The Power of Curiosity in Heath Care Leadership with Erin Sullivan, Ph.D.

What’s curiosity have to do with leadership?

This week’s episode of “When Science Speaks” features Erin Sullivan, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Healthcare Management at Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School and Lecturer, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Erin shares her insights on health care, leadership, and “translation” skills gained from her role as an experienced leader in research and education and strategic thinker who empowers teams to achieve results in complex environments. 

We discuss these topics and more, including:

Erin’s latest research work on leadership in the health care space

Elements her research suggest need to be active to provide exemplary primary care to patients

What makes an effective leader in the science and medical fields

Whether scientists should be leaders or just follow the data

Some of the pitfalls that scientists and medical professionals experience when they’re in leadership positions within their respective organizations

How to handle the thorny dynamic arising when promotions happen because someone is good at what they do technically, but more than such technical expertise is needed to be successful in leading a department, for example.

Thinking about physicians, how organizations should respond when their high-performers in this technical world turn down leadership opportunities

The need for, and value of, “translators” – what Erin means by that, and how to develop those translation skills

Erin’s recommendations on one thing listeners can do to build their translation skills