Well, she already pretty much told you everything about me, except that I actually started as a nursing assistant in a nursing home when I was 17 years old. And I worked 12-hour days on Saturday and Sunday every weekend. And I got a bonus because I committed to that. Then I went on and finished that and went straight to nursing and then went on to medical school. The irony of this talk, really, is that I have only practiced in Cincinnati. I've never left my hometown. And I'm a critical care intensivist anesthesiologist at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and it seems to have gained some popularity in the media recently. But I'm missing the current playoff game of the Bills and the Bengals right now. Anyway, so I'm talking about networking outside of your walls, really, your local space. We're going to discuss how do we branch out from the walls that we work in. I have no disclosures. However, I would like to have some. So if anybody has any to suggest to me, I'm open. So what is networking? So we've already went through really what networking is, but I'd like to ban that word. I think that that word makes me feel uncomfortable, right? Anytime I'm like, oh, it's a networking event, I'm like, ugh, I hate that. So let's kind of like think of it differently, you know? It's really a community of people that you share mutual interest with. Now, that's not just where you work. It's not in the organizations. It starts with every interaction that you have each day. I'm walking through the halls, the tunnels. I'm saying hello to the people who fix the phones, the people who clean the floors. That is networking. That is where it starts. And it starts with your family, your friends, and it branches out. And just as the two prior speakers have mentioned, trainees, nurses, respiratory therapists, the people I worked with in that nursing home, I had no idea I was networking. I was just waking up to get a paycheck because I had to pay half my insurance for my car. And so each day, you are networking. You may just not realize it. As was mentioned before, build a multidisciplinary network. Cross all the disciplines. Really branch it out. It helps you grow as a person. But this is where a story is going to come into play. Develop that relationship before you ask the favor. So I found myself wanting to be an oral board examiner, which I am, for anesthesiology for the ABA. And I was so junior, had no idea what I was doing. I needed a letter. And I'm like, that's no big deal. I'll just ask someone in my department. But then I looked at the requirements, and it's, I need a letter from someone outside my space, right? You know how awkward it is to reach out to someone who's recommended that you reach out to that someone to write a letter about you, and you don't even know this person? That person has now become an advocate and a mentor for me. And it stemmed from that initial awkward interaction where I said, hi, my chairman said that you might be willing to write a letter for me. We rode in a taxi one time at an SCCM. He was happy to do it. And then since then, and of course, so when you do that, send a thank you. If they will let you send a thank you. Send a gift, a simple little gift, a box of cookies. Hey, thank you. Really appreciate what you did. Well, the broad network. So we've talked about the local. We've talked about how to develop your career path. Well, that's, this is why, right? You want to grow both personally and professionally, and this is just one way to do it, is reaching out and meeting new people and talking with them. As you look at this list here that I have of whys, really what it comes down to, COVID really unveiled this. I have WhatsApp groups of people around the world talking about ECMO. I lead the ECMO program at UC, and during COVID, there were no rules, it felt like, right? And when a rule was established, it changed, maybe the same day, right? And then the media was sending you all kinds of information. Well, we developed community groups on WhatsApp where we would share ideas and experiences. That is why to do it. That's one reason to do it, so that you can share those ideas and really grow as a practitioner and then grow your team and your community as well with that. It's a platform to like, you have a tough clinical scenario, or when you become leaders, program directors, you have a tough situation you have to deal with. Reach out to someone who may have experienced that same thing, right? These people are there for you, and you're there for them. It's a mutually, mutual relationship with shared interest. Finally, career exploration. I'm an associate professor. I'm hoping to be a professor this year. That's a whole different level of asks. So had I not had built my network from the ground up, I think about it, trainees that you are working with, co-residents that you work with, nurses, nurse practitioners, all those folks may or may not stay in your institution, and they leave. Dr. Schutter's one of them. I found myself wanting to apply for professorship, and I reached out to her, and she happily wrote a letter. I tried to send her something to thank her. She declined, and I appreciated that. But certainly, that's another space where these people can help you is career advancement. Also looking for jobs. If you're thinking you want to move, your family circumstances change, you know someone in University of Utah, hey, my family needs to move here. What's out there? What's available at that place? That comes from the discussions that start with perhaps people in your institution or when you come to these meetings, and you just talk. You go to those events, those networking events. Those networking events, I see them, I seriously hate them, and I am leading the anesthesia reception tonight. I'm like, this is terrible. I'm like apologizing to the people. I'm sorry. Thank you for coming. I've got a drink ticket. You're an immediate friend with drink tickets. Yes. Anyway, the quote below, networking is not only about trading information, but it also serves as an avenue to create a long-term relationship with mutual benefits. Many of the people that I've mentioned are my friends, and we catch up, and we share experiences that go beyond career and work. Again, feels dirty. Let me change your mindset. Let's step back. You're not networking. You're just meeting people and talking to people. You're getting through your day. You're having the conversations. Instead of it being networking, why don't we look at it as I'm doing this not for myself. I'm doing this so that I can be a better person for others. All of these interactions and experiences that you have allow you to grow your team better, be a better person for your team, be a better doc or a nurse or a pharmacist for your patients, and ultimately for your community. During COVID, I had some connections in the state of Ohio. The big hospitals are Ohio State and Cleveland, the Cleveland Network. I had a connection in each of them through the ECMO world. We developed a network with the Ohio Hospital Association to share ideas and share patients. Had I not developed those relationships with those people along the way, I would not have been able to actually do that. It really helped the patients in our state be able to get the care that they needed when resources were so limited. Every interaction is a networking experience. I'm not going to tell you to include everybody in your network. I'm going to say don't exclude anyone except for some of those toxic relationships. Read that out. You want to focus on who's right for you and who you can help as well. Now we're trying to get into how do we go beyond our local walls. Show up. Go to the meetings. You'll see on the agendas here where there's little receptions, there's committees, there's working groups. Put it on your calendar. Mark it. Go to that. It's going to be uncomfortable. No one's going to know you and it honestly feels like the music stops when you walk in the room. You're like, who's that? We've never seen this person before, but you got to start somewhere. Then once you do that, let's say you meet someone. Keep in touch with them. Stay relevant. In the last year, advocacy, really that's something. We talk about mentoring and the mentee-mentor relationship. Advocacy is the next level. That is where that relationship you've developed, you're advocating for one another. You are asking them to come to talks. You are asking them to come for grand rounds and do talks at different places, chapters, including each of your networking group on chapters. She's already mentioned the introvert thing. What I will add to that is have an introduction. Practice introducing yourself. If you can get through that first step, you're winning because fumbling along, I'm a ... No. Practice it in the mirror. Hi, I'm Suzanne Bennett. Just go through it. Choose one-on-one scenarios and do it in small doses. When you walk into a room, if you see someone in the corner alone or at the table, those walk up to the table. Hey, can I put my stuff here? As soon as you do that, ask that open-ended question that she said. That's where you do it. You introduce yourself and then you ask the open-ended question. People love to talk about themselves, especially if it's broad. You leave it open to them. They're going to tell you something really interesting about themselves. We're moving on. We're heading into this. You want to keep in touch with all of those people you've interacted with over the years, which include not just medical professionals, the administrators that she had mentioned. I've got this blasted watch. You can share. I'm not going to recommend you do this. You share your activity, your workouts. I mistakenly was doing this with administrators and they would leave within two years of my hospital. I still know, Rob worked out this morning. He has his calories set at 900 burn in a day. How is he doing this? Anyway, again, remember to cross the disciplines and build that network before you need the favor. I'm going to give you a little example about SCC. We've talked about organizations and affiliations and really trying to figure out where you fit in. This, okay. This is what I wish I had known when I was early in my career. When you go to the website and you go to My SCCM, there's something called the SCCM Engagement Index. It's a tiered approach to your level of involvement in SCCM. It's on the left side of the page. You may have not noticed it. I didn't notice it until one day I tried to get on a committee and they took that into consideration. I'm like, whoa, what is this that you're referencing? Anyway, it goes from copper as the lower tier and diamond to the top tier. It's an objective measure and it can be included if they have many people who are nominated for a group or committee or a section or a leadership role. They may weed that out, use that as a consideration as to whether or not you will be considered for that position. Right there is the list of things that they look at. Now that you look at that, you're like, okay, great, so I'm a copper at best. How am I going to improve that beyond the easy ones, right? Maintaining membership. That's pretty easy. This, you go to SCCM, then you go to membership, and then you click on Get Involved. Specialty sections, chapters, knowledge education groups. Those are the KEGs. I hate when people say, are you going to the KEG? I'm like, no, I'm not going to the KEG. No, that's the knowledge education groups. Committees and volunteer opportunities and the social media ambassadors program. You look at those and you click on each of those and you'll find a tremendous amount of opportunities. Specialty sections. I'm a member of the anesthesia section, and then I became a leader in that section. I did that through just clicking on those, going to the sessions, signing up, and learning about it. The chapters are typically state-based, so get involved in your state-based chapters if you have one. If your state doesn't have one, start one. It's available. It's out there. We'll go through the KEGs and the committees briefly in the next slides. I'll tell you a story about the specialty section. When I volunteered for a member-at-large for the anesthesia section, I nominated myself three years in a row. I failed twice. That's how I saw it. I took the risk, though. Do that. Take the risk. If you fail, do it again. I just modified my little statement and submitted it again. I'm like, I'm going. I'm doing this. I'll be annoying. I'm going to do this. I failed. I did fail three times, but now I'm in it. KEG is the informal group for advancing a specific topic of interest. Here is the list that was approved prior to this meeting. I know there's been a couple that have been approved so far that expands this list. If you see something that isn't on here that you think might be worthwhile, get in there. Submit a new KEG application on an SCCM site. You will be the chair. Committees, you can't see this. There's no way you can see this. But my gosh, look at what all you can do. These are the opportunities that are available to us at SCCM. Of note, every place that you affiliate with, I know anesthesiology, I do ABA, and ECMO, I do ELSO, so any of those organizations, go to the website, look at it, and see how you can get involved. If there's not an option there, then reach out to the leader of that group and say, e-mail them. E-mail. Hey, I'm this person. I'm really interested in this. How can I help or get involved? It's even better if you see a name you know. E-mail that person or call them, whatever contact you have. The key here, though, is once you get in, be active, participate, and if you say you're going to do something, do it. That e-mail notification, manage your e-mails. This isn't an e-mail talk, but my gosh, you could do a whole seminar on e-mail management. As I said, reach out to the leaders of those different organizations and really target it for your interest. Do what you love, what wakes you up at night, what gets you going in the morning. Choose those topics. A mentor of mine always would walk around saying, the best promotion, Bennett, is self-promotion. I'm like, well, I'd giggle, and I didn't know what he was talking about. Totally. That's real. That's like promote yourselves. Do that through networking. Have that introduction. Ask those questions. Feel free to be you, because then they know you better. When you do meet people, please get their contact. If it's someone that you find a shared mutual interest, if it's a business card, take a picture of it. I always lose them. Something that I've done, because I can't remember to carry these business cards, I started a QR code. This is an e-business card, which you do that, and it links a fun picture of me first, and then a picture of me, and it links all my social media accounts. Now they link you. They know who you are. Once you've done that, I encourage you to advocate for one another. That way, we're not alone. We are all promoting each other. Then promotion of others is really what will grow your matrix. Thank you.

networking

beyond workplace

multidisciplinary network

building relationships

advocacy