1. Knowing that becoming an effective leader is not solely about acquiring new skills, learned through courses in handling conflict, financial acumen, strategic planning, cost accounting, giving effective feedback and meeting management. Becoming an effective leader is about who you are.
2. Developing long-lasting relationships with colleagues, instead of only calling them when you need something from them.
3. Including colleagues with a variety of backgrounds and opinions, not those who think like you and are an echo chamber for your ideas.
4. Understanding systems and thinking in polarities to balance paradoxes for sustainability and the excellence of the organization, rather than thinking only in a linear, cause-and-effect manner.
5. Keeping up with management and leadership literature and courses, and facilitating the learning of your colleagues, rather than focusing on financial data and productivity metrics.

Who you are as a leader is who you are as a person. How do you move from strictly tactical thinking to strategic thinking? How do you move from advocating for your patient, or your department, to advocating for your organization in the context of the regulatory, political and economic environments? You can develop skills, such as managing conflict, meetings and operations and delivering and accepting constructive feedback. These are the arrows in your quiver.