Physicians find executive career paths challenging without the proper leadership training.
Jaewon Ryu, the executive vice president and chief medical officer for Geisinger Health System, trained as both a physician and a lawyer, but says his greatest leadership development came through experiences like the White House Fellows (WHF) Program, a yearlong, non-partisan education program that places early/mid-career people in high-level cabinet offices and trains them for leadership and public service.
“Whether training or working as an attorney or a physician, nowhere in that process do you really learn leadership,” says Ryu, a native of suburban Chicago. “You pick up some skills along the way through your training and work, but the WHF Program was a wonderful way to immerse in leadership development – seeing how decisions are made within complex organizations, being able to hear from great leaders, and taking on projects to apply these learnings.”
Ryu’s description is apt. Many healthcare executives, including clinical leaders, might believe that taking a seminar or getting a few sessions of executive coaching fortifies them for the work of leadership. But trained, focused work in leadership development is best accomplished with trained facilitators and convened as part of a thoughtful program within a team, allowing a leadership group to find alignment and cohesion. ...
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