It's time for the VITAL Physician Executive's Monthly Leadership Favorites – March 2017 Edition. In this feature I share inspiring and enlightening advice from respected leaders, generally from outside of healthcare (but not always).

March Favorites

This month's favorites follow…

Productivity Pointers

Create a Personal Mission Statement for the Life YOU Want by the Productive Physician should inspire us to become more intentional

This is the first time I am offering content from The Productive Physician. I have been following him for about 6 months.

I found his post about creating a personal mission statement very intriguing. He is one of the physician bloggers that I failed to include in my last update on physician authored blogs.

My bad.

His blog will definitely be on the next update. In any event, if you like his Personal Mission Statement post, I think you'll really enjoy his 4,000+ word article Achieve Your Big Hairy Audacious Goals in a 12 Week Year. Have fun!

Inspiration

See Skip Prichard's Great Basketball Quotes To Up Your Game

The author collects and publishes inspirational quotes. His most recent list is inspired by March Madness.

It makes sense, because of the season and because successful teams always seem to have great leaders. John Wooden was the coach for the legendary UCLA team. Skip includes several quotes from him.

My favorite quote from the list is one of Wooden's:

When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare. – John Wooden

Accountability and Teams

Here is Leadership Freak's Over-Engaged Leaders Produce Disengaged Teams

Dan Rockwell, the Leadership Freak, has some really sound advice in this post. He reminds us that the best leaders step back, loosen their grip and ask questions rather than provide answers.

Another gem from Dan Rockwell: Two Questions That Crackdown On Excuse Making

As leaders, we must demonstrate consistent accountability in order to maintain trust and engagement. But we also have a responsibility to nurture and demand accountability in others.

Rockwell provides more insight on accountability and he notes that In nearly 25% of Businesses, Leaders Believe 30%-50% of Employees Avoid Responsibility

In addition to trust and engagement, Rockwell talks about the importance of clarity and follow-up in maintaining accountability in team members.

Be Prepared

Mo Kasti lists 8 major trends in Top Trends in 2017 for Physicians and Healthcare Administrators

Kasti leads CTI and its Physician Leadership Institute. In this short post, he highlights eight trends that are likely to continue well into 2017 and beyond. We should contemplate these trends and reflect on how they might affect our organization.

Recognizing Our Suffering Colleagues

Take a look at Dike Drummond's advice in Stop Physician Burnout – how to reach out to a colleague in distress.

There are two uncommon and challenging issues that physician leaders need to address: the so-called disruptive physician, and the impaired physician. Both problems can arise from a common malady that seems to be growing in frequency: Physician Burn Out.

The Happy MD author, Dike Drummond, has produced a very helpful blog post and video that can teach us how to recognize the symptoms of burnout and begin a conversation that might prevent its most deadly consequence, suicide.

Watch the video and rehearse the questions. And the next time you're alone with a potentially burned out colleague, give it a try.

Another Opinion on The Value of an MBA

Finally, here is The Path to MD/MBA

This is an article posted on The White Coat Investor about why, when and how to pursue an MBA. It's a guest post by an anonymous writer. It presents some arguments that go beyond getting the degree to become a physician manager or executive, which was my focus in a previous post.

In Closing

Those are some of the articles I found inspiring and educational. There is at least one nugget of really useful advice in each one.

If you have any favorite blogs or podcasts addressing leadership and related topics (or humorous ones) please share in the Comments.

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