Pharmacy leaders – there's value in the pivot

As I was preparing to write this week’s article, I came across a picture of NBA legend Michael Jordan driving to the goal while being fouled. The caption to the picture said: “When you know where you are going, no one can stop you.”

That is so true. And it resonates with what we discussed last week.  As leaders, we need to set a direction of where we are going. Sadly, far too many people find themselves in a place where they lack direction, or the direction is vague or nebulous. 

Today, we are going to look at a slightly different angle. Let’s say that we have a direction, and we have the right vehicle to get us there. But what if something changes? What if we are en route and we realize we are heading to the wrong destination?

In Star Wars: A New Hope, Obi-Wan hires Han Solo to fly him to another planet. When they get there, they find the planet destroyed. This was not what they were expecting.  Their destination was changing. The heroes decide to follow an enemy ship but quickly realize they are headed to the Death Star. “That’s no moon. …Turn the ship around,” Obi Wan orders. For the drama of the movie, it turns out that this decision was too late. 

But that is not how it always works. We rarely find ourselves locked in a tractor beam, though we may find ourselves in difficult situations.

As long as you are moving, you can change direction. Even if you are going in the exact opposite direction of where you now want to go, you can change direction. Another way to consider this is with the idea that you cannot steer a parked car. If you are moving, you can change your direction.

How does this relate to pharmacy?

In the early 2000s there was a tremendous pharmacist shortage in my area, and it resulted with my supporting more than two dozen pharmacies in northwest Pennsylvania. It was not uncommon to work four or even five different stores in the same week. Couple with that the decision to start a family and you can likely understand a scenario where a young pharmacist could find himself quite tired.

There was more than one occasion when leaving home for work I would find myself at the end of my driveway trying to decide which direction I should take to get to work. Most of the time I made the right decision, but there was one day when I found myself cruising down the road and then realizing that I was going in the wrong direction! What did I do when this happened? I turned myself around and set a new direction – a new goal.

The same concept still applies to us today. If we find that our situations have changed and we need to change where we are heading, it is completely okay to change directions. 

Pharmacy leaders, there is great value in determining what to do, but there may be even greater value in determining what NOT to do. There is great value in the pivot, in the changing of directions, especially when the environment has changed. 

How many treatment algorithms have you seen changed over the course of your career? Several! And you know what? We will likely see some more in the coming years.  Why did these changes happen? They happened because we realized there was a better destination we could take our patients to, and we changed the way we treated them as a result.

Be sure to take some time – in fact, I would encourage you to schedule some time – to review where you are leading your people on a regular basis and make sure it is the best place to be heading.

Until next time –

Jesse McCullough, PharmD

Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn