âPatrina, you donât understand how crappy it feels.â
Sarah exclaimed this one day when talking about the endless discussion around Medical Affairs not showing impact.
Sheâs right. When leadership keeps talking about an inability to demonstrate value, it wears on the people doing the work. Not all at once. Slowly. Quietly. Even the most motivated MSLs start to feel it.
It stops feeling like feedback. And starts feeling like, Does any of this even matter?
But hereâs the good news.
This newsletter is here to help. You donât need to overhaul your job or work harder than you already are. A few small shifts can make your impact much easier to see.
Here are 3 simple ways to start showing your impact more clearly.
1. Don't just attend training. Engage.
We see this all the time. People show up to training with arms crossed, just trying to get through it.
But hereâs the thing: a lot of work went into bringing that training to your team. It is literally like trying to plan a wedding and please everyone. And itâs one of the easiest ways to raise your visibility.
â Ask a question.
â Share a real example.
â Show youâre thinking.
It makes leadership feel good about the investment, and they notice. Trust us, they see all the negative Nancys in the room because it makes them feel bad.
2. Give your LinkedIn profile a glow-up
Your LinkedIn profile is often the first place people go to understand your impact. Leaders. Recruiters. Cross-functional partners.
If itâs vague or outdated, your work can feel that way too.
Thatâs why we created the LinkedIn Glow-Up Workshop: to help you make your profile shine without sounding salesy or fake.
Small tweaks. Much clearer signal.
3. The Explain Your Impact AI Prompt
If you ever struggle to explain your impact clearly, run this prompt in Mira. Copy. Paste. Breathe.
âAct as a supportive Medical Affairs leader who understands the [insert your role] role.
Iâm going to share a recent activity or interaction from my work. Help me translate it into a clear, confident impact statement by answering:
- What changed because of this interaction?
- Why did it matter to the team or strategy?
- How would I explain this in one short, non-technical sentence to leadership?
Keep the tone natural, not promotional.â
How to Use It
Run it on:
- A KOL conversation that felt "good" but hard to describe
- An insight you weren't sure was meaningful
- A week where you were busy but couldn't point to a clean outcome
Youâll start to see patterns in your impact and how to talk about it.
TL;DR
⢠Being told youâre ânot showing impactâ hurts, and thatâs normal
⢠You donât need to work harder, just be more visible
⢠Training + LinkedIn + better language = clearer impact
If nothing else, burn this into your brain:
You donât need to prove your worth by doing more.
You just need better ways to show the value thatâs already there.
Visibility is a skill.
And like any skill, it gets easier with practice.
Weâve got you.
In your corner always,
Patrina, Sarah, & Ralph
P.S. If this hit because youâve been feeling a little alone in all of this, you donât have to carry it by yourself. Our communities exist for exactly that reason.
Just reply âcommunity,â and weâll point you in the right direction.
One Upcoming MSL Mastery Event
AI in Medical Affairs Learning Opportunities (2026)
P.S. Tools donât create value. How your team uses them does. If youâre ready to move from reporting activity to demonstrating impact, weâd love to help train your team
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