Centrist Leadership: Required Skills for Effectively Leading Populations

The journey of a physician leader has become more and more complex, involving an increasingly diverse array of issues and stakeholders to be managed. Leading through the complex journey is made difficult by the elevated polarization in politics and society. A good working definition of leadership is “taking people to places they would not have otherwise gone on their own.” This leadership requires not only strategic thinking and vision, but also skillful execution; this is where the concept of centrist leadership emerges. Centrist leadership is not about seeking an ideological center or taking a neutral, non-controversial position on all issues. It is about developing and leveraging a set of skills for bringing diverse populations toward a common goal. The centrist leadership skill set provides a good baseline for approaching potentially divisive issues in a manner that engages others rather than alienating them.