High Self-Awareness As A Desirable Trait For Medical Practice Leaders

The psychological construct of self-awareness is an attribute that is possessed by successful leaders. This paper explores the available literature regarding self-awareness as a desirable leadership trait, provides suggestions on how to hire leaders with high self-awareness, and suggests rationale for including self-awareness training in leader development programs. Further, the correlation between self-awareness and medical executive performance is reviewed as it relates to higher performing healthcare organizations. Self-awareness is beneficial to a medical practice executive in many ways, including the ability to recognize how one behaves in social situations, the reactions one elicits while interacting with others, and the impact and influence one has on others. Leaders with high emotional intelligence recognize that there are multiple leadership approaches and are able to assess a situation and employ the most appropriate style to be effective.