The fourth direction of pharmacy leadership, Part 1

When I decided to write about directional leadership, I was very much looking forward to this specific post.

When we talk about directional leadership, up, down and across pretty much covers it, doesn't it? Long-time readers will not be surprised when I tell you we have another direction of leadership to explore – the Fourth Direction of Leadership. Let me give you fair warning, this is the most difficult kind of directional leadership to undertake.

The direction is inward: the fourth direction of leadership is all about leading yourself.

While this direction is the most challenging, it is also the most rewarding. 

I believe it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said that the Law of Cause and Effect is the law of laws – the most important law at work in the world. Not sure I agree with Emerson just yet, but I am sure the Law of Cause and Effect is absolutely near the top of the various laws that govern our world. 

It is the Law of Cause and Effect that you are able to tap into so quickly when you are leading yourself. You can examine what you do (the cause) and quickly see the effect. If the effect is beneficial, you can continue, and if it is not, you can quickly make corrections.

About a year ago, I wrote an article about the value of values. Whether we realize it or not, you and I are people of value and values. We are valuable people who value certain things. Now, we may not value the same things. For example, if I asked you what the best after-dinner dessert is, we would very well provide different answers.  (For those of you who are interested, Mom’s apple pie is my answer, of course.) The reason we have different answers is that we have different values. Different values do not make us right or wrong, they simply make us different – which is probably a pretty good thing.

When my eyes were opened to the importance of values, I started with the core values of the company where I worked. After all, if their values did not align with mine, we probably were not going to get along for very long. Fortunately, our values aligned.  One of those was “associate development,” which I think is a very noble value. After all, wouldn’t you like to see all of the associates at your place of business develop and improve? We would all like that. However, this was a value that was not being followed very well where I was working at the time.

When I asked how best to practise this value, I was told to pick some things to work on and to schedule some time every month to work on those things. Typically, the time would be scheduled on the last Friday of the month. Hmmm. 

The last Friday of the month would come along, and I would intend to take a class or spend some time with someone from a different department and learn from them, or undertake any number of other activities. 

More often than not, however, the last Friday of the month would bring something along with it: another Monday! You know what I am talking about here. A day for which you had big plans is swallowed up by a day full of all sorts of urgent problems. As a result, months and months would go by with no intentional development. My leadership did not improve. I did not gain any new ideas or techniques that I could use to help myself or anyone else in the company.

Read next week's post to see how I addressed my personal situation.

PS – A great place to lead yourself is into environments where you can learn.  One of the best environments to learn is coming up in just a few weeks at Pharmacy U Toronto.  Don’t miss out!

Until next time

Jesse McCullough, PharmD

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