Dean’s Blog: February 2025

Building Relationships

A quote often attributed to Esther Pearl is "the quality of our lives is dependent on the quality of our relationships.” In my life, I believe that now more than ever. I also believe that the quality of an organization is dependent on the quality of the relationships of that organization. You can only make happen what you focus on and I think building quality relationships is one of those things that we should all have a focus on. 

It is probably true that one of the great values of experienced leaders is that they have a network of professional relationships that they can call on to find solutions, make connections, and advance professional initiatives. When I work with leaders, especially early career leaders, I encourage them to invest in developing meaningful relationships in their professional lives. 

We live in a world where it is relatively easy to network professionally. One example is the professional conference. Conferences are a great place to meet and have meaningful conversations with folks outside of your local environment that share professional interests. I always try to maximize these events by spending time in the exhibit hall, talking with people at breaks, and attending the social events. It is also important to get cards and contact information and also follow up with these folks - they frequently turn into lifelong contacts and friends. 

Social media is another important area to establish and maintain relationships. While there are significant concerns about potential harms of social media, I believe that there is also tremendous value. In some ways, social media is the modern equivalent of the phone book for interacting with others professionally and offers the ability to potentially connect quickly with some good portion of folks around the world. I have been able to connect, reconnect, and stay updated with professional contacts around the nation and social media has improved my professional career and also enhanced my personal life. 

Of course, one of the most important things is to focus on building and growing relationships with those around us. As we are a growing medical school in the Orlando area, there seems to be a seemingly limitless number of relationships that we need to develop and grow for OCOM. I spend some good portion of my time each week on welcoming new friends for a tour of the medical school, establishing new connections through Zoom meetings, and visiting local connections. I do my best to focus my attention and time on these activities to ensure that I am adding value to our new friends and also to make sure they feel special and appreciative. Some of the things I do is to have their names on digital signage while they tour, gift them an OCOM swag bag, and take a selfie and send to them afterwards (along with any follow-ups from the visit where I can add values to their lives or organizations. 

One of my favorite quotes from Zig Ziglar is, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” I try to bring this approach to all of my relationships and try to add value to their lives. So far, Zig’s advice has helped me live a life that I could not even have dreamed of when I was young. 

Robert T. Hasty, DO, FACOI, FACP
Dean & Chief Academic Officer