Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here. 

It feels uncomfortable to celebrate our own accomplishments, doesn’t it? 

Especially for women — for high-achieving women — it can feel almost off-limits to own what we’ve worked so hard for. 

Maybe we celebrate quietly, at home with the people who know us best. Because that feels safe. 

But at work? On stage? In the boardroom? Oh man… on social media? Eek. 

What is it about putting ourselves out there — even when we’ve done something amazing — that feels so vulnerable? 

As it turns out, it’s not just in our heads. There are inner stories we’ve learned to believe and outer systems that quietly reinforce them. 

But here’s the good news: once we can see those patterns for what they are, we can start to shift them — and when we do, it changes everything. For us. For our teams. And for the culture we lead in. 

So today, I want to talk about what’s really behind that hesitation — why so many of us downplay success even when we’ve earned every bit of it. 

Because it’s not just humility. It’s a mix of old habits, hidden narratives, and the systems we work in. 

From the quiet voice of impostor syndrome, to the cultural conditioning that tells women to shrink, to the environments that still make confidence look like arrogance — it’s all connected. 

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

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Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

Have you ever caught yourself tolerating something — or someone — that didn’t sit right… just to keep the peace? To seem nice? To avoid the awkwardness?

That was me — recently — after hosting what should’ve been a lovely dinner with new friends.

It’s funny how often women, especially in medicine, find ourselves in this dance — smoothing over moments, filling the silence, pretending we’re fine when someone crosses a line.

We call it being polite, but really, it’s people-pleasing dressed up as professionalism.

We’re taught:

·       To keep the peace.

·       To stay composed.

·       To smile through the discomfort.

And it happens everywhere — in medicine, in motherhood, in friendships.

That moment we swallow our discomfort for the sake of being “nice.”

We tell ourselves we’re keeping the peace… but really, we’re losing a piece of ourselves.

Because somewhere along the way, we started mistaking approval for connection.

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

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Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

Have you ever walked away from a conversation thinking, Did that really just happen?

That was me — after an interview that revealed more about bias in medicine than any research article ever could.

Because when you’re the first woman in the room — or one of the few — the culture of that room is rarely built with you in mind.

It’s a culture shaped by the men who made it. And in medicine that is often one of hierarchy and authority — where confidence is measured in grey hair, and presence often looks like taking up space, not making space.

So we adapt.

We nod and smile trying to understand, soften our tone, hold onto our ideas until the “right time,” and work twice as hard to be heard.

It’s not just individual bias; it’s ingrained, unconscious and cultural.

And once you start noticing it, you can’t unsee it.

I want to be clear, this episode isn’t about blaming — it’s about naming.

Because when we all start naming bias for what it is and start talking about it, we stop normalizing it.

And when we stop normalizing it, we start changing the culture of medicine for good.

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

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Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

Have you ever walked into work and felt that weight in the air? The kind where you hope you don’t run into anyone in the elevator? Where Sunday night already feels heavy because Monday morning is looming? 

And it’s not the patients or the work you dread — it’s the culture. The unspoken tension that makes everything harder. Or maybe it is spoken by way of constant background complaints with nothing actually changing.

Now think about the opposite. 

A team where you actually look forward to sign-out because of who’s in the room. Where even on the busiest days, the huddle starts with encouragement. With people having each other’s backs. Where there are no dumb questions, and humility and empathy come naturally.

That kind of culture doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built — slowly, intentionally, and with the kind of leadership that’s willing to do the hard, often invisible work.

And here’s the truth: as a physician leader, you have the power to shape that culture. The question is — what kind of environment do you want to create?

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

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Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

I believe that most people are good.

That idea isn’t just a country song lyric — it’s a motto that’s shaped how I move through life.

My guiding principle? Assume positive intent.

This practice of positivity can influence your brain in powerful ways. It can also influence those around you — in ways you may never even see.

This simple mindset has changed how I lead, how I parent, how I partner, and how I show up at work.

Think about some daily friction points:

·       An insistent nurse calls you repeatedly about what seems like a small issue.

·       Your partner snaps at you while making weekend plans.

·       A patient overreacts to a tweak in their care plan.

·       A resident resists doing a needed procedure.

In each case, the easy move is to assume frustration, ill will, or incompetence. But what if you paused — and instead asked: “What’s going on underneath this?”

Because everyone has a backstory you may never see.

Let’s dig into the depth behind curiosity, the neuroscience of positivity, and how to apply this mindset — especially as women physician leaders working in complex, high-pressure environments. 

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

Follow the show so you never miss an episode.

Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

As women physicians in leadership, we are constantly making decisions. 

Some of them small — what meetings to attend, who to call back first. Some of them enormous — how to allocate scarce resources, how to support a struggling colleague, how to protect time for our own families.

The truth? We make hundreds of decisions a day. And with every decision comes risk: decision fatigue, second-guessing, even burnout.

But here’s the secret most of us were never taught in medical school or leadership training: the antidote to that constant decision pressure isn’t more checklists, more pro-con lists, or more efficiency hacks. It’s values.

Your values are the compass that cuts through the noise.

When you know them, and trust them, decisions get clearer. You stop second guessing yourself and start standing in alignment.

So in today’s episode, we’ll talk about how you can uncover your true values and how to use them as a compass to guide you as both a physician and a leader.

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

Follow the show so you never miss an episode.

Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

Do you ever find yourself “working” before work just so you can have a smoother day? Because, once the “real” workday hits, it’s nonstop.

• Patients. 
• Students and residents.
• Meetings. 
• Emails. 
• Fires to put out.
• People just asking you for things.

It’s easy to feel like I’m sprinting from start to finish without ever taking a moment to pause.

For so many reasons, women physicians tend to jam pack their days from sun up until they finally hit the pillow at night.

It’s a habit deeply ingrained in us.

Then we step into leadership, often without formal training… and if we do receive leadership training, the focus rarely lands on this one pivotal thing:

Caring for ourselves directly improves the way we lead.

The truth is, leadership is not just about what we give to others, it’s also about how we sustain ourselves.

One of the simplest ways to do that is through gratitude.

Not the big, performative kind… but quiet, intentional moments that take seconds, yet can shift the tone of an entire day. 

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

Follow the show so you never miss an episode.

Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

Have you ever moved through your entire day… only to realize you barely remember it?

You showed up. You rounded. You answered the emails, led the meeting, signed the forms, handled the thing no one else caught — and still, it all blurs together.

You race to pick up the kids. You’re already late. There’s still dinner, and homework, and messages waiting once they’re finally asleep.

And somewhere in there, you might wonder:

Is this it? Is this just what it is now?

As women physicians and leaders, we know how to run a full day. We know how to perform under pressure, to solve problems before anyone else even names them.

But knowing how to go fast is not the same as knowing where to slow down.

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

Follow the show so you never miss an episode.

Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

As a pediatrician in a children’s hospital within an adult hospital within a healthcare system built for adults, I’ve learned just how steep the climb can be when you're fighting for buy-in. 

Every day you need buy-in:

• for your patients
• for your team, and
• for what you know is right.

Have you ever found yourself certain of the right course of action, only to come up against a system with priorities and processes that feel completely misaligned? I have.

When the stakes are high, it can feel like the only option is to shout from the rooftops — to make noise, push harder, and speak louder. After all, how else will people understand what you know so clearly?

But here’s what I’ve learned: being the squeaky wheel rarely works. Especially in medicine. 

Busy doctors, like all humans, are creatures of habit. And change — the kind that actually sticks — it’s slow. It’s uncomfortable.

And it takes more than just being right.

It takes strategy. It takes vision. It takes patience.

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

Follow the show so you never miss an episode.

Find the full transcript for this episode and more resources for Women Physician Leaders here.

Physician leaders, let’s be honest, it takes a serious amount of conscious effort to carve out time for ourselves.

Prioritizing sleep, movement, nutrition, in addition to the reflection that is necessary to make us strong leaders, not to mention, trying to make sure we are there for all of the important events in our families’ lives too. 

Add in perfectionism and a lifetime of people-pleasing, and suddenly boundaries feel impossible.

But here’s the truth: without strong boundaries, leadership and a balanced life aren’t even a thing. 

You burn out, resentment builds, and the very people you’re trying to serve get less of you, not more.

In today’s episode, I want to flip the script. 

I’ll walk you through what I see as the five pillars of building boundaries that actually hold — so you can lead with clarity, protect your energy, and show up as the leader your team deserves.

Saying “no” is hard enough, but this is about way more than that. It’s about saying yes to what matters most. 

About the Host

Dr. Stephanie Yamout, MD, MBA, CPCC, ACC, is a pediatric hospitalist and internationally certified coach for women physician leaders. She helps women physicians get their time back, own their value, and command the room as they were born to do.

Work with Stephanie 

🩺 Book a free 1:1 Discovery Call → womenmdleaders.com/work-with-stephanie 

🌿 Reserve a 90-min Better Boundaries Session → womenmdleaders.com/boundaries

Connect 

🌐 womenmdleaders.com 

💼 linkedin.com/in/stephanieyamout 

📧 [email protected]

Follow the show so you never miss an episode.