The best way to protect yourself in the profession of surgery is to build real connection with your patients.

People don’t retaliate against physicians they know, like, and trust.

This webinar will teach you how to cultivate know, like, and trust with every human you encounter.

You can take this work deeper by joining Empowered Surgeons Group. Learn more about what's included in the group here. Have questions? Feel free to email me at mel@melthackercoaching.com.

In this rich and layered conversation, we explore how sex coaching becomes a powerful *pleasure* portal to self-compassion, nervous system regulation, and healing from burnout. Danielle shares how experiencing debilitating physical symptoms in her twenties—and recognizing the abusive dynamics in her own mind—led her to a deeper understanding of the mind-body connection.

We talk about the bridges between neuroscience, pleasure, and human behavior, and how these connections help women access not only physical intimacy but personal freedom. From sex and surgical intuition to compassion-based strategies for self-evaluation, this episode is a deep dive into reclaiming agency, inside and outside the bedroom.

• Why neuroscience gave Danielle a language that mindfulness and yoga couldn’t
• Why prescriptive strategies fail without mindset alignment
• That sex can be one of the most nourishing human pleasures, be it the truly intimate version or "donut sex"
• How to create safety in the bedroom just like in the OR
• The parallels between surgical intuition and sexual agency
• How to have hard conversations with your partner about sticky subjects like sex
• Why intentions matter
• The importance of nonjudgmental evaluation of less-than-perfect surgery and less-than-perfect sex
• How sex coaching becomes a masterclass in self-compassion

Danielle Savory is a master certified coach, podcast host, and expert in the fields of neuropsychology, mindfulness, sexual pleasure and intimacy. Danielle brings a unique perspective to coaching, helping clients understand the ways in which the brain and body are interconnected and how this connection can be harnessed to experience the sensual pleasure the body is wired for.

As the host of Mashable's #1 Rated Sex & Relationship podcast "It's My Pleasure," Danielle has explored a wide range of topics related to sexuality, relationships, and personal growth - empowering women to embrace their sexuality and prioritize their pleasure. Danielle is a master certified coach with over 10 years of experience coaching hundreds of women with her proven process of increasing desire and expanding orgasmic capacity.

Check out her [website here], catch her insights (and wit) on [Instagram here] and on the It's My Pleasure podcast here, and don’t miss the Wall Street Journal piece she contributed to: “Is Everyone Having More Sex Than You This Summer?”—read it [here]!

If you loved this conversation, you are going to want to join the Empowered Surgeons Group! Get immediate access to a powerful 4 step process, bonus courses, a transformational workbook and weekly support with me. Learn more HERE.

In today’s episode, we dive deep into how the systems around us—medicine, culture, even religion—can deplete our humanity when we’re not paying attention.

I’m joined by Dr. Joan Chan, who brings her unique perspective of growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household, deconstructing black-and-white thinking, and navigating her career as a family physician through boundary-setting, and rehumanization.

Together, we explore how deindoctrination—whether from dogma or systemic norms—can actually bring us closer to creativity, innovation, and truly humane care.

If you’ve ever felt trapped between "just work harder" and "this isn’t sustainable," this episode will help you find your way back to the messy, liberating middle place where real solutions live.

We cover:

• Why surgeons can become unintentionally "scary" in a dehumanized system
• How depleting the system of humanity is dangerously short-sighted
• The fact that women physicians lose their longevity advantage compared to the general population (spoiler: it's the profession, not the gender)
• The connection between growing up with black-and-white thinking and entering rigid medical systems
• Joan’s personal journey: deconstructing religious dogma and deconditioning from overwork as virtue
• The trauma of realizing the rules you were taught aren't always humane — and learning to think for yourself
• How medicine can feel like religion: follow the dogma or be labeled a heretic
• The impossible math of family medicine (and, let's be real, every specialty): why no doctor can follow every guideline and stay sane
• The essential practice of setting boundaries around administrative burdens
• Reframing "saying no" as a sign of humanity, not laziness
• Why less work doesn’t mean less care (and why we urgently need more people doing less, not fewer people doing more)
• Moving from the drama triangle (villain, victim, rescuer) to the empowerment dynamic (creator, challenger, coach)
• How emotions protect us — and why success is often a terrible teacher while failure is a fantastic one
• Using curiosity, creativity and experimentation (instead of rigid certainty) to innovate in medicine
• Deindoctrinating ourselves from toxic beliefs about work, worth, and emotions
• Why the truth doesn’t break—and how to trust yourself (and your patients) as experts of your/their own lives
• Taking the same precision you use in surgery to cut out what no longer serves you

If you loved this conversation, you can get more Dr. Joan Chan in your life by listening to her podcasts, The Other Human in the Room and Experiential Anatomy. Follow her on instagram here and find her website here.

If you are a surgeon looking to humanize your life, I’ve got the perfect program for you. Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Don't wait to experience the power of coaching. Join the Empowered Surgeons Group today. Sign up by April 25th 11:59 pm EST to get the Empowered Surgeons Workbook delivered straight to your door! If you miss the deadline, that's okay! You still get immediate access to the Empowered Surgeons Workbook in PDF form, no matter when you sign up. Our first group call is April 30th, 2025 at 4 pm EST. See you inside the group.

It's normal to fall out of the current in the OR. We know we've fallen out when our brain sends us into anxiety, urgency, and self-doubt.

Getting back into the current is as easy as ABC:

A: Awareness, Allowance, Acceptance, Aligned Action

B: Breathe; Get your Brain Back in your own Business

C: Certainty-->Curiosity-->Creativity

Sign up for Empowered Surgeons Group here.

It's not the prior auths, unfinished charts, or patient messages that are burning you out. While those circumstances need reform, they are merely symptoms of a much bigger problem—a problem that has everything to do with you, which is fantastic news because it means you can do something about it.

In this episode, you’ll:

• Learn how your human animal communicates with you
• Normalize feeling unfulfilled, even when you’ve achieved everything you ever dreamed of
• Understand how we sometimes use the profession against ourselves—and how that leads to pretending
• Explore how the perceived cultural forces of self-sacrifice, people-pleasing, and always saying “yes” prevent meaningful change
• Dive into the evolution of self and the importance of reconnecting with your essential self
• Unpack why internal conflict is so common among surgeons
• Understand that every surgeon has their own burnout timeline
• Recognize how resisting what is can reduce your capacity
• Discover how to be okay where you are—so you can feel safe enough to move forward

Because you have a human brain with a built-in negativity bias, it will naturally direct your attention to what’s wrong.

It will point out all the problems in your world, presenting them as if it’s simply reporting the news.

But it’s up to you to intentionally look for what’s right—to pause, scan your life, and notice what’s actually working.

From that place, you can make a conscious and deliberate decision about the direction you want to go.

And remember, you always have three choices:

1. Accept it
2. Change it
3. Leave it

Sign up for Empowered Surgeons Group today and don't miss any of my offerings by getting on my email list here.

Failure is required for success—but failing in surgery is different. It’s layered. It’s nuanced. It carries weight that most outside the field can’t fully grasp.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why failure in surgery is fundamentally different from other professions
• The distinction between objective failure and subjective failure
• How to process the complex emotions that come with failure
• Why evaluating failure is not optional—it’s essential
• A clear, compassionate process for evaluating your own failures
• How to detach your self-worth from your outcomes
• The power of strategic pessimism to help you prepare for and learn from failure

Whether you’re grappling with a recent complication or quietly carrying one from years ago, this episode offers tools to help you reflect, reframe, and move forward with intention.

Get free value curated for surgeons straight to your inbox here.

Want to learn how to create safety for yourself in the profession of surgery? Register for my upcoming webinars:

Register for Master Curveballs in the OR (and life) in 5 Steps here.

Register for Your Best Career Insurance: Know, Like, and Trust here.

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

How do we incentivize surgeons to evolve their techniques? Why hasn’t scarless thyroid surgery taken off in the U.S.?

In this episode, we dive into:

• The disconnect between those who stay stuck in their beliefs and those who have incentive to innovate
• Why we often don’t offer techniques we don’t fully understand
• Rethinking patient counseling for thyroid surgery
• The evolution of surgical standards
• The delicate balance between certainty and an open mind in the profession of surgery
• How rigidity in our convictions keeps us stuck—and how loosening our grip can create new possibilities
• The crisis of faith in healthcare and how clinging too tightly to beliefs may be making it worse
• The pros and cons of academia and the challenges of building something new
• Following the internal whisper that calls for change—and the stickiness of leaving a job
• Navigating career transitions while keeping joy and curiosity alive
• The art of offering all the options—RFA, transoral surgery, and traditional surgery—without bias
• The mindset of an innovator and the power of Vu Ja De (seeing the familiar in a completely new way)
• Ego and bias in surgery—how to channel them for good rather than letting them hold us back
• The unexpected joy of being bad at something (when no one gets hurt)
• How fear keeps us where we are—and the fallacy that life is ever certain
• Expanding your identity to unlock new career horizons

This conversation is all about embracing uncertainty, questioning our assumptions, and stewarding change in a profession built on tradition.

Tune in—this one will challenge the way you think!

Follow Jon on instagram here.

Dr. Jon Russell is the Founder of The Russell Center for Endocrine Health. Before starting the Russell Center, he was Director of the Division of Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery at Johns Hopkins and directed the Thyroid Tumor Center.

Learn more about how to get on-demand, lifetime, risk-free access to the Empowered Surgeons Curriculum here. One investment of $1,997 to learn essential concepts you didn't learn in training. This one course will change your perspective, and life, permanently.

Empowered Surgeons Curriculum is available now! This program will teach you everything you wished you learned but didn't in training. Read about everything you get in the program (group coaching, Empowered Surgeons workbook, bonus videos) here or sign up immediately here.

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Dr. Colleen Plein, an otolaryngologist and coach for gifted adults, joins the podcast to explore the unique challenges of being a gifted or neurodivergent adult—something many of us in medicine and surgery can relate to. Find her on instagram here or email her cpleincoaching@gmail.com. She is resource for all of you gifted docs out there.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Neurodivergence isn’t something kids "grow out of"
• Gifted individuals often experience social struggles due to asynchronous development
• How normalizing your neurodivergence can be incredibly freeing
• The lack of support for gifted kids in school systems—and the lasting impact
• The performance cliff and how it affects gifted individuals
• How early praise for intelligence and achievement can lead to a fixed mindset and self-worth tied to external success
• Why gifted kids can struggle, even with loving, supportive parents
• The challenge of finding identity and self-worth beyond what you do or produce
• The overlap between giftedness, ADHD, and autism
• Why coaching can be especially effective for gifted minds, who are drawn to “out-thinking” their thoughts
• The impact of rejection sensitive dysphoria in residency
• How simply having language for your experience can be a relief
• A surprising reason you might procrastinate finishing your charts
• How coaching can fill in gaps that therapy often doesn’t
• The importance of connecting with other gifted and neurodivergent individuals who share similar lived experiences

This conversation is packed with insights that can shift the way you see yourself and your experiences.

Learn more about how to get on-demand, lifetime, risk-free access to the Empowered Surgeons Curriculum here. One investment of $1,997 to learn essential concepts you didn't learn in training. This one course will change your perspective, and life, permanently.

Empowered Surgeons Curriculum is available now! This program will teach you everything you wished you learned but didn't in training. Read about everything you get in the program (group coaching, Empowered Surgeons workbook, bonus videos) here or sign up immediately here.