What Are You Here to Change?
Healthcare needs leaders who do more than manage change. Changemakers see what could be different, find the courage to act, and build the resilience to keep going.
What if healthcare doesn’t need more people who can manage change, but more people who can create meaningful change?
In this thought-provoking piece, Andrea Austin explores the idea of the changemaker and what it takes to move from recognizing problems to intentionally creating better systems. Drawing on her study of physician changemakers, she introduces the PULSE framework: perpetual learning, unyielding courage and resilience, leveraging systems and communication, sustaining self, and embodying ownership.
The article offers a particularly useful lens for healthcare leadership development because changemaking requires more than technical leadership skills. It requires self-awareness, resilience, courage, systems thinking, communication, and the ability to sustain yourself while doing difficult work.
Austin also highlights job crafting, mentoring, and coaching as ways individuals can begin shaping the roles and systems around them. That makes this a useful reflection for anyone asking not only “How do I lead?” but “What am I uniquely positioned to change?”
Reflection Questions
What change are you uniquely positioned to influence?
Which part of the PULSE framework is most important to your own development?
How can leaders pursue meaningful change without exhausting themselves in the process?