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Amplifying with Intention

Written by: Mark Shapiro, MD
Published on: Aug 26, 2021
This article is published in the 2021 edition of the
Women in Medicine Summit Compendium
Click here to find out more and read the other articles

By Mark Shapiro, MD

Amplification starts with a mindset, an intention.

A desire to read, watch and listen to other people – then go farther. To amplify, to cheer, to champion, to lift, to praise.

Without intention, we miss the opportunities all around us.

We all soak up so much information – so much content – every single day. We see people at home, at work, on social media, in print doing things, pushing their limits, excelling, struggling, expressing.

We take it all in and it impacts us. But we often don’t do much in response.

This is all quite passive, which is ironic because the barriers to activity, to interaction, to engagement and amplification have never been so easily surmounted.

Which brings us back to mindset and to YOUR intention.

I decided several years ago that I wanted to adjust my interpersonal interactions to be a better reflection of who I am and what is important to me: kindness, compliments, connection, collaboration, work, fun.

I looked at the toolbox in front of me and was intentional about how I might use each element in it – my voice, my pen, my keyboard, my @, my podcast, my title, my privilege – to reflect my values better. None of the tools were very sharp. The muscles to lift and wield them were atrophied.

No matter; I had intention. So do you.

Let’s step into that tension because it is meaningful, and it matters. From intention comes decision making: who, what, when, where, why and how. You have determination over each of these and you can formulate your answers, identify your motivations.

  • Who do you seek to amplify? 
  • What works resonate? 
  • When do you do this? 
  • Where do you take the time to share? 
  • Why are you doing this? 
  • How do you do this amplification work? 

I have worked hard to answer these questions for myself. I continually refine, reevaluate, reorganize.

Let’s go on an “Amplifying with Intention” journey together at the 2021 Women in Medicine Summit. You can feel comfortable and empowered as an amplifier, too.

Mark ShapiroMark Shapiro, MD

Creator, producer and host of Explore The Space Podcast, a show focused on bringing those who provide healthcare and those who seek healthcare closer together through conversations with leaders from across the spectrum. He is also a TEDx speaker, delivering his first TEDx in March 2021, and is a co-author of the “Covid-19 CV Matrix” as seen in the Journal of Hospital Medicine and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Shapiro has been in full-time clinical practice as a hospitalist since 2006 and currently works at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with Providence Medical Group, Sonoma County. He earned a BA in history at University of California-Los Angeles, attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency at University of California-San Diego. Dr. Shapiro is an active voice on Twitter and can be followed at @ETSshow. He is also an avid home coffee roaster and Peloton bike rider.


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