The Best Nurse Leaders Are Learners - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

When was the last time you read a leadership book, watched a TED talk or listened to a leadership podcast? I commonly hear from leaders that they just don’t have the time to do this. My response is always the same – you can’t afford not to devote some time each week to sharpen your leadership by learning. The best leaders are learners especially in this environment of constant change. There are probably strategies that you use in your leadership today that worked in the past but are not working now.

What new learning does is challenge our paradigms or the way we view the world. It also takes us out of our part of the world and exposes us to what is going on in other health systems or even other industries. The best part today is that there is so much content out there that is free. The only investment that we need make is one of time and even that can be as little as 30 minutes a week. The following are some of my recommendations:

To Keep Updated about the Healthcare Industry

Hospitals and Health Networks Hospitals and Health Networks is published by Health Forum and is the official publication of the American Hospital Association. Free digital and magazine subscriptions are available for nurse leaders. The publication covers a wide range of healthcare leadership topics. Podcast interviews with health leaders are also available on the site.

Fierce Healthcare Fierce Healthcare is a daily newsletter that is a leading source of healthcare management news. This is an excellent resource for nurse leaders on a wide range of healthcare leadership topics. Subscriptions are free.

Kaiser Health News
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization committed to in-depth coverage of health care policy and politics of interest to healthcare leaders. A free email news subscription is available.

Other Leadership Blogs

SmartBrief on Leadership
SmartBrief on Leadership provides various articles and blog postings related to innovative ideas about leadership and management. Users can subscribe and updates will be sent directly through e-mail.

MichaelHyatt Intentional Leadership Blogs and Podcasts Michael Hyatt is a well-known blogger and podcaster on leadership topics.

Leadership Videos

TedTalks on Leadership TED is a nonprofit devoted to ideas worth spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. The Ted talks on leadership are wonderful short videos from some of the most creative thinkers in the world on leadership.

My Favorite Leadership Podcasts

Read to Lead Jeff Brown is the host of the read to lead podcast which can be downloaded from Itunes or for your Android Device. He interviews best selling leadership book authors. If you love reading, then you’ll love this podcast. If you desire to stretch and grow by reading more, but haven’t been able to make it happen? You’ll find encouragement here. And in the meantime, learn more than you ever thought possible.

Coaching for Leaders Dave Stachowiak, the founder and host of Coaching for Leaders. He offers terrific insight into how to navigate leadership challenges. It can be downloaded from Itunes, Google Play or on Stitcher.

LeadX – Kevin Kruse, LEADx founder and CEO interviews the world’s top leadership experts and business executives for their best career advice and management tips. He starts every broadcast with the same question – Tell us about your greatest failure. The insights are often amazing as you can learn from the failures of others.

If you want to become better as a nurse leader, invest in yourself and learn more about leadership. You will soon find yourself thinking about leadership in a very different way.