Category Leadership Development

Why New Leaders Shouldn’t Trust Their First Instinct

Rushing to judgment is a big mistake a new leader can make

Early in my first leadership role at a state psychiatric hospital, I learned that a patient was sitting on a locked ward, psychotic and untreated, because her physician had never filed a court petition for involuntary treatment. My first instinct was discipline — the union process, the medical staff committee. A mentor stopped me with four simple questions, and those questions revealed the truth: the doctor wasn't indifferent, he was inexperienced, having never petitioned a court in his long career. A verdict reached in anger became a conversation, a learning moment, and a treated patient. This post uses that story to show new leaders why a verdict reached early may be wrong, and why having a mentor is a necessity when stepping into leadership.

The Business Case for Servant Leadership in Healthcare

The effects of servant leadership ripple through the organization

If you're a physician leader who believes in servant leadership, at some point someone in a boardroom will say, "That's nice, but what are the results?" This post gives you the answer. And if you're an executive thinking about physician leadership development, this is why servant leadership isn't a personality trait. It's an operating system you can support or undermine. Which choice you make will determine your organization's culture.

The Servant Leadership Trap — And How to Avoid It

Serving is not the same as rescuing

When many physicians hear "servant leadership," a voice in their head says: I already give everything to my patients. Now I'm supposed to give everything to my team too? That voice isn't wrong to worry. Servant leadership, done poorly, will burn you out faster than any 80-hour clinical week ever did. This post is about that trap and how to avoid it.

What Servant Leadership Actually Means For Physicians

Physicians know how to serve. We've been doing it since the first day of medical school. But serving patients and serving a team are not the same skill. The shift from one to the other is harder than most people expect. And getting it wrong can quietly undermine your leadership before you even realize what's happening. Robert Greenleaf's concept of Servant Leadership can help.

Why Doctors Avoiding Power Makes Healthcare Worse

Most physicians are uncomfortable with power. They went into medicine to help people, not control them. So when leadership starts to feel political, many doctors retreat. But, power doesn't disappear when you avoid it. It simply moves elsewhere. Often to people with different values and less clinical grounding. This post explores why learning ethical influence isn't selling out. It's the only way to protect what matters most. This is part 3 of 4 in the series on physician leadership based on a classic HBR article by Abraham Zalzenik.

Good Doctors Reduce Uncertainty. Good Leaders Must Hold It.

Physicians are trained to quickly reduce uncertainty. That instinct brings relief to patients and saves lives. But it quietly sabotages leadership. In modern healthcare, the rush to clarity often erodes trust instead of building it. This post explores why leadership begins not with answers, but with the capacity to hold ambiguity long enough for meaning to emerge.