Like all the best things in life, being President comes with maximal effort, pleasure and sacrifice.
You work more than expected, have more fun than should be allowed, and give up what no sane person would ever choose to give.
Many of you have asked what life is like as President; what skills and experience you might need.
I share the following with sheepish vulnerability. I see best what’s needed most by what I have the least. I offer what I think you need, what I found useful, and what I wish I had a little more.
For those of you standing for election: Do not be discouraged if you feel unqualified! Many leaders do.
No one has it all (especially me). That’s a good thing. Take it as an opportunity to learn.
As for time commitment, you will make the year your own. I only share personal details because I’ve been asked.
Time Required
You need an unfettered mind. Time to reflect. Time to talk on the phone at all hours. Time to respond to a dozen social media platforms. Time for long chats on each one. And then you need time to recover.
Each presidency is unique to some extent. I used to feel sorry for those Presidents who had to manage negotiations during their term. They worked hard.
Other Presidents seemed to have had a lighter load. In the olden days, you could almost time your nomination to fall between contracts. I wonder if that’s possible anymore?
There’s probably a good chance the President elect, this spring, will avoid a negotiations year, but no guarantee. Maybe you’ll have to tackle relativity?
I needed a locum for my tiny practice. For a few months, I did not have one and found it too busy.
Expect to spend some of each day, including weekends, on OMA work. At least one half day would be safe. You could do less, but then you’d miss things.
I tried to guarantee that I was on site, in the OMA offices, by protecting 1.5 days per week. Other days I was out in the community, at events, with media, or more often, back at the OMA. I tried to keep two half days free for clinical work, when I had a locum.
I’m trying to think of a week where I did not put in at least 40 hours for the OMA. But I suspect that my term might have been unusual.
On top of chaos and change, we had the BAF roadshow and GMoM, the federal tax war, an operational review, the usual fall roadshow, arbitration and preparing for a provincial election.
As I write this, it’s March break. My wife and kids are away. I cancelled my vacation so I could help with the roll out of our arbitration position.
If you ever find a slow week in summer, take it! Do not feel guilty. Run away. Enjoy. It will get crazy again soon enough.
Media
Media loves chaos, and we had much to offer last spring. When you are most busy, you will have the most media requests.
We need the OMA in the media, and if you don’t respond, you won’t get called back.
It can be overwhelming at times: a demanding mix of pleasure and pain. I’ve never had more than 7 interviews in 24 hrs, and that was unusual.
Very few doctors have extensive media experience. As long as you’ve spent time talking under pressure in other areas, you can learn how to talk with media. With training, the basics come quickly; polish takes a lifetime.
Professional Management Experience
People expect the President to function like an experienced executive. You need to know and love how organizations work.
Ideally, you have handled problems in human resources; finance, audit and budget setting; strategic planning and large-scale change. You won’t be the primary lead on these things, but you should have insight into what’s going on around you.
You must be able to Chair a meeting with ease: there’s more to it than getting through an agenda.
You should feel comfortable giving presentations, speaking at fundraisers and meeting with the public.
A President needs to have led physicians. You need to have managed the mundane for a group of people who can attack you.
It helps to have been a clinical Chief or director of a large group. There is no substitute to having led your peers, face to face. Living with your decisions and sweating under your colleagues’ glare creates sensitivity to those you lead.
Granted, some Chiefs pass their terms as placeholders: populating call schedules, changing little. Ideally, you have had experience leading change.
The President risks becoming cloistered in Toronto. You must be able to keep those you serve front of mind even when you don’t get to see them for weeks.
And yes, clinical experience helps leaders lead. But executive training is a real thing.
You can’t expect to be a completely ‘on the job’ learner as President, with only clinical experience to guide you. Courses, books and advanced degrees in leadership will help you perform and avoid frustration.
Social Support
This job will impact your family. Make sure they are up for it.
If you have young children, you probably need a nanny or relatives to step in for the year.
It’s not just about time. Your mental space gets occupied. There’s no such thing as part-time leadership.
I put everything else in life on hold, after job and family. If I couldn’t blog, read, exercise, camp, or work on the property, that was okay.
It meant that my blog visits declined, fences went unmended, trees untrimmed, and I put on more weight than I care to admit (“The Royal Pillow”).
For the most, my family managed well. My wife even asks what I’m going to do next.
Governance Experience
Boards are a circus all their own. Hopefully, you have experience with both good and bad governance. Dysfunction is a wonderful teacher.
You should have sat for at least a few years on several boards, or board-like entities such as your hospital MAC.
You should know how to handle problems that arise at a board. People expect you to have experience sorting out sticky situations.
Here too, courses, books and advanced training in governance will greatly improve your performance.
Resiliency
You will be pulled much farther than you ever wanted. People expect you to bounce back and accept change with ease.
They want you at the top of your game at any moment: “Can you be live, on camera, tomorrow at 0655?” even though you got home from an event at 11 pm.
Emotional resiliency often means continuing to give and flex and apologize and ask for feedback long after you thought it humanly possible.
You need strength that comes, not just from deep inside you, but also from something outside. Family, friends, faith, community: You will need all the support you can get.
If you don’t have resiliency, you will get frustrated serving members and come to resent them.
Most people do not see the President as a person with human needs and foibles. They see you as an office.
They do not stop to ask, “I wonder whether this is a good time to ask such a sensitive question?”
Or “Is this the best time to tell him he’s a total failure and profound disappointment?”
Or “Is this just a piece of outrageous gossip?”
If they see you, anywhere, people will assume that you are revved up and ready to perform. “Is now a good time?” never crosses most people’s minds.
That’s ok. It’s part of the job. Just get ready for it.
People are genuine; they just forget you are human sometimes.
Courage
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.
Churchill
You cannot be a populist or people pleaser. A mob changes its mind in the time it takes to lace your shoes.
Self-righteous mobs are mostly wrong. They lack nuance and poise. They draw life from the extreme in every situation.
Thoughtful conversation with the populace helps shape opinion.
Pandering to popular ideas puts you in danger. It’s like putting your head in a tiger’s mouth: You will get applause, but old circus trainers are rare.
You need principles and the courage to stick with them. I cannot think of any principle that will not get attacked or that you will not be tempted to compromise.
For example, you believe theft is wrong.
But what about theft in the form of fee cuts?
What if you could accomplish something good, like reducing wait times, by ignoring theft?
What if theft seems to benefit the most people?
To be clear, the Board has taken a principled approach on redress: fee cuts are theft and stolen goods should be returned.
Life gets messy. Starting with fuzzy principles makes it harder.
An Authentic President
Finally, be your own imperfect self.
Does anyone have all the experience, time, energy and virtue required to perform well? Of course not. If we found such a person, s/he would be an intolerable bore.
People want a human president: someone with character and the imperfections that make people attractive.
We do not want a mannequin. We want someone with dents.
We want you to stick your neck out, as President, and then adjust your position when we show how you are crazy.
People want a President with humility, compassion, enthusiasm and vision. We want the best that you can bring to a clear sense of purpose.
Remember, the President is only the face of a team. You cannot do anything without a crowd of advisers, supporters and people who challenge you.
It’s the best, hardest, most fun job you could imagine. If you are even remotely considering the job, do it.
It is so important.
I promise, there’s nothing like it.
******
Frodo: Can you promise that I will come back?
Gandalf: No. And if you do, I can promise that you will not be the same.
Photo credit: What is Servant Leadership?
Thank you for everything you do, Shawn. There are so many excellent and interesting points in this blog, so I will choose the most vivid to repeat:
“Pandering to popular ideas puts you in danger. It’s like putting your head in a tiger’s mouth: You will get applause, but old circus trainers are rare.”
Thanks so much for taking time to read a longer than average post, Gerry!
And as always, I sure appreciate you taking time to share a comment.
Enjoy your weekend!
Cheers
Excellent, and by the way an excellent term in office. I have deliberately refrained from being a bug in your ear because I knew the pressures you would face. You did well. Ernest
Thanks Ernest!
You know, this was all your fault. I’ll never forget you getting up to the microphone to nominate Nadia and me. I still get a bit stressed thinking back to that day. It’s been crazy but very good too. I suppose there’s never enough time to see everything done that we’d hoped to accomplish, but many of the big things have been tackled and/or started.
Great to hear from you!
Cheers
Thanks very much for this excellent synopsis!!
Thanks Paul!
I do not know you outside of your media presence but your blogs and tweets certainly kept me reading and interested in medical politics. I thought you brought up some key issues, actively engaged members, and I think binding arbitration is a step in the right direction. Hopefully the OMA will continue to build on positive momentum moving forward. Thank you and best wishes,
Nick
Thanks Nick,
It’s been great to get to know you more over social media. This whole business takes a massive community. The readers and comments here are one tiny part of it. Thanks again for reading and sharing!
Cheers
Great synopsis Shawn!
You have done an excellent job as OMA President. It will be a tough act to follow.
Thank you for all the work you have done for us.
Steve
Thanks Steve! You’ve been a major part of the changes this year. Can’t wait to see what you accomplish next!
Cheers
You worded it very well, and what it means to be a committed and passionate physician leader. Thank you.
Wow. Thanks Johny. Really appreciate this, especially coming from you!
Eloquent , frank and entertaining.
You retained composure and politeness when communicating. The message was consistent.
As members we have been informed and anger towards the MOH which had been misdirected at the OMA has been reversed, I believe.
A trip to Bhutan with no media presence would be a welcome respite after a gruelling most critical year in the OMA’a history ,where they measure gross national happiness not GDP.
Economically Ontario is on the brink and we as one group in society pay for mismanagement and an economic engine that is on life support.
Best of enjoyment in the future! And Thank You!
Thanks for this John.
I really appreciated that you see anger turned once again back on the MOH, instead of the OMA. I believe it’s true also. However, we must never get complacent. Things could turn again in a moment. We must be relentless about pushing for excellence within and demanding respect from without. I also fear for the next time the OMA disappoints; it’s made of humans and bound to stumble somewhere. We must see that change will inevitably uncover imperfections. This is a good thing. This lets us improve and change some more. We must see change at the OMA as directional, not positional. Improvement must be continuous.
Four weeks left. And then I will look into your trip to Bhutan!
Thanks again for taking time to read and share a comment.
Cheers
Thank you for being the best and most responsive president I have ever seen in my 30 yrs of practice. It has been a tough year and you deserve a break but wish that you didn’t have to go. You have acquired the skills- now what to do with them?? You are a man of integrity. That goes with you for always.
Very kind words, Pat. Thank you! I look forward to supporting the team as past President starting in May. Nadia’s going to be great!
Hi Shawn,
I really think that you reached your potential as OMA president the day that you referred to the cuts as stealing. Their was a time when chumminess between the two organizations benefited both of us but as Bob Dylan says “Things have changed”. It must have been a challenge to be the president during a time like that.
One of the most fascinating things about this whole thing is how you have managed to find time and legal room to keep up a personal and independent blog both before and during you presidency. It takes a lot of skill and thought to write about your opinions on health care while simultaneously having to support things, and having information that you can’t discuss by virtue of your position. It was always clear that Shawn the citizen was not the same person as Shawn the president or board member. I think that your writing in the space available will be a terrific resource for anyone interested in the job.
Hopefully you will write a book about it. I’m sure you must have a few stories to tell.
Best
John
Thanks John,
I do not think that I can take credit for calling the cuts ‘stealing’. It was a term many of us were using, and it caught on. I believe that it’s the only accurate way to describe the unilateral actions.
The OMA needs us; it is us. If we ignore it and don’t help out, it will not perform as well as might otherwise. I appreciate you noticing the tricky path every President has to tread.
Thanks so much for taking time to read and share a comment!
Cheers
Thanks Shawn,for the time you donated out of your/family’s life.
I often told frustrated colleagues that one can’t turn an ocean liner (titanic?) quickly.The best compliment I can give you is that communication from the OMA president this year was better than in my previous 26 yrs of practise.
Thank you for listening .
I still believe that deranding our doctors is the first step to moving forward.
Dr Rum Saplys
Thanks for this, Rum.
You are right about the Titanic. Although I’d love to take credit for the change in communications, this comes from a team. There’s been a massive change at the OMA. They heard that members were not happy. They have started getting people used to the idea that we can tell the truth about what’s going on in healthcare (e.g., patients are waiting) and that is okay. The outside world expects us to say it.
As for de-randing, that is a discussion for another team to tackle. I love freedom. I believe in voluntarism. So this issue has a particular soft-spot for me. Having said that, we have bigger issues to fix right now. If it’s a passion for you, by all means, get on council and start finding like-minded people to start a discussion. Every issue is fair game. Change takes a tonne of effort and time. Your issue would require time and effort too.
Thanks again
Shawn,
The most important of all these is courage; you have so much of that and I thank you personally and professionally.
Brenda would be so so proud.
D. 🙂
Darren
That means so much. Only those who knew her would understand. As for courage, I must turn the compliment back on you! You’ve fought through very tough waters in different jobs over the years without the freedom to talk openly about it. You, my friend, are courageous.
Thanks so much for taking time to write!
Cheers
Shawn
I will echo the many excellent comments from our colleagues and add my thanks for your modelling of courageous,thoughtful and civil leadership this past year and now for your candid mentoring of future leaders of the OMA.
I wish you well deserved respite soon to come .
(Yes Brenda would be very proud!)
Jane
Thanks Jane!
I’m feeling even more sheepish given all these kind words. That’s not why I wrote the piece. I hope readers find it helpful as they consider standing for election. I want to see your name up there as one of the nominees!
Great to hear from you.
Well done my my friend.
There and back… a doctor’s journey.
Hope you get a little depressurization time this summer.
🙂
Love it. Thanks Ozzy!
Thanks Shawn; I am so glad we sat at the same table for the governance meeting last year. . . you made us feel very included and heard. I appreciate your level-headed approach and dedication. Once the negotiation stuff settles down, I do think we need someone to represent physicians at a federal level. If you ever decide to run for MP, you would have my support.
Thanks Karima! I hope you’re plugged in somewhere too. I didn’t check the list to see what you are up to. Great hearing from you and thanks so much for taking time to share some encouragement! Talk soon,
Shawn , I respect what you have to say but I wouldn’t agree with using Mr Gandhi necessarily as a picture before your article . Unknown to you , he was a very controversial figure and many people ( eg Sikhs and other punjabis – and that’s a LOT of doctors ) don’t hold him in high regard . If you want to know more email me . I would elaborate but don’t wish to upset my Hindu brethern who didn’t feel the pain of his decisions and how they impacted Punjab . ( btw I am non religious / humanist )
Thanks Zoey! I didn’t know this. Will try to update with an alternative.