Bravery - Being afraid to do something, but doing it anyway.  Bravery can take many forms, such as applying for a promotion, or a new job. Leaving your job. Proposing to your partner. Having a difficult conversation. Moving to a new city. Bravery is essential to advancing in your career and your life. 

CEO Disease - Employees always want to make the CEO happy, to the point that they never tell what is really going on. CEO disease is what happens when the boss hears just a snippet of what’s really going on. 

Cognitive Distortion - An unhelpful, intrusive, and often self-destructive thought that interferes with the rational interpretation of events. For example, one might look at a position but avoid applying for it because of a perception that you are not qualified when you completely are qualified. Another example might be interpreting an interaction with a colleague in a way that makes you feel disrespected or defeated, when really the colleague meant nothing by their action. Over time, these cognitive distortions can promote burnout and interfere with your career growth because you miss out on opportunities. 

Glass Ceiling - Usually refers to a level of achievement that women have not been able to reach because of systemic sexism. 

Glass Cliff - Refers to a situation where an under-represented minority, usually a woman, and often a person of color, finally breaks through the glass ceiling only to find themselves landing on a cliff. This refers to a common finding that women, and in particular women of color, often find themselves in leadership roles that are particularly precarious - such as becoming a director during a time of chaos where the odds of success are slim to none. A glass cliff can be seen as a set up for unnecessary, chronic stress, or even failure. The ability to recognize a glass cliff before accepting the leadership position is critical - as you could potentially negotiate for a better supported position - or you could decline the position completely. 

Golden Elevator - When an elevator door opens, you have the choice to enter and go up, or wait for the next elevator. A golden elevator is a rare, career or life opportunity that comes rarely. Perhaps once every 5 years, 10 years, or even once in a lifetime. These opportunities will take you to new heights, but only if you recognize them and are brave enough to take them. Golden elevators often present sooner than you would like, often an inconvenient moments in your life or career.  

Lean Six Sigma - A process improvement philosophy that is laser focused on improving the customer experience by eliminating errors and reducing waste. Typically these principles are used in the business world to improve profits or customer satisfaction. But they can also be used in healthcare to improve safety and quality. Interestingly, these same principles can be used to improve your career and life satisfaction. As an example, looking at yourself or your family as the customer, you can identify what is most important, where the “waste” is, and where the errors are. You can then systematically use Lean Six Sigma principles to eliminate those items so that your life and career can proceed in the way that is most benefitical for you.

Mentoring Mosaic - The concept that one cannot get all of their mentoring needs from just one person. Areas of mentoring needs may include work-life balance, technology, office politics, research, clinical skills, networking, negotiation, etc. You are not likely to find one person who can mentor you in all of these areas. As such you will need a mosaic of mentors, multiple individuals with different areas of expertise. Some may be senior to you, some may be peer mentors, and some mentors may be your juniors, and some might even be AI chat bots! 

Moral Injury (Distress)- This is the psychological harm you experience when there is a mismatch in your values and your job. Imagine spending 60 hours a week doing work that often feels wrong. Like telling a patient that they can only tell you one problem because your organization requires you give each patient just 15 minutes of your time. 

Paper Tiger - Imagine if you had to be in a room with a tiger….a real tiger, with huge paws, claws and teeth. You’d be terrified. Your blood pressure would rise, your heart would pulse so strongly that you could feel the palpitations. You would feel overwhelming stress. A “paper tiger” is a workplace task (such as meeting with your boss, or meeting a deadline) that elicits that same physiologic response. It’s an over-reaction. Learning to identify your paper tigers, prepare for them and mitigate your response is a key to career success and longevity.  

Process Map - A tool used in Lean Six Sigma to identify every important step in a process. Often it takes collaboration from all members of a team to create an effective process map - usually one person does not know every step. The purpose is to identify waste - those steps that are not functioning well or that could be eliminated completely. The result is a more efficient or effective workflow. While typically used by leaders responsible for operations, these can also be used to improve your career and life. For example, the person who wants to get home earlier from work could map out the process for some of their tasks, map out the process, identify and eliminate waste!

Radical acceptance - This psychological principle requires the participant to accept those things that cannot and will not change (at least in the very near future). Examples include, “Healthcare is a business”, or “Racism is alive and well.” These truths are difficult, but necessary to accept, because they can help you prioritize your  efforts. It does mean that you need to become complicit, or to give up on correcting these wrongs. 

Reverse Visioning - The process where one imagines themselves months or years from now having achieved success. Perhaps they have attained a long sought-after promotion, or they published a paper, or they are spending more time at home, or they have achieved their desired fitness level. Reverse visioning requires the participant to go backwards to identify all of the individual steps that were necessary to achieve the goal. Reverse visioning is an excellent way to develop a road map for success. 

Value - In the world of Lean Six Sigma, Value is what your customer demands. In healthcare for example, an example of value for your customer (the patient)would be spending face-to-face time with the medical provider. In your personal life, an example of value could be spending uninterrupted time with your family. Lean Six Sigma principles can be used to increase value in your life and your career. 

Waste - This is a term used in Lean Six Sigma. It refers to any process that does not bring value to the customer. In healthcare, filling out paperwork is deemed as a waste to the patient. We try to eliminate or reduce waste as much as possible. When applying waste to your life and career, we think about things that interfere with your success. A common example is writing notes from home. This brings zero value to you and to your family. Therefore reducing note burden, using Lean Six Sigma principles is critical.