The success of your private practice depends on one thing more than almost anything else: the people you hire.

In Episode 4 of The Business of Surgery, facial plastic surgeon Dr. Lauren Umstattd shares her approach to hiring, building culture, and creating a team that patients genuinely love. From choosing your first employee to conducting working interviews, investing in staff, and knowing when it's time to let someone go, this episode is an honest look at the leadership side of physician entrepreneurship.

Whether you're opening your first practice or leading an established team, these lessons apply far beyond medicine.

In this episode:

• Who should be your first hire?
• Building a private practice team from scratch
• How to interview and evaluate candidates
• Why working interviews matter
• Hiring for attitude over experience
• Creating a strong workplace culture
• Investing in employee growth and retention
• Giving raises, CME budgets, and meaningful benefits
• Difficult conversations and firing with integrity
• Why micromanagement destroys great employees

The Business of Surgery is a 12-part summer series on FEM, MD, where Dr. Lauren Umstattd shares the lessons she learned building a thriving physician-owned cosmetic surgery practice—from startup through long-term growth.

New episodes every Wednesday.

Host: Dr. Lauren Umstattd

Connect with Lauren: @lauren_umstattd_md

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

See more shows and content at hippocratic-collective.com