Scott Shaw: CEO of Lincoln Tech (Raise the Line)

Hi, I'm Sh Ghani. Thanks for checking out the raise line interview series in which me and my cohost doctor Rishi Desai and registered nurse, Janna Amil, explore how to strengthen our healthcare system with some amazing leaders in medicine, technology, education and government.

And they have some great advice for people starting careers in healthcare as well. I hope you will watch these highlights and then go listen to the full podcast interview wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Sh in today on ra line. I'm happy to be joined by Scott Shaw, who's the president and Ceo of Lincoln Tech.

So, can you first start by telling our audience a bit more about your background and what led you to joining Lincoln Tech and staying there for, for now, now, about two decades?

Sure. I actually started off in investment banking and uh the organization I was with uh made an investment in Lincoln and I was looking for a change to get from uh being on the investing side to the operation side and Lincoln was having some financial problems.

So my first role at Lincoln was actually as ac so I came and joined the organization helped kind of get their footing back on ground and then frankly just fell in love with the education space.

I had gone to school, but never thought I'd be involved in a school. But it's certainly very rewarding to be able to really help people change their lives and get themselves established.

And so I stayed here and 20 years later, I am where I am. Another question is, what advice would you give to someone considering a career in health care?

Um, you know, obviously COVID has attracted many of them to healthcare careers, but it's also scared some people away, uh the risks inherent and being on the front line.

So I'd love to hear what advice you give to your students. Sure.

Well, I think that, um, I think that, you know, again, still most of the students coming to us are really want to make a difference.

And health care is a way that individual can make a difference in people's lives and in their local communities. And it's something that I think is well respected.

I think that this whole COVID situation frankly has raised the profile of all health care workers are first line responders and I don't see why that will ever go away.

And so I think that's, if you want to be in a career that's well respected with long term job opportunities, there's really nothing better, you know, frankly than health care.

As far as specific advice, you know, one of the things that we constantly hear from employers and it's something we're trying to incorporate into our curriculum but is a little more challenging is, it's just not a matter to know the technical skills.

Everyone is asking for soft skills and that kind of runs the gamut of a lot of different things. But we hear everything from just having a more professional attitude and look, uh making sure that you show up on time and every day, uh making sure that uh you have everything as basic as good uh communication skills, whether that's uh phone skills or now, more and more people are texting.

But when you're interacting with patients, uh having uh unclear information, go back and forth, just adds a lot more anxiety and stress to the patient into the situation.

And so being able to communicate well, gain the patient's confidence and demonstrate your competency and professionalism will go a long way to make you a successful uh health care provider.

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