Lack of Leadership in the Pharmacy Profession

February 19, 2019 2 Comments

I am not sure if everyone saw this editorial from Ross T. Tsuyuki in CPJ this month. His editorial is called:

It is really worth the read. Dr. Tsuyuki wrote about the lack of leadership in our profession and the characteristics of a good leader. He also wrote what true leadership is not.

“Lack of strong leadership causes disengagement of members, making change even more difficult. We have a societal responsibility to deliver care to our patients.”

Ross T. Tsuyuki – CPJ 2019

I have met some incredible pharmacy leaders over the years, but I have also found some had many of the traits Dr. Tsuyuki attributes to poor leadership. I would commend Dr. Tsuyuki on some of the incredibly innovative work he has published on the profession and the impact on patient care.

We Have to Change How We Define our Leaders

Moving forward I would like to see changes in the way we celebrate the work and achievements of our colleagues in our profession. I am tired of hearing how pharmacy innovators, ‘don’t understand’ and should be chastised to try to return them to the status quo.

I have been a pharmacist for over 25 years and have met some amazing new graduates and ‘seasoned’ pharmacists that have motivated me to change what I do every day. Unfortunately, not many of these were from the leadership that is currently in charge of leading the way of our profession.

I would encourage all pharmacists, in this time of change to think differently, change what they do and challenge the norms. I would love to see each of us to be a leader in our own practice and to fill any leadership voids that our profession does not provide.

You can create change, you can be the change and you can lead our profession forward!

If we don’t, we will find that our opportunities will continue to become limited and our relevance will constantly decrease.

Reference

Tsuyuki RT. A leadership crisis in pharmacy. Can Pharm J. 2019;152(1):6-7. doi:10.1177/1715163518816963

2 thoughts on “Lack of Leadership in the Pharmacy Profession”

  1. Love this blog Mike! It really is up to each of us to move forward and encourage our colleagues that are “fighting the good fight” rather than being negative and discouraging those who attempt to innovate. Otherwise you are correct…the alternative is to continue to watch our profession slide further into irrelevancy.

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