Research bears this out. Skills important for physician leadership include managing the team, creating a vision, and communication. These are even among the required Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students. Yet, regretfully, the teaching of these Competencies may not be connected to the implementations, nor to the demonstrations, by the attending physicians who work with medical students from the clinical side. In other words, book learning isn’t always congruent with on the job training.

Asymmetric Growths:  Technical Focus Over Personal Growth

Where might we as physicians differ from non-physicians? In social skills we may be developmentally delayed. We focus on getting excellent grades at university so we are accepted into medical school. We then have to learn a new language in a year or two while we’re meeting patients, introducing ourselves as “Doctor” and feeling inadequate (there’s that Imposter Syndrome again!). When we are fully fledged doctors we jump directly into practicing medicine – into being the Expert – without having time to experience what it’s like outside medicine.

During this time many of our non-physician colleagues are feeding us their admiration, whether real or acted. This external affirmation can combine with Imposter Syndrome in a toxic mix of arrogance and insecurity.

And then there’s general Emotional Intelligence. Physicians may be deeply focused on understanding others in terms of making a diagnosis, but often not as relates to managing the relationships between patients and physicians. We may not have nuanced understandings of ourselves, nor understandings of how to manage our emotions and interactions with others. The authors of one article interviewed ten randomly selected department chairs and observed the following.