if you’re looking for an answer to a specific problem management or Administration challenge.Or if you’re feeling just a bit burnt out like maybe you chose the wrong career.Well then there’s a faster way to get the help you need now it’s not counseling it’s coaching.RX for success is produced by MD coaches a team of Physicians who have been where you are I know you’re used to going it alone.But you don’t have to get the support you need today visit us at my MD coaches.com to schedule your complimentary consultation.
[18:17] Again that’s my MD coaches.com because you’re not in this alone.
[18:26] We’ll get back to our interview in just a moment but right now I want to tell you a little bit about physician Outlook.
[18:33] If you haven’t discovered this remarkable magazine please do so very soon it was created by physicians for Physicians to showcase the intersection between clinical and non-clinical interests whether it’s writingpainting cooking politics and dozens of other topics physician Outlook gives a physician perspective it’s available online and in printit’s really unique among physician lifestyle magazines and like the prescription for Success podcastphysician Outlook amplifies the voice of any physician who has something to say it also engages patients who still believe in physician-led.Team-based care and prescription for Success listeners can get 3 months free when you enter our promo code.RX for success and select the monthly option at checkout that’s a really great deal on this stunning publication.
[19:29] And now let’s get back to today’s interview you’ve done a lot of things.
[19:31] Music.
[19:38] Since since you got board certified in family medicine and what I think I’m going to do is.Let youlist for us the highlights that you would really like to talk about and and eventually we’ll find our way to the founding of just the right balance butso what was it like stepping out of that residency program and decided okay I am a physician at last what will I do next tell us the story.
[20:13] Yeah so you knowas my third year was coming to a close you know I had realized that I loved practicingFamily Medicine I mean I love taking care of families I lovedContinuum of Care I loved being able to hopefully in the future as a physician see myself witnessing future Generationsunder which I would serve as their family doctor so as my third year was coming to a close I had two opportunities so one was to be a medical.For a family planning agency so how that came to be was I had worked for them actually as a.Sort of as a third-year you know got to know a lot of the administrators there really was interested in helping women in terms of not only just there.You know Health in terms of Family Planning but also in terms of developing like a woman’sWellness Center so I think that came from just my experience of being a family doc so it kind of just all came together andI wasn’t expecting to really.
[21:31] Go into a leadership position right out of residency Norwood nor was I really prepared but I felt like it was something that I wanted to do it was a challenge you know it was you know at that pointboard certified family practitioners were relatively rare yes no it did not it had not been a thing for very long so I’m not surprised.
[21:54] That you had the opportunity and certainly sounds like you made the best of it but I interrupt you go ahead no that’sthat’s fine yeah so it was definitely something like I said I wanted to definitely explore it was a challenge I really loved being at the time what I realize is that I really loved developing programs I loved being involved in things from the ground up I wanted to make sure that all of the wealth that I was bringing as a family docthat I was going to be able to help the organization to grow.
[22:28] Right and so you were a congenital leader it sounds like yes yes it was it was the best experience I was there for about six years I was able to help them to build the center into what I would call like a comprehensive Women’s Center so not only did theyagain take care of a woman in terms of her family planning but alsothey had a place now women especially in especially these women who did not have most of them health insurance and or the ability to pay a lot of the times so we were able to give them a place to go to for you know screenings mammograms screenings we were starting to get them affiliated with surrounding institutions whereby they could get if they were of the agelike colonoscopies done we started doing colorectal screening we instituted a midlife Services Programwhere we helped women who are going through menopause and through the change of their life to sort of.
[23:30] To help them to have a healthier lifestyle so we were able to do a lot and I was really really happy with the outcome really happy withthe amount of services that we were able togive to the community sounds like a really terrific resource for an underserved Community like that yeah and and hats off to you for recognizing and being a part of it.Thank you and you know so during that time as well you know I still knew that I wanted to.
[24:01] Ultimately you know have a practice and really set up a.An office sort of like my mentor had in my own communityno to have a family practice office so you know I was given the opportunity to take over the practice of a retiring physician in New Jersey who I knew throughI think it was through a friend that I became acquainted with him went to him a couple of times and he found out I was a doctor and he said you want to buy my practice.
[24:34] Just like that oh my goodness.
[24:39] Sounds like he was ready to move along I said well can we talk about it first.
[24:47] That’s funny so so we set up several meetings I mean I actually.
[24:54] He gave me the opportunity to come in and actually justwork a couple of hours a week and his practice he said want you to see what it’s like see if you like it you know see if this is a practice that you want to grow you know see if it’s something that you want to do and I absolutely.
[25:12] Absolutely fell in love with it it was the best decision at the time that I made you know to have aalready ready established practice that I could just kind of step into and grow their you can’t beat that deal yeah and so that became my my sheer Focus for the next.
[25:31] Fifteen to twenty years you know I had a private practice so I took care of infantsactually at the time went to see newborns you know in the nursery they stayed with me.You know until they went on to high school and college I had families grandparentsI did a little bit of well Women’s Care GYN Pediatrics.Adolescent medicine you name it it was.It was the ultimate in Family Practice yeah sounds like a dream come true.Yeah.Yeah so that’s what I did for the next you know like I said 20 years or so until 20 years Vision yeah to transition into you know the next phase of my career as what I call itand as I listened to this and it sounds like you were in such a comfortable situation it had to be a rewarding practice.
[26:36] And yet clearly you felt there was something else that must be done so I can’t wait to hear the nextchapter of this story yeah absolutely you know during my time and practicewhat I started to realize was that like you said there is more that needed to be done I was Affiliated again withthe university and New Jersey UMDNJbut this time I was affiliated with them as an associate professor so I would have students come to my office they would do for week rotations and just learn about you know what it means to be a family doc and how do you sayyou know take care of patients in the office so I was doing a lot of that I was doing a lot of community work you know giving back doing health fairs and giving some presentations in the school systemand through all of that I think I started to realize that.There was a lot more that I could give outside of my practice and there was a lot more that I could do outside of just.
[27:44] The one-on-one that we do right as as practicing Physicians that coupled with you know 20 years of practice and starting.Really go through some burnout actually which I did a head made me realize that one I had a great rideyou know in medicine 20-plus years learned a lot was very rewarding but it was also probably a time for me to start thinking abouttransitioning and doing something different so that I could really start to utilize a lot of my leadership potentialas well as yeah do some things outside of Medicine.
[28:25] And I really don’t want to take you astray of your path here but I am really curious to know.I’m always wanting to know more about how.
[28:38] People experience burnout we were talking just a couple of minutes ago about this incredibly rewarding practice situation that you hadand yet you were feeling the beginnings of what seemed like burnt out to you which could you enlarge on that just a little for us sureyou know I think for me and I think everybody’s story is different depending on their experiences and depending on the time period in which they practiced right so for me I was sort of in that generation where I think medicine was just starting to change soso this is where we were going frompaper charts to electronic health records yeah yeah this is where we’re going from you knowone type of insurance to now having 30 insurance companies you know where we’re going fromPrivate Practice in the traditional sense being the way that most docs practice to now practices rather being acquired by hospitals and those sorts of.So I think for me a lot of it had to do with the change that was happening and sort ofnot being able to are finding it difficult to I would say adapt to what was going on.
[29:57] Having to deal with those stressors as well as just the demands of the practice so with those changes you know calm more demands you know EHR I meant spending on sometimes a lot more hours documentingthe changes in learning how to build now just became very overwhelming because this was like how I fed my familyright was through my yeah the income of my practice so and then just the volume of patients now that you have to kind of see to keep up so that was adding to it as wellum so that the top of crazy that that entering data into.
[30:38] Electronic medical record could actually consume more time than writing out a note in Long Head I know.
[30:45] That is so crazy and I mean I’m sure you dictated notes when when you were when you were in your practice but you know in my early years we actually did right.Progress notes and yes and you know and yet this thing this electronic medical record that was supposed to make the charting procedure more concise and more reliableturned out to consume a tremendous amount of time and it turned out to be nothing more than an electronic cash register and I hear people talk aboutthat a lot when the burn out.
[31:21] Conversation comes up but again I’ve I’ve unintentionally knocked you off your story where did you go next we did you moveonce you knew that private practice was not where you wanted to be.Yeah so I started to you know spend some time thinking about.
[31:44] What areas of medicine I could go in what I wanted to do where I might be most helpful and I kind of went back to leadership so at the time.I didn’t quite know what that meant I think thatyou know looking back I probably could have explored a little bit more about the transition that was needed to go into leadershipwhich kind of led me to just the right balance but I’ll get there so in my in my quest to really start looking at taking on some Maybeleadership role some non-clinical roles right that would take me kind of out of practice but not out of medicine but keep me you know keep me still you know in the throes of what was going on clinically as well as being able to give.Back but in a way that’s a little different so I took on some roles you know as a physician advisorwhere I worked in a large hospital setting in the case management department so my role there was really just to to help the hospital to helpthe the case workers to be able to improve efficiency and care and the hospitalized patientsso I took on that role I was medical director for a localregional health insurance company and that role was interesting because here I was on the on the other side.
[33:11] But starting to understand where Physicians are actually needed in those areas right and howand how sometimes it’s not really portrayed as a job or opportunity that might besomething that would be accepted but certainly necessary so I spent some time there along with some of myother leadership roles in Academia and when I realized through all of that was that yes this was a nice way to transition out of clinical practice.But I didn’t have.A tools that I needed really to be the most effective in these leadership roles right because I found myself a lot of times speaking up or trying to.Um have my point made or my point you know come across and feel like it wasn’t being heard so.
[34:08] So what do you say you felt you were missing the tools are you talking aboutcommunication skills or simply not understanding the language of business or just exactly what do you mean yeah absolutely so it’s the communication skills understanding the business Acumen of medicine understandingthe financial actually Acumen of medicine so understanding the president created by complicated budgets you knowfinances how an organization is run not really understanding the corporate structure basically you know because that’s what.
[34:45] Medicine is when we look at it right it is a business so not understanding the corporate language the corporate environment how to work within a teamhaving to deal with some of my own you know self-awareness in terms of things that I might not have even realized that.Needed to know or how I was acting or behaving in certain situationsI mean I can go on that understanding strategic had to think strategically so all of those things are really important to be successful in a leadership role and unless you receive the training.Necessary for that and that doesn’t necessarily mean going back and getting an MBA although it could bejust receiving those those training skills is really importantfor us to be able to be effective as physician leaders in those roles and unless we come with that training we don’t really make an impactand we don’t really actually influence people to be able to kind of listen to us and follow us.
[35:47] Which we don’t I did to my knowledge there is nothing of that sort that is offered anywhere in medical education either in medical school or postgraduate training so you make a very good pointso how did you get over that hurdleso I got over that hurdle by one getting my own coach actually so at the time I didn’t really know what a coach was this was you know years ago obviously when I was making this transition and a friend of mine who was actually in.Recommended.To me she said why don’t you get a coach and I was like what’s up coach she’s like well we have one enough and you know it was to her it was like what are you talking about we have one in our organization likeyou know that that company hires a coach who comes in and helps us in terms of developing.Professionally and personally we have access to you knowto a coach and she said I think that you know a coach would be helpful for you in terms of figuring it out like.Are you on the right career path are you getting the resources that you need how to ask for the resources that you need and so she gave me a recommendation I took her up on it I hired the coach and it was the.One of the best decisions I ever made because there were just things that I just didn’t know.
[37:01] And and the coach was able to help me so from there I think I just made sure that I took some leadership courses anytime there was a conference thatyou know addressed becoming a more effective leader whether that was communication you know all the things that I mentioned thinking strategically financing and budget I took those courses I tooka couple of courses through theAmerican Association of physician leadership I got my certification in coaching and all of those things really helped me torealize not only what I was missing but to help me become a better leader but also to then think about okay how can I.Past this how can I move this forward how can I pay this forward right and help other Physicians who want to sort of do the same thing may have a desire to go into leadershipor might be in leadership already and just have a hard time finding their wayI’m so impressed that every step along the way when you make an advancement the first question you seem to ask yourself is how can I help somebody come along with me that’s that’s so admirable.
[38:09] Thank you.So what happened next yeah so what happened next was after I you know got my certification and coaching which I felt was important for me to have that after I did the course work and.
[38:23] And basically decided that this is my next step this is what I wanted to do I started you know just the right balance whichfirst actually my goal was to help women Physicians balance work and family but that quickly turned into.
[38:40] Helping Physicians become better leaders so that they can maybe balance work and family through that so I started to develop a coachingprogram basically around ways in which I could help Physicians I also became affiliated with someoutside I would say Consulting organizations who need it Physicians to be able to step into that roleas a coach because who better our physicians going to really gel with is another physician who has already walked that walkso so I’ve been able to you know sort of serve as that that bridge you know basicallyto help them to help physicians in their current roles so fast forward to today I have aphysician Leadership Academy which is a three-month course which helps Physicians todevelop those skills that I talked about so that they can become better leaders it is something that you do in person online how does that work.
[39:54] Yes so it’s onlineso it’s a course program curriculum online as well as they get some one-on-one time with me as well but it’s all virtualit’s very easy to sort of navigate through it gives the basic what I call foundational skills that I think are necessary to help physicians in those roles and so that’s where a lot of myyou know students will come through and then some will just come to me for individual one-on-one coaching because again they’re either in that leadership role and they need to be able to to grow you know and their careeror they might be looking to transition and saying how do I even get a leadership role and then how do I how do I remain in that role.Effectively how do I you know influence others and how do I make an impact so through that one-on-one coaching we will work together.
[40:52] There are are most of your clients sort of in that mid-career territory where they feel likeshe something wrong here what am I going to do about it or do you have a good many people who come to you very young and say I’m lost help me find my way what’s the mix.The majority are mid-career.
[41:12] Yes yeah yeah the majority of mid-career and I think that’s probably where they may start to feel a little.
[41:21] A little uncomfortable I guess I would say in terms ofrealizing that there might be some Next Step that they’re missing or they may need just some guidance around how do I how do I get there well it sounds like a great resource and I’m sure you must be.Proud of it the organization is called just the right balance LLCand what do you think next for you it’s just going to be the way you choose out the the way that you close out your career or are there other things on the horizon.So I definitely want to grow this part of you knowmy business this part of the my career I want to really expand and really getting to some organizations and help them to develop their leadership programs if they don’t have any alreadyand to help them to understand the importance of itI also want to start to do more and I am starting to do that now more trainings inside of organizations and that is how you develop aworkplace that’s that has a self care and wellness how you develop a workplace of diversity and inclusion how you develop a workplacewhere you are excelling at patient engagement and customer service so all of these things I think are really important to Bridging the Gap to the communities in which we serve so I’m really looking to.
[42:45] To be that bridge and to help organizations to you know become effective in their roles of serving otherswell these are looking at your track record you strike me as someone who is going to accomplish whatever you start out to accomplish sovery confident that this is going to go exactly where you envision it to go and I have really enjoyed hearing the story come to the.
[43:11] Part of the program that I like a lot I like the best in fact and that’s when I just get out of your way and let you talk so.Audience I’m going to close my Mike and dr. Lisa Herbert is going to deliver for us her personal prescriptions for successthank you so I’m going to give you my three personal prescriptions for Success so my first is don’t be afraid to ask for helpso as Physicians you know we are trained in an environment where we feel that we are supposed to have all the answersthat the buck stops with us and that because we are often the ones in the room with the most clinical knowledge that asking for help or not knowing the answer is a sign of weaknesswell I now know that I could have saved a lot of time and frustration if I would have just asked for help.You can accomplish so much more and a lot faster if you have help.
[44:10] If you have people operating in their genius and providing you with what you may lack or those people who may be able to fill in the gapsso asking for help is a sign of personal and professional growth and maturityand asking for help in my own career as I had mentioned earlier became really important when it was suggested to me that I get a coachwhen I was having a hard time dealing with the next phase of my life and I thought that I could figure it out for myself or that if I worked a little harder I would get the results.
[44:47] But I didn’t know that a coach at the time would have helped me and I now know that that was the best decisionso at the end of the day for me asking for help really helped me to make the best decisionmy second prescription for success is to have a life outside of work.So for me I got married right out of my first year of residency had my first child when I graduated for residency so for years it was all about working familyI didn’t make time for the things I enjoyed or for the things that kept me grounded I didn’t take time for self-care it was all about giving and serving othersso that really did not help me to become a better person a better parent or a better doctor I couldn’t give to those I loved and served if my cup was empty and if I wasn’t fulfilled.So I suffered burnout as I talked about earlier because of this and for various other reasonsbut if I would have known then what I know now I would have been more intentional about my own happiness and my own well-being.And then my last personal prescription for success is to trust your gut.Trust your inner voice take time to listen to that voice within and that’s that thing that we call our intuition.It will always guide you in the right direction.
[46:12] It takes into account all the data all the facts and all the experiences you’ve had and it allows your mind to come to a decisionthis was very clear for me in a case that I had when I was practicing of a young boy who had came to me with abdominal pain I remember it clearly he was ten years old he was very active like most ten-year-old boys areand the mom said that he was complaining on and off of abdominal painshe said it was more on the right side but yet he was still active he was actually running around in my exam room he was drinking and eating there was no vomiting there was no fever so there was no textbook for anythingreallyI examined him and the only finding was some mild right lower quadrant tenderness but there was something in his eyes there was this gut that said sent him to the emergency room to rule out appendicitis.So the surgeon called me that evening and said I don’t know what made you send him to the ERI was getting ready to send him home but just because you sent him I decided to do the CAT scan.
[47:20] And lo and behold I had to operate on him he’s doing fine nowand he’s going to be going home tomorrow so ever since then I began to trust my gut.And let my intuition Guide Me Not only in practice but also in other areas of my life.So these are my three prescriptions for success and I hope that those will be helpful to the listenersthat’s great Lisa and I think if you were going to pick three and only three and of course we always tell people too.Tell us whatever they want to tell what if you were going to pick three and only three I think you most definitely pick the best threeand I appreciate you sharing that with us I appreciate you being on the show todaybefore we go I want to give you an opportunity to tell our audience where they can find you and find out more about you so please share.
[48:15] Yes thank you so much so your audience can find me on all social media that’s Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn at dr. Lisa Herbert so that’s doctor Dr LisaHerbert herv eert they can also find me on my website at www.jennychapin.com balance.comanyone who would like to get in contact with me there’s a contact form on my website in which you can submit an inquiry and I will get right.Back to you so thank you so much for having me as a guest and allow me to share my storydr. Lisa Herbert it’s been a great pleasure having a conversation with you today and we are so grateful that you join us thank you.
[49:04] Thank you so much for listening today and remember you can always get more information about our guests as well as hear them face my rapid fire questionsat our patreon site and while you’re there you can also subscribe to the podcast.
[49:20] Give us a rating and hopefully offer suggestions on what you’d like to hear in future episodes.
[49:26] Thanks very much also to Ryan Jones who composed and performs our music for.
[49:32] That’s all we have time for today so please be sure and fill your prescription for success with my next episode.
[49:40] Music.
