What 300 Orthopedic Practice Leaders Said When Asked Why Their Work Matters

By Rachel Druckenmiller, CSP

I didn't expect to be hit by a truck and end up with a T12 compression fracture on May 3, 2020.

And I also didn't expect that experience to become one of the most clarifying moments of my professional life.

Seven weeks into the pandemic, 85% of my speaking business had evaporated, and my husband was teaching elementary school physical education from our basement on Zoom. We needed a break, so we went on a run. I didn’t see it coming when the Chevy Silverado pickup truck that had been stopped in the right lane took a right turn at a red light directly into me.

I remember falling in slow motion. I remember not being able to breathe as I hit the ground. I remember the ambulance whisking me away, leaving my husband alone, wondering what happened to me.

And I remember the radiologist walking into my ER room a few hours later, standing at the foot of my bed, stoic, and saying, “There's a spinal fracture” and then walking right out of the room when I started to cry.

I have never felt so alone in my entire life.

And then Ashley walked in.

Ashley had a completely different kind of energy. She came right to my bedside and told me I had "the best kind of fracture" — which is a wild sentence to hear from another human being. But more than the diagnosis, she told me her own story. The illness they couldn't figure out. The lesions on her brain that had to be removed and how she had to learn to walk again. How she was hit by a motorcyclist right after she left the hospital and somehow, eventually, landed right there in neurology, exactly where she was supposed to be.

She looked at me and said something I desperately needed to hear, something no one had said to me all day: “You're going to be okay.” 

She gave me hope. And in the ten minutes I was with her, she gave me the four things we need most from leaders in times of uncertainty, according to Gallup’s research: Trust. Compassion. Stability. Hope.

I had the honor of being the opening keynote at the AAOE Annual Conference in April 2026 to spend some time with a room full of orthopedic practice leaders, people who are doing some of the most meaningful, complex, and often invisible work in healthcare.

We talked about what I call The Resilience Reset: a three-part framework for navigating the moments that knock you down: Reflect, Reframe, and Recalibrate. We talked about purpose as an anchor when everything feels chaotic. We explored the power of post-traumatic growth: the new possibilities, strength and meaning that emerge as a result of the adversity and struggles we face. We learned about self-concept clarity and why we need people around us to act as mirrors, reflecting back what we can't always see in ourselves.

Reflect: Anchor in Purpose

One of the most meaningful moments of the day came when the room responded to this question in real time:

What is it about the work you do that is meaningful, purposeful, or important to you, to those you serve, or to the wider world?

Here's some of what they said:

"I help patients gain access to the care they need to get back to doing what they love — and along that journey, I have the privilege of supporting my team in their own professional journeys."

"I enable healers to heal and put their life's work into practice."

"I walk alongside people through their hardest moments and help them realize their potential."

"I collect money and keep the practice in compliance so the providers can continue to help people."

"Ultimately, I am responsible for making our practice as efficient and effective as possible so we can take the very best care of patients and relieve their pain."

When everything around us is changing or feels uncertain, purpose stabilizes us. On the days when everything is on fire, when patients are frustrated and staff are stretched and nothing is going the way it's supposed to, purpose is the thing that anchors you back to why you started. It's the thing that makes the hard days survivable.

And everyone in your practice should be able to answer the question that brings us back to purpose: Who am I helping and why does it matter?

Reframe: Shift Your Perspective

One of my favorite stories I shared that day was about a COO named Erika Noll. It was Christmas morning. 6:55 AM when she gets a call: there was a water break overnight and the building flooded. Everything is contaminated, and icicles are hanging on the outside of the building.

She had no training, no plan, no roadmap for how to respond. No one prepared her for *what to do when the building floods*. 

And she made a choice. She thought: *If I freak out, everyone else is going to freak out.* So she showed up steady. December 26, her staff was in rain boots in the OR. Some people left. But the people who stayed became more connected than they had ever been before. The team got stronger because of that experience, not in spite of it. Collective struggle can bring us together, if we let it.

And now, when things are going according to plan, Erika gives her staff a helpful reframe:

“At least we’re not in rain boots!”

She didn’t choose it, but she found a way to use it. That's post-traumatic growth. And I'd be willing to bet every single person in that room had a version of that story. I bet you do, too.

Recalibrate: Lead with Presence

After anchoring in purpose and shifting our perspective, we explored the power of recalibrating. It’s about owning who we are and how we’re showing up in a given moment, asking ourselves the question: “What kind of person do you want to be and what would that person do in this situation?”

The people you serve — your patients, your staff, your physicians — they don't need your perfection. They need your presence. They need you to be their Ashley. They need you to notice them, like the medical receptionist at one orthopedic clinic noticed me a few months after my accident. I was there for a second opinion about an ankle injury sustained from the accident. 

After I checked in, bracing for bad news, she looked at me and said completely unprompted: *I can tell you're a fighter. You're going to be okay.*

She had no idea how much I needed those words at that moment.

Neither do you, most of the time. You have no idea which moment is the one that matters. The side comment becomes the sentence someone carries with them for years. The time you showed up — really showed up — and changed the whole trajectory of how someone felt about their situation, their job, or themselves.

So here's my invitation to you: Why does your work matter? Who are you helping? Why does it matter to them?

Ask that question of the people you work with. Ask them to share a story about a moment of meaning, a moment when they felt like they made a difference in a small or big way. Be present with them as they tell you. When people feel like who they are and what they do are relevant and purposeful, everything shifts. Retention, engagement, and culture all improve when people are anchored in their why.

There will be days when you’re caught up in the grind or a rain boots moment, when you wonder if who you are or what you do matters. I can assure you that it does. You are somebody who matters. Your work matters. And the people in those rooms - your patients and your staff - are counting on you to believe that, even on the days when it's hard.

Go be somebody's Ashley today.

Be the reason everybody you come across feels like a Somebody.

About Rachel Druckenmiller

Rachel Druckenmiller, CSP® is a TEDx speaker, self-leadership and workplace performance expert, and founder of UNMUTED. Recognized by Forbes, Smart Meetings, and Workforce Magazine, she helps leaders and teams move from self-doubt to self-trust, from hesitation to contribution, and from going through the motions to showing up fully. She was the opening keynote speaker at the 2026 AAOE Annual Conference. Learn more about her on LinkedIn and at www.RachelDruckenmiller.com