How many times have you ever had to question whether the person in “charge” was the leader they should be?
I don't know if you have ever had to experience the above scenario but I have and it's one of the most frustrating feelings. Here you are in a position of vulnerability and have to depend on someone else to help get you to your final destination, whatever that is but on the inside you are second guessing everything.
As we are becoming more and more health conscious especially with the recent political climate in the air I see many more people ready to make that leap and get their health affairs in order but unfortunately they are just blindly following down a rabbit hole with no sense of direction. Most often they rely on television and various internet sites[hopefully drpierresblog.com is at the top of their list] to get their health news and tips. That isn't a big issue for me because I feel that as a patient you got to have some supplemental information to fall back on but the problem lies is who is at the front of the line or driving the car on their road to get healthier.
I have said this before on the blog but I have several gripes on physician training.
- It doesn't train physicians how to become better people, either you're a good person or an asshole. Medical school just amplifies that
- It doesn't prepare you for the business of medicine
- It doesn't appreciate the political importance of medicine
- It practically discourages independant thinking
- It trains you to become the worker more than the leader
The last point is why we are here today. Recently in my private community I sought to ask and then answer the question why do you follow your doctor's advice. On the podcast last week I discussed why trusting your doctor is key to survival but the ultimate requirement is that your doctor has to be ready to lead you to get there.
I always I have been very fortunate during my training in medical school & residency to have had the leadership positions that I have had from local SNMA president, SNMA regional director all the up to my current position as a program director. Each of these positions have become my building blocks which has made me an excellent physician while also being a better person.
Out of residency I right to work for a hospital corporation but very quickly realized that their model of practice wasn't going to fit me in the long run. The hospital was set on making the physician take a role as just one of the employees and not the thought leader that I had trained to be. Many of the things that made my office great were usually never the company's idea. It was right then that I knew that I was ready to strike on my own because here I was making better administrative & marketing decisions than the administration of this hospital organization.
What I want you to do today is think about how much of an influence your doctor has been in your life.
- How well do you stick to the game plan they lay out for you
- Do you enjoy making appointments with them
- Do they always make you feel that you are the only patient in the room
- Is this someone you'd have no hesitation in referring to
- What else are they known for outside the office
There are several ways to measure what an effective leader is and becoming a doctor doesn't automatically count. You have to actually be a good person outside of medicine, you have to surround yourself with great & like minded people and you have to push others to strive to be their greatest especially when it comes to the health. Take a look at some more qualities of an effective leader with the FREE PDF I am giving out, along with a free audio chapter of an upcoming book.
