Limiting Beliefs and Leadership Effectiveness: Where is your Mind?

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Lower margins, workforce challenges, behavioral issues, burnout, and a pandemic. Need I say more. These are very challenging times, probably the most challenging I have seen as a physician and a physician executive. While I may be in the minority, I feel more energized than ever. How is this possible given all on our plates as leaders? The answer lies in my positive mindset, role-modeling and understanding of limiting beliefs and their detrimental impact on personal and professional growth. Limiting beliefs are thoughts we develop in our minds that we view as true even though they may be false. In fact, most of the time, they are false. The sad reality is many believe these are true and thwart growth. Many leaders unknowingly exhibit limiting beliefs that surface as a victim, fixed and selfish mindset. The first person I look at each morning is the person in the mirror. Where is my mindset?

Over the fifteen plus years as a leader, I have grown and continue to learn. During this period, the teams I have been privileged to lead, have produced incredible outcomes despite many obstacles including the pandemic. Challenges became opportunities, can’t became can, they became we and fixed became growth mindset. As a leader, I addressed my own limiting beliefs and understood the teams I led also had limiting beliefs. My approach to the teams was everything, my demeanor, my words, my emails, and my texts. If an outcome was not achieved, it was on me. If a valued team member left the organization, it was on me. Authenticity, integrity, and genuineness matter in shaping our mindset and approach. Interestingly, the reactive nature became proactive as the teams became problem solvers. Despite all the chaos, uncertain and ambiguity around me as a leader, my job became rewarding and purposeful.

I have always believed that mindset drives skillsets. Unfortunately, many leaders believe the opposite and displace their frustrations or ultimatums for lack of outcomes on the physicians or the teams they lead. We start treating others as commodities versus assets including displacing diversity of thought and seeking to understand.

While I am all about accountability and outcomes, this approach will not result in long term success. If many are already suffering from limiting beliefs or burnout, the “talking points” or deflection of the blame for performance, will not work. You must look in the mirror at your own mindset and limiting beliefs before addressing others or looking external.

Paul Entler DO is former Regional Chief Medical Officer with University of Michigan Health and graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Medical Management for Physicians.