Take Note Read and Listen to Lead

Overcoming Secondary Stress in Medical and Nursing Practice: A Guide to Professional Resilience and Personal Well-Being (Wicks and Donnelly, 2nd edition, 2021) Burnout existed before COVID-19, but the unrelenting stress on all healthcare staff and leaders during the pandemic is driving people to new levels of moral distress, depression, and suicide. The stress of COVID-19 is a nonstop reality for healthcare professionals. Drs. Wicks and Donnelly's book offers timely guidance with concrete strategies to develop an effective self-care plan. After the authors define primary and secondary stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, and posttraumatic stress syndrome, they provide tools for self-awareness and needed cognitive, physical, and spiritual strategies. The discussion of “wicked problems” allows you to see how COVID-19 has exacerbated many of the underlying problems in our society, such as health disparities, comorbidities, and a lack of health insurance, thus creating chaos and complexity. In the third chapter, the authors stress the importance of self-knowledge through the assessments provided, as well as the management of emotions for well-being. Spiritual self-care is the focus of the next chapter, with emphasis on strengthening your inner life through reflection, meditation, humor, and community support. The book ends with the development of a self-care protocol, but the section I found most useful was the differentiation of a toxic from an intense work environment. How Your Brain Responds to Stories—and Why They're Crucial for Leaders (TEDxPurdueU with Karen Eber, February 2020: www.ted.com/talks/karen_eber_how_your_brain_responds_to_stories_and_why_they_re_crucial_for_leaders) How do the world's best leaders and visionaries earn trust? They don't just present data, they also convey great stories. Leadership consultant Karen Eber demystifies effective storytelling and explains how anyone can harness it to create empathy and inspire action. What happens in the neurobiology of the brain differs with data presentation and stories. With stories, your whole brain lights up as you hear the sounds in the story, see the images, and feel the emotions. Neural coupling occurs and oxytocin is released, creating trust in the storyteller. Emotions change us, not data. Eber describes the three components of a good story, which act as the framework for your real or created story. For example, a story needs to repeatedly build and release tension as it makes the listener wonder what comes next. Stories help people see something that they won't see with data alone. Living your values as a leader involves the harmony of data and storytelling. Negotiating at an Uneven Table: Developing Moral Courage in Resolving Our Conflicts (Kritek, 2nd edition, 2002) Given our world today, this book should be required reading to promote an open dialogue on the many conflictual issues facing our healthcare system and our country. Nurses have experienced many uneven tables—places where the assurance of fairness is uncertain or unlikely. Dr. Kritek teaches how to recognize such tables and outlines the traditional responses to this unevenness, as well as how these responses are deterrents to effective conflict resolution. The concept of dominance power is usually discounted or dismissed when brought to the attention of those with a vested interest in denying it and sustaining the current power structure. This book guides you to recognize that “control over others” is a single concept of power that's often perceived as an entitlement to power. Organizational structures and social norms often sanction and reinforce this unwritten power dynamic. The author helps you know the “how” rather than the “what” of the situation. The term she uses to explain this is “ways of being,” which is the way, manner, or approach that a person chooses to use to exhibit their presence at an uneven table. These ways of being aren't separate, but rather interact and potentiate each other. She illuminates 10 ways of being and each includes stories, an exercise, and actual ways to remain present at the table when all you want to do is scream and leave. The final one is “know when and how to leave the table,” reminding us that the touchstone of personal integrity is the most valuable tool in evaluating when to walk away.