Leadership is more than a title

Granting a practitioner a leadership title does not make him or her a leader. However, an individual who is selected or elected to be a department chairperson, medical staff officer, or committee chair is expected to provide significant leadership. But leadership entails more than chairing a meeting, signing credentials files, and putting out fires. Leadership requires the creation of a vision, the ability to communication that vision to others, and the drive to develop a game plan for achieving that vision. 

Medical staff leaders without a clearly articulated vision are simply passing the time until they can pass the baton to the next individual in line for the position. Individuals who have developed a vision but have not clearly communicated that vision to others are dreamers. Dreaming does have merit. However, when one wakes from a dream they generally find themselves in the same bed they went to sleep in.

And lastly, individuals with a clearly articulated vision but no game plan are often frustrated and disillusioned with the individuals that they expect to follow them. On the other hand, leaders with a clearly articulated vision, a game plan, and the support of those they are leading will often achieve success. Such successes are more necessary within the medical staff today than ever before.