It goes beyond planning for the worst and hoping for the best. It requires a “giver” who makes others look like heroes without seeking credit themselves.

If we can successfully nurture a bonsai plant—and it is not easy—then we can also manage to care for and nurture a medical practice.

It can be surprisingly easy to bring order to a chaotic meeting — and turn conflict back into conversation — if you know how.

This six-part series by health care strategy consultant Daniel K. Zismer, PhD, offers an introduction to an important competency for physician leaders.

Physician leaders are in a unique position to observe, assess and manage enterprise risk and points where strategy converges with patient care.

Physician leaders must take measured steps as systems proceed with mergers, acquisitions and other transactions amid a consolidating healthcare marketplace.

It is a weak assumption that if employed physicians just stay busy, the financial model will be productive.

Physician leaders are closest to brand promises involving patient care and so are best positioned to call attention to whether the system delivers on promises.

Increasingly, legal theory warns that all with significant authority who carry a lofty title may find themselves accountable for the acts of the organization.

In this series of six articles, we introduce an important competency and prepare leaders to function at the intersection of health strategy and enterprise risk.

Knowing how to recognize and take advantage of these impromptu conversations is a worthwhile skill for physician leaders.

Driven by faith, John Fankhauser, quit his family-medicine job and moved his family to Africa. He talks about physician leadership in a nation ravaged by war.