Is Risk Taking Rewarded?

Is risk taking rewarded? I did not think of myself as a risk taker until I found myself standing in front of the Dean of University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing asking for money.

I learned about the difficult area of pregnancy and diabetes when I was in graduate school. I completed a paper describing an educational plan to teach pregnant diabetics. My University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing professor encouraged me to submit an abstract to the American Diabetes Association.

Abstract about Pregnant Diabetics

I was so naïve that I did not realize what I was volunteering to do. I did not realize that if the abstract was accepted, I would be expected to write a paper to go with the abstract and to stand up in front of a group of diabetic educators and healthcare professionals and deliver this talk.

One of my wise professors advised me early in my graduate program to pick a clinical area or topic and to continue to build on it. So I developed educational materials for diabetics, worked in a diabetologist’s clinical practice seeing diabetics for care, and created this teaching plan for pregnant diabetics. The most amazing things I saw at the diabetologist’s office was the prototype of the insulin pump. This machine was the size of a washing machine. It is now the size of a syringe.

Pregnancy and diabetes

What I learned was that pregnant diabetics are at risk for problems. Women with insulin-dependent diabetes have to avoid both high and low blood sugar during pregnancy. Women who are pre-diabetic (early stage before diabetes develops) or take oral medication to control blood sugar may develop resistance to insulin and need to take additional insulin to control blood sugar.

The pregnant diabetic increases her chances of having a healthy baby without congenital defects by strictly controlling blood sugar before getting pregnant and during the first three months of pregnancy when critical organ development occurs. Pregnant diabetics are also at increased risk of having a spontaneous abortion because of poorly controlled blood sugar. They are at risk for having large babies with associated delivery risks. I focused on gestational diabetics.

After delivery, the vast majority of gestational diabetics return to normal blood sugar levels, but 35 to 75% of these women will again have gestational diabetes during their next pregnancy.

Half of gestational diabetics will develop type 2 (oral medication needed) diabetes. My educational plan focused on helping women in this category control her risk factors so they could lessen the risk of developing diabetes.

Funding to present talk at American Diabetes Association Conference

My proposal to teach was accepted. There was one significant problem: I could not afford to go to the conference. Although I did not have to pay registration, I had a flight and hotel bill to think about. My husband had been unemployed for the entire time I was in graduate school. For 1.5 years, we never used a deposit slip, only a withdrawal slip.

I accepted a job to head a nursing staff development program of a local hospital immediately after I finished from graduate school, and had not been at the job more than 2 weeks when I got news that the abstract was accepted. My employer said she would give me the time off but would not pay any of the expenses.

Encouraged by one of my professors, I went to see Claire Fagin, the dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. It felt to me that her office as the size of a football field as I approached her desk. I asked this imposing woman for money. I told her I would call alumni in the Los Angeles area as well as guidance counselors at local high schools and would market the benefits of Penn’s School of Nursing.

Risk Taking Rewarded

My risk taking rewarded, I received a promise of payment that would cover my flight and hotel bill. The presentation to the American Diabetes Association led to a request to publish the paper in their journal. This led to a request to write a column for a publication for diabetics. This was one of the early steps of my writing career, which includes over 800 articles, chapters, books, case studies and online courses.

What you can do

Take risks. Abandon the safe lane and step out. Your risks will vary at different times of your LNC business.

• A risk could be asking a neighbor whose son is an attorney for an introduction.
• It could be going to a networking event where you know no one.
• It could be standing at abooth in an exhbit area waiting for attorneys to walk over to you.
• It could be hiring an employee.

There is a good reason for the expression “Nothing ventured nothing gained.” Look at the rewards I got from risk taking. Grab your courage and take a chance.