The Importance of the Leap, the Why, and Persistence in Leadership

Today’s post is by Kevin Fickenscher, MD, the author of Toto’s Reflections: The Leadership Lessons from the Wizard of Oz (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Early in my career I had the unique experience of serving as the President of the American Medical Student Association. Like any association of professionals, there were lots of politics involved and my path to serving as President was not without its difficulties. In fact, I barely made the electoral cut in my first effort. It’s a story that – in retrospect – taught me much and is filled with lessons.

The story begins with an understanding of the political environment of the times. One of the issues faced by the association was the high rate of leadership turnover. At first blush, the reasons were obvious. The first two years of medical school are taken up with extensive work in the basic sciences of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and other hard sciences. In such a situation, who has time for external activities? The end result was limited involvement by basic science students. The clinical years are not much different and only last two years as well. As a result, the leadership pool for the association had been historically a bit limited.

It was because of the churn in leadership that the organization decided to alter the leadership structure to provide for a little more continuity. Despite the time limitations, I was a rather atypical student and was involved with the association through our community-based activities and programs and served on the task force that created the new leadership model. One of the positions we created was President-elect. I had the unique opportunity to serve as the first and only President-elect of the association.

I ran for office unopposed; I forget why. In retrospect, it was probably the combination of several factors. First, students didn’t become highly engaged in the association until their clinical years. And, second, I was widely known in medical student circles at the time as a student activist so I had high name recognition. At the convention that year, I gave the usual speeches and engaged in the circuit of meetings with the various geographic regions.

Even though I was unopposed, I barely won – by five votes. In fact, Mickey Mouse came in second. Richard Nixon even got some votes! When the election results were announced, the House of Delegates erupted in a cacophony of dispute over my election. Over the next several hours the House became consumed by debate. It was at this point that I decided to take a leap – just like Toto did from Ms. Gulch’s basket when he ran back to the farm. I walked onto the floor of the House and announced that I would resign as President-elect “in one year” and run again for President to allow that electoral outcome to govern the election results for leadership of the association. The House was silenced. It accepted my proposal and went on to consider more pressing business.

The following year, I resigned and ran for President. I was overwhelmingly elected. The results of that election were through my persistence. During the prior year, I had continued to work hard. While – like any person running for office – I still had my detractors, most of the opposition fell by the wayside as a result of my actions of commitment which I exhibited for changing healthcare and making it better.

I offered a why to the students that consisted of a simple platform that students could change the future of healthcare by becoming involved early in their careers. We were the future. We needed to embrace our role and advocate for the changes we felt were necessary for making healthcare better.

These three lessons – offering a why, taking a leap and persistence – embody the bookends of leadership. Any person who has aspired to be a leader, pursued leadership roles, or reflected on the elements of leadership, no doubt has experienced these critical lessons.

Without a vision, it’s very hard to get your team to the how and the what. Vision mobilizes the people you work with far beyond what you can imagine. The vision is the why.

Next comes the leap. Leadership is more than rhetoric. It is a cause of action where the followers consider the actions of the leaders. If we fail to take a leap as a leader what can we expect from followers?

Finally, there is persistence in the face of obstacles – inevitable for any leader – which is one of the most difficult, yet important, lessons of leadership. Persistence is the center and fulcrum of this simple but powerful list of leadership lessons.

We should keep the list of lessons in front of us every day of every year so that just in case another storm comes through, we’ll be prepared. So, in the end, I always recommend persistence!

– Kevin Fickenscher, MD, CPE, FACPE, FAAP, is the author of Toto’s Reflections: The Leadership Lessons from the Wizard of Oz (CLICK HERE to get your copy). He serves as the President of the Healthcare Division and Chief Medical Officer of AMC Health, Inc., and is the former President/CEO of AMIA. For more information please visit www.totosreflections.com.

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Photo: leap by sabrina c