My thoughts: Many on social media echoed the difficulty of selecting just three leadership skills in last month’s poll. This explains why none of the options garnered more than half the votes.
However, two things jump out of the data.
Like readers, I believe that the most important role leaders must play is to strategically position their organizations for success in the future. Today matters, but next year and the one after that tell an even more powerful story about how well an enterprise is performing. As the data reflect: strategy, innovation, and adaptability to change define whether an organization will be better tomorrow than today. And in an industry like healthcare, facing major challenges and rapid change, these skills are essential. As such, it doesn’t surprise me that readers voted them the top three.
Second, I was initially surprised that “technological savvy” was at the bottom of the list for today yet near the top for readers imagining healthcare in the future. But the more I thought about it, the more I think readers got it just right. After all, today’s primary healthcare technologies (electronic health records and operative robots) do little to improve clinical outcomes or make healthcare more affordable. More than anything, they’re designed to deliver higher revenue, not higher quality. The future, however, offers tremendous opportunities for technological improvements, led by generative AI. I applaud this prescient view of tomorrow and the role technology will play.
Thanks to all who voted! To participate in future surveys, and for access to timely news and opinion on American healthcare, sign up for my free (and ad-free) newsletter Monthly Musings on American Healthcare.
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Dr. Robert Pearl is the former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, the nation’s largest physician group. He’s a Forbes contributor, bestselling author, Stanford University professor, and host of two healthcare podcasts. Pearl’s newest book, “Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors & Patients,” is available now. All profits from the book go to Doctors Without Borders.
