LEADERSHIP
T here is nothing new in what I am going to share with you. We all know of the revolution that is required for higher education to meet the demands of the fast‑changing world we all belong to today. And this certainly applies to the challenges and opportunities in healthcare that are appearing slowly but surely in this evolving landscape. The French humorist Pierre Dac once said: “Dying in good health is the dearest wish of all healthy people.” Yet, it’s important to reflect on what we know of the changes taking place in healthcare from a leadership viewpoint and understand the potential consequences of ignoring certain trends, whether we do that consciously or not. At times, ignorance can be justified; that is, if it is acknowledged properly. Yet, deciding not to face things that are both obvious and disconcerting can be a major mistake, as we know from history. Here are some questions to ask yourself in the context of leadership development: Why should leaders bother about health and wellbeing when many consider it to be a personal issue? What are some of the major challenges that leaders will have to face today and more importantly, tomorrow? To what extent, if any, might missing these challenges in our efforts to prepare leaders adequately for their future careers prove to be disastrous for people’s health? How might we be able to adjust our systems of health education and support to accommodate these challenges? And lastly, how much do our traditional ways of managing education and public health need to change? Re-evaluating definitions & assumptions Even the most tentative answers to these questions will highlight, I hope, the need for leaders to act quickly and deeply in some key areas. Furthermore, I strongly believe that those actions will require some major shifts in the way we currently approach things. To begin with, we must consider what we mean when we talk about health, sickness, medical diagnosis and even dying. Humans produce assumptions to help explain the world around us and better understand
ourselves. In health, as well as in other fields, this often amounts – simply and provocatively – to lying to ourselves. This is because we have a tendency to see what we want to see, rather than face reality. At times, this habit becomes very dangerous for all of us. Our human assumptions are, we must remember, subjective interpretations that we use to give things meaning. They are important but they can become obsolete, so we must revisit them every so often, challenge them and even reinvent them if necessary. This is a leadership challenge in itself. Values are another crucial factor in the context of health because they speak to what we care about and place importance in. Think about how people react when medical professionals tell them something about what they value regarding health and medical help. We do not always pay enough attention to people’s emotions, despite them being such important signals. If we now cast the net wider and consider our societies as whole, we will find that, for many of us, most aspects of life are organised in accordance with a set of democratic principles relating to the government of people by the people and for the people. While the assumptions and values that underpin these principles are essential to our way of life, it is becoming clearer and clearer that their translation into our daily lives is not quite right. Inequality and incompetence, with overtones of corruption, are a frequent occurrence, not least in the healthcare sector. The case for prioritising health In such circumstances, there is a real need to revisit what leadership has become today. Reviewing the available literature among scholars and practitioners suggests there is a consensus around the type of characteristics today’s leaders require. These include seeing what other people do not see, often described as the power of intuitive intelligence or ‘fast thinking’; deciding on inventing tomorrow today, namely the power of rational intelligence or ‘slow thinking’; and the ability to mobilise people around projects that are useful, meaningful and ethical, something that speaks to the power of social intelligence or ‘collective thinking’.
Ambition | NOVEMBER 2024 | 17
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