Seven ‘E’s of leadership: reflections from clinical practice to global public health

Leadership is shaped by personal and organisational narratives and lived experience. This reflection considers lessons from over two decades across medicine, public health and emergencies. Seven themes emerge which I describe as the ‘seven E’s of leadership’: Existential, Empathy, Exploration, Embeddedness, Emergency, Environmental Attunement and Encouragement. Each arose from practice, including early encounters with mortality, exploring non-traditional career paths, grounding leadership on the frontline, learning in the face of emergencies, adapting to new contexts and encouraging teams in uncertain times. These are presented as a framework that is intended to be self-reflective and practical. Each is explored in terms of why it matters, what it means, how to cultivate it and the challenges that can arise. The ‘seven E’s’ offer a way of understanding how leaders can remain purposeful, adaptive and empathetic in times of complexity and change.