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.
Douglas J Noble (Mon,) studied this question.