Embrace your first rodeo

Most of us have heard the often arrogance-laced phrase, “This ain’t my first rodeo!”? Most of us have likely uttered these words, or something similar, ourselves.? Oh, the pride we feel letting the world know we are beyond competent, and in fact, we possess some uncanny skill or knowledge to glide through this current situation, educating onlookers along the way as to how it?is done.? However, in today’s rapidly changing healthcare landscape a situation that seemed simple in the past, with new internal or external constraints, no longer responds as it once did. If we fail to recognize our lack of experience with the new constraints, we are at risk of unconsciously missing impending peril because of our intellectual arrogance.

I recently attended the APTA Private Practice Sections Graham Sessions.? This exhilarating time of debate, collaboration, and re-framing is a highlight of my year.? This year’s topics ranged from addressing payor and payment difficulties, dealing with and embracing AI in PT, and strategies for growing PT practices in our current environment.? A moving portion of the session is a series of “I believe” speeches where speakers are given only two rules: keep it under 15 minutes and be provocative.? One speaker described a time visiting a small town in Texas and seeing a hat in a shop emblazoned with the phrase, “This actually is my first rodeo.”? ?Tying this premise to our rapidly evolving business environment, maybe we should pause at these “first rodeos,” soak it in, let others know we are a novice, and seek guidance around us to orient ourselves to what is going on and where we should focus.

Another speaker at the conference referenced the Stockdale Paradox in relation to our current healthcare conundrum.? The Stockdale Paradox, applied to business in Jim Collins' book Good to Great, stresses the need to simultaneously confront the occasionally terrible realities of our current state, while never losing the faith that we will, in the end, prevail. In PT practices today, it often seems easier to just quit when facing decreasing reimbursements, increased regulations, staffing difficulties, and a myriad of other obstacles.? Conversely, entrepreneurial optimists have a quick fix plan that they believe, despite the current constraints, with enough ingenuity and focus they can break the mold and quickly win.? Balancing faith in your future outcome while embracing the very real current difficulties is difficult and requires collaboration and often a dose of trial and error.

Adam Grant coined a phrase in his book, Originals, that has struck my heart.? That phrase is humble confidence.? Applied to the Stockdale Paradox, this means confidence in your ability to eventually succeed while simultaneously practicing humility in thought about how we must navigate the near-term storms.? Grant suggests the solution is to think like a scientist and seek others with alternative perspectives or opinions.? A systematic approach, empowered with supportive collaborators helps us enjoy those “first rodeo” moments where our confidence can falter.

As physical therapists we are trained to evaluate, create a plan, implement intervention, reassess, and modify plans to help patients progress through care.? We are often presented complex cases that do not fit clear clinical syndromes.? Managing this uncertainty is part of daily clinical practice.? Calling in clinical colleagues to work through difficult cases is also commonplace.? As business leaders we often struggle to follow this same systematic methodology.?

So maybe it’s time we take our own advice. Just as we systematically assess and adapt in patient care, we must do the same in our businesses. The landscape is shifting, and what worked before may not work now. Instead of clinging to outdated strategies with misplaced confidence, we should embrace the mindset of a learner; seeking guidance, testing new approaches, and collaborating with those who see things differently. Our ability to thrive won’t come from pretending we’ve mastered this rodeo, but from admitting that, in many ways, we’re stepping into the arena for the first time. And that’s exactly where, armed with help from collaborators, real growth begins.

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