Finding an Inspirational Leader: The Key to Helping You Accelerate Your Pharmacy Career

During your pharmacy career you will experience a host of different supervisors, managers, and directors. Many of these individuals are given these titles as the first step in the leadership journey, however, many do not have the skills or seek out training to become an effective leader. There is a huge difference between someone who has a title as a leader and someone who is truly a leader. However, many will help shape the person you will become in both a negative and positive way. Although you may read many books, attend seminars or college courses focused on leadership, ultimately, one of the best experiences you can have is to work for someone who you consider an excellent leader. One of the best authors I can recommend to any pharmacy professional on the subject of leadership is John Maxwell. Mr. Maxwell is the foremost authority on leadership writing more than 15 books on the subject and has been asked to speak for major Fortune 500 companies. One of my favorite books is titled, “The 5 Levels of Leadership.”¹ This book not only explains leadership in a very simple, easy to understand process, but it helped me better understand leadership I have encountered with good and poor leadership throughout my career.

In any position make sure your leader focuses on helping you to become more. Letting you make decisions on your own, make mistakes, learn from them to help you grow into a leader. Leaders mentor and cultivate relationships. Their priority is the success of their people. They help others become more and are humbled and honored to serve others. They mentor their co-workers to help them achieve their goals. Poor leaders are those that micromanage you. They control everything you do, how you do it and when to do it. They want things done their way. Poor leadership is what drives employees to leave. Poor leadership causes an organization to fail. It is paramount that if you find yourself working for a poor leader you owe it to yourself to leave the organization.

As you approach each new opportunity during your career journey, make sure to always strive to learn from the best leaders. Make sure you work for those individuals who invest in you, look at you as a valuable resource and mentor you to help you achieve your professional goals. Seek out these positive and inspirational leaders since they will help you accelerate your career more than any other strategy in leadership development.  

Michael J. Cawley, PharmD, RRT, CPFT, FCCM, has more than 25 years of experience practicing in the areas of medical, surgical, trauma, and burn intensive care as both a critical care clinical pharmacist and registered respiratory therapist.

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Reference:

1. Maxwell, John C. The 5 Levels of Leadership. Little, Brown & Company, 2013.