Physician leadership. Learning to be a leader

As the business role of health care delivery expands and complex reform is imposed, physicians must assume leadership roles and imprint medical expertise on business dynamics. Before the end of this century, health care and its delivery will likely become unrecognizable to those who ended their practices only a decade ago. Traditional management will wither away to be replaced by self-managed, self-trained, and self-motivated workers, no longer employed in jobs but working through processes, projects, and assignments in integrative health care delivery systems. Becoming a leader is an active and arduous process that can no longer be approached haphazardly. To be effective, the physician must plot a course with clear and calculated intent and effort, which requires acquiring organizational tools and administrative skills to innovatively alter medical care for the good of all.