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About Beena Sood

A neonatologist who provides clinical care at the Children's Hospital of Michigan and Hutzel Women's Hospital, Beena Sood is a Wayne State University School of Medicine professor. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Conversation highlights

Host Annmarie Caño begins the discussion by asking Sood what she loves about the multiple roles she has. For Sood, being a neonatologist is supremely rewarding. "I take care of newborn babies, especially the ones who have problems immediately after birth and are admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit," she says, "and being with these families is just so powerful, so intense." Not only is being a physician enriching, but it has also provided her with the ability to perform research and lead clinical studies and trials.

Speaking of leading, Sood also relishes her role as the chair of the Women in Medicine and Science group. "This has been probably the most empowering role that I have taken on," she says. The organization has upcoming events on topics ranging from gun violence ("That's not specifically a women's issue, but it's something we think is so important for the workforce and for families") to financial planning.

Sood reflects on her experience in the Women in Medicine and Science group: She became a member in 2013, and when she took on a leadership role, she began to envision which direction the organization would take. She started to study the gender pay gap and stereotypes to learn how perceptions for female leaders differ from their male counterparts. "In the past, women have tried to be good leaders by emulating male leaders," Sood observes. "It is time for women to be themselves and to bring their emotional intelligence, their empathy and their style of leadership."

Caño asks Sood about her willingness to stay open as a leader who can learn from everyone. "I think it's critical to be self-reflective and to take feedback from your teams," Sood says. "That's how you empower them." A seemingly small recognition has the potential to make a significant impact in empowering others. As Sood explains, "That's how you make effective leaders: by being a role model yourself and by recognizing them for their contributions." Sometimes, this leads to friendly competition that motivates team members.

The conversation comes to a close with Caño asking what it means to empower others to lead. For Sood, it's all about recognition, motivation, inspiration and role modeling. And for those looking to take the next step as a leader, Sood offers a sage reminder: "Leadership positions don't make a leader. You are a leader by being who you are."

Additional resources

Follow EmpowerED to Lead on Twitter @WSUFacSuccess.

Transcript

Annmarie:             

Welcome to Empowered to Lead, a Wayne State University podcast for academic leaders who are committed to empowering their community to succeed. I'm your host, Annmarie Cano, associate provost for faculty development and faculty success at Wayne State. In this podcast, we'll explore the personal journeys of academic leaders, both current and emerging, to learn more about how they've developed their careers. We'll speak with faculty and staff about their work and how they have empowered themselves and others along the way. By doing this, we hope to empower listeners like you as you continue on your leadership path.

Annmarie:             

Today we're speaking with Wayne State University School of Medicine Professor and chair of the Women in Medicine and Science Group, Beena G. Sood. Dr. Sood is a neonatologist who provides clinical care at the Children's Hospital of Michigan and Hutzel Women's Hospital. As a professor on the research educator track, Dr. Sood conducts research focused on innovative therapies for the treatment of respiratory failure and pulmonary hypertension in term and preterm newborns. This research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and as resulted in numerous presentations and publications. Since 2015 Dr. Sood has been the chair for the Women in Medicine and Science Group. This role has given her a deeper understanding and appreciation for workforce equity issues.

Annmarie:             

Welcome to the podcast, Beena.

Beena:                     

Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here.

Annmarie:             

So let's start off by having you talk a little bit about what you love about your jobs.

Beena:                     

I have the privilege of being a neonatologist, and I say this with deep feeling, it has been the most rewarding, enriching experience. Going into my career, I did not expect, I did not think of all the things that I would be doing, but now today when I look back, I think I feel so fortunate to be able to do what I'm doing. I take care of newborn babies, especially the ones who have problems immediately after birth and are admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. Being with these families, these young parents who have not previously encountered grief, it just so powerful, so intense. So on the one hand, as a physician taking care of the sick newborn, this is a physically and emotionally draining job, but very rewarding. You get to work with teams. We have exceptional nurses, we have respiratory therapists, music therapists, spiritual caregivers.

Beena:                     

And then most importantly, the parents themselves. Typically these are young parents who've never been in a situation like this before, and I see them come together mostly, and I see families come together, and to me this is a learning experience to see these families and our team support the baby. Mostly we have good outcomes and it is really rewarding at the end of the road to see the outcomes of what we've achieved. The most important thing I've taken away is how much I learn from these parents. They have so much love to give, so much depth, and I'm just richer for that experience. The other rewarding part of my career has been the ability to perform research, and most of my research has started with a question in the clinical realm, a dilemma, a challenge for which we don't have a good enough solution, and I have taken it either to the bench or to a clinical study, which may be a chart-based study.

Beena:                     

I've even had the good fortune to perform and lead some clinical trials, and these have been really rewarding experiences. This has given me the opportunity to lead teams in research, and so not only the research question itself that is answered is rewarding, but the reward also comes with working with these young people, the young families, and a lot of learning happens, which is outside the core biomedical realm. And of course, finally I have to come to my most recent role, which is as the chair of the Women in Medicine and Science Group.

Annmarie:             

Yes.

Beena:                     

This I have been leading since 2015, and this has changed me in ways that I did not encounter change in the previous 15 to 20 years. This has opened my eyes to what a workforce should be like. What are the issues of our workforce, how can we look out for our workforce, and this will make us more productive in what we do and make us more effective. So this has been probably the most empowering role that I have taken on.

Annmarie:             

You were recognized for that work last year, I think, right?

Beena:                     

That is correct. I was fortunate enough to be recognized both by the School of Medicine and Wayne State University the same year, and that was very gratifying to be recognized for it. However, I could not have done it without the support of the Women in Medicine and Science Group and the Commission on the Status of Women, a group out of Wayne State University and the AAUP.

Annmarie:             

Yeah. Yeah. So what I'm hearing, you have many different roles and you wear many different hats, but one of the threads that I hear you speaking about is when you lead, you have an opportunity to learn from those that you're working with. You're learning from the young parents, you're learning from your team members, you're learning and transferring that learning from research to clinical work. When I talk to people and I've told people, "Oh, Beena Sood is going to be one of the guests on the podcast," they're so happy to hear that. The qualities that they talk about are that you're very open to learning and leading from a place of generosity, which means that you look out for how to wait, how to be more inclusive, which your work at the Women in Medicine seems to be doing. So can you talk a little bit more about some of the hot topics in the Women and Medicine Group that might've been coming up or ways that people can lead with an inclusive workforce in mind?

Beena:                     

So some of the thing the Women in Medicine and Science group is going to come up in the near future. We are going to have a talk on gun violence, and that's not definitely specifically a women's issue, but it's something we think is so important for workforce and for families and at the university and at the School of Medicine. We are looking out for families, and as a pediatrician we are definitely looking out for those children. The trauma happens not only at the incident when the gun violence happens, but the trauma also is ongoing. Even for onlookers, children who are watching TV, so it's something that needs to be addressed, not ... really the gun violence needs to be addressed, and so we want to increase awareness about that. We're going to have another event on financial planning for women, so how do, starting from a very young age, how do you do loan repayment, how do you organize your finances, and so I'm looking forward to that event myself because I'm hoping to learn a lot from it.

Annmarie:             

Yeah.

Beena:                     

We going to now also have workshops. We are working with AAUW, that's the American Association for University Women. We are going to be hosting workshops and we are going to include trainees as well as established faculty members. We are going to have workshops for medical students, graduate students, residents, fellows, and faculty, and they are going to teach us to be more smart about how we work. They're the Work Smart and the Start Smart workshops, and we're in the process of finalizing the contract, so these workshops should be coming up in the next 12 months for our community.

Annmarie:             

Wonderful. Something that you said about financial planning for women. It's such an interesting issue because there's several financial services that are now catering to women specifically to think about the financial future, and I have had a few junior faculty members who have senior mentors who have told them, "Hey, this is what you do with your money. You get your promotion. You don't grow into your promotion. You put that promotion to your retirement." And for some people it might seem like, "Oh, that makes sense," but so many people don't have access to that information, and as leaders to be able to share the inside knowledge for not just how to be successful at work, but to set up your life so that you can be successful throughout and beyond work into retirement, or if you know things are to happen where you need to take time off, to be able to do that as comfortably as you can. But without the information, we just can't do it.

Beena:                     

You're absolutely right.

Annmarie:             

Yeah.

Beena:                     

And one of the things I learned, if I may add, over the years is that women, by the time they retire, depending on their level of education and the job they undertake, the difference in women's retirement earnings as compared to men may be up to one to two million, and this can affect their quality of life once they retire.

Annmarie:             

Oh, yes.

Beena:                     

And so I think we have to be very cognizant of the differences and the challenges women face and take these and address these and educate our community so they are better prepared and they make the best decisions.

Annmarie:             

Mm-hmm (affirmative). And whether you have a PhD and MD or any other kind of advanced degree, this is an issue, right?

Beena:                     

Absolutely.

Annmarie:             

Yeah.

Beena:                     

Absolutely.

Annmarie:             

So earlier you mentioned that the Women in Leadership chairpersonship that you have held, that that has changed you in many ways. And sometimes people look at leaders and they see a static, almost like a snapshot. This is how the leader is, this is how they always were. I wonder if you could share how being chair of that group has changed you or developed your thinking about leadership.

Beena:                     

Definitely. When I joined the Women in Medicine and Science Group, which I did as a member in 2013, I just felt attracted to this group because I thought a lot of things they talked about resonated with challenges that I had encountered in my personal life. However, once I became a leader I had to develop kind of vision where this group was going to go, and I read a lot and I subscribed to every kind of listserv which addressed women's issues, and this has just broadened my perspective and my horizon. It has really enlightened me. Things I took for granted, where women are today, and most of us are very comfortable that we are doing well, and I was at that spot. I thought women were doing really well. In 2015, the outgoing chair had a session on gender pay gap and presented a lot of data about gender pay gap at Wayne State University, including the School of Medicine. I was the first one to raise my hand and argue this view, and I did not believe that I could be paid less than my male colleague and I ...

Beena:                     

I have a degree in biostatistics, a master's degree in biostatistics, and I volunteered to look at their data and do a regression analysis. And we did do that as a group collaboratively between the Women in Medicine and Science Group and the CoSW. A postdoc at CoSW actually did the analysis and we went over the regression, and unfortunately we found that there is a gender pay gap and the main driver of the gender pay gap is lack of opportunities for women, so it is an opportunity gap which leads to the pay gap. Women are in service for a less period of time and we can understand why that happens. They are less likely to be promoted, which we are less able to understand why that happens and we have to work on that. But that was a major driver, that women are less likely to hold leadership positions.

Beena:                     

They are less likely to be full professors or department chairs or deans. And how do we address this at the university level? We've been working with the Office of the Provost and the president to find solutions to this issue. So not only did I read a lot about gender pay gap, but then I read a lot about gender stereotypes and how we are perceived. And you started the conversation with how expectations for leaders who are women and behaviors were leaders. Women leaders are different from male leaders. And we have to question the status quo that the male leadership model is the model to go with. In the past, women have tried to be good leaders by emulating male leaders. It is time for women to be themselves and to bring their emotional intelligence, their empathy, and their style of leadership so that ... I think that'll be very helpful in increasing productivity in all runs, not just in medicine.

Annmarie:             

One of the themes of this first season of the podcast is that there are many different ways to lead and there isn't just one model. Although historically and in these very hierarchical organizations, including universities, there has been a predominant style that is more of a quote unquote male style, but that people seem more open to other ways of leading, and women and other people are becoming more comfortable in leading in other ways, too. Because men can certainly exert more feminine leadership qualities, or I should say quote unquote feminine leadership qualities, that they might have been suppressing because it wasn't seen as masculine enough. So it's been refreshing to hear multiple people talking about, "Hey, it's time for us to be the leader that we can be, that we feel comfortable in our own skin as we're inviting and leading change."

Beena:                     

I think that's very important what you mentioned, especially about males suppressing the masculine type of leadership skills. Sorry, suppressing the feminine leadership skills, and that makes absolutely a lot of sense.

Annmarie:             

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. So I mean, we're all humans-

Beena:                     

Right.

Annmarie:             

And we have a variety of skills, and we also have different personalities and temperaments and preferences, so there's a lot to it, but there is no one model. I think we're seeing that more and I hope to see more of that in the future.

Annmarie:             

So you have talked about learning from other people, whether it's your research, clinical work, or your leadership work. Some leaders seem resistant to that or have difficulty with that ability to learn from others or to welcome feedback or reflection. And I wonder if you have some encouragement to provide to people to be more open or to think about, to be more self-reflective as leaders.

Beena:                     

I think it's critical to be self-reflective and to take feedback from your learners, from your teams. That's how you empower them. Our model ... and I would like to go back to my research team and to make my research happen with the limited budget that is available for conducting these studies. I had to depend on young students who were looking for a career in biomedical fields to be part of my research team. These were really bright, young people, very motivated, very interested in doing this for minimal pay, and they're full of bright ideas. They have grown up in this digital age and they have a lot to teach you. What I did was give them very thorough training in the clinical realm and understanding the protocol, understanding all the details of the instruments to be set up, the equipment has to be set up, then talking about good clinical practice, ethics of research, and after I'd done all my training and we started enrolling patients, these young people working in teams came up with really great ideas.

Beena:                     

They said we should improve our manual for training the research staff by including pictures of how the equipment is to be set up, and you can't argue with that. It's a great idea. And then they are so empowered once you do accept their idea and it becomes a part of your standard operating procedures and it's there available for everybody to see and it's printed out as a manual which they can quickly refer to. This is so empowering for them, and how can you not just accept such a great idea? It made the team more productive, and over time ... I'm really good with Excel and statistics and I taught them some things to do with Excel, and the next time they came around and said, "Dr. Sood, I'm sure you didn't know this, and the more you work with Excel, this program is set up in a way that you want to do something, it'll automatically suggest things to you."

Beena:                     

And they learn and they come and teach me and I become more effective. They developed handoff sheets. Now in the clinical world we've been talking about how do you hand out your patients to the evening team or to the next team, and without having any formal instruction, these kids were telling me how they should have an hand-over for the research patients, and this was powerful. And so I think it's very important for people to be recognized.

Annmarie:             

Yeah.

Beena:                     

Giving recognition is empowering. After a while ... I'm always available 24/7 by phone or in person, depending on the time of the day for my research. After a while I started getting less calls because they would get questions answered by each other, so this was their support system. I think taking their feedback, learning from them, made them more confident, made them feel empowered, and they became leaders, and so they were leading the next set of recruits. They would train them and my role became less and less. But that's how you make effective leaders, by being a role model yourself and by recognizing them for their contributions.

Annmarie:             

That recognition is so important, and it's ... I think people sometimes forget what it means to be told, "Good job," or at a lab meeting or any kind of team meeting to be able to say, "This person came up with this really great idea and we're going to start implementing it." Just that small recognition can mean so much to somebody's confidence. Next time they have a really great idea that can improve the lab or the research or make an impact, they'll be more likely to say something. So yeah, the recognition, and it doesn't have to be a big recognition.

Beena:                     

Absolutely. And this is really boosting their morale, their confidence, and this makes them more inquisitive and they want to learn more. And then sometimes they say, "Okay, this person did that. I'm going to do something." It's a driver and there is a little bit of competition always, and little bit of competition is good and it really motivates everybody to be their best.

Annmarie:             

And in the end you're part of a powerful team.

Beena:                     

Absolutely.

Annmarie:             

Right. And so you get to identify not only with your own individual successes but with the success of the team, the success of the leader of the team, and I think that concept of lifting as you rise is so powerful that it ... but it's sometimes hard to remember if you're in a very competitive environment, maybe too competitive environment where then all you care about is the self and you forget that there's a bigger purpose or you forget that the success of your team and where they go on to be leaders reflects positively on you yourself.

Beena:                     

Absolutely. I mean it's a win-win situation, and I have to ... going back to my research team, they were so motivated. I didn't have problems with 24/7 coverage for my research, holidays included. It was driven by them. They maintained a Google calendar, which they shared. And my instruction to them was, "I have six of you and I shouldn't have to come and come in on July 4th to enroll a patient. This has to be seamless." They took accountability, and at the end of it, we enrolled a patients ahead of time. All of my research assistants have been placed in the fields they wanted to be placed.

Annmarie:             

Great.

Beena:                     

Some of them in the first attempt. Others took a couple of years to get placed into either medical school or a neuroscience program, genetic counseling. One of them even became an air hostess, which was really nice.

Annmarie:             

So one of the questions we ask our guests is, what does it mean to empower someone else to lead or to empower other people in leadership? And what you have been describing sounds very much like the answer.

Beena:                     

Yeah. I truly believe that you empower people by recognizing them, by motivating them, by inspiring them, and actually being a good role model yourself, doing the things that you expect them to do and demonstrate that you can do them, and they'll try to show that they can do it better than you.

Annmarie:             

Great. Is there any advice to people who are aspiring to lead either in formal roles or informal roles? Say they want to take that next step toward leadership, but they're not quite sure how to do that.

Beena:                     

Well, I think leadership positions don't make a leader. You are a leader by being who you are, and so you manifest the mindsets and the actions of leaders. I was inspired by a quote from President Kennedy. Each one of us, we may not be ... not all of us are destined to be Presidents and change the country, but each one of us has it in our power, through our being, through our behaviors, to send out certain ripples, and these ripples intersect with the ripples of other people who are daring and courageous. And these ripples can then form a current which can bring down barriers. And so I think it's very powerful in our everyday actions to be mindful to send out the correct message, the positive message, and not to support negative behaviors.

Annmarie:             

So to contribute to that ripple, the positive ripple.

Beena:                     

The positive ripple.

Annmarie:             

Yeah.

Beena:                     

Absolutely.

Annmarie:             

Yeah.

Beena:                     

Absolutely.

Annmarie:             

Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Beena.

Beena:                     

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so glad I came here and got to see the wonderful building for the School of Music. It's just beautiful.

Annmarie:             

Oh, great. And where can people find you online?

Beena:                     

The best way to reach me is through my email. It's bsood@med.wayne.edu.

Annmarie:             

Okay, great. Thank you so much.

Beena:                     

Thank you.

Annmarie:             

Thanks for listening to the first season of Empowered to Lead. Our second season will launch in the winter of 2019. We hope you'll tune in. To learn more about our podcast, follow us on Twitter at wsufacsuccess.