The Raising of a Practice

As I am about to have my fourth child, 20 years junior to my third child, I find myself at a different place in my professional career. My practice has matured, and while it still needs unconditional love and attention, its survival is no longer dependent on the same intense hands-on helicopter parenting that it did 20 years ago. In fact, that much attention is not only exhausting, but it might also be detrimental to the practice’s health. Does this sound suspiciously like raising a child? It does, and that’s what I am getting at.

Many young surgeons ask for advice when getting started and it might be astute to think of a practice as a new life being brought forth into this world. Nobody will care for your practice as much as you, and if your goal is to get the greatest personal fulfilment from medicine and your profession as possible, it will require being all-in and highly committed. Early in my career, the practice was always on my mind and my pager was always on. There were many all-nighters working around the clock feeding it, caring for it, and making sure it was on a path to thrive. A young practice needs nurturing, coddling, discipline, and affirmations.

Now, 23 years later my practice and I have a different relationship. At times it wants to go its own way, challenging my views and overly influenced by peers. And while today it doesn’t require constant defense like chasing a toddler around the pool, I can sit under an umbrella and still keep an eye on it from a distance. It will always look back to make sure I am there, and I will be, but if I were to venture too far, the practice, like a calculating teen, may stray into the deep end and into trouble.

While nothing is equivalent to birthing and raising a child, I can see reciprocating analogies and appreciate the skills learned from raising children that can translate toward building a successful, healthy, happy practice and one that makes its parent proud.