Seven Characteristics That Define a Physician Leader

AAPL uses these characteristics to guide its curriculum – helping physicians better understand and acquire the leadership skills needed in health care.

Leadership is this ethereal, elusive, undefinable thing, right? Yet, we know a leader when we see one. It’s unmistakable. You can spend five minutes with a group of people that you’ve never met before, and you’ll be able to pick out the leader (if there is one).

Why is that? What makes someone “leaderful”? That’s an extremely important question for the American Association for Physician Leadership, which promotes and encourages physician leadership .

Essentially, the association sought to quantify leadership characteristics to guide the development of a curriculum specifically designed to facilitate leadership traits in physicians.

So, members of the association’s education team sat down to answer: “What traits do these unmistakable leaders all have in common?”

Intelligence? Not always. There have been great leaders who aren’t as smart as the people they lead. Charisma? Nope. There have been leaders who were all-business introverts who didn’t get along with their followers. Expertise? Not always, no.

After careful research and discussion, the list was narrowed to seven: adaptable, ethical, visionary, introspective, vigilant, tactical and knowledgeable. Every successful leader the team could think of – in any industry – exhibited these traits.

Some people may respond, “You forgot accountability,” or “You forgot empathy,” or another characteristic. But when someone exhibits all seven traits, he or she has no choice but to be accountable or empathetic.

AAPL believes the collective seven measures cover the major attributes of leadership. The association uses these characteristics to guide its curriculum – helping physicians better understand and acquire the leadership skills needed in health care.

Erik Sabol is an instructional designer for AAPL.