With 2026 bearing down on us, everyone is coming up with their Word of the Year. Merriam-Webster chose “slop.” Oxford University Press chose “rage bait.” Dictionary.com chose “67”—and yes, I am one of those who is “too old” (by design) to get it! Speaking of generation gaps…I’d like to propose a Word of the Year that connects to that theme. It’s one that captures both the reality leaders are facing and the shift that leadership now demands. My word of…

We can get so caught up in just doing our job that we stop noticing opportunities to make things better for our patients, our coworkers—even ourselves. Maybe there is something right under our nose that could be improved. Maybe it’s been that way for a long time, so it doesn’t really register. Or if it does, we might think, It’s just how we do things here. Or we assume it’s somebody else’s job. Sometimes it…

A quiet truth runs beneath every meaningful career moment in healthcare: Relationships—not transactions—move us forward. I was reminded of this recently when a physician leader reached out to me on LinkedIn in response to uLeadership’s “BIG announcement” about joining Healthcare Plus Solutions Group®. Turns out, we connected on a Zoom call, no agenda at all, just an engaging and inspiring conversation. Later, I mentioned our call to a colleague who knows this physician, Dr. Stephen Williams,…

As a leader, you are probably carrying around lots of tools. Some you picked up long ago. Others you’ve kept accumulating with the years and the relentless march of technology. The question is, do you have the RIGHT tools to do your job? If you’ve ever met a novice backpacker, you might notice they’re weighed down with all kinds of stuff. On the other hand, it’s amazing how little an expert backpacker takes with them into…