Originally published in KevinMD.
By Dr. Vidhya Prakash
I never sought out leadership. It found me. We met when I clumsily stumbled into it as a junior faculty. Razor-focused on patient care and teaching, I stared at my clinical leader with bewilderment when she asked me if I had thought about becoming an associate program director. While I questioned whether I had the experience or qualifications, I took on the role, and found deep fulfillment and joy in it. A few years later, I gave my department chair a quizzical look when he asked if I would consider becoming vice chair of clinical operations. The broken record of self-doubt played its scratchy tune in my mind as I pondered whether I really had the skills to take on such a role; I eventually did, and grew as a leader under his tutelage and through my experiences leading an exceptional team.
Years later, multiple mentors tapped my shoulder again about the opportunity to serve as chief medical officer (CMO) of our clinical practice. This time, I didn’t even turn the record on. Instead, I laughed out loud and shook my head. And yet, with ongoing prodding and encouragement, I applied for the role of a lifetime and used all that I had learned from previous experiences to hit the ground running as a CMO in 2022. Wide-eyed and wary, I read voraciously and leaned on trusted teachers for guidance and support. I jotted down my notes into a journal which evolved into a book, The Leadership Learning Curve: A Woman Physician’s Journey as a Chief Medical Officer.
Why is it that I didn’t see myself as a leader? And why is it the same for so many physicians I know? I am not alone in my narratives that consistently ended with, “I was encouraged to apply, so I did.” When I think back on my medical training, leadership development was not integrated into the curriculum. The natural leaders were the high scorers on tests, outspoken, and with prowess to command a room. Over time, I equated these characteristics with leadership. As the shy, introverted girl who was often labeled as quiet, I quickly categorized myself as a non-leader.
In hindsight, the leaders who inspired me and who I continue to try to emulate were not defined by traits, but more by their ability to achieve a goal while transforming others around them in the process. They listened, cared, were vulnerable, paid close attention to the data, took ownership of mistakes, amplified successes of the team, and never lost sight of the mission. They asked the tough questions, embraced uncertainty, and knew how to get to the heart of any matter with compassion and grace. I like to think that it’s these practices that my leaders saw in me, more than I recognized on my own.
Part of my purpose in writing The Leadership Learning Curve was to ensure future CMOs would not have to do the cognitive legwork I did to piece together vital information about health care, finance, and leading a team. On a deeper level, I wanted to give physicians like me who self-categorized as non-leaders a glimpse into the world of health care leadership, and show how leadership is built on a foundation of trust and building relationships with a genuine commitment to lifelong learning.
We need physicians in health care leadership. Nobody knows our patients, our colleagues, our teams, or the complex problems of health care in granular detail more than we do. As physicians, committing to leadership development goes hand in hand with keeping up with the latest literature in our fields; as leaders and as physicians, we are in the practice of caring for people. It is in the genuine caring for people that we grow and transform ourselves. This is why I am proud to serve as secretary of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), an organization that recognizes the vital importance of developing physician leaders. AMWA offers premier leadership programs like EVOLVE for residents and fellows, and ELEVATE for physicians, paving the way for women physicians to not only see themselves as leaders, but also develop the skills to thrive. On a personal note, it was my AMWA community that helped me find my voice and build my confidence to lead.
Whether you are an intern finding your footing in clinical care or a junior faculty wondering if you could ever be a leader, I hope you find inspiration from this book to pursue leadership in health care. Time to throw away the broken record.
Vidhya Prakash, MD, is the associate dean of clinical affairs and population health and chief medical officer at SIU Medicine in Springfield, Illinois. She is also a professor of clinical internal medicine and serves on the infectious diseases faculty.
Her work centers on physician leadership development, with a particular focus on adaptive leadership. She is deeply committed to community engagement and to advancing solutions that address health disparities.
She is the author of Leadership Learning Curve and Learning to Listen. She is a proud fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), where she currently serves as secretary. She shares updates on LinkedIn.