Big Words start conversations and open doors to new places.
Author: anwaryusef
Anwar Y. Dunbar is a Regulatory Scientist. Being a naturally curious person, he is also a student of all things. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Prior to starting the Big Words Blog Site, Anwar published and contributed to numerous research articles in competitive scientific journals reporting on his research from graduate school and postdoctoral years. After falling in love with writing, he contributed to the now defunct Examiner.com, and the Edvocate where he regularly wrote about: Education-related stories/topics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Financial Literacy; as well as conducted interviews with notable individuals such as actor and author Hill Harper. Having many influences, one of his most notable heroes is author, intellectual and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, author of books including Outliers and David and Goliath.
Anwar has his hands in many, many activities. In addition to writing, Anwar actively mentors youth, works to spread awareness of STEM careers, serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium, serves as Treasurer for the JCSU Washington, DC Alumni Chapter, and is active in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church. He also tutors in the subjects of biology, chemistry and physics.
Along with his multi-talented older brother Amahl Dunbar (designer of the Big Words logos, inventor and a plethora of other things), Anwar is a “Fanboy” and really enjoys Science-Fiction and Superhero movies including but not restricted to Captain America Civil War, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Prometheus. He is a proud native of Buffalo, NY.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. There are numerous ways invest money for a ‘return’. One was way is to become a shareholder. The following contributed discusses what’s involved in being a shareholder and is entitled, Top Tips For Being A Shareholder.
If you are looking for a new direction to take within your professional career this year, one of the things you could consider doing is taking up the role of a shareholder. A shareholder or a stockholder is any person who decides to buy a small share of a company or a product. As a shareholder you will often be able to get benefits such as discounts on products, dividends as a reward and also a hand in the decision making of the business.
Today we are going to take a look at what it takes to be a shareholder and some of the top tips which you need to know if you want to be a successful shareholder this year. There are some amazing opportunities to be a part of when you become a shareholder and you can see this with Ogletree Deakins Shareholder Appointments, and this is why we want to bring some handy tips and tricks for you today.
1. Look into the business
When you want to become a shareholder the first decision you will have to make is to choose which business you want to invest in. This is a big choice to make for yourself and for the business and this is why you need to make sure you take your time and think it through. A good idea if you have the money will always be to take a share of a brand you know and trust because this can lower your risk. If not though, you need to be very careful with your decision making. Take some time to come up with a budget and narrow down your search to a few different companies. When you do this you will want to take some time to look online and look for any evidence of bad reviews and scams associated with the company. If your search comes back clean and the company seems to be trustworthy then you have no reason to worry and you can go ahead and invest in the company.
2. Do you know the shareholders?
One of the other ways that you can get into the world of shareholding is by being asked to join by someone else. If this does happen to you, be sure that you take a moment to consider before saying yes right away. Have a think about who asked you and decide whether or not you trust them and know them enough to do this with them. It can be a dangerous choice to trust the wrong person so be sure that you take the opportunity to do this and be sure that you know what you are signing up for.
3. Responsibility
Depending on how much of the company you decide to buy, you will be asked to have an input in the decision making of the business to help guide it to success. Therefore because of this you need to be sure that you have a contract on the dotted line of what you are responsible for and what you are not. The reason for this is that you want to make sure you aren’t held accountable for a bad decision which could lose the company some money.
4. Money
The big question to ask yourself and of course the biggest reason why people invest in the first place is to make money. Before you spend money be sure that you check how much you can reasonably afford. When we say reasonably, we mean that rather than adding your whole savings to an investment you will want to make sure that you have a buffer which is kept safe in your bank account. Take the time to come up with a realistic budget and be sure that you only pay what you can afford to risk. Think about the risk of failure with your new shareholding position and this will help you decide how much to put in.
5. Death
If you are to invest highly in a company which only has one other partner, you need to consider what will happen if your partner suddenly becomes ill or dies. It is one of those things that no one wants to think about but you will need to have some measures in place in case the worst does happen. Make sure that you take the time to plan out what would happen if either of you died and this can be a huge decision to make which can save you later on.
6. Exit strategy
As much as knowing what you want to do when you are investing in a business, you may want to know what to do if the business starts to fail. It is always important to have an exit strategy should anything g go wrong and it can be what saves you from losing a lot of money.
Two of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. In any business, it’s important to know when you’re making decisions to help your business, or if your decisions are hurting it. What kinds of things can hurt your business? The following contributed post is entitled, Are You Running Your Business Into The Ground?
There are few things more appealing when it comes to running a business than the idea of getting to be in charge. After all, many of us start our own businesses specifically because we get sick of having to listen to orders from people above us who clearly don’t know what they’re doing. However, becoming too attached to this idea of yourself as a business owner with all of the answers can actually be pretty dangerous for your business as a whole. Here are some things that you can do in order to make sure that you’re running your business properly rather than running it right into the ground.
Learn to outsource
Outsourcing has been the saving grace of so many businesses, big and small. Part of the reason that Apple has been so successful over the last decade is that they outsource almost all of their manufacturing to other companies. This means that they have more in-house resources to use on research and development as well as branding and marketing. From SEO to outsourced IT support, being able to hand different parts of your business over to the experts with the most experience is one of the best things that you can do. Leaving you free to focus your energy on the areas of your business where you have the most skills.
Stop micromanaging
If you want to get the most out of your employees, one of the most important things that you need to do is to trust them. If you spend all of your time staring over their shoulders and nitpicking every little thing they do, they’re going to end up getting extremely frustrated. That’s going to kill their motivation entirely and leave them feeling pretty resentful of your business as a whole and you as an employer in particular. Remember that you hired these people for a reason, let them do their jobs.
Take a break
For some reason, a lot of people seem to entirely forget that a work/life balance is important as soon as they start running their own business. They assume that they need to dedicate all of their time to their business no matter how much of a negative impact it has on their life and their health. The truth is that taking a break can be just as good for your business as it is for you. It means that you’re able to come back to your business with fresh eyes and you’re far less likely to end up getting burnt out.
The idea of letting go of any part of your business can be incredibly stress-inducing. However, one of the most important lessons that you can learn as a business owner is that your ego has no place within your business. You need to make decisions that are right for your business first and foremost. If you’re making decisions based purely on what you want then your business is always going to suffer for it. Make sure that you’re keeping your ego in check and always do what’s right for your business before anything else.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Depending upon which business you’re in, one of the first decisions you’ll have to make is what model you will choose. It’s a critical consideration as it will dictate how you carry out your operations going forward. The following contributed post is thus entitled, How To Choose The Business Model That Suits You Best.
One of the first things you’ll decide when you’re starting your business is the business model that you’ll use. The business model is simply the way in which you’ll deliver your services or products.
For example, you could choose a more customized and one-to-one service based model that’s often used by people like coaches and consultants, or even by companies like praxent.com – or you could go for something that’s more hands-off such as a subscription based model like that of Dollar Shave Club, or even something like Affiliate Marketing.
The point is, when it comes to choosing your business model, there’s really no right or wrong way to go about it – it’s just about finding what fits with your overall business vision, your goals, and your current lifestyle.
So, in this post we’re going to share with you how to choose the business model that suits you best.
Think about your solution:
The solution is basically the thing you offer, so your product or service, and ultimately this is going to determine a large part of your business model. So, for example, if you’re looking to sell custom t-shirts online, then you’re obviously going to be looking at an e-commerce model. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to be constantly designing all day long and splitting your focus between designing and then getting online to sell – there are things you can utilize online such as dropshipping and building a team or just developing systems and processes to help sell your products online.
Of course, you’re not going to be fully restricted to an e-commerce model – well, not in the traditional sense, anyway. If that’s not really what you want to be doing, but you really want to get your t-shirts out there, then you don’t have to it just because that’s how it’s always been done. You could go for a subscription-based model. Plenty of fashion companies offer this, so subscriptions aren’t just for digital products or services – in fact, some of the most successful subscription businesses, such as Dollar Shave Club are offering physical products.
Think about your customer:
The next step is to think about your customer – who they are and how they like to shop. Of course, your decisions shouldn’t be based fully on this, but it’s important to consider them in the process somewhat. If you know your ideal customer well, and you should do by this point if you’ve taken the time to do your research, then it’s important to think about the way they like to experience their purchasing – for example, do they want a one-to-one experience, or do they want downloadable materials and products that they can use in their own time?
Think about the lifestyle you want:
This part is very important when coming up with your business model and is actually the part that many people overlook when they’ve considered the parts above. Remember you started your business so that you don’t feel like you’re working in a job, so you get the luxury of designing your business model to suit the kind of lifestyle you want. If you don’t want to have your schedule dictated to by private client calls, then perhaps a one-to-one business model isn’t going to be the best for you.
Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Outsourcing can be very helpful to your business operations. In some instances you can use an outsourced IT company and it’s important to understand how to get the most out of the collaboration. The following contributed is thus entitled, How to Collaborate with an Outsourced IT Company.
It is now quite evident that many businesses are reliant on IT to be successful but what many aspiring entrepreneurs don’t understand is that they don’t have to be IT geniuses – they just need to hire an IT genius to realize their vision.
Outsourcing is now so fundamental to business that almost any function can be outsourced from PR, HR and Accounting to Cloud Computing. It stands to reason that even the heart of your business idea could be successfully outsourced if you find the right professional to help. Then all you need to focus on is coming up with new ideas and strategies for growth.
Many IT companies such as http://www.sabioit.com/services-solutions/it-consulting-cio-services/ offer a wide range of services from CIO services right through to email management. However, finding the right company and working well with them can be two mutually exclusive ideas.
Here’s how to manage your relationship and make the most of your outsourcing.
Be Clear With Your Vision
As an entrepreneur you really only have one main job: to have awesome ideas and be able to explain them to other people (preferably people with the cash to buy into it!). This is a fundamental skill and yet for so many of us, finding the language to explain a complicated idea so that it can be translated into an IT solution is tough.
If you can’t explain your idea to a company – either because they simply don’t understand or because you don’t have the right approach – your project is going to stand still until you can. A good IT company will try to suggest what you might mean but a great IT company will ask questions until they are sure they know what you mean.
Clarity isn’t always immediate so work on your relationship to develop a common ground you can work with. This should make future collaboration easier.
Welcome Alternative Ideas
Of course, it could be that you are struggling to communicate your idea because your IT company knows that there is a simpler solution. In this case, it is vital that you are able to let go and welcome new ideas. Being more open minded and focusing on the results is the best way to work. Does it really matter whether you use your idea or their idea to get to what you want?
If you are not an IT expert yourself, it is very likely that the company you outsource to will have all kinds of alternative ideas for you to consider. To work well together, you might find that it is actually easier to present them with a problem first rather than a solution. Compare and contrast the solutions you both come up with and you could just find a game-changing alternative to bring to your industry.
Collaboration with an outside company may not seem as sensible as bringing in your own employees but when you are right at the beginning, it is important that you save money where you can but also get the highest quality product you can afford. It makes sense.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When running a business of any kind, no one can possibly know everything, and no can has the time to do everything. This underscores the importance of outsourcing. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Why You Need to Become Comfortable with Outsourcing in Your Small Business.
You know, entrepreneurs are pretty notorious for being desperate to micromanage absolutely everything in their lives. This isn’t too surprising when you consider the fact that they put themselves in the uniquely difficult position of having to be solely responsible for the success and performance of an entire business.
Of course, any entrepreneur worth his salt will need to be able to take responsibility and ownership for what happens in his professional life. That being said, though, there is such a thing as too much.
Entrepreneurs who fail to become comfortable with outsourcing elements of their business at some point, inevitably end up sabotaging themselves and having a much more difficult life than is necessary.
Here are some reasons why you really need to become comfortable with outsourcing in your small business.
Your time is a limited resource — you’re only human — so you need to be able to focus on what will really move your life forward
Have you ever looked at an extremely successful figure in business, such as Warren Buffett, and asked yourself the question “how is it possible that one person can achieve so much?”
Well, a major part of the answer is that these people treat their time as the most valuable resource they have.
Warren Buffett may have far more money than you think you could ever even dream of owning yourself, but he only has the same 24-hours in his day that you do. What makes the difference, is that he knows how to leverage time as effectively as possible.
Outsourcing allows you to focus your time and energies on those areas where you can make the biggest impact. By allowing companies such as Outsourced IT Support to handle your IT support, for example, you may save hours in a given week that can then be spent on more fruitful activities.
If your business ever grows beyond a certain point, you will likely need to be able to comfortably defer tasks anyway
When you first start your business, it may seem almost inconceivable that it will one day become large enough that you absolutely need to bring in additional team members.
Nonetheless, if you are running your business right, and it becomes as successful as you might hope, it is almost inevitable that you will need to learn to work with employees sooner or later.
Suffice to say, unless you become comfortable with outsourcing tasks to other people, you will end up being one of those bosses who everyone hates, who tries to micromanage it all, and who stalls the progress of the business as a result.
Certain third party professionals will simply do a better job in certain areas than you would
If you are an entrepreneur, you are likely a very enterprising person.
But no matter how enterprising you may be, there is no chance that you are going to be the best at every possible dimension of a given business.
Inevitably, certain third-party professionals will simply do a better job in certain areas then you, yourself, would.
Outsourcing, therefore, may actually improve the overall performance of your business. You just need to have the humility to step back a little bit.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. It’s important to know what customers value most about your products. This will ensure that they come back for repeat business. It’s important for all business owners to ponder their products and what customers like. The following contributed post is thus entitled, What Really Matters About A Product.
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Any business that creates products to sell needs to have a strong idea of how to design those products in a way that will actually, well, sell. This simple enough fact is nonetheless very often hard to really grasp the details of, and for that reason most entrepreneurs find that they struggle for a long time before they manage to actually create products which sell well and which customers get a lot out of. If you are keen to try and better understand what your products need to have in order to sell better, then read on. In this post, we will discuss some of the things that really matter about a product, and what you can do to make sure that you have fully considered them when you are designing your own products.
First of all, you will want to make sure that any product you develop actually has a strong purpose, and that it is highly original in this more than anything else. Having an original purpose is hugely important in ensuring that people are actually going to buy and enjoy using it, and so you will want to think about this when you are first sitting down to start designing product ideas in the first place. As long as a product has an original purpose, you will find that plenty of people buy it and find it useful, which is ultimately what you are going for here. So make sure that you lead our product design with the question of what you are hoping to achieve first. If you work that way around, you are bound to much more easily satisfy this aspect of product design.
Packaging
Although you might consider it to be something of a last minute decision, actually the packaging that you choose for your product is hugely important in terms of whether or not it will actually sell. If you want to make sure that customers feel a sense of affinity with your product in the moment when they actually see it on the shelf, then packaging is going to need to be just right. A big part of this too is the labelling, which you will probably want to leave to professionals such as Pro-Motion Industries to make sure it is just right. The label itself, as well as conveying important information, becomes an important part of the marketing process, and ensures that the product is much more likely to sell.
The more professional a product is, the more likely it is that people will respect it and want to try it out, yet this is something which a lot of businesses and entrepreneurs fail to really pay attention to. The truth is that you need to make sure your product is as professional as possible if you are going to sell plenty of units, in part because professionalism displays that you take it seriously and that you actually put effort into the product and in part because it will make it look more impressive as an end result. Be professional, and the rest will surely follow.
Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Whatever your business is, its important to think about how you can make your operations eco-friendly. The following contributed post is thus entitled, How To Make Your Business More Eco-Friendly.
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With global warming becoming an increasing concern, it’s more apparent now than ever that more businesses need to do more to help the environment and be more eco-friendly. So here are a few ways you can make your business a little greener!
A lot of businesses can end up using monumental amounts of paper and other stationery every year. Not to mention the cost of it can really impact the profits made on a business. Therefore, it’s beneficial to go digital with as much of the organization as possible. If documents can avoid going to print then save them on your computers. A lot of businesses are going digital because there’s plenty of positives to it. It’s greener, and it’s much more cost effective.
Recycle
It’s no surprise that a lot of businesses, particularly those within cities, may not be so hot on recycling. If your business is unable to print less, then at least you can make an impact by recycling it. The paper and waste you do recycle can go back into making recycled products and materials that are biodegradable. Encourage this practice around the workplace, having clear bins for general waste and recycling. Put up signage and tell heads of departments to take charge of their own area’s waste.
Energy Efficient Equipment
Nowadays, there’s a lot more choice in equipment for the workplace whether that’s a certain type of printer used in the workspace or a kettle for the kitchen. If you have the budget, try buying new appliances for the office that are energy efficient. Yes, it might be an expense, to begin with but over time it could end up saving you a lot of money on utility bills and overall running costs within the company. It’ll also cut down those scope 1 emissions if you’re currently using a lot of fossil fuels in your business.
Introduce Flexible Working Hours
Fewer people in the building means less energy used in the workplace on a daily basis. Introducing flexible working hours has plenty of benefits if it’s something you are able to do within the organization. A lot of employees are after the right balance of work and life, and with flexible working, this gives them the freedom to work smarter and enjoy life more. The business will earn more loyalty and respect, but it’ll also mean the cost of running the office will be noticeably less.
Encourage Staff To Go Green
As a business, you have a certain influence over your employees, and if you promote a greener environment in the office, you could also make a change to your staff’s own lifestyle at home. Do your best to encourage a greener living environment from giving incentives like cycling to work schemes or gift cards for promoting greener living.
Being more eco-friendly is going to save money for business, helps with the health of your staff and benefits your local community. So what are you waiting for? Go green today and contribute towards a better earth.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Business Expos are important events for getting the word out about your business, products and services. They’re also important for getting to know others in your sector – both allies and competitors. The following contributed post is thus entitled, How to Make the most of Your First Business Expo.
Exhibitions can be a great way of getting your brand known. You generally have a captive audience who are attending because of an interest in your line of business, and shows can produce new customers and extra sales.
If you have never been a part of an exhibition or trade show before, you may need some pointers to ensure that you make the most of the opportunity.
Exhibitors Are There To Sell
Don’t try to sell to other exhibitors unless they approach you. This is the biggest complaint that comes out of trade shows as they feel they could be losing out on potential sales while they are talking to you.
Overcome Fears Of Approaching People
Don’t be afraid to approach people that may be interested in your products. They may well reject any assistance and tell you they are only looking, but do not be put off by this, as just as many visitors could turn into customers.
Be Prepared To Accept Payments
This might sound like advice you do not need because of course, you will accept payment for your goods. The problem is that you need to be able to accept all types of payment, as there are many consumers that will only pay with a card. Choose a mobile POS system that will allow you to take payments wherever you are. This may not be the only exhibition that you take part in, and a device such as this could well be useful for future events too.
Be Pleasant And Polite
Greet anyone that approaches your stand with a smile and always be polite. Civility costs nothing but could gain you some new customers. Make sure that anyone assisting you acts in the same way.
Show the event on your social media pages, as this could well bring more people to visit. If they are aware of your business they will look out for your stand, and once again you have more potential new customers. You could share valuable content if someone makes an interesting speech, if something funny happens or perhaps if there are amazing new innovations.
Follow Up
The next day you should send follow up messages to any new contacts you have made at the expo. You should also respond to anyone that follows up with you. These connections can be useful in business and who knows when you may meet them again at future trade shows and exhibitions.
Take An Ample Supply Of Business Cards
Make sure you have an ample supply of business cards to hand out. This is one thing you should make sure you do not run out of as potential customers may leave it a while before they come back to you, and without a card, they may lose your details. You should also collect them from other people, and make a small note on the back of each one as a reminder of who they were.
Exhibitions are not always the cheapest of marketing strategies but they can be the most effective if you utilize all the different ways they can help your business to grow.
One of the focuses of my blog is STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), and my most central principle is “Creating Ecosystems of Success”. While we tend to think of clinical medicine as strictly a ‘healthcare’ profession, its foundations are actually rooted in the ‘Basic Sciences’. In late 2017, I discovered Dr. Quinn Capers IV on Twitter one day by chance and started following him when he was tweeting about medical education at the Ohio State University. The hashtag he used in most of his tweets, #BlackMenInMedicine, further piqued my curiosity.
Representation in the healthcare sector is absolutely central to bridging the gap between doctors and their patients. Representation comes in different shapes. On the one hand, solutions such as EHR systems that enable healthcare to better practice what they preach and represent medical excellence for their patients, catch our interests. But, on the other hand, a varied team of healthcare specialists from different social, racial, and economical backgrounds is also crucial for a more inclusive representation in the medical sector. Here, we discuss inclusive representation in the current medical landscape.
Last year I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Capers about his path and #BlackMenInMedicine. To see our 2018 interview go to Dr. Quinn Capers, IV discusses his path, #BlackMenInMedicine, and the present landscape of medical education. Dr. Capers recently granted me the opportunity to interview him a second time. In this follow up interview we discuss the concept of ‘Implicit Bias’, why it’s important, and the hashtag, ‘#DropAndGiveMe20’. The images in this interview were graciously shared by Dr. Capers himself. Click on any of the images to enlarge them.
Anwar Dunbar: Hello, Dr. Capers and happy New Year. I want to thank you for the opportunity to interview you again. As the Dean of Admissions at the Ohio State University’s Medical School, your words are very, very valuable, especially for students aspiring to attend medical school. Before we get into ‘Implicit Bias’, the last time we spoke we spent quite a bit of time on the hashtag #BlackMenInMedicine. I now see you using a second hastag, #DropAndGiveMe20. Where did this hashtag and the whole push-ups piece come from? Did you start that?
Quinn Capers: The #DropAndGiveMe20 campaign is a great story. I’m a big fan of Ohio State University (OSU) Football. For years, while watching the games on television, I’ve had a fun routine of doing 10 push-ups every time they score a touchdown. I picked push-ups because they don’t require equipment or much physical space. They’re a good measure of overall upper body strength and they get your heart rate up. Mostly, I wanted to feel like I was exerting myself while the players were on the field exerting themselves. It’s just fun.
I’ve done it at sports bars and experienced both strange looks and strangers joining in! In November 2017, my wife recorded me doing this after an OSU touchdown and I thought it’d be cool to put it on Twitter to spark excitement among OSU football fans. I got a few responses, but the best one was from an interventional cardiologist at UCLA, Dr. William Suh (he is now a great Twitter friend or a “Tweep”), who said he could top that; and would do 20 for every UCLA Bruin touchdown. So he did 20, then when OSU scored another touchdown, I did 20.
QC: Well, we both had Twitter followers who are cardiologists and since heart doctors love promoting exercise, they joined the fun and challenged other cardiologists. I guess you could say that Dr. Suh and I are the “co-founders” if you must, but it has grown so fast and so many are responsible for spreading it that it really is a group effort now. It grew quickly to include other specialties, non-physicians, and even patients. In fact some of the most regular and awesome participants are patients; one a heart transplant survivor. They’re simply incredible.
It grew fast under the hashtag “#DropAndGiveMe20” and it’s now international with participants all over the world posting clips from places like the following: Sydney (Australia), London, and Lagos, Nigeria. We post daily and give each other positive feedback, hold each other accountable, and promote wellness and exercise. One of my main goals is to promote exercise as a way to improve heart health and to show that you don’t have to wait to go to a gym, since it can be hard to work a full day and plan to go to a gym afterwards. I’ll usually post clips of myself doing push-ups during my work day in the cardiac cath lab, in my office between meetings, or even in an auditorium after giving a lecture. Others have posted clips in unusual settings, like at dinner parties.
AD: Nice.
QC: I’ll tell you about two of my favorite clips. There’s a very famous female cardiologist who posted clips of herself doing push-ups at the airport terminal awaiting her flight. A prominent British cardiologist topped that by doing his on a moving walkway at London’s Heathrow Airport (not recommended, by the way)! We have great fun adding humorous wrinkles to it, like adding more and more people in a clip. I suppose I took it to new heights recently when I concluded a live simulcast lecture to a group of medical residents in Cameroon by asking them to do push-ups with me! They complied and we completed what might be the first, simultaneous, international push-up session!
I also take the opportunity to share my love and knowledge of jazz, hip-hop, and R & B/Funk music. My clips are always accompanied by a musical selection from my collection. I always credit and tag the musicians (if they have a Twitter handle), hoping to spark curiosity about certain hidden gems and send my Twitter followers “digging in the crates” to support the music. I was beyond thrilled when two different artists supplying the soundtrack to my push-ups responded to my tweet, the hip hop group “Digable Planets” and saxophone legend Branford Marsalis!
It’s great fun, and a very friendly Twitter community has grown around it. We now arrange to meet up at conventions (cardiology or otherwise) and do a “#DropAndGiveMe20!” Regarding the health benefits, doing push-ups can provide positive reinforcement in a relatively short period of time. Last November I could barely do 25 at one time, now I can max out at 43. Anyone is welcome to join the fun. If you can’t do 20, start with 1 or 2 push-ups! By the way, Dr. Dunbar, you and your readers are welcome to join anytime. Just record yourself, post it on Twitter with the hashtag “#DropAndGiveMe20” and tag your colleagues to get them involved.
AD: Okay, Dr. Capers. I haven’t done push-ups in a while, but now I may have to see if I can crank out 20 (laughing).
I noticed that after starting to follow you, ‘Implicit Bias’ became something you started addressing. How did this come about? What should the general public, and particularly those looking to get into medical school, understand about it?
QC: Implicit bias is a negative or positive attitude towards a person or group that occurs outside of our awareness, intention, or control. Although these biases occur outside of our awareness, they can influence behavior, possibly resulting in well-meaning people treating others differently based on race, gender, age, etc. I came across the concept as a cardiologist interested in racial healthcare disparities. Disparities have many causes, like social determinants of health, housing discrimination, unequal access to the best care, outright racism (explicit bias) of practitioners, structural bias in the healthcare system, etc.
I became intrigued with the notion of implicit or unconscious bias and its potential role in unequal treatment. Several studies have shown that a physician’s unconscious association of negative thoughts or words with a particular race or gender can be associated with therapeutic decisions that are harmful to persons in that group. For instance, one widely quoted paper had physicians take the computer-based implicit association test (IAT) that’s designed to uncover implicit associations or biases (free, available at implicit.harvard.edu) and then review case vignettes of a black or white male suffering from a heart attack.
Doctors were asked if they thought the symptoms of chest discomfort were indicative of a heart problem and if they’d treat the patient with a life-saving drug to terminate the heart attack. Physicians whose IAT showed “implicit white race preference” or an unconscious association of a white person’s face with good words (love, joy, warmth) and a black person’s face with bad words (danger, misery, trouble) were less likely to treat the black patient with the drug despite the black and white patients having identical presentations (1). It is important to note that this is not racism, which is a conscious, explicit bias. But implicit bias can potentially have life-and-death consequences in healthcare. While not all studies of implicit bias show an association with a doctor’s decision-making, enough do to cause alarm.
AD: That’s interesting.
QC: In addition to being a cardiologist I have the great privilege of serving as the Associate Dean for Admissions at the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine, and I’m responsible for overseeing the recruitment, interview, and selection processes for our incoming medical students. When I reviewed a paper that showed that approximately 70% of a large group of physicians taking the IAT have implicit white race preference (2), I immediately pictured our medical school admissions committee and the fact that it is composed largely of physicians, and I had several questions: Do the physicians charged with the awesome responsibility of deciding who will become a doctor have implicit racial biases? If so, to what extent? If so, might it influence their decision-making and put black and Hispanic applicants at a disadvantage?
We set out to answer these questions and had our entire committee take the race IAT in 2012. Aggregate results revealed that a significant portion of the committee (between 50 and 70%) had an implicit white race preference. Next, Dr. Anthony Greenwald, implicit bias expert and one of the inventors of the IAT, led the committee in a discussion of implicit bias and how to reduce it. In the very next cycle we matriculated the most racially diverse class in the history of the college, suggesting that we are able to overcome implicit biases. This was the first paper to document the presence and extent of implicit racial bias in the medical school admissions process (3).
Our results indicated to us that we could have what we thought was a fair, objective process, on the surface, but that unconscious biases could put certain groups of candidates at a disadvantage. Since then we’ve had robust discussions about implicit bias and annual workshops on bias mitigation. I recently completed a training program leading to certification to moderate implicit bias workshops, and I do so twice a month. This goes beyond admissions and is open to the entire medical center. So far we have trained over 1,000 physicians, nurses, staff and students in bias mitigation strategies. It is a real passion and we are trying to make a difference.
QC: We’re always tweaking the curriculum to help produce physicians who are ready to advance healthcare. We’re on the cusp of a new expansion with blueprints for a new hospital building and a health professions education building. And finally, we are continuing to leverage the fact that we have one of the most diverse medical student bodies in the country to enhance medical education and community outreach. In other words, we are continuing our forward progress.
Thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you and your readers. Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year!
AD: Thank you, Dr. Capers. I look forward to talking again and trying the push-up challenge.
Thank you for taking the time to read this interview. If you’ve enjoyed this, you might also enjoy:
For the next phase of my writing journey, I’m starting a monthly newsletter for my writing and video content creation company, the Big Words LLC. In it, I plan to share inspirational words, pieces from this blog and my first blog, and select videos from my four YouTube channels. Finally, I will share updates for my book project The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Your personal information and privacy will be protected. Click this link and register using the sign-up button at the bottom of the announcement. If there is some issue signing up using the link provided, you can also email me at bwllcnl@gmail.com . Best Regards.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. In order for your business to go to the next level, you may want to think about outsourcing. Not only can you leverage the skill sets of others in certain areas, but it can free you up to focus on other important tasks. The following contributed post is therefore entitled, Why Your Business Will Benefit From Outsourcing.
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You’ve probably heard of outsourcing before and wondered why or how it can be useful for your business. Outsourcing is where you pay a freelancer or another business to help you with your business without the need to hire them full-time. So, here’s why your business will benefit from outsourcing.
If you’re running a business where you’re in charge of a large chunk of tasks, you’ll soon find (if you haven’t already) that you’re overrun with administrative tasks that although they are important, they simply aren’t a priority. Outsourcing in a situation like this will allow you to lighten part of your workload without having to hire someone full-time.
Peace of mind
There’s likely to be aspects of your business that if and when they go wrong, you wouldn’t know where to turn. Things like the toilet leaking or your computer systems breaking down could indeed, have a negative impact on your business. Did you know that you can get IT consulting for businesses, where they can come out when there’s an issue? Rather than hiring a full-time IT consultant you can have them ready and waiting. Also, you can eliminate the worry of ‘what if’ when you have companies like these lined up.
Cost-effective
We’ve mentioned a fair few times about the benefit of not having to hire someone full-time, and that’s exactly what makes outsourcing so cost-effective. Only paying for their services as and when you need them will save you plenty of money that you could be injecting back into your business.
Increased efficiency
While you may already have members of staff that could take on some of these tasks, will they be completed in good time? It’s likely that everyone in your team has enough tasks on their plate as it is, and that’s why outsourcing can help. The person or company that you choose will be able to complete your tasks and allow for better efficiency in your office.
Expert help
Finally, your team may be packed to the brim of intelligent and skilled people, but nobody knows everything. Outsourcing gives wiggle room for expert advice and help. So, if you’re outsourcing say, a web designer, they’ll be able to give their knowledge across so that you’re getting the most out of your money.
