The Zone of Impact: Why Most Clinicians Stay Invisible and How to Change That

"Maximising your impact is the key to making medicine your side hustle." – Me, after years of watching brilliant clinicians stay stuck.

I’ve coached dozens of clinicians who are respected, qualified, and busy, but quietly frustrated. They’re not burned out. They’re not confused about what they’re good at. They’re just tired of doing everything right and still feeling replaceable.

That’s what led me to define something I now call the Zone of Impact.

It’s not a career path. It’s a position of leverage. It’s where purpose, influence, and long-term value intersect. And when clinicians operate from this space, everything changes.

Here’s how I found it and how you can too.

1. What Made Me Find the Zone of Impact?

Back in 2019, I was a junior emergency medicine doctor in the UK. New system. No titles. Not much influence.

But I kept noticing issues others had normalised:

Bedside guidelines that were hard to access

Bottlenecks during trauma calls

Missed opportunities to learn after critical incidents

So I started building solutions. A few:

An offline clinical guideline platform

Simulation training on weekends

And even earlier, in med school, a low-cost suture tutor for students

None of this was assigned to me. But these were the first signs of my Zone of Impact - where I could solve real problems, influence systems, and create value that lasted.

2. What Was Missing?

As I began coaching others, I realised most clinicians weren’t missing drive — they were missing alignment.

They didn’t have a method to:

Clarify what they cared about beyond the job description

Build influence in their team or organisation

Create anything that compounded value over time

They were stuck in execution mode. Always useful, rarely irreplaceable.

3. Common Mistakes I Saw

Here are four patterns I saw again and again:

Saying yes to everything, hoping more work would equal more opportunity

Collecting qualifications without building a recognisable point of view

Waiting for permission to lead, to innovate, to speak

Confusing visibility with impact — chasing recognition but not traction

One client had six side projects, a leadership fellowship, and multiple publications. But she still felt invisible. Why? Because none of it was strategically aligned.

She was proving her worth but not positioning herself to lead.

4. So What Was Needed?

That’s when the framework crystallised.

To move from high-effort, low-leverage careers into impactful, energising ones, clinicians need three things:

Purpose: a clear problem or theme they want to solve

Influence: the ability to shape decisions, systems, or conversations

Equity: something that grows in value, even when they’re not in the room

When these three intersect, you’re operating in your Zone of Impact.

You stop asking, “What should I do next?” You start asking, “What’s the highest-leverage move I can make?”

5. Who Did It Right?

One example: Dr. Shivani Gupta MS, MRCOG, a fetal medicine specialist.

She knew she wanted a career that integrated women’s health and emerging technology but didn’t know how to bridge that gap.

Through our work together, she:

Clarified her purpose around AI in women’s health

Built visibility by speaking and sharing her ideas

Became a recognised voice in her niche before even asking for opportunities

She didn’t hustle harder. She positioned herself better. That’s what the Zone of Impact makes possible.

6. What Did She Do Right?

She wasn’t louder. She was clearer.

She chose one core domain to be known for

She built visible value, not just work done behind closed doors

She created equity - something that lived beyond her clinical hours

She shifted from being reactive to being strategic.

7. How Do You Do It Right?

If you want to start building your Zone of Impact, here’s what I recommend:

Name what frustrates you most — that’s often where your purpose is hiding

Pick one domain to be visible in — leadership, education, innovation, systems improvement

Start building something that compounds — this could be a network, a project, a platform, a framework

And most importantly: Don’t wait for permission. No one will assign you a niche, a platform, or a voice. You have to choose it, then back it up with strategic action.

Final Thoughts

If you’re mid-career and feel like you’re doing everything and still not getting noticed, you’re not broken. You’re just misaligned.

The Zone of Impact is where your work starts working for you. Where your effort builds momentum. And where medicine becomes one part of your portfolio, not the whole thing.

It’s not about leaving. It’s about leading.

So ask yourself: What problem are you here to solve?

Because the clinicians who step into their Zone of Impact don’t just influence. They change the culture.

About the author 

Shub is an executive coach and emergency medicine doctor helping clinicians make medicine their side-hustle 🙋 turning their clinical excellence into influence, income, and impact - without leaving medicine behind.

He’s the creator of the Clinician Impact Actionship, a practical program designed to help you build a career beyond the bedside with clarity and confidence.

Want to learn how to build your own Zone of Impact? Join Shub’s free webinar to discover the 5 secrets every clinician needs to know to become irreplaceable.

Register here for the webinar on the 8th of April 2025.

Regards

Shub