At Actionable Books we are incredibly grateful for the unique and diverse people who make up our team and strive to celebrate them whenever possible. Jill Donahue is one such person.
Jill recently completed her tenth Actionable Summary, so we thought now was the perfect opportunity to find out a little bit more about her. And if you would like to join our community of guest writers, learn more here.
What do you do when you’re not writing Actionable summaries?
I have two passions in life, where I spend most of my time: my family and my work. The most important place I spend time is with my 3 glorious girls and husband who inspire me to live my best life. Since our girls range in age from 5 to 17, you could find me on the floor playing Barbies (who’d have thought!) or shopping for prom dresses downtown.
I am also passionate about my work. Everything I do is focused on improving patient outcomes – my ‘day job’, you could say. I love it so much though it is more like play! It inspires me to jump out of bed at 5am so I can get back to it!
Why? I have discovered things health care professionals can do to improve patient adherence and things that pharma reps can do to help healthcare professionals treat patients more effectively.
I spend my time learning and teaching them how. You could say I am a passionate curator, researcher and teacher of how to influence change for better patient outcomes. Or if you like more traditional titles, I’m a speaker and writer.
How has Actionable Books impacted your life?
I love the discipline that the Actionable Book Club has brought to my learning in 3 ways:
1) It’s funny, a couple of times, I would have stopped reading the book part way through. But because I had promised a summary, I kept reading. Turns out, the books were tremendously helpful in the end! I love having a reading plan for the year. I know the books will be consumed because I have a plan in place to do so.
2) I learn more because I am summarizing. I gain a certain amount because I am reading but by teaching it to others (through my summary) I increase my learning tremendously!
3) I love that the summaries are focused on actionable insights so they force me to think about what I will do as a result of the reading. This is key.
What’s your favorite summary you’ve written so far?
I guess the Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect was my favourite since I wrote it after meeting him. I asked him what people talk to him about the most from his book so writing the summary was pretty easy. Come to think of it, the story he shared (about the gift he gave his wife that she loved more than the BMW he gave her for her birthday) has really impacted me too. (You can read about it here.) Our family has adopted a similar habit with our gratitude boxes that we feed at bedtime. I always knew we should be grateful and appreciative but his idea made it actionable.
Where will you be one year from now?
After a very successful 3 year pilot in Canada we are gearing up to launch our 15 week home study program “Persuasion Rx: The journey from pharma rep to patient-centred partner” in the US early this summer.
So, next March 2014 I expect to be spending more time in the US helping pharma companies increase patient outcomes and sales simultaneously.
Best advice you’ve ever been given…
“Read everything you can get your hands on.”
I’ve enjoyed tremendous success in my life – at least according to my definition of success. When I look back at the journey, I think the most significant advice that I heeded was to read! I attribute my success to all the wisdom I’ve read… and more importantly ACTED on!
Describe your own personal brand in 5 words or less.
Others have called me “The guru of behaviour change in healthcare” but I think of myself more as a passionate curator, researcher and teacher of how to influence change for better patient outcomes.
But if you want just 5 words to describe my brand, they would be curious, passionate, caring, creative and trustworthy. Done.
Thanks for your time, Jill!
Interested in joining our community of guest writers? Learn more here.
