EPIC Alliance Quarterly – 07 / 2015
EPIC Alliance
Feature
F rom Handshaking to History Making – the Value of Networking In 2008, Dallas Weins suffered horrific burns that turned his face into a melted contortion that terrified his child. In 2011, he was given back an identity, and his life, when he became the US’s first full-facial transplant patient. The two key doctors behind this medical marvel met each other a few years before - at a conference. According to Diane Darling, EPIC Alliance members should keep this example in mind, because by attending networking events, they too can strike game-changing partnerships that break new ground in their field.
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s. Darling, an international xpert on networking, has e worked with scores of clients, from 20th Century Fox to Motorola, and taught at several universities including the Harvard Business School and London School of Economics. She has also spoken at EPIC Alliance events and repeatedly encouraged members to make getting to know each other part of their job.
“By simply taking some time away from work to network, people enjoy their job a lot more and learn things that help them go back to work with fresh eyes.” She also sympathizes that there are many obstacles in the way for women EPs who want to attend congresses and networking events: opposition from their superiors, financial restrictions and a hectic work schedule to name just a few. Due to this, they often cannot attend and suffer a detrimental knock-on effect on their careers as a result. “These women are really busy. They are too busy being good at their jobs, at being an expert
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Dr. Emily Rose and Dr. Susan Eisenberg making connections at a recent EPIC Alliance networking event
in the industry, at keeping people alive, to think about ‘socializing’,”commented Ms. Darling, “but by simply taking some time away from work to network, people enjoy their job a lot more and learn things that help them go back to work with fresh eyes.” She also noted that many women, EPIC members included, underestimate themselves and rarely give themselves credit for the networking they are doing. “Even if it’s talking to someone on a plane or in a waiting room, it’s all practice, but women don’t think of it like that. The EPIC members I talked to in Chicago in April seem like they never thought about networking
before. Women listen and understand the nuances a little bit better than men. It comes naturally to a lot of women so we don’t necessarily value it, but it is valuable.” She added that the ‘value’ may not be apparent for a long time. “The first time I worked with women cardiologists was over 10 years ago. Someone from that event asked me to talk to EPIC Alliance. I have now worked with them several times. This shows that the networking you do today may not be felt today, but it doesn’t mean that it will never be felt,” Ms. Darling told EPIC Alliance Quarterly. “And the best place to make
EPIC Alliance Quarterly – 07 / 2015
professional connections is to attend conferences. Where else can you meet so many peers who are facing the same or similar issues as yourself? Knowing the right person to contact for help will get the job done a lot faster.”
Networking expert Diane Darling
Sara Laschever, a Princeton-educated writer and teacher who has spent most of her life focusing on women’s career challenges, agrees that women undervalue themselves professionally. “Women struggle to estimate accurately what they’re worth, what they deserve, and what they can and should ask for. They have what social scientists call an impaired sense of entitlement,” Ms. Laschever, who has addressed EPIC Alliance networking events, noted. As such, she reasons that it is especially important for women to get involved in networks. “Men negotiate more than women do, in part because they have more information about what’s available: changes in organizational priorities, new resources and opportunities, chances for further training or
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EPIC Alliance
professional development – and they get a lot of this information from their social and professional networks. Women are typically excluded completely or peripheral to men’s networks, through which men share a lot of information as well as advice: not just about what to ask for, but who to ask, how to ask and when to ask.”
“Women listen and understand the nuances a little bit better than men. It comes naturally to a lot of women so we don’t necessarily value it, but it is valuable.” Ms. Laschever says that women should assume everything is negotiable and not be afraid to go after personal goals. “Figure out what you need to move ahead toward your personal goals, and then try asking for those things that will make the biggest difference to your success,” she advised. “The EPIC Alliance seems like just the group for female EPs to do this. It is full of highly accomplished, mutually supportive professional women. I found them to be hospitable, warm, and interested in my work and in helping each other.” However, she sensed frustration among members as well. “After so many years of training and such high academic and professional accomplishments, they still face significant barriers, feel their work is poorly understood and underappreciated, and they know there’s still a lot of progress to be made.”
Laschever, author and women’s career expert
One of the founding members of the EPIC Alliance and this issue’s EPIC Woman, Sabine Ernst, says that these challenges can be overcome together. She cites not starting the network before as her only professional regret, because it is such an important support system. “Someone should have started EPIC much earlier, and then I would have found a great female mentor when I was looking for one. EPIC offers a unique platform of interaction and I always take something home from every meeting we have.” Concluding, Ms. Darling, who has worked with clients from every corner of the business spectrum, pointed out that the fundamental human need to get to know others and to make yourself known, is universal. “People are the same the world over,” she commented, “we all want to feel like we belong and like we can make a contribution to the world. If you’re working in medicine or the movie business, the benefits from making connections with your peers is the same. It makes you better at your job, and makes you a better, happier person.”