Sorry, how do I advance? Just the mouse? Thanks So I want to thank Anna, AOSSM, and of course the forum for the opportunity to speak today I also want to say I have no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest and that really leads to my first data bite for this talk Which is this 98% of orthopedic industry payments go to male orthopedic surgeons So most women like me have no financial disclosures I want you all to remember that in a few minutes when we talk about the concept of advocacy because it most definitely applies here I Do have a few titles relevant to this talk and I think I'm especially proud of the last one which basically Represents an award from the University of Wisconsin for excellence in junior faculty mentoring I was awarded that this past winter and that topic and Area is very near and dear to my heart and probably forms the basis for why I'm speaking to you today about advocacy and mentorship So by now, I'm pretty sure you've all figured out that this session is not about advocacy as classically defined in medical Organizations like ours a broader definition like that seen here describes the advocacy that I'll be discussing and others will be discussing today And in this context advocacy represents an action on behalf of others and that we all recognize this definition We don't usually see it juxtaposed with a concept of mentoring the difference between these terms Mentorship and advocacy is something I hope you'll take home from this talk and critically I hope you'll think about the importance of being an advocate a mentor a sponsor for others So let's start with mentorship the value of mentorship has been long established It refers to the concept of guidance by a wiser more experienced person for another person with less experience And the word mentor is derived from the name of the teacher whom Odysseus trusted to raise his son Well, he was away at war truly the mentoring relationship at its best has a bit of the sacrosanct about it It's a selfless relationship that is carried out solely for the betterment of the mentee Mentorship is focused on career development of the mentee and it has been shown to increase research productivity academic promotion faculty retention and career satisfaction And in fact mentorship has been described as central to the mission of academic medicine It capitalizes on the intellectual resources of the institution the mentors and it seeks to develop leaders in research patient care and education the mentees it ultimately enhances success in each of these areas and promotes faculty diversity and leadership but if we look at the business world promotion and leadership are more closely tied to the concepts of advocacy and Sponsorship and the difference between these roles is clear a mentor can be almost Anyone who will help you think through the process of navigating your career, but an advocate is someone who will create opportunities for you By definition an advocate is an experienced senior leader who takes an active interest in promoting the career of a protege The advocate gives advice Enlarges or stretches the protege's perception of what is possible and above all serves as a sponsor What constitutes a sponsor from the perspective of the mentee a sponsor uses chips on my behalf? he or she exchanges something of value to meet my needs a sponsor advocates for promotion and makes connections to senior leaders a Sponsor promotes my visibility and connects me to career opportunities and he or she makes outside connections of value and gives career advice in Examining the roles of a sponsor the value of such an individual becomes very clear The ability of an advocate or sponsor to advance the career trajectory of a protege has been termed the sponsor effect And it's clear that it works in business Where larger percentages of individuals with sponsors ask for raises accept stretch assignments and advance at a satisfactory rate in Medicine the concept of sponsorship is also gaining ground in a qualitative study from Johns Hopkins University researchers identified perceptions regarding the value of sponsorship in academic medicine interviewees confirmed the distinct nature of sponsors and mentors and agreed that Sponsorship is critical to career advancement, especially to the highest level roles and Pointedly they acknowledge that women are less likely to seek sponsorship, but require the support it provides in order to be successful This last finding that women are less likely to ask and just as likely to need sponsorship illustrates a critical problem in General it's well known that sponsors and protege's look alike a study among business executives showed that nearly three-quarters of Executives choose protege's whose race and gender match their own This is not surprising but in orthopedic surgery as in other areas most sponsors Remember career established powerful individuals do not look like women or under included minorities There are simply not enough women and minority sponsors to do this job We can look at this more closely. This is the data that dr. Dodds just showed us We see the not-so-amazing rate of change in numbers of women in our Academy here in 2008 4% of all orthopedic surgeons were women and 10 years later in 2018 representation has grown to a whopping 5.8% I Think we are doing slightly better than the historical rate the data shows that women under 40 comprise almost 16% of orthopedic surgeons with declining representation in each decade Reflecting the very low percentages of women trainees 15 20 25 years ago and it sees younger women shown here and in the first red bar who need those mentors Advocates and sponsors that we've been discussing This same Academy data shows an incremental decrease in the Caucasian composition of our organization falling from 89 percent in 2008 to 85 percent in 2018 This represents only a 1% growth in most racial categories So given the significant lack of diversity in our field How can we incorporate advocacy to make a change as I've shown here? There are societies in place and Julie showed us this as well That mentor women and there are pipeline projects to increase the numbers of incoming women to our specialty But once they get in there is much more that must be done to help them grow to leadership roles Some of you who are younger than me might wonder who this woman is here on the right That is Madeleine Albright the first woman Secretary of State and a favorite quote of hers Admonishes each of us who are underrepresented in our specialty to be specially Attendant to our duty as advocates But we've already noted there aren't enough senior women and therefore we must provide sponsorship for the next generation in another way There's an obvious solution and we can turn again to business leaders for advice in this recently published article by two noted experts the case is made that Advocacy is integral to the achievement of gender balance and diversity noting that women receive less information on career advancement and have fewer opportunities for mentorship and Advocacy the authors promote the notion that men must be better sponsors and mentors for women and they give the following advice men in positions of power must Sponsor protégés from a diverse talent pool Identify stretch roles in which their protégé will excel provide opportunities for development and growth Introduce their protégés to influential people in their organization or industry Champion their protégés for recognition and help them persist against difficulties over the long haul I'm certainly not the first to suggest that with the privilege of power comes the duty to serve But this most certainly is a way to serve our societies and our patients sponsoring others to increase diversity in our ranks so in summary mentorship, especially in academic medicine is of major significance in the grooming and Advancement of young faculty in private practice mentorship serves a similar role Guiding the young surgeon as he or she establishes their practice and navigates through the early years Everyone in this room can be a mentor to someone a junior colleague a resident a medical student I encourage all of you to invest yourself in the growth of another the rewards are immeasurable It's also important to note that sponsorship or advocacy is critical to the advancement of others to leadership Positions it relies upon action and revolves around the creation of opportunities for visibility and leadership by those who are in power If you chair a program organize a committee Nominate a future leader. I urge you to consider all of the options before you not just those who look like you Be open to the promotion and sponsorship of any worthy candidate It is only in this way that our organizations and our specialty will thrive Capitalizing on the power of every member to achieve our goals. Thanks for listening

financial disclosures

women

orthopedic industry

mentorship

advocacy