Lessons Learned From The Podium

Hey, Cadre family doctor Carrie here I am streaming live from my hotel room in Green Bay, Wisconsin. So sorry, kind of a drab background here, but just wanted to share about my experience presenting today. I'm at a conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at a first responder conference, and just had just the most profound revelation that I wanted to share with you guys today. And it's around being coachable. So I stand up there in front of a room of 800 people, whatever it may be, and I'm, quote unquote, the expert in the room.

Right? Like, when I'm presenting on a topic, and I could take that stance as I know more than everybody here in this room on this particular topic, or I could take the stance of, you know what, I might not know everything else more than everybody else in the room. And it takes moments like this today of me getting almost corrected to go, yes, that's why I need to be coachable. And I am so grateful for this person for coming up and correcting me. And this actually happens a lot when I present that somebody will correct something I say.

And I love that they do this because it's not questioning my expertise. It's not questioning if I know what I'm talking about. It's basically saying, like, hey, have you thought about this differently? And so the correction I received today was I did a presentation on older adults, and I mentioned that, you know, most older adults aren't googling their symptoms like our younger counterparts out there who literally Google and tell you what they should be diagnosed with by the time that the ambulance gets there.

Right? And she came up to me and she said, actually, my mom, who's in her nineties, is so tech savvy that she will watch YouTube. She will watch everything. She will google it before she calls 911. And she does the same thing that somebody that's young does. She said, so they're very tech savvy. And I forgot, like, my parents are in their seventies and they're pretty tech savvy. I mean, they have iPhones and there's, like, obviously very much on Facebook and, like, every other thing out there. And I was like, you know, you're right.

I totally misspoke when I said that. And I forgot even that. My parents are considered older, older adults, and they are very tech savvy. And so, you know, I'm sorry I said that. I'll make sure I don't say that next time I speak. And it's just these tiny little things that some will come up and say to me and it's not something that I'm, like, refuting evidence or research about, but I just, I maintain a posture of humility when I speak because if I go up there and assume that I know more than everybody else in the room, then I'm not coachable.

And I just think it's such a profound example of just how we can go about our life. When somebody comes up to you and gives you feedback or questions something, it's the same thing. Are you coachable or are you defensive of. You know what? I know more than you do. I'm the one that they chose to speak. So don't question me. Like. Right. Like, I'm not going to have that kind of response. And I just, I really appreciate that people come up and correct me, I really do. And ask questions and question my knowledge on something.

And so I just want you to take and learn from this because I wasn't always this way. I was not always approachable and coachable, and it's taken working through some pride issues to get to this place. But I just want to encourage you to always be in a posture of being approachable and coachable and just let people question and let people point things out that maybe you didn't notice. And I guarantee things will go easier for you in life. So that's what I wanted to share from my experience today and I just love being able to talk to you guys and share these little nuggets of information.

I hope you guys have a fantastic rest of your day. God bless.