THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP AND HUMAN CONNECTIONS
I wasn’t planning to travel to Palm Beach for the annual Dean’s Symposium. But my colleague Steven Rum, vice president for development and alumni relations for the Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine, urged me to go, and I’m glad I listened. The topic was Preventing and Conquering Cognitive Decline. I was inspired as always to […]
One of my favorite quotes is from leadership expert John C. Maxwell: “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.” For me, adjusting the sails means ensuring my colleagues have the wind at their backs as they work toward shared goals and their own successes. It’s […]
On Jan. 10, 2018, our dean, Paul Rothman, dedicated our school of medicine’s main boardroom to Mary Elizabeth Garrett. You may ask, who is Mary Elizabeth Garrett? I didn’t know either when I started at Johns Hopkins. But I have come to revere this remarkable woman. Garrett’s father was the head of the Baltimore & […]
Throughout my career, I’ve known many amazing leaders and colleagues who have the knowledge, background and talent to help countless people through our field. I’ve also known a few who possess those attributes along with the natural ability to connect with and inspire others. Kevin Sowers, the recently appointed president of Johns Hopkins Health System, […]
I recently had the pleasure of attending a local United Way of Central Maryland event where Carolyn Colvin, the acting commissioner of Social Security, spoke about leadership. At age 74, Colvin is an inspiration, an authentic voice tempered by years of hard work, courage and wisdom. She shared how she started her career as a […]
There can be a fine line between self-absorption and self-belief. And powerful people naturally tend to tread it. I was recently reminded of this after reading a study showing that powerful people report being more inspired by themselves than others. We can chalk this up to a number of positive attributes of successful people—such as […]
I recently read a New York Times blog post about how mobile technologies and cloud-based computing are changing the way companies in nearly every industry do business. The writer pointed out that tech firms are adapting, both in how they package and market their offerings and by creating new products to suit corporations’ evolving needs. […]
Fostering an open environment where people feel free to express their perspectives is one of the most important things that you can do as a leader. While it’s common for people to have different ideas on how to arrive at a shared goal, many often do not feel comfortable sharing their thoughts in meetings or […]
Leaders often talk about instilling a “sense of ownership” in the people they lead—a pride and stewardship of work that transcends the rote completion of projects. It makes sense. When you own a home, for example, things matter differently than when you’re renting. Is the heat that’s trapped in the roof going to one day […]
Out-of-the-Box Perspectives 