Five Truths for a Successful Career in Business: Finding Your Core Purpose and Strengths

Much of my coaching work revolves around professional and business development for physicians in their own practices or businesses. When I receive e-mails from physicians who comment: “I have worked in urgent care/ED settings after residency and long dreamed of ‘ownership’” or “I am still trying to fully understand what that means to me.” I find myself wondering: How do some physicians find practices or businesses that provide them with great fulfillment, while equally talented peers get left behind in positions that don’t allow them to flourish? Are there secrets to a rewarding and satisfying physician career in business?

According to Gallup Organization research, only 20 percent of people are working in jobs that offer the opportunity to excel in what they do best. Since we spend so many of our waking hours working, shouldn’t we try to make that time rewarding and fulfilling? Unfortunately, many physicians these days feel trapped in mediocre jobs and blame poor practice leadership and lack of opportunities. In these situations, when you cannot apply your strengths, daily work becomes a grind.

What should you do? Change practices or go out on your own? Start an entirely new business or “dabble” on the side? Stay put and suffer? I have truly come to believe that the answer to career fulfillment and success lies within you; it’s up to you to find out where your passion lies, what your personal strengths are, and how you can succeed.

No one manages your career but you, and you must rely on yourself as your own guide, even if you are fortunate to have a mentor, trusted advisor or coach. Choices around what to do are no longer simple, and business career paths for physicians vary. With a desire for a change comes your opportunity to reflect on the strategies required to sustain a new or different career.

You don’t become a successful business owner overnight. It requires investment of time, effort, focus, emotional intelligence and personal sacrifices. However, it’s worth noting that people attaining independence as their own boss report being more satisfied with their jobs and their lifestyle, even in the face of earning less money!

For physicians to excel in business, they need more than just ambition. Satisfying the goals of others, receiving rewards, and attaining status is rarely enough. You need be connected to your core values and intrinsic motivators in order to be truly fulfilled. You must determine what your internal drivers are. There are many assessment tools that can help clarify your self-knowledge. You may also require the services of a trained professional to assist you in your quest.

A successful career is more like sculpting and editing, rather than accumulating or building. “Discover what you don’t like doing and stop doing it!” advises Marcus Buckingham in The One Thing You Need to Know (2005). According to the Gallup research, it doesn’t make sense to stretch yourself with new and challenging assignments, or even to strive for balance if it involves doing things that you don’t like doing! Doing what you dislike tends to make you focus on your flaws — not very energizing is it? Sculpting your ideal career path to becoming an entrepreneurial physician consists, in part, of knowing when to say no.

Research shows that at the core of career success lies the answers to three key questions:

1.. What are your core values?

2.. What is your core purpose?

3.. What are you trying to do with your life?

People experiencing high levels of work satisfaction report an alignment between what they do and who they are. They find the magic blend of their life purpose with what they do in their jobs. The search for purpose is important and is often challenging; it may take a lifetime! We all seek meaning from life. Everyone wants to leave footprints. Yet finding and clearly defining what that is, is elusive.

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