On today's episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, I had the pleasure of collaborating with Dr. Gene Shirokobrod from the Therapy Insiders Podcast to discuss female leadership in physical therapy. Gene is a doctor of physical therapy and entrepreneur and is currently the CEO of Recharge LLC and CEO and co-founder of UpDoc Media. He is also the co-inventor of arc and has had experience with crowdfunding, having raised $30k in 40 days on Kickstarter.

In this episode, we discuss:

-Why are women not thought of as leaders in the physical therapy profession?

-Creative solutions for hiring the best fit for your company's culture

-Enhancing the female voice through amplification

-How to grow an audience with solid content and consistency

-Strategies to overcome imposter syndrome and how to foster an environment for vulnerability

-And so much more!

Although women occupy many of the highest leadership roles in physical therapy, the influence of female therapists at professional conferences and on social media is not comparable. At a higher level, Gene notes, "We hark on evidence based and we hark on following data and data has shown that women are as good and in most cases better leaders than men but we are still entrenched in more traditional mindset of leadership."

Both Gene and I stress that more conversation around gender in leadership roles in physical therapy needs to continue with the overall goal to ensure equality of opportunity. Gene believes, "It's about having the opportunity to be a leader and be seen based on merit and not on sex."

Many different qualities can encompass successful leadership however the one value a leader must possess is the ability to, "make sure that other people around you are succeeding and I don't think that that's sex dependent."

For more information on Gene:

Dr. Gene Shirokobrod is a physical therapist guided by entrepreneurial passion. He is the CEO of Verve LLC, who along with his business partner Corey Fleischer, developed and created arc. In 2014, arc was successfully funded on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, raising over $30k in 40 days. After the launch of arc, Dr. Gene and Corey had the great experience of auditioning for Shark Tank. They made it through round 1 and being called to move on to round 2. While working as a full time clinician, Dr. Gene started a podcast called Therapy Insiders. What started out as a fun hobby, quickly grew into a serious endeavor. Therapy Insiders steadily gained listeners and followers, eventually reaching #1 Medical Podcast on iTunes. Due to the success of Therapy Insiders, Dr. Gene co-founded UpDoc Media, a company focused on producing high quality custom content and digital marketing for healthcare companies. UpDoc media launched with 4 podcasts, focusing on business, fitness, running and of course medicine. UpDoc media is focused on providing "content you NEED to know, that is delivered with clinical precision." In March 2017, he became CEO of his new venture Recharge. The company is a unique combination of physical therapy, CrossFit and Mindfulness training. Incorporating three important elements of health under one roof with a focus on the customer experience and fun. Recharge is home to HoCo CrossFit which is also owned by Recharge. Dr. Gene is also an adjunct faculty member at University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Physical Therapy, which is also where he received his doctorate degree. When not focusing on growing his companies, he is chasing his son Aaron (5) and daughter Zoe (1) with the help of his wife Jaimie.

Resources discussed on this show:

Women in Physical Therapy Summit

Therapy Insiders Podcast

Gene Shirokobrod twitter

UpDoc Media

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Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!

Xo Karen

P.S. Do you want to be a