Surviving (and Finding Ways to Thrive) With Difficult Leader Phenotypes

The healthcare environment continues to demand great versatility, awareness, emotional intelligence, and leadership from its leaders. At times, however, difficult leader phenotypes manifest themselves. That has a direct — and often detrimental — impact on other leaders, managers, and the rest of the healthcare team and organization. It is important to recognize these difficult leader phenotypes and exercise logical strategies to continue to advance the organization’s mission and performance. Fortunately, not every experience with a healthcare leader is a negative one. There are marvelous leaders who also have discrete phenotypes whom you may encounter. It is both a positive experience and a tremendous opportunity to learn from them so that you too can display aspects of those phenotypes in your work and leadership.