Writing

Choosing and switching a college major

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Hi Sarah,

I’m a junior in college, and that essentially means that I’m supposed to have my life figured out, but I feel like that’s not true at all! I am still undeclared in my major, although I’ve been focusing on economics and international studies during my first two years. I’ve been looking for jobs this summer and each time I interview with a consulting firm or a bank I find myself sitting there thinking about how I don’t want that to be my life. Last summer I was working at the American Embassy in Paris, and looking back I realize that what I love so much about it was being exposed to all of the contemporary art galleries and exhibits which really solidified my passion for art.

I feel like it’s too late to switch my major, and I feel like it’s not a good idea to pursue something new because I’ll be so behind and I’ll be at a disadvantage. The fact is, I don’t know what’s out there. As youthful and naive as this may sound, I’d really like to use this summer to explore the design field and be able to know at the end of that experience whether it is something I’d still want to do after college. Is it too late to switch my major? How do I know what field is the right field for me? Why am I having such a hard time choosing?

Thanks,
Having a hard time choosing my major


Dear HARD TIME CHOOSING:

I’m going to offer you a few random pearls of wisdom that I’ve heard from friends and learned along the way. Tuck these in your back pocket for the extra-stressful days.

It’s never too late for ANYTHING. If you want to start singing, dancing, running a business, publishing, investing – it’s never too late. Don’t feel like you missed the boat because you haven’t started yet. Instead, celebrate all that you have learned so far, what you’ve been exposed to, and how that has helped you understand yourself better. Have you ever met someone who started something in their 50’s, and thought, I want to be like you? The most amazing people in our lives are those who try everything and never give up on their dreams. Don’t be held back by your own doubts and thoughts – too often what holds us back is some mental story we’ve created about why we’re “too late” or not qualified. Just do it, no matter how hard or scary it is.

Failures are not failures, they are successes. If you spent five years learning about something and trying it out and realizing that it’s not for you, it is NOT A FAILURE. You’ve learned/analyzed/grown/deliberated/decided – and chances are you have acquired some useful skills along the way. A failure means that you’ve tried. Appreciate the opportunities you have to explore, learn, and practice. Even if you change your mind again in five years, you’ll still have learned about how to communicate, practiced business, budgeting, managed projects, made friends and new contacts, etc. The list never ends.

Take baby steps. You are not alone if you get really overwhelmed with the feeling of “I don’t know what I want to do with my life, ACK, why can’t I decide and why does it seem like everyone else knows what they want and I’m the only confused/depressed/scared/anxious one?!” When this happens to you, remember to break down your life plan into tiny, concrete pieces. You sound like you are a planner – and I am one, too. When I get obsessed with making a plan I have to remember to slow down, chew my “food,” and take it one bite at a time.

Full disclosure: In my mind, my life plan sometimes gets on a high speed train and sounds something like this: “Okay, first I’m going to work for 3 years, then I’m going to take my license exams, after 4 years, I’ll start my own business, when I’m 35, I want to be running my own firm, and when I’m 43, I’ll have 3 kids, a husband, and I’ll be the dean of a school, and be wealthy and comfortable, and …” [Yes, my life plans are that ambitious. It’s exhausting.] Unfortunately, I have to remember the next nugget:

Life doesn’t always go according to plan. The flipside to being so motivated, inspired and planful is that it can stress you out and make you really anxious in the present moment. The best advice I heard was recently was a gentle reminder that sometimes life doesn’t go according to plan. That’s part of the fun of it!  It’s unexpected, scary, hard, overwhelming, and wonderful – beyond what you can even guess. Can you imagine if your life did go exactly to plan? How boring would it be to know every detail in advance, and never be able to stray from your plan!

Be grateful for choices – and don’t be afraid of making a decision. Make a decision, based on the information you have, and follow through. Indecisiveness can be a true wall that holds us back. When I get a case of the “what should I do” anxieties, I am reminded of a good friend of mine from college. She told me of the extreme lengths her family took to get her to the United States to be able to study, and how she was the first woman in her family to get a degree. I agonized over “picking a major” and after a few months of indecision she finally looked at me and said, “For crying out loud, make a decision already!” It was funny at the time but it was also a reality check: No one decision will ever be a “perfect” decision. We may move forward with doubt, but in the end, we should be grateful that we had the choice to make the decision in the first place.

On those notes, good luck choosing your major!  Enjoy learning, enjoy your time at the University, and don’t be afraid to try anything you want to try.

A little bit of Mojo, please: Marshall Goldsmith’s new book

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

What is confidence and where does it come from?  Confidence is that frame of mind and characteristic that empowers us to feel good about ourselves, be proud of our accomplishments, and “toot our own horn” when the time is right.  Confidence exudes from our persona in and out of the workforce and helps us achieve greater success in our endeavors.  But what builds confidence? How do we gain, obtain, and keep – as Marshall Goldsmith calls it – our “personal mojo”?

In “Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back if You Lose It” a recent book published by Marshall Goldsmith, he talks about the four things you need to really have “it,” to have that “mojo.” He defines mojo is “that positive spirit towards what we are doing now that starts from the inside and radiates to the outside.”

In his book, Goldsmith breaks down “Mojo” into four distinct categories. You need to have an identity (who you think you are), be able and confident in your achievements (what you have done lately), understand your reputation (who other people think you are) and finally, you must have acceptance – about what you can change and what you need to “just let go.”

The biggest hurdle is often that first step: what is your identity? Who do you think you are? Marshall tells stories of people who answer this seemingly simple question by describing what it is other people would say about them (My boss says I am … My husband thinks I am …My friends describe me as…). He chides the reader, reminding you to define your identity through your own eyes.  It’s a harder task to listen to your inner voice, acknowledge your own drives and ambitions – and be able to describe who YOU are, in your own words.

So, I have asked the question of myself, and I am asking the question of others. Who are YOU, in your own words? Who are you when you are by yourself? As I was driving this morning, I paid attention to the thoughts that crossed my mind and listened to the way I framed questions for myself.  Rather than ask, “What do I want?” or, “What would I do?” I found that I was making decisions based on what I assumed other people would want me to do – or ways in which I thought I “ought” to behave.  My inner voice and inner critic often gets the best of me.  Does this process cloud your decisions? If you are making decisions based on what other people expect of you, Marshall would say, you will fail to build your Mojo and your inner confidence.

In determining a life direction and focusing on building your confidence, character, and reputation, you first must know yourself. The first step is crafting your identity in your own words.  Ask yourself: “Who am I? And what do I want?” To truly craft that confidence and mojo – you must first quiet your inner critics and listen to yourself.

If you’re confident in yourself and your identity, the next step is to focus on your recent (and upcoming) achievements.  What have you done lately that you’re proud of? What have you accomplished? Achievements build our confidence through concrete tasks that show us what we are capable of.  Many people lose their “mojo” by sliding into the rut of routine. Step outside the box, challenge yourself, and go after a few difficult tasks.

Crafting – and controlling – your reputation – is more difficult. Your reputation is what other people think of you, and this is at times beyond your control. Yet Marshall offers concrete, practical steps for creating a professional identity, having a winning attitude, and being able to work on skills within your control.

We all know those people who exude confidence and charisma in everything that they do. You can look around your office and identify individuals who with “mojo” and those who just don’t have it.  The good news is that “it” is something that you can obtain – contrary to popular belief, it’s not something you are born with.  Mojo is built over time, through careful reflection and small, sequential steps that build our resume of accomplishments and our professional reputation. And when you have it, you’ll know it. And you’ll want to keep it.

Jenni Crowley, PhD: On Consulting, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

Dr. Jenni Crowley is a Management Consultant with Campbell Alliance Group, Inc. Jenni has a PhD in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania and undergraduate degrees in Biology and Chemistry. A self-professed “science geek,” she does business consulting for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, helping them work through business issues related to marketing, sales, and managed care.

Did you do any advanced training or graduate work to prepare yourself for this field?

My job requires a mixture of scientific and business knowledge, so I prepared myself in grad school through PhD research and business classes. In addition, I worked as a consultant with several small biotech start-up companies while I was in school to get “real world” experience understanding the business side of science.

How did you decide to get into this field? Is there a pivotal moment during school (undergraduate or graduate studies), during an internship, or during a conversation with someone that led you to this area of work?

I discovered early in my PhD work that I didn’t want to be a “traditional” academic scientist and professor. I didn’t feel that my personality and interests were aligned with what it took to be successful as an academic. I knew that if I didn’t truly enjoy what I was doing, I would never be successful or, most importantly, happy. I started looking around for other career possibilities and stumbled across management consulting as an alternative career option for PhDs. I have to thank my business school friends for providing me with the support and coaching I needed to dive into this non-traditional PhD career path.

When did you start thinking about your post-education career? How did that influence your academic choices?

I started thinking about my career early in grad school because I wanted to find another option from the traditional academic route. I was able to adapt my grad school studies to include work for a biotech company and picked up business classes to help prepare for my transition to consulting.

Describe your experience searching for your job – how early did you start looking, and how long did it take to land your job?

I began actively job searching the summer before my PhD graduation. I was fortunate in that many consulting firms visited my graduate institution in search of good candidates. I was able to meet representatives from prospective consulting firms at career fairs and landed many interviews with top firms.

What is your typical daily schedule?

I don’t have a “typical” day per se, but it normally consists of a flurry of e-mail activity first thing in the morning, followed by meetings with clients regarding work I’ve already done for them or plan to do. The rest of my day is spent delivering on the promises I’ve made to clients and juggling a constant flow of e-mails and phone calls. My days are long—typically around 12 hours. I report to a manager, but mostly, I work independently and manage my own time. I’m now starting to mentor new junior staff members, which I really enjoy.

With regards to travel, I go where my clients are, so if I’m staffed on a Bay Area client project, I can sleep in my own bed. If my client is based in NYC, I’m in NYC. Thankfully, my firm has many clients in the Bay Area, so I don’t travel nearly as much as my colleagues in other consulting firms.

What are the top 3 things you like or enjoy about your job?

First – Career options. The great thing about consulting is that you get a taste of many different types of jobs and functions. For example, I may be working in a marketing role one week, and a sales role the next. No other job gives you such great exposure into these career options. What’s more, as a consultant, you work very closely with and advise the leadership of these teams, so it’s basically a ‘no-brainer’ for a future organization to hire you into a management role when you leave consulting.

Second – The money. Yes, it’s not a myth. Consulting pays well, especially when compared to my grad school stipend or a post-doc salary.

Third – The people. I work with brilliant leaders of top biotech and pharma companies. These people are extraordinarily talented and truly amazing to watch and learn from. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about effective leadership.

What are the 3 “lows” of your job – what do you like the least about what you do?

First – The hours. An ‘easy’ week for me is 60 hours and a ‘rough’ week is 100+ hours. I’d hate to know how many additional hours are spent thinking about work. It’s very difficult to keep a good work/life balance when so many of your waking hours are spent working.

Second – The intensity. Working for top-notch professional requires top-notch energy and mental stamina. It’s very exhausting to always be ‘on’ and poised for action.

Third – The unpredictability. Consulting is a service-based industry. You are at the service of your clients and at the mercy of your management staff. You never know what the next client meeting may bring or where your next project may be located. You have to learn to adapt to change very quickly.


When thinking about the transition from college to professional/work life, what took the most getting used to? What strategies did you use to adjust to the differences?

The constant need to be ‘on’ and mentally poised for action was the biggest transition for me. I remember taking naps between college classes or going for a long walk during an experiment in grad school. I don’t have those options anymore!

How do you define success in the workplace?

Success for me at my current job will be establishing my own client base, selling project work, training a staff of junior team members, and executing successful project work that pleases clients and helps contribute to the success of their business. In addition, I want to be seen as a thought leader in the healthcare business world.

What does “work-life balance” mean to you, and how do you maintain a work-life balance?

Haha! Don’t ask me! See “lows” above.

What advice do you have for recent college grads and new employees? Any words of encouragement or advice to offer?

Consulting is really hard, but very rewarding. Don’t dwell on the lows or the highs. My PhD advisor always told us that we had “24 hours to get over an extreme low or high.” As a consultant, I’ve reduced that time to 24 minutes.

Rowan Paul: On Sports Medicine, Medical School, and Graduate Internships

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

This interview delves into the world of Primary Care Sports Medicine with San Francisco’s own Rowan Paul, M.D. Rowan is a graduate of Brown University and Albany Medical College, and did his residency at Stanford University and a fellowship at the University of Utah. Today, he works as a Primary Care Sports Medicine Physician at California Pacific Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine (CPOSM) in San Francisco. In this interview, Rowan describes his experiences searching through medical specialties through volunteer work, fellowships, and graduate studies. His words of wisdom – to search long and hard for the job and specialty that are right for you – are true for all professionals and will resonate with today’s recent graduates and employees.
What prompted your first interests in Sports Medicine?

I have always been interested in science and the natural world. I did three years of research at Brown in an amazing bat flight lab studying neuroscience –specifically, the vestibular systems of bats. After many lonely nights alone with the bats, I realized I craved human-to-human interaction, so I started thinking about medicine.

When did you decide to pursue your medical degree? Has it always been a dream of yours, or did it take shape throughout your college years?

I did some clinical research in HIV with intravenous drug injectors between undergraduate and medical school at Brown University’s Miriam hospital – while still deciding if I wanted to be a physician. I did a lot of travelling and medically-related community service at both Mother Theresa’s home for the destitute and dying in Calcutta, India,as well as a school that taught tolerance for children of all castes including the “untouchable caste” in Kathmandu, Nepal. These powerful experiences convinced me I wanted to be a physician.

When you entered medical school, did you know what type of doctor you would become? Or did your ideas change and evolve with your advanced education?

I had an image of a doctor that did a little bit of everything for everyone. I wanted to be able to go anywhere in the world and be able to help people of all ages with all conditions. I also was interested in a field that was rooted in prevention rather than reactive treatment. This led me to Family Medicine and then Primary Care Sports Medicine.

Is there a pivotal moment during school (undergraduate or graduate studies), during an internship, or during a conversation with someone that led you to this area of work?

In medical school I did a rotation in Seattle with primary care sports medicine physician Greg Nakamoto. I realized then that I could combine my interests in preventative health, exercise, family medicine and orthopaedics by becoming this particular type of sports medicine physician.

It’s now been several years since you’ve left academia. What does your daily schedule look like now?

My day involves both clinical work in the office as well as off-site sports medicine. In the clinic I see patients of all ages who are active or trying to be active. They often have orthopaedic, surgical or non-surgical, or sports medicine issues that are hindering their athletic goals. I see everyone from the Olympic-level cyclist who is trying to break through a training plateau or a geriatric patient that is trying to stay active as a cyclist but suffers from severe arthritis.

How many people do you work with? What is your office like?

I work directly with eleven very talented Orthopaedic surgeons at CPOSM and with a family physician, massage therapist and pilates instructor at the San Francisco ballet, along with many assistants. All the doctors are “partners” although our practice is structured as a medical corporation (CPOSM) so I guess technically we are all employees of that corporation. Thankfully, we all have a lot of control of our schedules and vacation time.

What is unique about your job that you didn’t otherwise anticipate while in school? In what ways is your career or job the same or different than your academic experience?

I am not a surgeon, but I am a sports medicine specialist. My patients really enjoy seeing me because I offer a bridge between their primary care physicians and the surgeons. I can offer an unbiased opinion of whether they need surgery or not and if not right away, I can work with them to heal them non-operatively. Most people are hesitant to take a surgical route so I feel I can alleviate their fears and they can be confident that they have exhausted all non-operative routes first before going the route of surgery if appropriate.

What are the best things about your job?

The patients– they are all motivated to get better which makes my job much easier and more rewarding.
The other physicians. We have a great synergistic relationship and they are all fun loving and easy going while being very skilled, prestigious partners. And lastly,the field of primary care sports medicine. It melds my personal and professional interests so work doesn’t feel like “work!”

What do you wish you had learned about your career field while you were in school?

Medical School is a whirlwind with limited time for exposure to all the different types of medicine. As a result, I never had a sports medicine rotation until I found out about it in third year and had to schedule my own elective in it. Also, M.D. school is heavily focused on therapeutic health but I think more of the curriculum should be focused on preventive health. Other countries have more successfully leveraged preventative health focused care in a climate with limited resources.

What are three skills that you learned on the job that you didn’t learn in school?

First, how to navigate through the insurance quagmire that is unfortunately our fractured health care system. Secondly, how to build relationships with referring physicians around the area, and third, how to keep current in my field without being actively taught by attending physicians.

What are the most difficult aspects of your job?

The most difficult thing is battling insurance companies to approve necessary treatments for my patients. It’s frustrating to have a someone with no clinical experience tell me that my patient doesn’t need a potentially life-saving treatment. Also equally frustrating – making sure the medical record of all my patients are complete and accurate. And lastly, the business of medicine. I wish medicine was not for profit and thus strive to give my patients cost-effective care.

When thinking about the transition from academia to work life, what took the most getting used to? What strategies did you use to adjust to the differences?

Taking on the medical risk where previously the universities and teaching attending physicians did. Since the buck stops with me now, I spend more conscious time thinking about risk reduction. I usually try and practice medicine justly and try to give full disclosure to my patients so there are few surprises.

How do you define success in the workplace? Are you able to set your own goals?

In medicine, I think that if you can be happy practicing in the field that you want to be in, with your ideal patient population, and with people that you love to work with, while also thriving in your personal life, then you are being successful in the workplace.

That’s quite an accomplishment! Do you feel like you’ve met these criteria?

I feel lucky that I have found all of these things in my first year in practice. My proudest work-related accomplishment is being able to help my toughest patients who have struggled for years to accomplish their active lifestyle goals but have been held back by injury or pain. I get to witness the chain reaction of improved health, mood, and productivity that comes from working in Sports Medicine.

What does “work-life balance” mean to you, and how do you maintain a work-life balance?

Medicine can be a vacuum of a career where the hours and energy that it demands can tear apart your personal life and really change you as a person. I vowed never to let this happen to me. I purposefully picked primary care sports medicine because I can integrate my personal interests with my career interests with far fewer hours per week than many other specialties. I find that I come home invigorated by my job helps me maintain a healthy lifestyle. In addition, I am able to bring my personal interests in an active, balanced lifestyle for preventative health into all my encounters with my patients. I believe it makes me a stronger physician and helps me lead by example with my patients.

What advice do you have for recent college grads and new employees? Any words of encouragement or advice?

Don’t feel pressured into medicine. Search deeply within yourself by doing activities such as volunteering in many different medical settings that can help you decide if medicine is right for you. Only start medical school when you are energized and really ready. You will get much more out of the experience and enjoy it much more. If medicine is the right fit for you it can be one of the most rewarding careers.

If you do go the medical route, search long and hard through all the different specialties and sub-specialties. Medical school will only expose you to a precious few yet you are expected to know which one is right for you. Do elective rotations to expose you to any you are interested in, even if they are only a few days long. It is an important decision that can make or break whether you have a happy rewarding career or a miserable one.

Lastly, don’t feel pressured by those around you to go into a certain field medical or otherwise. In the end, it is you who have to go to work every day. Your field and specialty has to be a great fit for you. Picture yourself 30 years later. Can you see yourself LOVING your job still? If not, it may not be the right choice for you.

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“Career Focus” is a series of interviews with young professionals in San Francisco exploring different job fields and professions and the journey from academia into the working world. Previous interviews have coveredPharmaceutical Consulting and Web Development and Technology Consulting.

Does the end matter?

Posted on by Sarah K Peck

I’m scribbling notes in a lecture, listening to a senior executive talk about his career, and this sentiment captured me. It’s not about where you end up. Does it even matter? Focus instead on the strategies, on the process, on the doing. The end is just another moment along the way.