“We’ve been to the battlefield and met the enemy. He is us.” A modernized version of this famous paraphrase: “We have been to the battlefield and met the enemy. The enemy is the way we’ve been interpreting the challenges we face.” Technical development teaches you things to know. Adaptive Development facilitates better ways of…
You assume the brilliant surgeon will be a brilliant leader. You promote or onboard your most talented people to positions of authority. Then, because they are indeed brilliant, you set them free to do the job with little or no developmental support. “I call it cruel and maybe the root of all crueltyto know what…
Don’t let your most valuable resource go to waste! Fern EPC founder and president Brad Fern shares insights on how organizations can help their people reclaim wasted cognitive and emotional energies. In his latest video, Brad describes the importance of the Challenger, the Attuned, and the Contributor in forming the ego strength necessary to lead…
Do you have your strengths, or do your strengths have you? Michael Watkins teaches that what got you where you are won’t necessarily serve you there. “Success often requires us to stop doing some things we’ve been doing and to embrace new competencies.” The surgeon leader who tells herself, “To meet expectations, I must do…
The Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote, ‘I caught a glimpse of him in a dream, expert hunter of himself, always in ambush.’ Machado reminds us that the self is perpetually incomplete. Growth is not just what we can do. It’s what we can be. The idea of self-growth can be daunting, but courage is not…
“Mankind owns four things That are no good at sea: Rudder, anchor, oars, And the fear of going down.”[i] In leadership, we are often responsible for things we don’t completely control. Some refer to it as the Authority Paradox. The more authority we have, it seems, the less we can rely on authority to get…
Fern EPC President Brad Fern describes the Assertiveness Spectrum: https://youtu.be/jQ-zWDe7rOY
When leading or generally interacting with others at work, consciously or unconsciously, we choose default “relational modalities.” In other words, we act passively, assertively, or aggressively. Awareness of your default mode will increase your relational agility and leadership efficacy. Passivity, on the far right of the Assertiveness Spectrum, is a fear-based state in which ego…
CME-for-Fern-EPC-Coaching-2
One Quarter of US Physicians and Surgeons are Foreign Born Dr. Fatima(1) immigrated to the United States from North Africa with her husband and three young children. Growing up in Libya, she had seen her brother struggle with severe scoliosis. Her love for her brother made her decide at an early age to dedicate her…