Achieving success both personally and professionally is a complex journey. Two respected leaders at Memorial Health System, Anne Musgrove and Kristian Spear, exemplify this balance in an ever-demanding field.
Anne, the director of advanced practice providers, shares her gifts and talents in her profession while juggling limited – but important – time with loved ones. Kristian, clinical director of Memorial’s Physician Clinics, prioritizes opportunities that bring her joy, especially with family and friends.
STRESS MANAGEMENT IS KEY
Chronic stress in women can lead to countless issues. Both Anne and Kristian understand the importance of managing mindset and setting boundaries.
“I truly seek to find purpose in the work that I do,” Anne says, “whether that is direct patient care or my administrative role.”
Kristian adds, “To prevent burnout, I lean on the core values I have. I pray … a lot, and I try hard to set boundaries to protect my personal time.”
HARNESSING THEIR SUPERPOWERS
When times are really challenging and the demands seem endless, Anne and Kristian lean on their superpowers.
“My superpower is an extremely strong sense of intuition,” Kristian says. “It is that gut feeling that goes beyond the science or the logic that has helped guide me in patient care, life as a mother and in my career.”
Anne says her superpower is her “ability to understand people of all walks of life, something I inherited from my grandfather.
“I have always been able to relate to the humanity of others,” she adds, “regardless of their lot in life, and see the commonalities in all people.”
‘RIGHT WHERE YOU NEED TO BE’
For Anne, success means having a peaceful life, and for Kristian, it means finding personal and professional fulfillment.
“My best personal accomplishment is raising two amazing humans: Emily, who is a civil engineer in New York City, and Trevor, who is a conservation biology major at USM,” she says. “They amaze me every day!”
Kristian takes immense pride in being the mother to Ayden, 16, Peyton, 14, and Emersyn, 8.
“It is the role I love the most, and I love watching them grow into the amazing people they are becoming,” she says. “The impact I have on their lives, their growth and their development is something I have never taken lightly.”
As a final piece of advice, Kristian shares that if your goal is to have a successful career and a family, it is possible, although not always easy, if you seek integration rather than a perfect balance.
“The key is to remain flexible and resilient, lean on your loved ones, and celebrate the small wins,” she says.
Anne adds, “Society places so much pressure on women to be a certain way; we are often described as ‘too much’ of something or ‘not enough’ of something else. The simple truth is, we just ‘are.’
“My hope for all women is that we stop feeling the need to apologize for having a career, or for not having one, for having children, or for not having children, for climbing the corporate ladder, or for being a homemaker. Wherever you are in life, and whatever you are doing, you are right where you need to be.”
