Chief Change Officer Podcast

Episode #417: Resa Lewiss MD — Building a Career with Both Hands (Part One)
Host: Vince Chan
Date: July 5, 2025

Episode Overview

Theme:
In this episode, Vince Chan welcomes Dr. Resa Lewiss, an emergency medicine physician, educator, and co-author of Micro Skills. They explore Dr. Lewiss’ unconventional path into medicine, her drive to defy gender roles, how emergency medicine shaped her career, and the origin of her book—a career “playbook” based on micro skills relevant to all fields. This conversation delivers practical, experience-driven insights on outgrowing oneself through intentional learning, preparation, and resilience.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defying Gender Norms and Early Influences

[03:40 – 07:58]

• Personal Narrative:
  Dr. Lewiss describes her Rhode Island upbringing in a family with strong “traditional values and roles.” She disliked prescribed gender roles from an early age:

  “Every night...my father would say, ‘Okay, girls, help your mother clear the table.’ And I would always say, ‘Why do you say girls?...How about everybody clears their own dish?’”
  — Resa Lewiss [04:42]

• Early Rebellion:
  She challenged these norms—preferring “independent” tasks like taking out the garbage and resisting expectations at family gatherings.
• Key Realization:
  Later, reading Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide contextualized why these experiences felt unfair. She realized that “household chores are about dependence, not independence—and rarely rewarded.”

2. The Call to Medicine and Choosing a Specialty

[08:26 – 11:20]

• Intrinsic Motivation:
  Medicine was “always in me. It’s a calling…nobody in my family is a physician.” Dr. Lewiss was fascinated by human anatomy from an early age.
• Deciding on Emergency Medicine:
  Initially drawn to surgery for its “doing things with your hands,” she realized she preferred the breadth and immediacy of emergency medicine. She thrived on variety and unpredictability:

  “I just loved the variety, the practicality. And also I got that fix of doing procedures...but you don’t have to go to the operating room.”
  — Resa Lewiss [10:12]

3. The Challenges and Rewards of ER Life

[11:51 – 14:19]

• Shift Work and Lifestyle:
  Dr. Lewiss valued ER’s irregular schedule and the opportunities it afforded for outside interests:

  “Emergency medicine is shift work…you work days, nights, holidays. I liked that variety of even the actual shift work.”
  — Resa Lewiss [12:21]

• Team Culture:
  She noticed ER attracts “down-to-earth, rounded” individuals with varied interests.

4. Handling Life-and-Death and Emotional Resilience

[13:16 – 17:39]

• Coping with Patient Loss:
  The emotional toll of emergency medicine is significant, especially at the start:

  “I remember...the first time I had a patient die in front of me…it was right at the beginning of the shift…my attending said, ‘Alright, finish the death packet and then start picking up more patients.’”
  — Resa Lewiss [15:29]

• Compartmentalization:
  Emotional detachment is “modeled but not always taught,” and needs to be learned on the job.
• Support Systems:
  Introduces the idea of a "failure friend"—someone to call after tough shifts—not for advice, but for unfiltered support.

5. The Parallel Path: Teaching in Medicine

[17:39 – 19:43]

• Academic Medicine:
  Dr. Lewiss stayed in academic hospitals to teach, particularly bedside ultrasound—a relatively new, democratizing technology in ERs.

  “I have traveled to teach ultrasound in many other countries...helping people deliver safer care and make better decisions for patients—it’s a really good feeling.”
  — Resa Lewiss [19:23]

6. Writing for Impact: The Genesis of Micro Skills

[19:43 – 25:18]

• Connecting the Dots:
  Dr. Lewiss emphasizes cross-disciplinary learning. Her background in sociology and ethnoracial studies deepens her physician empathy and care.

  “People don’t realize healthcare is an industry, it’s a company…what I was seeing in medicine can be helpful to others in other fields as well.”
  — Resa Lewiss [22:25]

• Writing as Service:
  Exposed to medical writing expectations, she shifted toward authoring practical advice for broader audiences.
• “Playbook” for Work:
  Many workplace “secrets” took years to discover. Example: the unspoken norm of drafting your own recommendation letter for supervisors, which she demystifies in her work.

7. The “Micro Skills” Philosophy & Writing for All

[25:18 – 30:15]

• Why a Comprehensive Book?
  The goal: to provide a toolkit—the “workplace playbook” she never received.
• Three Core Truths Underpinning Micro Skills:
  1. Time is a currency:

     “Time can only be spent. You can’t put it in a savings account for later and you cannot get a refund.”

  2. The world isn’t equal:
     Everyone starts from different places—micro skills help equalize opportunities.
  3. Learning is limitless—if accessible:
     No assumptions about background or resources. The book is intentionally granular, “jump-in, jump-out” practical.
• Distinctiveness:
  Micro Skills is for “everybody,” not assuming any upbringing or access—unlike many business/self-help books.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I want to do and become the individual that I want to become. And it has nothing to do with gender roles.”
  — Resa Lewiss [05:42]

• “I’ve always felt the responsibility is me to educate myself.”
  — Resa Lewiss [21:42]

• “If you've ever had the experience of picking up a book and it's put out there as a book for everybody, but you read it and you're like, ‘This doesn't relate to me’ ...We wanted to write a book that made no assumptions.”
  — Resa Lewiss [28:30]

• “Time is always being spent…The motivation was to create a book that would help people, not just doctors, not just women—but everybody.”
  — Resa Lewiss [26:49]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early Gender Roles & Family Stories: [03:40 – 07:58]
• Choosing Medicine & Emergency Specialty: [08:26 – 11:20]
• Life in the ER—Variety & Culture: [11:51 – 14:19]
• Handling Loss & Emotional Balance: [13:16 – 17:39]
• Teaching & Global Impact with Ultrasound: [17:39 – 19:43]
• Why Write Micro Skills? Lessons for All Professions: [19:43 – 25:18]
• The “Playbook” Philosophy & Universal Principles: [25:18 – 30:15]

Conclusion

Part One spotlights Dr. Resa Lewiss’s lifelong resistance to limitation—be it gender, specialty, or knowledge. Her approach to medicine, teaching, and authorship is rooted in a fierce commitment to self-education, egalitarianism, and practical wisdom. The episode is packed with actionable insights on resilience under pressure, the hidden “micro skills” that power careers, and the importance of creating accessible tools for broad audiences.

Next Episode:
Part Two will dig into the repeatable habits—micro skills—that help stay grounded and perform under pressure.