Sep 20, 2020

Stop Caring about Getting Credit

By Mustafa Sultan • Issue #30 • View online

Hello friends,

This week, I spoke to former National Medical Director: Sir Bruce Keogh. Here’s what he told me makes a good leader—

Sir Bruce Keogh 🌍

Sir Bruce grew up in Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe). He remembers sheltering under a tree and hearing about the NHS on an old transistor radio. Free healthcare for everyone? He was impressed.

He remembers seeing a black man hit by a car, 200 feet from a whites-only hospital. Battling with death, an ambulance drove him miles away to the black hospital.

That’s when he knew he had to leave. He remembers his dad saying: “There’s nothing here for you son. Get out”.

He moved to the UK with a backpack and “about 200 quid”. He was rejected from 19 medical schools before a chance encounter in a pub led to a place 🍺

He went on to transform heart failure surgery and was National Medical Director for 11 years. Here’s his Wikipedia page.

5 Principles for Leadership 💎

Rule #1: Responsibility

When Sir Bruce was a trainee surgeon, he asked his consultant:

“I clerk the patients. I operate. I manage them. I do everything. What will change when I become a consultant?”.

“The only thing that will change? You’ll have to start taking responsibility for other peoples’ mistakes”.

Rule #2: Credit

People squabble over credit in every field. In academia, management… etc.

Actually, you shouldn’t care about credit as a leader:

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

Harry Truman

Rule #3: The Media

Many times, Sir Bruce was lambasted in the media. It was tempting to fight back. But—

You lose your arguments in public and win them in private.

Rule #4: Never Speak ill of your Colleagues

(Not sure about the story behind this one).

Rule #5: Vociferous Leaders

Outspoken/noisy leaders get headlines. Actually, some of the best leaders work quietly in the background. Don’t be distracted by the media’s propensity for the Donald Trumps of the world.

😍

Full episode out in a few weeks…

Podcast

#031 The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur — Prof Tony Young OBE

‎Do we want a Silicon Valley for healthcare?

Professor Tony Young is the National Clinical Director for Innovation at NHS England, co-founder of the UK’s £500M MedTech Campus, founder of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme and a consultant urological surgeon. Tony was awarded an OBE for services…

podcasts.apple.com • Share

All the best,

Musty

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