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

Did you enjoy this issue?

By Mustafa Sultan

What I'm thinking about.

Tweet

Share

In order to unsubscribe, click here.

If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.