Today’s leaders in both the public and private sectors have no choice but to prioritise health by paying closer attention to the environments in which people live and work. Simply put, it is a critical and growing responsibility as the social, cultural and political pressure to help ensure that people are in good shape – and remain there – is becoming stronger and stronger. Across the world, therefore, people are growing more and more demanding in terms of the quality and reliability of the health services they receive. This means, for example, a presumption that any recommended drugs and treatments will be safe and available to them when needed. There is also a greater expectation that health services are for everyone and not just a privileged elite, with quick and open access to help. A related expectation is that health support will be available at reasonable prices that everyone can afford. Yet, even a rudimentary diagnosis tells us that many societies and organisations are not ready to meet these demands and shifts in thinking. My own leadership experience offers just one indication that living and working places do not always provide stable environments, let alone healthy ones. Attributes & awareness needed by leaders A leader’s first challenge in our rapidly changing world is to acknowledge the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” They must then focus their attention on the third part of the WHO’s designation; its social dimension. Of course, good health can be understood and experienced differently by different people. Perceptions can vary according to age, gender, position in society, cultural background, wealth and so on. At the end of the day, it is all about the reference points that one uses to look at health. Differences in interpretations (ie meaning) and values (ie importance) can lead to major misunderstandings, confrontations and conflicts. Promoting universal health is not an easy task and the leaders of the future are going to have to develop a set of social attributes, both in themselves and others, that are missing in many of today’s societies, especially those that value individualism to the extreme. These qualities include social maturity, evidenced in empathy, tolerance and respect for one another; the energy or capacity to mobilise people to
A QUESTION OF FOCUS To check if your institution is focusing on the right issues in relation to health, ask yourself if you agree or disagree with the following three statements. • Mental health must be redefined and dealt with differently to meet the new requirements of today • There is nothing wrong or unhealthy in combining non-organic and organic intelligence to improve and support people’s health • Most of the commonly accepted assumptions about health, sickness and even dying must be revisited and reinvented
18 | Ambition | NOVEMBER 2024
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