How to Avoid Hiring a Narcissist: A Toxic Hire Will Hurt Your Team and Your Leadership Credibility

Narcissists threaten organizational culture with traits such as entitlement, grandiosity, lack of empathy, and behavior that prioritizes self-interest rather than team or patient outcomes. The culture of a medical practice rests on the ability of people to bring their expertise, commitment, and talent to work.  This article is addressed to physician leaders who must ensure…

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The Executive Brain

A neuroscience lens, using the CARB model of social motivators, helps leaders understand how they can create an environment in which people are able to do their best thinking. When the VP’s new responsibilities were announced, they didn’t match up with the agreement the VP had made with the CEO. When asked about the discrepancy,…

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The Business School Mindset Doesn’t Mind Physician Burnout

Even those of us with a meditation cushion and a gong app are likely to recoil when mindfulness practices are suggested as solutions for physician burnout. Sure, these practices are important. No, they do not address the causes of physician burnout. Certainly, a more genuine effort by organizational leaders would be to respond to the…

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Episode 13 – A National Leader with Tenacity and Compassion

Former AMA President Barbara McAneny is a relentless patient advocate who sees the harm done by the rapacious medical industrial complex. She spells out the toxicity caused by health system consolidation, purchase of physicians’ practices, and financial exploitation of government programs intended to serve the poor. Dr. McAneny, an oncologist, comes by her in-depth knowledge…

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Episode 12 – Physician Leader Development: What Works?

Amanda Goodall, PhD, joins me in Part Two of our conversation discussing the advanced degree program for physician leaders that she founded. She talks about barriers to physician leadership development including political correctness, assumptions that physicians aren’t interested, and the daunting “re-entry” into entrenched cultures. Dr. Goodall points to a central problem with business schools:…

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Episode 10 – Autonomy | Bruce Katuna, MD

In this conversation about the neuroscience of autonomy, I roped neurologist and neurophysiologist Bruce Katuna into joining me. It wasn’t a tough sell since he’d already joined me in holy matrimony a few decades ago. My colleague, Lynn Elliott, agreed to facilitate the conversation and help us bring to life the importance and the nature…

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Episode 8 – A Bias For Action | Scott Smith, MD

This is the first of many conversations with remarkable, consistent, and accomplished leaders in order to put a spotlight on the behaviors that contribute to their leadership effectiveness. In this episode, I talk with Scott Smith, MD, a healthcare leader, and physician. His journey wends its way from his role as chief of cardiopulmonary medicine…

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Episode 7 – Why We’re Not Fixing Physician Burnout

In this episode I’m offering my take on why we haven’t budged the needle on physician burnout. We have clear evidence of the causes of burnout—but we don’t have effective action. Why are we so stuck? My observations fall into 4 areas: 1. Weak, bureaucratic language that fails to put a spotlight on the problem…

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