Physician leadership: the competencies of change.

he U.S. health-care industry has exploded into 1 of the largest nd fastest growing economies in the world. Currently, it is arger than the Gross National Product of all countries except or the United States, Germany, and Japan. Unfortunately, it is ebatable whether the quality and the delivery of patient care ave kept pace with the economic growth rate of this garganuan entity. As the complexity and the scope of the health-care ndustry have grown, the physician’s role as a leader in the arketplace has been marginalized. Without formal training in eadership skills, many physicians are not equipped to lead in his marketplace. Leadership training in other industries is rounded in the science of behavioral and developmental thery. Currently, an effective leader in the health-care marketlace must possess a working knowledge of this science. Leaders hould cultivate skill sets in finance, self-assessment, behavioral anagement, and personnel analysis, regardless of their clinical eld of expertise. This 2-part series serves to review fundamenal leadership theories and skills (excluding finance) that are ecessary for physicians to lead in the expanding health-care ystem of the future. Theories regarding effective leadership are crucial for undertanding what skills a leader must possess. These theories have volved and are transitioning from theories that emphasize eadership toward strategies that emphasize the necessity of unerstanding and of nurturing workplace culture in which indiiduals can both learn and develop to their fullest potential; this ntity is often termed a “learning culture.” In other words, hen it comes to leadership, facilitation is more effective than harisma; in fact, although the former builds workplace culture, he latter may destroy it. Because a similar evolution has ocurred in education, the educational process is an apropos odel. Current educational strategies emphasize understand-