Upping Your Radiology Game with Presence, Drive and Enthusiasm

If it hadn’t been for CME conferences, my first ever trip to Las Vegas might have been last week.

I have been satisfying all of my “maintenance of certification” requirements online for many years now but once upon a time, one actually had to physically attend lectures. My earliest jobs earmarked time off and gave budgets for CME trips. The days and money were “use it or lose it,” so I made a couple of visits to the desert.

This recent trip was purely for the pleasure of it. Unlike the conference trips, I wasn’t traveling solo. It’s amazing how much more I got out and about this time on account of having my lady with me. One of our destinations was “downtown” on Fremont Street. For those unfamiliar, it’s sort of like the Vegas version of NYC’s Times Square.

It can be a bit overwhelming as the place has plenty to assault your senses. At one point, we sought out a spot on the sidelines to sit with a couple of drinks and watch the humanity go by. At either end of our field of view, some buskers set up shop: “Photo hustlers,” dressed up in a sexy manner and trying to get passersby to interact with them, pose for pix, and of course pay for the privilege.

At a glance, the ones to our left stood to clean house. They were a duo able to work as a team whereas the one on the right was on her own. The duo also had flashier oufits and body types that were, shall we say, more competitive for this line of work.

Spending the greater part of an hour at our perch, we saw things play out to the contrary. The solo act had a steady stream of interaction with commensurate income while the duo got bupkis.

We could clearly see why. While they might all be called photo hustlers, only the solo act was doing any hustling and plenty of it. She was energetic and cheerful, and made it look like she was having fun. The duo looked bored, maybe even annoyed at having to be there. When they reached out to prospective customers at all, it was abortive and routinely turned down if not completely ignored.

As I mentioned to my lady at the time, the disparity was far from unique to busking. I have seen it in just about any line of work I can think of with radiology being no exception. You can have all the best tools in the world — a sharp mind, big names in your education and training, cutting-edge equipment — but if you don’t bring your A-game to the table, you can easily be outstripped by others who do.

That might not matter to you, and maybe it didn’t matter to the duo. Not everyone is motivated to give 100 percent in the name of professional pride or even a stronger payday. Even those who do so can fluctuate. I might fire on all cylinders during a good day but settle for just getting by if I am ill, short on sleep, etc.

Putting such temporary circumstances aside, a lot depends on whatever good (or bad) habits one has cultivated, and that includes overall attitude.

I have seen radiologists ranging from brilliant wizards of the profession to duffers who make me wonder how the heck they have managed to remain employed or gotten into the field in the first place. Obviously, one would prefer to be as close to the top end of that spectrum as possible but for most, it doesn’t make as much of a difference as one might think in terms of professional viability.

Take anybody other than the top or bottom 5 percent, and other factors are generally more important when determining who is desirable as an employee, colleague, or leader. Folks might notice it if I am a bit more productive or accurate than some other rad on my team, but it won’t reliably translate into any substantial differences between us career-wise.

What more easily makes a difference is the sort of stuff that we saw differentiating the buskers: putting in more visible effort than the other person, having a good attitude about it, and always being on the lookout for ways to up your game.

These are things you don’t have to learn in medical school or residency. From the moment you are old enough to observe other people and see what works for them (or fails to), you have endless opportunities to adopt behaviors that put you ahead of the pack and avoid others that might leave you behind. Once you notice these things, they take some effort to remember and practice, but soon enough, they become automatic parts of your repertoire.

Most of them are low-hanging fruit, simple things that anybody can do. Be where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there and doing whatever you are supposed to be doing. Take opportunities to do a little extra. Do it with enthusiasm. Be a source of good cheer that others enjoy being around.

Don’t believe me? Let me describe a rad you have probably known if you have been around a bit. He is brilliant and has CV that you would envy. He has been to top-flight schools and postgraduate training facilities. He can pretty much read any case you put in front of him and do it well. On top of that, he has got a few areas of sub-subspecialty expertise that lets him read super specialized cases in which coverage is a problem for many rad groups.

Want him on your team? Well, of course you don’t, because you know there is a catch coming. As it happens, there is more than one.

He always shows up late, frequently leaves early, and even when he is around, he is not. When you call him, it goes to voicemail. When you show up to his reading room, he stepped out. Nobody knows where or when he will be back.

If you do manage to get ahold of him, good luck getting him to do anything for you. He’s busy with something else or practically sneers at you for not being able to do it yourself. In fact, he pretty much looks down his nose at everyone, teammate and referrer alike. Nobody measures up to his lofty ivory tower standards.

In general, he’s a grouch, because he knows just how good he is, and the world has failed to properly recognize and reward him for it. If you are lucky enough that he regards you as being remotely near his level, he will lump you in with himself. What a lousy spot our careers have landed us in, eh? All conversations with him inevitably turn to bellyaching.

Give me the choice between him and a mediocre rad who simply gets the job done, but does it in good humor and is generous with his time and trouble? I will pick the second person every time.