Caryn Lerman, Director of Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at Keck Medicine of USC, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“When I’ve Said ‘Everything Will Be Fine’ and Everyone Knows It Won’t.
I’ve said it. More than once. ‘Everything will be fine.’ Or ‘We will be ok.’ And as the words left my mouth, I knew most of my team didn’t believe me.
Throughout my career in academic medicine, I’ve felt the pressure to toe the party line. And right now, in this climate of NIH uncertainty and budget cuts hitting universities everywhere, that pressure is intense.
Budget’s tight but we’ll figure it out. Morale’s low but it’ll bounce back. The grants will come through. Things are on the upswing.
But here’s what I learned the hard way: People are smarter than that.
They see the hiring freeze. They watch colleagues leave and not get replaced. They feel the exhaustion from having to do more with less support. And, in this climate, if I stand up and say ‘everything will be fine,’ what they would hear is: She either doesn’t see what we’re dealing with or doesn’t care enough to speak the truth.
So here’s what I say more often now: ‘I know this sucks. Let’s figure it out together.’
Trust isn’t built on optimism. It’s built on truth.”
More posts featuring Caryn Lerman on OncoDaily.