Innovative Leadership For Health Care

International Book Award: Finalist General Health

This book provides health care workers with frameworks and tools based on the most current research in Leadership, psychology, neuroscience, and physiology to help them update or innovate how they lead and build the practices necessary to continue to update their leadership skills. In 2014 we published the Innovative Leadership Book for Physician Leaders. We wrote this new book to update the 2014 volume based on the latest research and serve all health care professionals.

Innovative Leadership is the art of evolving how leaders lead to ensure they can weather their organizations through the broad range of changes they will face over the next decade and beyond. In times of dramatic change, our leaders must move institutions forward and create the thriving future we hope to leave for future generations.

The Innovative Leadership for Health Care provides a practical approach for successful and developing physician leaders to enhance leadership skills required to build thriving medical practices. It is designed for busy health care leaders ranging from residency through mid-career.

The book is organized into eight chapters. The first two chapters talk about innovative health care leadership. The following six chapters explain the development process and provide worksheets, reflection questions, and physician and DNP case studies.

This workbook is a companion to the International Book Award Winning Innovative Leadership Fieldbook.

Authors: Maureen Metcalf, M.B.A., Erin S. Barry, M.S., Dukagjin M. Blakaj, M.D., Ph.D., Suzanna Fitzpatrick, DNP., ACNP-BC, FNP-BC,  Michael Morrow-Fox, M.B.A., Ed.S., Neil E. Grunberg, Ph.D.

Praise for the Book

The aspiring health and health care leader has a rapidly expanding library from which to choose. But not all sources provide a scholarly yet practical route to improve one’s leadership skills. This useful guide provides unique advantages over others, based upon several decades of careful scholarship married with hands-on practice. It addresses the key elements of human psychology: cognitions, motivations, and behaviors or actions. Learning to lead effectively requires self-knowledge and experiential challenges; the book provides activities to encourage these. It draws upon two proven frameworks–Innovative Leadership Model and Leader-Follower Framework–not in a prescriptive fashion but a flexible, personalized yet holistic way of addressing key dimensions for consideration in improving one’s Leadership. Finally, the guide stresses lifelong learning and innovation–critical elements in facing the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) features of health and health care leadership in the 21st Century. A must-have for all new and mid-level health and health care leadership professionals.

Eric B. Schoomaker, MD, Ph.D., FACP,
Lieutenant General, US Army (retired),
42nd Army Surgeon General and
Former Commanding General, US Army Medical Command

Most of us learn to be leaders by an unstructured, trial and error process. If we are fortunate, we may have a mentor or two along the way to help us develop leadership skills. What this book does is present a road map and structure for both individuals and teams to be successful in an increasingly complex and fast-paced world. The book, in addition to teaching effective skills, also teaches attributes that will help leaders be ethical, kind, and caring human beings—which the world needs right now. The authors should be congratulated for putting together such a helpful guidebook that reflects first-rate psychological and educational research and decades of experience understanding and teaching leadership.

Dean L. Winslow, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FPIDS, Professor of Medicine
Division of Hospital Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine

The urgent need for innovative Leadership within health care did not require a once-in-a-century pandemic. Before Covid-19, longstanding industry inefficiencies were producing access, quality, and affordability challenges. The result was too often quality problems and a poor patient experience. Working through this book will help health care practitioners adopt novel approaches that can transform health care to a new generation of industry excellence.

James E. Taylor, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and Talent Management Officer, UPMC

Nearly all leadership books I have read left me numb, cloudy and a bit lost on what and how I should improve my leadership skills. Finally, there is a book that leverages the time-tested process engineering approach of six sigma to leadership development! This book distills volumes of leadership materials and scientific evidence into a clear-cut, robust, process-driven framework with consecutive steps guiding the reader to reflect, goal set, and accomplish. Abundant tables and charts facilitate reflection and learning. A clear language for introspection and growth is facilitated by the many useful examples. Developmental stages for insight, maturation, and improvement are provided to enable growth at any stage of leadership development. In concert with or without a coach, rapid progress in leadership development is highly predictable with this wonderful text.

C. Dan Johnson, MD, MMM, FACR, FSAR, Professor, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
Co-lead, Science of Health care Delivery, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
Chair Emeritus, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic in Arizona

The 2020-2021 pandemic has highlighted the need for leadership skills in health care. Mastery of the basics is not sufficient as we continue to evolve in the 21st century, where our system will face more and more rapid-fire challenges. Future leaders need more than experience. They need definitive training. That is exactly what they will find in the Innovative Leadership for Health Care. Whether in the early or advanced stages of a leadership journey, readers will discover easily understood principles that they can rapidly implement in their organizations. These expert authors guide you in building a better version of yourself and in motivating your team to do the same for the long-term. This is a book that leaders will return to again and again as they navigate through their careers.

Matthew L. Moorman, MD, MBA, FACS, FAWM, FCCM
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Chief, Division of Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery
University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

Often health care providers believe that the practice of Leadership is an innate ability rather than the important scholarly and applied science necessary to drive innovation and change. This new contribution to the field walks one through the deliberate steps that one must grasp to drive effective change in the rapidly changing health care environment. It is both focused and logical in its approach as well as highly readable. All those engaged in moving organizations to excellence should read, re-read, and reference this text throughout their careers—a classic in the field.

Christine E. Kasper, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, FACSM, Dean, and Professor
Crenshaw Endowed Chair
University of New Mexico College of Nursing

This book is a must-read for health care leaders and administrators! In times of dramatic change, Leadership becomes more critical, and the gaps and impact of ineffective Leadership become visible and damaging. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted previously unexposed gaps in all facets of Leadership. The Innovative Leadership for Health Care book is highly effective at bridging self-awareness and leadership behavior with health care systems and cultures. By aligning these four elements, leaders can do the challenging work of creating environments where health care providers, patients, families, and payers experience the best collective outcomes and the best experience.

Andy Manzer, MHA
Chief Operating Officer at Berkshire Medical Center

Innovative Leadership for Health Care is a helpful and informative workbook for health care leaders. The frameworks and tools provided guide leaders through activities as they navigate the ever-changing world of health care. This book is a practical guide with exercises and reflections to assist the reader in developing their individual plan to continue their journey as an innovative leader in health care.

Amy B. Smith, PhD
Medical Educator, Lehigh Valley Health Network
Professor of Family Medicine
University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine