Career-Rx Volume 2 Summer/Fall 2022

CAREERX Inspirations

YOUR PROFILE YOUR BRAND OWN YOUR COPYRIGHTS

DR NDIDI OKPAREKE A 3-RX PATH TO ENTREPRENEUR

03

STRENGTHS ASSESSMENTS

YOUR CAREER FORMULATIONS ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

MIXING IT UP COMPOUNDING PRINCIPLES FOR PHARMACY CAREERS

THE SELF-AWARE PHARMACY LEADER: INSIDE AND OUT

FALL 2022

PERMISSION TO COMPOUND FOR YOUR CAREER

CONTENTS

FROM THE EIC COUCH

4. PERMISSION FOR COMPOUNDING

There is an organizational shift occurring from a primary focus on needs and deficiencies to a focus on possibilities, gifts and strengths.

Get comfortable compounding your skills and abilities for a lifetime of career satisfaction

7. OWN YOUR

~ Peter Block

COPYRIGHTS

On the grand brand-ing explosion and the need for creating our own career brand copyrights

6

9. THE MYTH OF JOB SECURITY Being able to prepare for an uncertain future means recognizing downsides and upsides

14. THE SELF-AWARE LEADER

Learning to recognize the internal and external dimensions of self-awareness

17. PROFILE: ALT+ PHARMACIST ENTREPRENEUR How one pharmacist took a triple path within the profession and started a compounding enterprise

20. A REVIEW OF STRENGTHS 10. COMPOUNDING PRINCIPLES IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

ASSESSMENTS Knowing and articulating the values of our strengths and action potentials

What's compound interest got to do with it?

A

ny pharmacist worth their salt (or base) has taken or took a compounding class in school.

In compounding, the goal is to bring many ingredients together into a cohesive whole. And cohesion as used here does not imply a total blending into one. It’s more akin to bringing the ingredients together into a product we can use to meet a need.

In compounding we learn about the intrinsic properties of ingredients. So, we know when to use what and where.

As an example, when we compound suspensions made primarily of oil and water, we know that oil and water do not mix cohesively. But we can bring both ingredients in the right quantities to create a useful suspension. And when we need to use the suspension, we shake, shake, shake to get the mixture up and running for use.

As with compounding so with life and career skills.We are the carriers of the intrinsic properties— a gift or a talent or a skill that we have.These ingredients can be brought together for use as at when needed for a job at hand.

The other aspect of compounding is exactly like we know it in finance, where you get incremental gains over a base or principal. In this case we keep adding to what we already have.Which is what we do when we get that new certification or degree or course.We add on to what we already have.We then bring all these ingredients with us as we go on in our jobs and careers.

In this edition of Career-Rx, we take a deep dive into how we as pharmacists and healthcare professional can use the principles of compounding in pharmacy (and finance) in our careers.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I and the team enjoyed compounding this edition of your favorite career magazine.

OTITO F. IWUCHUKWU, PhD, MA

Welcome to Career-Rx.

18

15

“Where we help you with tools to take inspired action on your career journey”

Editor-in-Chief Your Pharm +AltAdvocate

Career-Rx Summer / Fall 2022. ISSN 977-277132-007. All Rights Reserved. Get Fab Editorial Communications and Publishing makes no representation as to the efficacy of information provided herein. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without the express permission of the publisher.

Editor-in-Chief Otito Iwuchukwu Guest Editor Adebukola Imoyo

2

CAREER-Rx-MAGAZINE

Cover Photography Stanley Okpor Image Consultant Oktionz Images

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

3

CONTENTS

FROM THE EIC COUCH

4. PERMISSION FOR COMPOUNDING

There is an organizational shift occurring from a primary focus on needs and deficiencies to a focus on possibilities, gifts and strengths.

Get comfortable compounding your skills and abilities for a lifetime of career satisfaction

7. OWN YOUR

~ Peter Block

COPYRIGHTS

On the grand brand-ing explosion and the need for creating our own career brand copyrights

6

9. THE MYTH OF JOB SECURITY Being able to prepare for an uncertain future means recognizing downsides and upsides

14. THE SELF-AWARE LEADER

Learning to recognize the internal and external dimensions of self-awareness

17. PROFILE: ALT+ PHARMACIST ENTREPRENEUR How one pharmacist took a triple path within the profession and started a compounding enterprise

20. A REVIEW OF STRENGTHS 10. COMPOUNDING PRINCIPLES IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

ASSESSMENTS Knowing and articulating the values of our strengths and action potentials

What's compound interest got to do with it?

A

ny pharmacist worth their salt (or base) has taken or took a compounding class in school.

In compounding, the goal is to bring many ingredients together into a cohesive whole. And cohesion as used here does not imply a total blending into one. It’s more akin to bringing the ingredients together into a product we can use to meet a need.

In compounding we learn about the intrinsic properties of ingredients. So, we know when to use what and where.

As an example, when we compound suspensions made primarily of oil and water, we know that oil and water do not mix cohesively. But we can bring both ingredients in the right quantities to create a useful suspension. And when we need to use the suspension, we shake, shake, shake to get the mixture up and running for use.

As with compounding so with life and career skills.We are the carriers of the intrinsic properties— a gift or a talent or a skill that we have.These ingredients can be brought together for use as at when needed for a job at hand.

The other aspect of compounding is exactly like we know it in finance, where you get incremental gains over a base or principal. In this case we keep adding to what we already have.Which is what we do when we get that new certification or degree or course.We add on to what we already have.We then bring all these ingredients with us as we go on in our jobs and careers.

In this edition of Career-Rx, we take a deep dive into how we as pharmacists and healthcare professional can use the principles of compounding in pharmacy (and finance) in our careers.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I and the team enjoyed compounding this edition of your favorite career magazine.

OTITO F. IWUCHUKWU, PhD, MA

Welcome to Career-Rx.

18

15

“Where we help you with tools to take inspired action on your career journey”

Editor-in-Chief Your Pharm +AltAdvocate

Career-Rx Summer / Fall 2022. ISSN 977-277132-007. All Rights Reserved. Get Fab Editorial Communications and Publishing makes no representation as to the efficacy of information provided herein. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without the express permission of the publisher.

Editor-in-Chief Otito Iwuchukwu Guest Editor Adebukola Imoyo

2

CAREER-Rx-MAGAZINE

Cover Photography Stanley Okpor Image Consultant Oktionz Images

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

3

PERMISSION TO COMPOUND? Optimizing Your Personal Enterprise System

Your internal permission is the only one needed for career exploration and progression.

The goal of EPS or PEPS is to plan for the internal or external factors that may influence the enterprise. As humans there are many factors we can consider and plan for such as social, technological, economic, and environmental. In full EPS, a business will also plan for political, and legal factors, which when combined with the other four yields the acronym, PESTLE. How appropriate for a volume devoted helping us understand how to compound our skills and talents for career (or job) satisfaction.

For EPS to be successful, an enterprise must plan for three fundamental purposes: 1. Survival 2. Competition 3.Thriving In our case, our focus is on the third purpose. Planning to thrive, not survive or compete. There are times when we must by design plan for survival or competition due to us simply existing in the world. But if our focus is always on survival or competition, we would have no room to plan for the most profitable of all the purposes; thriving.

A

s someone with the good fortune of being trained in a pharmacy school and then a medical school, I can tell you the difference in training and associated mindset is huge.

Like night and day.

So how do we plan for thriving in our careers?

When we were in school, we needed the instructor’s go-ahead to compound.Within our profession for the sake of safety, we need regulatory bodies for drugs used by humans.This is all well and good and needed within the boundaries of pharmaceuticals.

Develop a strategic plan for addressing the ESTE in pestle.

A strategy is quite simply put, a plan. In this case we are intentionally planning out our plan or map for where we would like to go in our careers.

Let’s take each factor and break it down and see where and how we can apply certain skills within. Each skill used or developed within this plan should be documented so you have a reference when the time comes to create a new plan.

THE FACTORS

Social: No one succeeds alone. We need other people for true and good success.

Who are those on your personal board of directors?

Make a plan for how to enhance your social network.

And this is not simply a social media plan. How do you find the right people? Recognizing that the right people will invariably create the right environment for success.

Finding the right people and knowing how to work for and with them requires social intelligence.

Skill: Social Intelligence

Environmental: This might be the most important of them all because no matter how elaborate your business plan is and your strategy for achieving it, if you are not in the right environment, it will not thrive.

Similar to the field of genetics, no matter how much of the genes encoding height and weight are expressed in a human, an environment of nutritional deficiency will not allow for full development of that potential. Sometimes due to no fault of ours we may find ourselves in a less than ideal environment. But the ability to recognize this and find ways to get into a new environment will be a huge component of our planning for success.

Technology: This one goes without saying. The events of the past two plus years have brought technology front and center within our environment. Ignoring this factor is detrimental to your PEPS. Planning for technological skills and acumen required for a job or career ensures that you stay in competition with others in the world as you journey toward thriving. Assess your current skill levels in the essential Office software (where office stands for Microsoft and other tools needed for conducting business in this age and beyond). Then, plan to uplevel them.

Skill: Situational awareness Skills: Technological acumen and agility

Within individual careers and work lives though, we only need our own permissions to look deep and bring our skills to bear for use in any work project.And we can do this through committed action after planning.

In this section, we will borrow a page from the business world in the form of a process/system called Enterprise Planning System (EPS). In which case, we are the enterprise. So, we will call this Personal Enterprise Planning System or PEPS. 4

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

Article continues on page 26 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

5

PERMISSION TO COMPOUND? Optimizing Your Personal Enterprise System

Your internal permission is the only one needed for career exploration and progression.

The goal of EPS or PEPS is to plan for the internal or external factors that may influence the enterprise. As humans there are many factors we can consider and plan for such as social, technological, economic, and environmental. In full EPS, a business will also plan for political, and legal factors, which when combined with the other four yields the acronym, PESTLE. How appropriate for a volume devoted helping us understand how to compound our skills and talents for career (or job) satisfaction.

For EPS to be successful, an enterprise must plan for three fundamental purposes: 1. Survival 2. Competition 3.Thriving In our case, our focus is on the third purpose. Planning to thrive, not survive or compete. There are times when we must by design plan for survival or competition due to us simply existing in the world. But if our focus is always on survival or competition, we would have no room to plan for the most profitable of all the purposes; thriving.

A

s someone with the good fortune of being trained in a pharmacy school and then a medical school, I can tell you the difference in training and associated mindset is huge.

Like night and day.

So how do we plan for thriving in our careers?

When we were in school, we needed the instructor’s go-ahead to compound.Within our profession for the sake of safety, we need regulatory bodies for drugs used by humans.This is all well and good and needed within the boundaries of pharmaceuticals.

Develop a strategic plan for addressing the ESTE in pestle.

A strategy is quite simply put, a plan. In this case we are intentionally planning out our plan or map for where we would like to go in our careers.

Let’s take each factor and break it down and see where and how we can apply certain skills within. Each skill used or developed within this plan should be documented so you have a reference when the time comes to create a new plan.

THE FACTORS

Social: No one succeeds alone. We need other people for true and good success.

Who are those on your personal board of directors?

Make a plan for how to enhance your social network.

And this is not simply a social media plan. How do you find the right people? Recognizing that the right people will invariably create the right environment for success.

Finding the right people and knowing how to work for and with them requires social intelligence.

Skill: Social Intelligence

Environmental: This might be the most important of them all because no matter how elaborate your business plan is and your strategy for achieving it, if you are not in the right environment, it will not thrive.

Similar to the field of genetics, no matter how much of the genes encoding height and weight are expressed in a human, an environment of nutritional deficiency will not allow for full development of that potential. Sometimes due to no fault of ours we may find ourselves in a less than ideal environment. But the ability to recognize this and find ways to get into a new environment will be a huge component of our planning for success.

Technology: This one goes without saying. The events of the past two plus years have brought technology front and center within our environment. Ignoring this factor is detrimental to your PEPS. Planning for technological skills and acumen required for a job or career ensures that you stay in competition with others in the world as you journey toward thriving. Assess your current skill levels in the essential Office software (where office stands for Microsoft and other tools needed for conducting business in this age and beyond). Then, plan to uplevel them.

Skill: Situational awareness Skills: Technological acumen and agility

Within individual careers and work lives though, we only need our own permissions to look deep and bring our skills to bear for use in any work project.And we can do this through committed action after planning.

In this section, we will borrow a page from the business world in the form of a process/system called Enterprise Planning System (EPS). In which case, we are the enterprise. So, we will call this Personal Enterprise Planning System or PEPS. 4

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

Article continues on page 26 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

5

OWN YOUR OWN— CAREER COPYRIGHTS On The Need For Creating Your Personal Brand

Copyrights are a type of intellectual property that protect original works of authorship in a tangible form of expression. (https://www.copyright.gov/ what-is-copyright/) Extrapolating this to personal branding in career development —Your brand is your copyright.You are an original work.When you express yourself in a tangible form through creating a profile or resume or website, then you own the rights to that.

So how do you express your personal brand?

What is a personal brand? How do we apply the concepts of branding to our job search.

THE GRAND BRAND-ING EXPLOSION I will admit, the concept of branding seemed very salesman- or saleswoman-y to me a few years ago. Even when I did a branding course and was offered a top-notch branding assessment, I did not take advantage of it because I had little idea about its applicability. This was about 4 years ago. Now it seems the field of branding and personal branding has exploded. And

rightly, too. The reason being that if we do not advocate or speak for ourselves, telling others who we are and what we are capable of, how then can they know? And if they don’t know, then they are not able to help us, if at all.

Personal branding is the offshoot of knowing yourself and your skills and gifts and what you bring to the table.

While a resume or CV is a key part of a brand portfolio or toolkit, it’s by far not the only thing we should be documenting and keeping track of. For one thing, a CV cannot hold all our life’s work because we are always more than the sum of us.We have so many things that we do and can do, while a resume is typically narrowly targeted to a certain job or industry.

You are the best reflection of you, so shine bright.

6

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CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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OWN YOUR OWN— CAREER COPYRIGHTS On The Need For Creating Your Personal Brand

Copyrights are a type of intellectual property that protect original works of authorship in a tangible form of expression. (https://www.copyright.gov/ what-is-copyright/) Extrapolating this to personal branding in career development —Your brand is your copyright.You are an original work.When you express yourself in a tangible form through creating a profile or resume or website, then you own the rights to that.

So how do you express your personal brand?

What is a personal brand? How do we apply the concepts of branding to our job search.

THE GRAND BRAND-ING EXPLOSION I will admit, the concept of branding seemed very salesman- or saleswoman-y to me a few years ago. Even when I did a branding course and was offered a top-notch branding assessment, I did not take advantage of it because I had little idea about its applicability. This was about 4 years ago. Now it seems the field of branding and personal branding has exploded. And

rightly, too. The reason being that if we do not advocate or speak for ourselves, telling others who we are and what we are capable of, how then can they know? And if they don’t know, then they are not able to help us, if at all.

Personal branding is the offshoot of knowing yourself and your skills and gifts and what you bring to the table.

While a resume or CV is a key part of a brand portfolio or toolkit, it’s by far not the only thing we should be documenting and keeping track of. For one thing, a CV cannot hold all our life’s work because we are always more than the sum of us.We have so many things that we do and can do, while a resume is typically narrowly targeted to a certain job or industry.

You are the best reflection of you, so shine bright.

6

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

7

INSECURE:

If you didn’t have a resume or CV, what would you write about yourself? What would the 'About Me' section of your portfolio, contain? This expression of yourself should be one of the most authentic versions of yourself that you put out in tangible form. But how do you construct the words?

THE COMPLEXITY OF JOB SECURITY IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD. This is not a script for an episode of the acclaimed HBO show.

Rather, insecurity in careers speaks to the whether you or I will have a job, the same job, in five or seven years? No one can answer this question with a hundred percent accuracy. Not even when it’s asked as an interview question (an outdated question since we are all aware of how much the world of work has changed).

Even if we were among the rarest of those personalities who want to work and retire on the same job decades later. Sometimes for reasons beyond our control, industry shifts happen. Companies restructure and re-strategize direction all the time.And these massive shifts are sometimes done at the people (or human capital) levels. So, the question is not if we will be on the job. But rather will that job even exist in the form in which we envisioned or imagined it.

Pharmacy and healthcare have undergone tectonic level shifts in the last decade. And we are surely poised for more in the decades to come. Many of these shifts have actually been positive shifts.And as such we should have no cause for anxiety.

You can always get someone to write something for you, but to do that they will have to know something about you. One of the ways to work toward a great brand expression is to take stock.

Not stock images. But stock of your strengths and capabilities.

CREATING YOUR BRAND PORTFOLIO

Imagine being able to look or perceive the days to come and being as prepared for it as you can. An ancient text talks about a (woman) who has identified their strengths and has adorned (enhanced) themselves with it and as a result, can laugh at the days to come*

In our last edition, we introduced a very popular strengths assessment tool— called the Clifton’s Strengths Assessments. Popular for encapsulating our personal strengths into a main domain. You can then use that domain’s language in your About Me for your brand. Now because there are over 7 billion humans on earth, you will likely have the same domain strengths as many others. But it’s the ways in which you combine and incorporate those strengths into your work and life, that serves to make you unique.

How do we get and stay prepared?

And because it’s your copyright, you can have different versions of the same brand.You can develop a multi-faceted or varying

strengths version of your profile.

Just as with formulations, where we can have 5, 10, 20 or 50 mg strengths (versions) of a brand name medication.

As an example, part of my skill set is in branding communications. I help people craft their profiles to purpose, based on whatever purpose they desire. I work with them to make it suited for purpose.

And I have a brand statement (my copyright) around that.

This is quite different from the educator profile put out for other purposes.

A sample of that brand profile can be found here.You can use it as a template for working on a version of your own copyright. You don’t have to create your copyright work from scratch if you don’t have

to.The structure you build on could have been developed by someone else. How you build with it is what makes the difference here and why you get to call it yours and own it.

Part of the intentional work toward developing a brand profile, involves feedback, a lot of it. As a subscriber, you can send your draft to strategy@careerspirations.com for a client assessment.

Talking about versions and branding, besides a static version like the sample (which can be digitized by creating a QR code for it).You can create a simple one pager web version of your brand. While this is not an endorsement of any entity, sites like portofliobox.net, carrd.co, and even wordpress.com can be used to create profiles.

Remember the saying, "He or she that fails to plan is planning to fail?" Refer to article on PEPS for a handy tool.

Continual assessment of yourself and your environment is critical.

Our special guest feature for this edition embodied creating your own version of job security in a changing landscape. Consider it

Donʼt fail to PLAN

as though she conducted her version of EPS and PEPS and used the data to make the transition. She moved into the business of pharmacy, where she is using the principle of skills compounding; pharmacy science learned in school combined with entrepreneurial and people management skills. And like oil

and water example, she talked about not necessarily loving some of the aspects of her job, but she shakes those skills up and uses them for good success.

The internet has democratized work. Anyone can now set up some type of entrepreneurship using a varied combination of their strengths and skills.

While entrepreneurship may not be for everyone, recognizing the viability of creating a version of your career, one that enhances satisfaction and income is a worthwhile venture.

Security may not be guaranteed but you are not without choices.

As your career advocate, I want you to be able to smile at the days to come.

*The Book of Proverbs 31:25

8

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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9

INSECURE:

If you didn’t have a resume or CV, what would you write about yourself? What would the 'About Me' section of your portfolio, contain? This expression of yourself should be one of the most authentic versions of yourself that you put out in tangible form. But how do you construct the words?

THE COMPLEXITY OF JOB SECURITY IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD. This is not a script for an episode of the acclaimed HBO show.

Rather, insecurity in careers speaks to the whether you or I will have a job, the same job, in five or seven years? No one can answer this question with a hundred percent accuracy. Not even when it’s asked as an interview question (an outdated question since we are all aware of how much the world of work has changed).

Even if we were among the rarest of those personalities who want to work and retire on the same job decades later. Sometimes for reasons beyond our control, industry shifts happen. Companies restructure and re-strategize direction all the time.And these massive shifts are sometimes done at the people (or human capital) levels. So, the question is not if we will be on the job. But rather will that job even exist in the form in which we envisioned or imagined it.

Pharmacy and healthcare have undergone tectonic level shifts in the last decade. And we are surely poised for more in the decades to come. Many of these shifts have actually been positive shifts.And as such we should have no cause for anxiety.

You can always get someone to write something for you, but to do that they will have to know something about you. One of the ways to work toward a great brand expression is to take stock.

Not stock images. But stock of your strengths and capabilities.

CREATING YOUR BRAND PORTFOLIO

Imagine being able to look or perceive the days to come and being as prepared for it as you can. An ancient text talks about a (woman) who has identified their strengths and has adorned (enhanced) themselves with it and as a result, can laugh at the days to come*

In our last edition, we introduced a very popular strengths assessment tool— called the Clifton’s Strengths Assessments. Popular for encapsulating our personal strengths into a main domain. You can then use that domain’s language in your About Me for your brand. Now because there are over 7 billion humans on earth, you will likely have the same domain strengths as many others. But it’s the ways in which you combine and incorporate those strengths into your work and life, that serves to make you unique.

How do we get and stay prepared?

And because it’s your copyright, you can have different versions of the same brand.You can develop a multi-faceted or varying

strengths version of your profile.

Just as with formulations, where we can have 5, 10, 20 or 50 mg strengths (versions) of a brand name medication.

As an example, part of my skill set is in branding communications. I help people craft their profiles to purpose, based on whatever purpose they desire. I work with them to make it suited for purpose.

And I have a brand statement (my copyright) around that.

This is quite different from the educator profile put out for other purposes.

A sample of that brand profile can be found here.You can use it as a template for working on a version of your own copyright. You don’t have to create your copyright work from scratch if you don’t have

to.The structure you build on could have been developed by someone else. How you build with it is what makes the difference here and why you get to call it yours and own it.

Part of the intentional work toward developing a brand profile, involves feedback, a lot of it. As a subscriber, you can send your draft to strategy@careerspirations.com for a client assessment.

Talking about versions and branding, besides a static version like the sample (which can be digitized by creating a QR code for it).You can create a simple one pager web version of your brand. While this is not an endorsement of any entity, sites like portofliobox.net, carrd.co, and even wordpress.com can be used to create profiles.

Remember the saying, "He or she that fails to plan is planning to fail?" Refer to article on PEPS for a handy tool.

Continual assessment of yourself and your environment is critical.

Our special guest feature for this edition embodied creating your own version of job security in a changing landscape. Consider it

Donʼt fail to PLAN

as though she conducted her version of EPS and PEPS and used the data to make the transition. She moved into the business of pharmacy, where she is using the principle of skills compounding; pharmacy science learned in school combined with entrepreneurial and people management skills. And like oil

and water example, she talked about not necessarily loving some of the aspects of her job, but she shakes those skills up and uses them for good success.

The internet has democratized work. Anyone can now set up some type of entrepreneurship using a varied combination of their strengths and skills.

While entrepreneurship may not be for everyone, recognizing the viability of creating a version of your career, one that enhances satisfaction and income is a worthwhile venture.

Security may not be guaranteed but you are not without choices.

As your career advocate, I want you to be able to smile at the days to come.

*The Book of Proverbs 31:25

8

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CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

9

MORE ROOM FOR IMPROVING CAREER FORMULAS ~ Dr Adwoa Bekoe

Every man [woman]’s ability may be strengthened or increased by practice

“M

ore room for improvement.” As a child, in elementary (primary) school, I detested seeing these words on my report card. To me, they meant the teacher was telling on me that I didn’t do my best. Which would inevitably mean “no school party for me”.As an adult, I’ve come to embrace the phrase. It does not evoke the angst and anger of my childhood.That past frustration is now replaced with curiosity and interest. How did I get to this next level of ‘adulting’?

Let me tell you…

Over the past two years, many inhabitants of this earth (myself included) have learnt a little about investment. We were cooped up indoors with not much work (or money) and were forced to diversify our income portfolios.We watched the news, read business articles, listened to podcasts all of which inadvertently led us to stocks, insurance, and a general understanding of compound interest.

compounded per year and t is time (years).The interest earned is added to the principal and then reinvested over and over ad infinitum. Anyone with a mathematically critical eye will take one look at this formula and tell you the biggest determining factor of the amount,A is t, time.

While most of us know to apply this concept of compound interest to our retirement accounts, there’s another aspect of our life where we can watch our small efforts multiply exponentially in value: our careers. Yes, this “eight wonder” can also apply to our careers.

A = P (1 + r/n)nt

Let’s pretend for a minute that our careers are our bank accounts that can hold skills, experiences, and relationships; notice I did not mention money.

We’ll start small and stack all our experiences atop each other as lessons-small victories, huge wins, losses, failures. Over a period, these experiences combined (provided we learnt from them) will propel us forward in what might seem like leaps and bounds to the outsider (those not privy to your many little failures).

Where A is amount; P is Principal, r is interest rate (decimal); n is number of times interest is

We apply similar principles when we want to train our bodies so why stop there? Just like the

The formula for compound interest is quite simple:

10 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

slogans we see in the athletic shops, we have to “Show Up” and “Be Consistent” and what is it that Nike says,“Just Do It!” No matter what, little drops of water, make a mighty ocean.

It might be hard to think of career compounding when you already have a job, but just think; what skill set are you forced to use the most at this current job position? Negotiating schedules or collaborating with colleagues to complete a project? Okay, what books or resources have you identified that could help you word your requests better or improve output from your colleagues? Identify gaps in your skillset and improve on them, not for your employer; for yourself.

Any parent will tell you negotiation skills always come in handy. Your colleagues also notice your skill and will remember you even after you’ve parted ways (that’s networking).

Worried sick of having to make presentations? Well, you could learn how to make beautiful, informative presentations quickly online. Remember, this is a skill set that will serve future you well when you must present a mockup of your business idea to an investor.

11

MORE ROOM FOR IMPROVING CAREER FORMULAS ~ Dr Adwoa Bekoe

Every man [woman]’s ability may be strengthened or increased by practice

“M

ore room for improvement.” As a child, in elementary (primary) school, I detested seeing these words on my report card. To me, they meant the teacher was telling on me that I didn’t do my best. Which would inevitably mean “no school party for me”.As an adult, I’ve come to embrace the phrase. It does not evoke the angst and anger of my childhood.That past frustration is now replaced with curiosity and interest. How did I get to this next level of ‘adulting’?

Let me tell you…

Over the past two years, many inhabitants of this earth (myself included) have learnt a little about investment. We were cooped up indoors with not much work (or money) and were forced to diversify our income portfolios.We watched the news, read business articles, listened to podcasts all of which inadvertently led us to stocks, insurance, and a general understanding of compound interest.

compounded per year and t is time (years).The interest earned is added to the principal and then reinvested over and over ad infinitum. Anyone with a mathematically critical eye will take one look at this formula and tell you the biggest determining factor of the amount,A is t, time.

While most of us know to apply this concept of compound interest to our retirement accounts, there’s another aspect of our life where we can watch our small efforts multiply exponentially in value: our careers. Yes, this “eight wonder” can also apply to our careers.

A = P (1 + r/n)nt

Let’s pretend for a minute that our careers are our bank accounts that can hold skills, experiences, and relationships; notice I did not mention money.

We’ll start small and stack all our experiences atop each other as lessons-small victories, huge wins, losses, failures. Over a period, these experiences combined (provided we learnt from them) will propel us forward in what might seem like leaps and bounds to the outsider (those not privy to your many little failures).

Where A is amount; P is Principal, r is interest rate (decimal); n is number of times interest is

We apply similar principles when we want to train our bodies so why stop there? Just like the

The formula for compound interest is quite simple:

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slogans we see in the athletic shops, we have to “Show Up” and “Be Consistent” and what is it that Nike says,“Just Do It!” No matter what, little drops of water, make a mighty ocean.

It might be hard to think of career compounding when you already have a job, but just think; what skill set are you forced to use the most at this current job position? Negotiating schedules or collaborating with colleagues to complete a project? Okay, what books or resources have you identified that could help you word your requests better or improve output from your colleagues? Identify gaps in your skillset and improve on them, not for your employer; for yourself.

Any parent will tell you negotiation skills always come in handy. Your colleagues also notice your skill and will remember you even after you’ve parted ways (that’s networking).

Worried sick of having to make presentations? Well, you could learn how to make beautiful, informative presentations quickly online. Remember, this is a skill set that will serve future you well when you must present a mockup of your business idea to an investor.

11

Taking the time to make regular improvements will strengthen the skills we already have because there’s always room for improvement.

So, what does future you want? For many of us that have not found our ikigai, it’s best to think of ‘future you’ five years from today. One caveat though, what would future you accomplish If you were 50% better at your tasks than you are now?

Applying the concept of compound interest and some loose math, that’ll require us to commit 2% (roughly thirty minutes) of our day, every day. Just 2 % interest to reach a 2.0 version of yourself in a year; imagine that. Let’s start there, make that our why. Our catalyst for change; and write it down. Put it in your planner, vision board, anywhere you choose that’ll remind you to be accountable.

Networking is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening outside your bubble (especially if you already have a job that takes up most of your time and energy). The conversations you have with the people in your network will inform your decisions on which skills you have to update in an ever-evolving industry.Another thing to work on is your brand, your je ne sais quoi, your flavor (think salt, but for careers). Surely, you are not the first person to

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pursue your career, but what are YOU bringing to it? What are you selling? Why you vs. that other person? This will come in time, as you continue to work on your skill set, you’ll get clearer on your message and what makes you stand out. So, while you might want to be a food truck caterer; you could own a vegan food truck; you could even own a vegan food truck with Jackfruit as your only meat substitute. And you would you get there? Baby steps of improvement.

Finally, and most importantly, start NOW and do something. No matter how small it is. Start and finish it, even if it doesn’t work out. Remember, it’s not about today, or this year, it’s for future you.This career experience will be compounded into the next project and the next. So long as you keep going and keep improving, you will inevitably benefit from that magical concept—'compound interest’.

What skill or area are you committing to compounding over the next 5 years?

Dr. Bekoe is a drug regulatory specialist in the Pharmaceutical Industry and a Licensed Real Estate Agent.

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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Taking the time to make regular improvements will strengthen the skills we already have because there’s always room for improvement.

So, what does future you want? For many of us that have not found our ikigai, it’s best to think of ‘future you’ five years from today. One caveat though, what would future you accomplish If you were 50% better at your tasks than you are now?

Applying the concept of compound interest and some loose math, that’ll require us to commit 2% (roughly thirty minutes) of our day, every day. Just 2 % interest to reach a 2.0 version of yourself in a year; imagine that. Let’s start there, make that our why. Our catalyst for change; and write it down. Put it in your planner, vision board, anywhere you choose that’ll remind you to be accountable.

Networking is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening outside your bubble (especially if you already have a job that takes up most of your time and energy). The conversations you have with the people in your network will inform your decisions on which skills you have to update in an ever-evolving industry.Another thing to work on is your brand, your je ne sais quoi, your flavor (think salt, but for careers). Surely, you are not the first person to

12 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

pursue your career, but what are YOU bringing to it? What are you selling? Why you vs. that other person? This will come in time, as you continue to work on your skill set, you’ll get clearer on your message and what makes you stand out. So, while you might want to be a food truck caterer; you could own a vegan food truck; you could even own a vegan food truck with Jackfruit as your only meat substitute. And you would you get there? Baby steps of improvement.

Finally, and most importantly, start NOW and do something. No matter how small it is. Start and finish it, even if it doesn’t work out. Remember, it’s not about today, or this year, it’s for future you.This career experience will be compounded into the next project and the next. So long as you keep going and keep improving, you will inevitably benefit from that magical concept—'compound interest’.

What skill or area are you committing to compounding over the next 5 years?

Dr. Bekoe is a drug regulatory specialist in the Pharmaceutical Industry and a Licensed Real Estate Agent.

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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LEADER SELFAWARENESS INSIDE AND OUT THE LEADERSHIP CORNER — Where we examine signal traits and qualities for competent leadership of self and others Welcome again to our leadership corner.

Where we examine signal traits, qualities and characteristics that make us stand out as a competent leader of self and others.

In this edition, we will be taking a reflective look at a key skill that exceptional leaders have.The skill of self-awareness. Notice I did not say an introspective look. Because while many people think that self-awareness is all about looking inwards and asking why we are the way we are and how we can improve. It turns out this is nowhere near the true state of internal affairs.

What then is self-awareness and how do we both practice and measure it?

Self-awareness is defined as our ability to understand and monitor our inner world. It has also been described as the distance or the space between how we see ourselves and how other people see us.

Both descriptions are correct in their own way because they help define two broad categories of self-awareness. Internal and external self-awareness, as described in organizational psychologist’s Tasha Eurich’s work and recent book,“Insight.”

Internal, describes what majority of us identify as self-awareness; how well we can assess our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and action and how these impacts on our environment and other people.

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People who are high in this dimension have better person to job fits which leads to higher job satisfaction and happiness.

The second category, external selfawareness deals with our understanding of how people view us. People who are skilled in this dimension make for more empathetic leaders who go on to have better relationships with their teams.Which in turn enhances their leadership effectiveness quotient.

It turns out that people who are very skilled in the internal dimension tend to be overly introspective. And while this may appear to be a good trait, too much introspection can cause us to ruminate over reasons why certain situations turned out the way they did. As opposed to working to find ways to improve upon such situations next time.

Likewise, those highly skilled in the external dimension tend to be people pleasers who can be too focused on how people view them.They tend to ignore their own wisdom about a particular situation.

In cultivating our self-awareness, we should take care not to nurture one dimension to the detriment of the other. Our aim should be to work on enhancing both our internal and external self-awareness. This will help bring us into balance of knowing ourselves and what we stand for. Even while valuing other people enough to take into consideration how our behaviors may impact them.

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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LEADER SELFAWARENESS INSIDE AND OUT THE LEADERSHIP CORNER — Where we examine signal traits and qualities for competent leadership of self and others Welcome again to our leadership corner.

Where we examine signal traits, qualities and characteristics that make us stand out as a competent leader of self and others.

In this edition, we will be taking a reflective look at a key skill that exceptional leaders have.The skill of self-awareness. Notice I did not say an introspective look. Because while many people think that self-awareness is all about looking inwards and asking why we are the way we are and how we can improve. It turns out this is nowhere near the true state of internal affairs.

What then is self-awareness and how do we both practice and measure it?

Self-awareness is defined as our ability to understand and monitor our inner world. It has also been described as the distance or the space between how we see ourselves and how other people see us.

Both descriptions are correct in their own way because they help define two broad categories of self-awareness. Internal and external self-awareness, as described in organizational psychologist’s Tasha Eurich’s work and recent book,“Insight.”

Internal, describes what majority of us identify as self-awareness; how well we can assess our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and action and how these impacts on our environment and other people.

14 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

People who are high in this dimension have better person to job fits which leads to higher job satisfaction and happiness.

The second category, external selfawareness deals with our understanding of how people view us. People who are skilled in this dimension make for more empathetic leaders who go on to have better relationships with their teams.Which in turn enhances their leadership effectiveness quotient.

It turns out that people who are very skilled in the internal dimension tend to be overly introspective. And while this may appear to be a good trait, too much introspection can cause us to ruminate over reasons why certain situations turned out the way they did. As opposed to working to find ways to improve upon such situations next time.

Likewise, those highly skilled in the external dimension tend to be people pleasers who can be too focused on how people view them.They tend to ignore their own wisdom about a particular situation.

In cultivating our self-awareness, we should take care not to nurture one dimension to the detriment of the other. Our aim should be to work on enhancing both our internal and external self-awareness. This will help bring us into balance of knowing ourselves and what we stand for. Even while valuing other people enough to take into consideration how our behaviors may impact them.

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

15

PROFILE OF A PHARMACIST+ SPECIALTY AREA — COMPOUNDING FOCUS: PHARMACY ENTREPRENEURSHIP This is the column where we feature different pharmacy specialty areas and alternative careers.As well as a space for pharmacists practicing in these areas to offer input on the relevant career skills for success in their chosen fields.

Pharmacists are becoming more and more creative in designing career paths that suit the actual needs of patients ~ Ndidi Okpareke

For this edition, our pharmacy specialty area is compounding.An aspect of pharmacy that has evolved into a somewhat niche pharmacy specialty area.

What is Pharmacy Compounding?

In hospitals, clinics, and other health care facilities, patients can sometimes be given compounded Drug compounding is the process medications when FDA-approved of combining, mixing, or altering drugs are not medically ingredients to create a medication appropriate for treating them due tailored to the needs of an to their altered physiological individual patient. Compounding states. In these situations, may involve two or more drugs compounding can serve an along with other required important patient need.* ingredients for the new formulation.

This specialty area is not without some degree of misunderstanding Compounding is generally a because compounded medications practice in which a licensed or formulations are not FDA pharmacist, or a person under the approved.The final products do supervision of a licensed not go through the clinical trial pharmacist combines, mixes, or process although the ingredients alters ingredients of a drug.With themselves are approved drugs or the goal of creating a medication ingredients.This is not to say that tailored to the needs of an quality standards do not apply to individual patient* compounded drugs.As licensed healthcare professionals, we have Drugs may be compounded for a sworn duty to do no harm to patients who cannot be treated our patients. using an FDA-approved medication. Such as a patient with So, what quality standards an allergy to a certain dye and apply to compounded needs a medication made without drugs? it. Or an elderly patient or a child who cannot swallow a tablet or Standards differ based on the capsule and needs a medicine in a setting where compounding liquid dosage form. occurs. Drugs compounded in outsourcing facilities are subject to current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements as 16 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

with other products from any manufacturing facility.

Drugs compounded by licensed pharmacists in state-licensed or federal facility, while exempt from compliance with CGMP requirements are still subject to quality standards set in state law (which may differ from state to state).

Irrespective of where compounding occurs, other federal requirements apply, especially and including that, drugs not be prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions.

Compounding Specialty — Sample Pharmacists Roles Pharmacists can play many roles in this specialty area. From academic research, to being the supervisor of a team of other professionals working within an approved facility to compound the medications if running their own independent compounding pharmacy. In this capacity, pharmacists may collaborate with physicians (or veterinarians) to ensure that patients (and pets) get their special formulations.

Our featured trailblazer in this specialty area — Dr Ndidi Okpareke, an independent compounding pharmacy entrepreneur. Dr Okpareke is the owner of Olive Tree Compounding Pharmacy in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. She holds the distinction of being the poster pharmacist behind the first African American owned compounding pharmacy of its kind in the history of the state of New Mexico. Dr Ndidi is one pharmacist who has certainly compounded pharmacy skills along the way to entrepreneurship, having worked in inpatient pediatric, critical care and retail pharmacy before transitioning to being a business owner. I have to say that Dr Okpareke to me, is not just a pharmacist. I see her also as a brand ambassador for Olive Tree’s skin care products.And it shows right there on our cover page.

Hear Dr Ndidi (Didi) in her own words.

Pharmacists and Compounding

**Interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

As licensed pharmacist professionals, we have the professional go-ahead to serve an unmet area of need for patients and their families.And because we all learned this as a basic and foundational pharmacy skill (pharmaceutics anyone?), it means any pharmacist with keen interest can pick and build it up entrepreneurially like our featured specialist did.

Tell Me More About You and Your Career Path to Date

Why did this type of work interest you and how did you get started?

My name is Dr. Ndidiamaka Okpareke. I am a licensed Pharmacist in the state of New Mexico. I am the President and owner of Olive Tree Compounding Pharmacy, the first African American owned pharmacy of its kind in the history of the state of New

I became interested in compounding pharmacy after many years of working in the industry without professional satisfaction. I decided to analyze the business dynamics of compounding pharmacy, and when the numbers made sense, I dove in.

Mexico. I graduated from the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy in 2008, and I practiced inpatient pediatric pharmacy, inpatient critical care pharmacy, and retail pharmacy before becoming an entrepreneur and starting my own business in 2017.

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PROFILE OF A PHARMACIST+ SPECIALTY AREA — COMPOUNDING FOCUS: PHARMACY ENTREPRENEURSHIP This is the column where we feature different pharmacy specialty areas and alternative careers.As well as a space for pharmacists practicing in these areas to offer input on the relevant career skills for success in their chosen fields.

Pharmacists are becoming more and more creative in designing career paths that suit the actual needs of patients ~ Ndidi Okpareke

For this edition, our pharmacy specialty area is compounding.An aspect of pharmacy that has evolved into a somewhat niche pharmacy specialty area.

What is Pharmacy Compounding?

In hospitals, clinics, and other health care facilities, patients can sometimes be given compounded Drug compounding is the process medications when FDA-approved of combining, mixing, or altering drugs are not medically ingredients to create a medication appropriate for treating them due tailored to the needs of an to their altered physiological individual patient. Compounding states. In these situations, may involve two or more drugs compounding can serve an along with other required important patient need.* ingredients for the new formulation.

This specialty area is not without some degree of misunderstanding Compounding is generally a because compounded medications practice in which a licensed or formulations are not FDA pharmacist, or a person under the approved.The final products do supervision of a licensed not go through the clinical trial pharmacist combines, mixes, or process although the ingredients alters ingredients of a drug.With themselves are approved drugs or the goal of creating a medication ingredients.This is not to say that tailored to the needs of an quality standards do not apply to individual patient* compounded drugs.As licensed healthcare professionals, we have Drugs may be compounded for a sworn duty to do no harm to patients who cannot be treated our patients. using an FDA-approved medication. Such as a patient with So, what quality standards an allergy to a certain dye and apply to compounded needs a medication made without drugs? it. Or an elderly patient or a child who cannot swallow a tablet or Standards differ based on the capsule and needs a medicine in a setting where compounding liquid dosage form. occurs. Drugs compounded in outsourcing facilities are subject to current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) requirements as 16 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

with other products from any manufacturing facility.

Drugs compounded by licensed pharmacists in state-licensed or federal facility, while exempt from compliance with CGMP requirements are still subject to quality standards set in state law (which may differ from state to state).

Irrespective of where compounding occurs, other federal requirements apply, especially and including that, drugs not be prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions.

Compounding Specialty — Sample Pharmacists Roles Pharmacists can play many roles in this specialty area. From academic research, to being the supervisor of a team of other professionals working within an approved facility to compound the medications if running their own independent compounding pharmacy. In this capacity, pharmacists may collaborate with physicians (or veterinarians) to ensure that patients (and pets) get their special formulations.

Our featured trailblazer in this specialty area — Dr Ndidi Okpareke, an independent compounding pharmacy entrepreneur. Dr Okpareke is the owner of Olive Tree Compounding Pharmacy in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. She holds the distinction of being the poster pharmacist behind the first African American owned compounding pharmacy of its kind in the history of the state of New Mexico. Dr Ndidi is one pharmacist who has certainly compounded pharmacy skills along the way to entrepreneurship, having worked in inpatient pediatric, critical care and retail pharmacy before transitioning to being a business owner. I have to say that Dr Okpareke to me, is not just a pharmacist. I see her also as a brand ambassador for Olive Tree’s skin care products.And it shows right there on our cover page.

Hear Dr Ndidi (Didi) in her own words.

Pharmacists and Compounding

**Interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

As licensed pharmacist professionals, we have the professional go-ahead to serve an unmet area of need for patients and their families.And because we all learned this as a basic and foundational pharmacy skill (pharmaceutics anyone?), it means any pharmacist with keen interest can pick and build it up entrepreneurially like our featured specialist did.

Tell Me More About You and Your Career Path to Date

Why did this type of work interest you and how did you get started?

My name is Dr. Ndidiamaka Okpareke. I am a licensed Pharmacist in the state of New Mexico. I am the President and owner of Olive Tree Compounding Pharmacy, the first African American owned pharmacy of its kind in the history of the state of New

I became interested in compounding pharmacy after many years of working in the industry without professional satisfaction. I decided to analyze the business dynamics of compounding pharmacy, and when the numbers made sense, I dove in.

Mexico. I graduated from the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy in 2008, and I practiced inpatient pediatric pharmacy, inpatient critical care pharmacy, and retail pharmacy before becoming an entrepreneur and starting my own business in 2017.

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

17

CAREER PROFILE: AN ALT+PHARMACIST What do you do on a typical day? What are your current duties and responsibilities?

On a typical day, I oversee the compounding activities carried out by my licensed staff.These duties range from making creams, ointments, gels, troches, suppositories, rapid dissolve tablets, capsules, suspensions, sublingual drops, and much more. I also consult with other health care professionals to establish treatment plans for patients who are in need of compounded medications. I calculate and draft medication formulas in my database, and keep up with the operational needs of the pharmacy.

What kinds of decisions do you make and what percentage of your time is spent doing what?

The most satisfying aspect of being a compounding pharmacist is being creative in designing medications tailored to the individual needs of my patients. No two patients are alike. Having the expertise to Fifty percent of my time is address individual needs is a spent being a business owner, concerning myself with business thrill.

The most challenging aspect of management and operational my position is human procedures.The other 50% of resources.Although I relate my time is spent in pharmacy well with people, managing staff related duties.. does not satisfy me.

What part of this job What are you most do you personally excited about regarding find most satisfying? the pharmacy Most challenging? compounding field?

What do you like and not like about working in this industry?

On Opportunities and Challenges in Compounding I only see bright opportunities ahead, such as teaching other pharmacists around the world about how to start a compounding pharmacy practice.

I am most excited about the possibilities to grow my practice into a functional health and wellness pharmacy, and expand my compounding services to include 797 compounding.

compounding to be illegal. Until then, I only see bright opportunities ahead, such as teaching other pharmacists around the world about how to start a compounding pharmacy practice.

personal characteristics play an important role in building relationships with patients and other health care providers. Pharmacists should be both knowledgeable and empathetic..

What opportunities and challenges do you see in the pipeline for the field?

What skills would students and early career pharmacists need to be successful in this path?

Can you suggest some ways a student could go about obtaining the necessary experience to explore this career path?

Compounding pharmacy is highly criticized by the Food and Drug Administration.A possible challenge for Olive Tree Compounding Pharmacy would manifest if new rules and regulations surfaced that would cause the practice of

As a PharmD, seek out opportunities to shadow compounders in your area. It is important to understand pathophysiology and pharmacology. Also, one’s

Visiting their local independent pharmacies and speaking with pharmacy owners about opportunities.

Or reaching out via LinkedIn or other social media channels for informational interviews.

What are some words of career exploration advice you have for our audience?

The world of pharmacy has evolved. Pharmacists are becoming more and more creative in designing career paths that suit the actual needs of patients. More and more pharmacists are leaving their “behind the counter” positions and creating “out of the box” ways to serve their patients and communities. If you like science, math, pharmacology, the human body, and customer service, then pharmacy may be the field for you.

18 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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19

CAREER PROFILE: AN ALT+PHARMACIST What do you do on a typical day? What are your current duties and responsibilities?

On a typical day, I oversee the compounding activities carried out by my licensed staff.These duties range from making creams, ointments, gels, troches, suppositories, rapid dissolve tablets, capsules, suspensions, sublingual drops, and much more. I also consult with other health care professionals to establish treatment plans for patients who are in need of compounded medications. I calculate and draft medication formulas in my database, and keep up with the operational needs of the pharmacy.

What kinds of decisions do you make and what percentage of your time is spent doing what?

The most satisfying aspect of being a compounding pharmacist is being creative in designing medications tailored to the individual needs of my patients. No two patients are alike. Having the expertise to Fifty percent of my time is address individual needs is a spent being a business owner, concerning myself with business thrill.

The most challenging aspect of management and operational my position is human procedures.The other 50% of resources.Although I relate my time is spent in pharmacy well with people, managing staff related duties.. does not satisfy me.

What part of this job What are you most do you personally excited about regarding find most satisfying? the pharmacy Most challenging? compounding field?

What do you like and not like about working in this industry?

On Opportunities and Challenges in Compounding I only see bright opportunities ahead, such as teaching other pharmacists around the world about how to start a compounding pharmacy practice.

I am most excited about the possibilities to grow my practice into a functional health and wellness pharmacy, and expand my compounding services to include 797 compounding.

compounding to be illegal. Until then, I only see bright opportunities ahead, such as teaching other pharmacists around the world about how to start a compounding pharmacy practice.

personal characteristics play an important role in building relationships with patients and other health care providers. Pharmacists should be both knowledgeable and empathetic..

What opportunities and challenges do you see in the pipeline for the field?

What skills would students and early career pharmacists need to be successful in this path?

Can you suggest some ways a student could go about obtaining the necessary experience to explore this career path?

Compounding pharmacy is highly criticized by the Food and Drug Administration.A possible challenge for Olive Tree Compounding Pharmacy would manifest if new rules and regulations surfaced that would cause the practice of

As a PharmD, seek out opportunities to shadow compounders in your area. It is important to understand pathophysiology and pharmacology. Also, one’s

Visiting their local independent pharmacies and speaking with pharmacy owners about opportunities.

Or reaching out via LinkedIn or other social media channels for informational interviews.

What are some words of career exploration advice you have for our audience?

The world of pharmacy has evolved. Pharmacists are becoming more and more creative in designing career paths that suit the actual needs of patients. More and more pharmacists are leaving their “behind the counter” positions and creating “out of the box” ways to serve their patients and communities. If you like science, math, pharmacology, the human body, and customer service, then pharmacy may be the field for you.

18 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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19

Our strengths are our best assets; they enrich our lives and the lives of others around us.

YOUR STRENGTHS AND STRENGTHS ASSESSMENT REVIEW A strength is a good and beneficial attribute or quality of a person.Your strengths or assets enrich your life and that of others around you. So being able to identify and articulate them is fundamental to career mapping.We are each as unique as our strengths and being able to identify what those are for each of us is critical. Because our unique combination might just be what an employer is looking 20 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

for.Where that employer maybe you if you want to go the entrepreneurial route.

For a deeper dive into your strengths and how you show up as a leader in those unique strengths, there is no better tool that I have found than the CliftonStrengths Assessment. The validated strengths assessment tool from Gallup —the global

analytics and advice firm that administers these assessments to individuals and organizations worldwide.

I recommend the CliftonStrengths assessment (formerly StrengthsFinder) along with the VIA character survey (formerly Values in Action character survey).

A STRENGTHS-BASED APPROACH TO CAREER FORMULATIONS Or what developers of the assessment call your strengths (your action orientation style; how you are most likely to take action), you could take a look at the Kolbe A IndexTM. Within the paradigm of personality strengths and behaviors, psychologists recognize a Thinking, Feeling, Acting (TFA) trifecta.The Kolbe measures your strengths in the Action dimension.

Getting your full strengths reports from any of these companies come with a cost.

And this article is by no means endorsing one assessment or another. Our goal at Career-Rx is to offer you tips and tools to help you along in your career development journey.

The area of strengths assessment is a proven one for building self-knowledge and associated confidence for the working world.

“What is right with you and me?”

“What are our strengths?”

“How do we highlight these strengths?”

For those wishing to assess what I call their strengths action potential.

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

21

Our strengths are our best assets; they enrich our lives and the lives of others around us.

YOUR STRENGTHS AND STRENGTHS ASSESSMENT REVIEW A strength is a good and beneficial attribute or quality of a person.Your strengths or assets enrich your life and that of others around you. So being able to identify and articulate them is fundamental to career mapping.We are each as unique as our strengths and being able to identify what those are for each of us is critical. Because our unique combination might just be what an employer is looking 20 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

for.Where that employer maybe you if you want to go the entrepreneurial route.

For a deeper dive into your strengths and how you show up as a leader in those unique strengths, there is no better tool that I have found than the CliftonStrengths Assessment. The validated strengths assessment tool from Gallup —the global

analytics and advice firm that administers these assessments to individuals and organizations worldwide.

I recommend the CliftonStrengths assessment (formerly StrengthsFinder) along with the VIA character survey (formerly Values in Action character survey).

A STRENGTHS-BASED APPROACH TO CAREER FORMULATIONS Or what developers of the assessment call your strengths (your action orientation style; how you are most likely to take action), you could take a look at the Kolbe A IndexTM. Within the paradigm of personality strengths and behaviors, psychologists recognize a Thinking, Feeling, Acting (TFA) trifecta.The Kolbe measures your strengths in the Action dimension.

Getting your full strengths reports from any of these companies come with a cost.

And this article is by no means endorsing one assessment or another. Our goal at Career-Rx is to offer you tips and tools to help you along in your career development journey.

The area of strengths assessment is a proven one for building self-knowledge and associated confidence for the working world.

“What is right with you and me?”

“What are our strengths?”

“How do we highlight these strengths?”

For those wishing to assess what I call their strengths action potential.

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

21

PERMISSION TO COMPOUND contʼd Economic:This factor is a huge undercurrent that drives people into certain jobs and careers without adequate inventory- or stock- taking of their ability to thrive there. Plan for your financial now and for the future. If you plan for this, it could afford the ability to take a step sideways and work on which direction you do want to go as opposed to going with the flow.

Do you know how much you need to actually thrive, and contribute to societal causes if you want?

Is there more than one way to achieve this number when looking at your career options?

These are important questions to ask and seek answers to during the planning phase. Not knowing your numbers could lead to a HENRY (High Earner Not Rich Yet) situation. One that leaves you moving from one job to another yet leaves you with a shaky economic status.

Skill: Financial and budgeting know-how These factors we have analyzed for your PEPS are useful, for whether you are starting out looking for a job, or you are wanting to transition to another type of role within your industry. It’s like knowing the conditions for stability of the compounded product, in this case our PEPS.

ENDNOTE — YOUR CAREER JOURNEY

Note:All this planning is not meant to be written in stone. One fundamental quality of an EPS is flexibility. Humans are by nature, change agents.As we change and evolve, so also our plans should be pliable, and changeable as each of the factors may dictate.

Remember, you should always be planning for your PEPS optimization.

Formulation Errors? Learn to Fail Fast to Succeed Quickly We have talked about compounding and adding ingredients. We cannot end this edition without talking about the value of the fail-fast approach in building our careers and the world of work.

The fail-fast concept comes from the field of project management using the agile methodology*. It is a philosophy built on extensive testing and development of an idea or concept to gather information about its value-ability. To fail fast requires having a process for starting work on a project, gathering quick feedback, and then deciding whether to continue to work or switch.

We should learn to fail fast so we can succeed faster.

If something is not working the way we designed it, we should be agile enough to know when to pivot and go in the direction that the data is giving us.

Sometimes, the data point with the biggest influence on our agility and fail-fast quotient is ourselves. If we are not used to acting based on feedback, we may find it hard to adapt to a new way of doing things.

No external permissions needed.

Only your internal permission required here.

I want to encourage you to become agile, both in learning and development and in rinsing and repeating. Or what is commonly known as iteration in business language. It has been said that iteration is the compound interest of change and innovation.

We want you to earn your compound interest over here, but you won’t be able do that without incremental changes over a period.

Go out there and begin earning interest on your career development path.

Preparing for a vibrant career requires a ready traveller with the right kind of information and the tools to journey well

*One of the ways to enhance your agile is with project management apps that use the Kanban board method (such as Trello).You can keep track of skills and activities that you are shelving for a new iteration of your profile.

Page Image Credits All images courtesy of unrestricted usage rights from Unsplash.com

Career-Rx is published quarterly by Get Fab Editorial Communications and Publishing in the US ISSN 977-277132-00 Chief Communications Officer - Otito Iwuchukwu Head Creative Director - Stanley Okpor Subscriptions: Please send email inquiries to careerspirations@gmail.com or visit our website,careerspirations.com

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CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

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PERMISSION TO COMPOUND contʼd Economic:This factor is a huge undercurrent that drives people into certain jobs and careers without adequate inventory- or stock- taking of their ability to thrive there. Plan for your financial now and for the future. If you plan for this, it could afford the ability to take a step sideways and work on which direction you do want to go as opposed to going with the flow.

Do you know how much you need to actually thrive, and contribute to societal causes if you want?

Is there more than one way to achieve this number when looking at your career options?

These are important questions to ask and seek answers to during the planning phase. Not knowing your numbers could lead to a HENRY (High Earner Not Rich Yet) situation. One that leaves you moving from one job to another yet leaves you with a shaky economic status.

Skill: Financial and budgeting know-how These factors we have analyzed for your PEPS are useful, for whether you are starting out looking for a job, or you are wanting to transition to another type of role within your industry. It’s like knowing the conditions for stability of the compounded product, in this case our PEPS.

ENDNOTE — YOUR CAREER JOURNEY

Note:All this planning is not meant to be written in stone. One fundamental quality of an EPS is flexibility. Humans are by nature, change agents.As we change and evolve, so also our plans should be pliable, and changeable as each of the factors may dictate.

Remember, you should always be planning for your PEPS optimization.

Formulation Errors? Learn to Fail Fast to Succeed Quickly We have talked about compounding and adding ingredients. We cannot end this edition without talking about the value of the fail-fast approach in building our careers and the world of work.

The fail-fast concept comes from the field of project management using the agile methodology*. It is a philosophy built on extensive testing and development of an idea or concept to gather information about its value-ability. To fail fast requires having a process for starting work on a project, gathering quick feedback, and then deciding whether to continue to work or switch.

We should learn to fail fast so we can succeed faster.

If something is not working the way we designed it, we should be agile enough to know when to pivot and go in the direction that the data is giving us.

Sometimes, the data point with the biggest influence on our agility and fail-fast quotient is ourselves. If we are not used to acting based on feedback, we may find it hard to adapt to a new way of doing things.

No external permissions needed.

Only your internal permission required here.

I want to encourage you to become agile, both in learning and development and in rinsing and repeating. Or what is commonly known as iteration in business language. It has been said that iteration is the compound interest of change and innovation.

We want you to earn your compound interest over here, but you won’t be able do that without incremental changes over a period.

Go out there and begin earning interest on your career development path.

Preparing for a vibrant career requires a ready traveller with the right kind of information and the tools to journey well

*One of the ways to enhance your agile is with project management apps that use the Kanban board method (such as Trello).You can keep track of skills and activities that you are shelving for a new iteration of your profile.

Page Image Credits All images courtesy of unrestricted usage rights from Unsplash.com

Career-Rx is published quarterly by Get Fab Editorial Communications and Publishing in the US ISSN 977-277132-00 Chief Communications Officer - Otito Iwuchukwu Head Creative Director - Stanley Okpor Subscriptions: Please send email inquiries to careerspirations@gmail.com or visit our website,careerspirations.com

22 CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

CAREER-Rx MAGAZINE

23

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