Five Reasons Physicians Make Excellent Entrepreneurs
Five reasons good doctors also make excellent entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship is a remarkably complex subject that is often difficult to define. Society benefits significantly from entrepreneurship because entrepreneurs create wealth, generate employment, and inspire others to push beyond the usual paradigms that shape economic status. A strong need for such a paradigm shift is in the healthcare world. I want to encourage physicians to appreciate their strengths and take the steps to create successful ventures. Medical practice revolves around two important concepts: reducing the likelihood of errors and achieving the highest probable benefit. Given the proper context, these two concepts are framed by an important economic slant that translates well into business and finance.
1. Physicians Commit To Profound Educational Development
Scientific knowledge is updated continuously, so medical students commit very early in their careers to continuously developing their educational and professional capacity. This process requires tenacity and more than a bit of willpower.
In my opinion, saying that physicians are survivors of medical school is not an exaggeration. Medical education is tricky and allows physicians to find creative solutions to complex problems, communicate efficiently and effectively, and foster interpersonal relationships that make teamwork second nature.
The demanding regimen of learning and practice that characterizes medical school forges a particular type of individual ideally suited to succeed in the uncompromising world of business and entrepreneurship.
2. Physicians Are Detail-Oriented
In medicine, nobody has the last word. Since what works for one patient may not work for another, professionals must be detail-oriented, open-minded, and able to adapt quickly to new processes and discoveries.
Good doctors are meticulous, conscientious, diligent, and attentive regardless of their specialty. These qualities allow them to become exceptional at asking pointed questions, detecting patterns, making connections, and hypothesizing potential outcomes.
This predictive ability translates well to the business world, where uncertainty reigns supreme and a distinctive risk permeates every potential interaction and decision.
3. Physicians Are Experts At Making On-The-Spot Decisions
Both physicians and entrepreneurs thrive or fail as a direct result of their choices. Sometimes, this decision-making process is based on trial and error. Other times, it is mediated by the experience and mastery of a specific field. All decision-making, however, hinges on the intentions, attitudes, and values that arise during the process.
Regardless of specialization, doctors and physicians from different fields face highly variable circumstances, most of which lie outside their control.
Moreover, regardless of which sector they operate in, entrepreneurs must deal with varying degrees of certainty, risk, and uncertainty and make on-the-spot decisions to sway their potential for economic success.
This similarity in risk assessment capabilities draws a direct parallel between doctors’ and entrepreneurs’ abilities to make quick, impactful decisions.
4. Good Doctors Have An Ethical Responsibility
Some argue that ethics are black and white. Others say ethics includes a range of behaviors that can be more or less ethical. Regardless of how flexible a definition we apply, it cannot be denied that being ethical is not an easy task.
Medical ethics evaluates a doctor’s merits using the principles of autonomy, justice, beneficence, and nonmaleficence. By applying all four principles, doctors can guarantee that all patient interactions are fair, just, beneficial, free of coercion, and don’t cause needless harm. Doctors who behave ethically are the best in their field.
In much the same vein, an excellent entrepreneur must be an ethical force within their industry. Unethical entrepreneurs may be able to establish enterprises that generate high profits, obtain enviable stock quotes, and achieve far-reaching reputations. However, they are no different from successful crime syndicates without ethical behavior.
An excellent entrepreneur has to approach business ethically, using the same four principles that doctors use to consider the consequences of their decisions on all the parties involved: themselves, their employees, customers, suppliers, the local community, and society as a whole.
5. Physicians Are Relentless
The diagnostic process is often challenging, tedious, and taxing. Correctly identifying a condition may require many tests, consultations, conversations, and treatment plans. A good doctor will be relentless when it comes to the well-being of their patients and will keep trying until something works.
This level of persistence and perseverance translates well into the world of business, economics, and entrepreneurship. Success is rarely found without first tasting failure. What separates the wheat from the entrepreneurial chaff is the level of commitment and the relentless pursuit of success.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise to anyone that doctors and physicians worldwide have performed some of the most exciting and successful entrepreneurial work, and we need more to continue this trend. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders.
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