Here we are, at the end of the year. And the end of another season of Off the Record.

For reasons that will soon become clear, I wanted to wrap up 2024 by pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Because this episode is about personal growth.

So here I am, doing my first ever solocast.

I bring you the Top 5 lessons learned over the year of Off the Record. These apply to mid-revenue cycle leaders, our core audience for #OTR, but they’re broad enough for anyone to adopt.

This is a tidy episode, just 26 minutes of distilled wisdom from several guests that I was honored to host.

Enjoy, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and I’ll see you in 2025.

Last month I wrote a post about the four stages of a career, using the analogy of seasons. I was inspired by the wonderful fall weather I was experiencing while on a walk here in New England, but also by changes I have been experiencing in my life and how these have caused me to re-evaluate what’s important in my career.

The post got a good reaction, including from Nicole Fox, Associate Chief Medical Officer, Medical Director of Pediatric Trauma, Medical Director of CDI, at Cooper University Health Care. Which led to this show.

Nicole and I are in the “fall-ish” of our careers. Which might sound like we’re getting ready for pasture, but not really. I’m 51 and Nicole is 48, so we have many more years to work—but our priorities are changing. You might say, they are better aligning with the new people we are becoming, as human works in progress.

Nicole has done a lot with career coaching, both as recipient and mentor, and we get into all that on today’s show—and bare our souls a little bit about what is holding us back.

This was a terrific conversation with an amazing person and I suspect you’ll enjoy it, and maybe come away a bit more reflective about your own career and priorities.

On this show we discuss:

• An update on Nicole’s work as a pediatric trauma surgeon and hospital executive—and the need for changes

• Her experience with a career coach and what she learned about herself

• Career “saboteurs”—how do you discover them, and what can you do to diminish them? I highly recommend taking the free assessment linked below (my top 3 saboteurs are avoider, hyper achiever, and pleaser)

• Is it possible to shape your career, and how does that look in practice?

• The “seasons” of a career and using it as a framework for discovering what is most important (with an emphasis on the fall season)

• Nicole’s forays into coaching and mentorship, and prioritizing health and work-life balance in a demanding clinical career

Show notes

• Four stages of a career: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brian-murphy-13800b11_i-love-the-fall-especially-here-in-new-england-activity-7253050994937212932-2QFY?
• Career saboteurs assessment: https://www.positiveintelligence.com/saboteurs/

With 23 years and counting in CDI, Rhoda Chism has seen a lot. The rise of new regulations and reimbursement mechanisms, and the advent of new technologies that have radically transformed chart reviews.

Rhoda has not only weathered these changes and navigated the turbulent waters, but remains as warm and personable, and pro-person, as you will ever meet.

But not anti-technology.

Today she is the Director of Clinical Excellence and Adoption for the software company Iodine, a new position she’s held for just two months. But I think she could be called Chief People Officer. We get into the blending of human and machine, discussing the following:

• Rhoda’s journey into healthcare and nursing at the tender age of 19.

• The transition from bedside nursing to CDI in 2001

• Melissa Varnavas and the lasting impact of a simple message of encouragement and belief

• Using authentic, personal stories to communicate difficult CDI concepts and education, including heart failure and AKI

• How technology has radically transformed CDI over the last two decades

• AI driven technology as human amplifier, not replacement, and the importance of emotional intelligence in CDI work

• Career advice for young professionals in a world of rapid change