Strategic thinking is strange for most people. We hear the words without a clue what they mean.

And why should we?

For many, strategic thinking sounds like psychobabble at best, one more way to control clinical medicine.

Many doctors go into leadership out of frustration. They take a pay cut to trade a day in clinic for the boardroom. Tired of reactive, failing organizations, they take the lead to refocus on things that matter.

Organizations do not fail because they aim at the wrong target. They fail because they do not know how to aim. They point guns they have never used at targets they cannot define. God help anyone who questions their efforts.

What is Strategic Thinking?

Intention is not strategy. Intention means you feel deeply and act on purpose. You burst with ideas, but none of this is strategic. Continue reading “Strategic Thinking: 4 Simple Steps, 5 Common Traps”

Patients often ask, “Do you know of a good doctor?”

Managers ask something similar: How do we identify good doctors and manage them?

Patients ask because they want good care. Managers ask because they want to make doctors good.  Or because they want to learn what it means to be good, if one is a doctor.

This post adds a new discovery to our previous discussions:

Impossible to Manage Doctors? (July 2016)

Manage Doctors for Patient Benefit (Dec 2016)

Should Doctors be More Accountable? (Sep 2018)

How to Change Doctors Behaviour (Dec 2018)

How to Manage Doctors

Patients find good doctors by asking around.

Managers cannot ask around. Even if they could, they would not. Managers measure. They benchmark, spot check, and create colourful reports with pie charts. They want to manage, not just find. Continue reading “How to Manage Doctors”

Three kinds of leaders populate healthcare leadership.

They look similar, sit at the same tables, and often parrot other leaders. But they could not be more different.

Three Kinds of Leaders

I. Hobbyists

These people find leadership and politics interesting, even titillating, like collecting stamps or trivia.

II. Altruists

These people see leadership as a way to solve problems and improve the world, whether the world wants it or not. Continue reading “Three Kinds of Leaders — Why Health Care Struggles”