Whether you realize it or not, as a physician you’re seen as a leader in the hospital and in your community. Patients, their families and medical staff look up to you. Even though you may not think of yourself as a physician leader, you are in other’s eyes. In medical school you likely had very little exposure to basic fundamentals that business leaders have as part of their armamentarium. You may feel out maneuvered in the c-suite or negotiating with people you interface with every day: nursing, case management, pharmacy and the list goes on. But there are things you can do in your spare time to make yourself a capable and effective leader.
One fact of life for locum tenens physicians is you travel a lot. Although you likely work long hours, you also probably have time in the evenings or even on a flight that you can use to gain new leadership skills. Instead of turning on the television, grab a book and get familiar with how to become an effective leader in your own right. Below you’ll find a few books on leadership that are must reads.
Primal Leadership – Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence
by Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, Annie McKee
This book, from a macro perspective, concentrates on how emotional factors affect a person’s thinking process, as well as, how a person’s actions or words generate emotions in others. The authors of the book use scientific studies and information about the human brain and psychology to illustrate how and why our emotions affect our thoughts, and actions, and those of others around us. read more
Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
by John Kotter, Holger Rathgeber
Our Iceberg Is Melting is a simple fable about doing well in an ever-changing world. Based on the award-winning work of Harvard’s John Kotter, it is a story that has been used to help thousands of people and organizations drive change management on teams and organizations. It event helps at home. Read more
How Successful People Think – Change Your Thinking Change Your Life
by John C. Maxwell
Full of interactive questions and space for readers to provide answers, as well as new material for readers to assess their current type of thinking, this workbook guides readers in applying the lessons they learned from how successful people think or the book which it was derived from, Thinking For A Change. Read more
Delivering Happiness
by Tony Hsieh
Delivering Happiness is Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s first book. In the book, Tony shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business; through LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft for $265 million), Zappos, and more. Read more
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
by Steven Covey
Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®, has been a top-seller for the simple reason that it ignores trends and pop psychology for proven principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity. Read more
Crucial Conversations
by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey
The New York Times and Washington Post bestseller that changed the way millions communicate. Read more
