ABSTRACT
Leaders help us deal with chaos by producing change. They develop a vision for a new and better future, then inspire and guide others to achieve that vision. Effective leaders are catalysts; providing vision, enthusiasm, commitment, and collaboration to bring about a better future. With unprecedented quantities of available information and a relentlessly increasing pace of change, the use of "road maps" is inadequate for navigating uncharted territory. In 2002, Kouzes and Pozner have been surveying thousands of people from around the world for the past several decades in order to understand the traits people look for in a leader. They've found that four characteristics are universally acknowledged as demonstrative of effective leaders. Six core competencies have been identified as being essential to the practice of medicine. Those core competencies range from conventional domains such as medical knowledge and patient care, to somewhat more subjective domains such as systems-based practice and practice-based learning and improvement.
