Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In the last installment, I dusted off A Message to Garcia, Elbert Hubbard’s old essay about Lieutenant Andrew Rowan being handed a message for a Cuban revolutionary leader whose location was uncertain, then figuring out how to deliver it. Rowan is memorable because nobody could tell him exactly...
Tag Archives: physician leadership
The Leader’s Enduring Responsibility
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction On the surface, leadership has a clear criterion for judging performance. Did we accomplish the mission? That question matters, and the answer is grounded in the present. Organizations exist for a reason, and it is not accidental that those reasons are usually declared in a mission statement....
When Certainty Doesn’t Come
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In When Expertise Isn’t the Answer, I argued that technical expertise is remarkably well suited to recognizing established solutions. Leadership, however, increasingly asks us to solve problems for which no established solution exists—not by abandoning expertise, but by extending disciplined expertise beyond the limits of pattern recognition. That...
When Expertise Isn’t the Answer
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Most professions reward expertise and this generally plays as exactly what you’d expect for the profession to be effective. Patients deserve physicians who recognize subtle diagnoses. Aircraft deserve engineers who understand failure modes. Organizations benefit when accountants know the subtleties of tax law, software developers understand minute...
The Second Apprenticeship
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Organizations love promoting experts. It makes intuitive sense. The engineer who designed the breakthrough product becomes the engineering manager. The scientist who built the most successful laboratory becomes department chair. The professor with the strongest research portfolio becomes dean. The physician with the broadest clinical, educational, and...
Leadership By Design
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Author’s Note This article was originally written for Forge magazine. It became the catalyst for a broader series exploring how highly accomplished technical professionals transition into leadership. If you’re beginning here, you’re in the right place. Introduction It would be hard to find an organization that says it wants anything...