🚨 Why Hard Work Alone Won’t Make You an Impactful Clinician-Founder
- Shubhendu Kulshreshtha
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 7
If you're a doctor, chances are you didn’t join the NHS—or any healthcare system—just to follow protocol and tick boxes. You probably got in for impact. For meaning. To solve real-world problems like the ones your family or community faced growing up.
But here's the truth no one tells you:
The system doesn't want you to make an impact. It wants you to do your part—and do it quietly.
That’s where most clinicians get stuck. And it’s why I want to show you a different way.
🧠 You're Over-Skilled, Under-Utilised, and (Maybe) Being Taken for Granted
You’ve probably got:
Ideas that could improve care delivery
Skills that go beyond your clinical job plan
A deep desire to do something that matters
But what happens instead?
Your ideas get dismissed or, worse, stolen
You take on more roles and responsibilities with no clear traction
And when impact does start to show, it’s at the cost of burnout
This is not your fault. It’s the career ladder we were handed.
📉 The Grid No One Shows You: Effort vs Impact
Let’s break this down visually.
The Impactful Clinician Quadrant
Most doctors live in one of three quadrants:
Low Effort, Low Impact – The "just get by" zone
High Effort, Low Impact – The "workhorse" zone (hello, heat)
High Effort, High Impact – The proper "BURNOUT" zone
But the sweet spot? The green quadrant → Low Effort, High Impact
That’s where sustainable impact lives. And where you build a reputation that outlasts your job title.
⚙️ From Burnout to Leverage: The Career Shift That Changed Everything
After years of jumping through hoops—ARCPs, audits, leadership titles, conferences—I asked myself:
“So what?”
What real difference was I making?
That’s when I stopped climbing the ladder and started designing my own path. The secret? Finding your Zone of Impact—where your clinical credibility meets career leverage.
Let me show you how. 👇
The Zone of Impact
💡 The Zone of Impact Framework: Build, Don’t Burn
Your Zone of Impact sits at the intersection of 3 powerful elements:
1. Purpose
This isn’t about vague “passion.” It’s grounded in:
Your lived experiences
Your natural motivations
Your Ikigai—what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for
(If you’re not clear on this, take my free quiz linked below.)
2. Influence
Because purpose without influence is just frustration. You build influence by:
Owning your strengths
Taking on the right leadership roles
Earning visibility that matches your value
3. Equity
This is the missing piece in most clinicians’ careers.
If you’re building something valuable—why don’t you own any of it?
Whether it’s a QI project, a service redesign, or a private venture:
Equity means you benefit from the value you create
It can be financial (shares, profit) or reputational (IP, brand, long-term leverage)
No more setting up services that someone else profits from for decades while you move on to the next rota.
🧭 Why This Matters for Clinician-Founders
If you’re serious about making medicine your side hustle and building something of your own, this framework isn’t optional.
You need to:
Align with a clear purpose
Build measurable influence
Create equity in what you do
That’s how you move from being a respected clinician… to a recognised founder—without sacrificing your clinical credibility.
✅ Next Steps
Want to know how close you are to working in your Zone of Impact?
Take the free quiz I’ve built for clinicians considering their next move:
🎙 Or listen to the stories of other clinician-founders who’ve made this shift:
About the Author
Dr. Shubhendu Kulshreshtha is a UK-based emergency medicine registrar, executive coach, and founder of the Clinician Impact Actionship—a career accelerator for doctors ready to step into high-impact, founder-led work. He helps clinicians make medicine their side hustle through purpose, influence, and equity.
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