10/18/2013

October President's Message

Principles of leadership about more than just leading

I recently had the opportunity to attend Leadership Challenge Camp with our new Ohio ACEP Leadership Development class. Others in attendance included fellow Board members and members of the Ohio ACEP administrative team. The camp was held at Camp Joy, a serene setting in southern Ohio. I want to take this opportunity to reflect on my experiences during these three days.

First, congratulations to the co-Chairs (Sara Laskey and Tom Lukens) of our Leadership Development Committee for recruiting a wonderful group of emerging leaders. These four young physicians (Andrea Kreiger, Baruch Fertel, Julian Jakubowski, and Nicole Veitinger) embody the future of our specialty. What a delight to have them in our Leadership program, and what fun to have spent three days with them in Camp. They followed their training at Camp Joy with a trek to Seattle for ACEP’s Scientific Assembly, where they served as Alternate Councillors at the ACEP Council meeting. While there, they certainly left their mark on Seattle…enough said.

The Leadership Camp itself was led by Steve Coats and Lisa Nack. I’ve had the opportunity to work with these fine people previously, and they again led a remarkable and insightful experience. We spent our time in both contemplative and interactive sessions, interspersed with group problem-solving activities. The workshop culminated in a ropes course, a thrilling experience which this “mature” body continues to experience oh-these-many weeks later.

As I reflect on the lessons learned during these three days, I’m struck that the principles of leadership are, in one sense, simply precepts which are every bit as applicable in everyday living as they are in our daily leadership roles. We can apply the principles of leadership in our workplace, our family settings, our communities, our service endeavors, and so on. While these principles are promoted to allow us to better lead others, they are very easily translatable as tenets of daily interactions.

The course as presented at Camp Joy was based on five essential leadership behaviors. Other leadership courses may have greater or fewer components, but the underlying themes and commonalities are unified and consistent: modeling the way by your interactions and behaviors, inspiring others to act in a manner that supports the whole, enabling others to be their best, contemplating alternative approaches to problems, and encouraging others to act appropriately. It’s not hard to understand how such leadership principles find utility in everyday life, not just in the workplace.

Ohio ACEP has a rich history of helping to develop leaders who have moved on to prominence in national emergency medicine leadership roles. No less than 6 Ohio ACEP-ians have served as national ACEP Presidents. We are rightfully proud of these leaders, as we are of the next generation of leaders represented in this year’s leadership class. Andrea, Baruch, Julian, and Nicole—the leadership torch has been passed to you. Go forth.