ABSTRACT
There are many models of leadership, many misconceptions about the nature and purpose of management and many unhelpful stereotypes. If medical leadership, as advocated here, is to flourish and become a normal and accepted component of the medical career, then these stereotypes need to be challenged and reframed into a more modern 21st century way of thinking. The nature and picture of medical leadership described has been represented as a significant cultural change. It requires that medical leadership skills are embedded into medical training and medical career development as an important and established element of professionalism. The Medical Leadership Competency Framework is perhaps the most important recent initiative in this respect for decades. Its incorporation into the training of undergraduate medical students will lead to an awareness and understanding of how these skills are relevant to future roles in medicine as well as beginning the process of acquiring competence in them.
