I spent a significant amount of time the last two weeks with some excellent physician leaders. One of the topics we discussed related to the reasons why physicians often fail in their ledership roles. I introduced the concept of managerial derailment (Google this to see all the excellent research available) and suggested that one of the greatest challenges for physician leaders was self awareness, In our 2013 book, Developing Physician Leaders for Successful Clinical Integration, (Health Administration Press, 2013), Dr Jacque Sokolov and I wrote:

The higher in an organization executives move, the less likely they are to receive feedback about their behavior. And yet, for many physician leaders, their success rests in great part on political and interpersonal skills. In the words of a number of leadership experts, leaders are hired for past results and fired for personality.

Executive performance evaluations often focus exclusively on organizational parameters of success—profitability, meeting budget, quality scores, and patient satisfaction scores—rather than personal factors. However, leaders sometimes have little influence over these factors and would benefit instead from specific insight on their people skills, such as communication, collaboration, and conflict management.

Self awareness can go a long way to help physician leaders avoid derailment.