Why People Fear Physician Entrepreneurs

The joke goes that some people think all things in the world can be understood by dividing them into a 2 x 2 matrix: those who believe it and those who don't. I've come to see that when it comes to the idea of physician entrepreneurship and educating and encouraging doctors to do it. There are those who love it and those who hate it.

"Physician entrepreneur" is at best an oxymoron to most and toxic to some. Here are ways to talk to people who fear you.

• H = Hedge your claims, even when you feel very certain about your beliefs. It signals a recognition that there are some cases or some people who might support your opponent’s perspective.
• E = Emphasize agreement. Find some common ground even when you disagree on a particular topic. This does not mean compromising or changing your mind, but rather recognizing that most people in the world can find some broad ideas or values to agree on.
• A = Acknowledge the opposing perspective. Rather than jumping in to your own argument, devote a few seconds to restating the other person’s position to demonstrate that you did indeed hear and understand it.
• R = Reframing to the positive. Avoid negative and contradictory words, such as “no,” “won’t” or “do not.” At the same time, increase your use of positive words to change the tone of the conversation.

Some think that doctors with MBAs are traitors , even though the likelihood is that most MD/MBAs are not entrepreneurs, let alone innovators.

I think it's a good idea and have said why many times and many ways.

However, here are some reasons why others don't think so:

1. Because they are afraid, they will place the profit motive above patient interests and are immoral profiteers.

2. Because they don't trust "businesspeople" and, when it comes to medicine, "money is dirty" and the root of all evil.

3. Because they think entrepreneurship is about creating a business

4. Because they think entrepreneurs are dishonest

5 Because they think it corrupts the professionalism of medicine and encourages conflicts of interest

6. Because they think it attracts the wrong kind of person into medicine

7. Because they think it is a waste of a medical school education and has no place in the curriculum

8. Because they are fed up with "high priced suits" who don't add value ripping off the system?

9. Because they don't think doctors can do both and should stick to medicine

10. Because they think doctors are innately lousy businesspeople.

11. Because they are a threat to their businesses

12. Because they don't think it is their job to teach or train students to do it

Everyone fears change and change agents. They fear what they don't understand. Patients, doctors, and medical educators have different definitions of an idea, a discovery . an invention and an innovation. They also have different definitions of entrepreneurship.

It's not a new idea.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries … and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.

— Niccolo Machiavelli

What's more, here are some common customer fears and how to overcome them.

Some are worried that will empower doctors and restore them to their rightful place at the table.

They are all valid concerns. Unfortunately, in my view, while there are lot of bad apples in any profession,?there are countless examples of physician entrepreneurs demonstrating the contrary. Physician entrepreneurship should not be feared but encouraged. Adding value through the deployment of innovation to a system riddled with waste should be encouraged not discouraged. Yes, doctors can chew gum and walk at the same time and that's good for patients. You don't have to leave the bedroom light on tonight.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack and Digital Health Entrepreneurship