Leadership During Turbulent Times

March 29, 2023

Leadership During Turbulent Times

We Are All Leaders

We are living in turbulent times. On global and local levels, threats of force, and actual violence, are present almost everywhere we look. While many of us are fortunate or even privileged, no one with a conscience can ignore and not be troubled by the events around us. Manners and civility have seemingly vanished, rudeness and lack of consideration has become de rigueur, entitlement has taken on a demanding and aggressive tone. In a recent essay, Michael Dowling, President and CEO of Northwell Health, highlighted the rise of workplace violence in healthcare. In fact, physical and non-physical workplace violence is on the rise in all areas. An average of 1.3 million non-fatal workplace violent victimizations occur yearly (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health). No sector of the workforce is immune.

Whether we lead a large enterprise, a smaller company, a department, our family or just ourselves, we are all leaders. We have the responsibility and obligation to set examples by modeling the behavior we would like to see. In his book "The Just King" the 19th-century monk, Jamgon Mipham, councils the leader of a kingdom. The qualities he advises the king to pursue include fairness, self-control, education and compassion. Substitute the word “leader” for “king,” or put in your own name, and the wisdom is as applicable to each of us as it was valuable to the king.

Leaders profoundly influence those around them.

We need only to look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to understand the impact the instability around us can have. Safety, community and belonging, and even our own self-worth can be threatened and leave us feeling insecure. It is at the pinnacle of Maslow’s pyramid, self-actualization, where we as leaders can excel. If leadership is influence, as John Maxwell said, self-actualized leaders can be powerful role models. Not every leader is necessarily free from the concerns of the more fundamental needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy, yet they tend to focus more on the higher, more mature, needs. As such, leaders tend to achieve. Whether it’s the commitment to the business and a strong work ethic; or, more importantly, the demonstration of “the possible” however we wish to define it, leaders profoundly influence those around them.

In their book "Built to Last" Collins and Porras debunk the “myth of the charismatic leader” as they recount the successes of visionary companies whose names we all know, led by individuals whose names are known by only a few. This should give us all hope that we can be leaders even if we weren’t born with an elusive “leadership gene.”

In these challenging times, I ask you all to be leaders. And in doing so, reflect on the teachings of Mipham: Be fair, be thoughtful, exercise self-control in all aspects of your life, and most importantly, be compassionate.

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“We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.” – Albert Einstein

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David J. Sand, MD, MBA

Chief Medical Officer - ZeOmega

As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David J. Sand provides overall clinical vision to the organization, helping to ensure the safety, effectiveness, and relevancy of ZeOmega’s thought leadership. He also provides clinical direction on product development, positioning, and relevance for the company’s evolving markets.

Dr. Sand is a board-certified otolaryngologist-head & neck surgeon. After dedicating 12 years to a solo clinical practice, he transitioned to become the chief medical officer of Permedion, a URAC-accredited IRO in Ohio and HMS, a national program integrity vendor to 46 different state Medicaid agencies and the CMS. Since then, Dr. Sand has served as chief medical officer in multiple Medicare Advantage and Medicaid health plans. Most recently he was chief medical officer of Care N’ Care, a provider-owned Medicare Advantage Plan in Texas, and as the national chief medical officer for Medicare for Anthem BCBS.

Dr. Sand has participated on the board of the National Association of Independent Review Organizations (NAIRO), the American Diabetes Association, and has been a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Institute of Healthcare Quality, the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He has also spoken nationally on fraud, waste and abuse, palliative and end of life care, and quality improvement.

Dr. Sand received his Bachelor of Science and MD degrees from Brown University in Providence, RI, and his MBA with honors from Regis University in Denver, CO. He served his surgical internship at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia and his otolaryngology residency at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.

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