When a clinician becomes a physician-executive, the shift is abrupt, confusing, and marked by few signposts. To be an organizational leader-especially in the 1990s, in health care more than in any other industry-is to be a master of teamwork, a maven of process, at home with ambiguity, comfortable with change, a nurturer of consensus, yet decisive, ready to move in the face of all the ambiguity. The hyphenated physician-executive lives in a state of culture shock. The first major step to overcoming this unfamiliar terrain is to recognize that the traits of the true organizational leader are, in fact, skills. The second step is to learn these skills, to set out deliberately, this far along in life, on a new kind of training, a new path.
当一名临床医生成为医师管理者时，这种转变是突然的、令人困惑的，而且几乎没有什么标志可循。要成为一名组织领导者——尤其是在20世纪90年代，在医疗行业比在其他任何行业更是如此——就是要成为团队合作的大师、流程的行家，能从容应对不确定性，适应变化，培养共识，同时又要果断，随时准备在所有的不确定性面前采取行动。兼具医师和管理者身份的人处于一种文化冲击的状态。克服这片陌生领域的第一个主要步骤是认识到真正的组织领导者的特质实际上就是技能。第二步是学习这些技能，在人生走到这一步时，有意识地开始一种新的培训，一条新的道路。
