Leadership in the Literature: Updated Monthly

Want more articles? Contact the library for a literature search on any topic. Questions? Email us: library@allina.com

Now is the time for courage | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
Research has shown that fortune favors the bold, not the cautious. But in volatile and uncertain times, many leaders hesitate to act, and others simply freeze up. The question is, Can bravery be acquired? In this article an HBS professor who has done extensive research on the subject argues that everyone can—and should—learn to be courageous. 

Focused assessment: An abbreviated preoperative workflow for elective outpatient surgical care | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst 
In this article, the authors describe a novel workflow for low-risk patients and outpatient surgical procedures developed to promote more efficient surgical care delivery. 

How hospitals can respond to declining support for public health (editorial) | 2025 | Journal of Healthcare Management
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
According to the Trust for America’s Health 2024 report, only 3.4% of the nation’s $4.5 trillion in health expenditures went to public health and prevention—an actual decline from the already inadequate 4.4% cited 2 years prior (McKillop & Lieberman, 2024). Since 2010, per capita federal funding for public health through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources and Services Administration has increased only modestly—from $27.49 in fiscal year (FY) 2010 to $39.56 in FY 2023—and when adjusted for inflation and public health needs, the purchasing power of many local and state health departments has declined. [...]the cost of this neglect is not just clinical or financial—it is societal.

How to build nursing leadership cometencies | Journal of Nursing Administration
Mentoring and succession planning in nursing are important elements to ensure continuity, retention, staff engagement, and improved patient care and outcomes. Both mentoring and succession planning are central tenets of the American Nurses Credentialing Center's (ANCC's) Magnet Recognition Program®, with organizations required to provide evidence of formal programs. This month's Magnet® Perspectives explores the impact of student practicums as a conduit for mentoring and succession planning and takes a close look at ANCC's unique student practicum to build nursing competencies and develop future nurse leaders. The column details how ANCC tailored and expanded the program to meet high demand during the COVID pandemic and how students have rated the experience.

Why aren't I better at delegating | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
All leaders—from new managers to seasoned executives—must delegate tasks to free up time and attention for the big-picture work their more-senior roles demand. But too often leaders find themselves caught in the weeds of execution. This article helps leaders determine which work to keep and which is better left to a team member. Then it identifies four challenges that stop even those who know how to delegate from doing it successfully.

The impact of leader mindfulness in communication on employees' psychological safety| 2025 | Frontiers in Psychology
This study investigated the mediating role of leader empathy and interpersonal trust between leader mindfulness in communication and employees' psychological safety. In addition, it also examined the positive moderating effect of employee mindfulness on multiple variables.

The role of competent leaders in staff empowerment: A cross-sectional study | 2025 | Journal of Healthcare leadership
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
Nursing leadership competency is important for staff empowerment, quality improvement, and patient safety, yet inadequate investment in its development hinders its development. This highlights the urgent need for strategic leadership competency building in nursing management. This study aims to examine the importance of self-assessing leadership competency in guiding Nursing Directors’ leadership development and the relationship between nursing directors’ leadership quality and nursing staff empowerment.

Multimedia

How AI slop is clogging your brain | 2025 | It's been a minute (podcast)

AI is just the beginning. Meet the minds mapping what's next | 2025 | Ted Radio Hour (podcast)

Adam Grant: Future leaders won't succeed without this key trait | 2025 | World Economic Forum (video)

Want more articles? Contact the library for a literature search on any topic. Questions? Email us: library@allina.com

1. Expanded span of control, leadership and management performance, work-related stress, and job satisfaction among first-line managers: A repeated cross-sectional study | 2025 | Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & rehabilitation
First-line healthcare managers navigate complex organizational demands to ensure a good work environment and quality care. Key factors such as expanded span of control, leadership and management performance, and work-related stress significantly influence their job satisfaction. However, how these factors evolve over time in organizational settings remains unclear. 

2. Development of a comprehensive tool to assess rigor when evaluating quality improvement projects | 2025 | Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
The aim of this study was to develop a pragmatic domain-based tool to Comprehensively Assess Rigor when Evaluating Quality Improvement projects (CARE-QI) that can be used by health professionals, researchers, or academics.

3. The impact of nurse managers' transformational leadership on nurses work engagement: A cross-sectional study | 2025 | Journal of Nursing Management
This study aimed to describe nurses’ evaluations of their work engagement, their perceptions of their managers’ transformational leadership, and the relationships between these factors. A cross-sectional study design was employed. 

4. Loss, adversity, and asymmetry: The future of NIH funding (editorial) | 2025 | Journal of Healthcare Management
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
The story of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding over the past few decades reveals itself not just through dollars and percentages, but in terms of hope, frustration, and resilience. It vividly illustrates a fundamental truth about human behavior: We feel the sting of loss far more keenly than the joy of an equivalent gain.

5. Achieve DEI goals without DEI programs | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
THE CHALLENGE: Formal DEI pro-grams and policies are being scaled back or eliminated, and champions of workforce diversity feel their work is being undone. THE SOLUTION: Many recent management innovations designed to improve performance also boost workforce diversity—for frontline workers and managers alike. And they don’t invite the backlash that formal DEI programs do. THE WAY FORWARD: If companies start using the high-performance management practices described in this article, their diversity numbers are likely to improve. But that will happen only if these innovations are used to manage all employees.

6. Climate-resilient acute care clinical operations: A framework that informs how operations within acute care build climate-resilient health systems| 2025 | Healthcare Management Forum
This article describes the development of an organization-wide intervention to address moral distress in healthcare. A multidisciplinary team, including researchers and organizational partners, used intervention mapping and the theoretical domains framework to create the moral empowerment system for healthcare. This system encompasses a suite of strategies designed for integration into organizations’ operations to empower healthcare professionals individually and collectively to address moral events. This suite includes an ethics education program for healthcare professionals, interprofessional teams, and leaders; moral empowerment consultations; reflective debriefings; and mentoring. An implementation and evaluation plan is also presented, highlighting a staged approach that reflects the organizational context. Ultimately, the approach described here offers health leaders a practical and systematic method to design, implement, and evaluate moral distress interventions, tailoring them to their specific environments.

7. A physician and practice incentive intervention to increase referrals to high-value settings | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst
Historically, navigating the healthcare system for an acute illness would require a visit to a physician’s office or local emergency department, followed by admission to an acute care facility with subsequent discharge to a rehabilitation center, skilled nursing facility, or home. During the pandemic, hospitals and health systems that cared for patients who required additional close follow-up after discharge, but were unable to find accommodations in skilled nursing or rehabilitation facilities, turned to hospital-at-home care. Healthcare organizations across the country began these programs and quickly realized the healthcare benefits for patients, as well as how the model improves value by improving outcomes, enhancing the patient experience, and reducing cost (American Hospital Association, 2020). A recent study released by the American Medical Association surveyed 1,233 randomly chosen individuals using an online form to assess the acceptability of hospital-at-home care and the capacity for caregiver burden.

Multimedia

1. How to get people to do what you want | 2025 | Ted Talks | Video
As a film and television director, Barry Sonnenfeld had millions of dollars riding on his ability to get his cast and crew to play along — and much of what he learned along the way applies to everyday life. Here, he shares nine bits of wisdom and whimsy gleaned from 40 years in entertainment. So the next time you encounter a screaming bully, you too will know what to do.

2. How do I deal with a competitive peer? | 2025 | Coaching Real Leaders | Podcast
She’s stepped into a leadership position thanks, in part, to a former boss at her organization. But now, this former boss has become a peer, and perhaps competition for the next-level role. Plus, their leadership styles often clash. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches her through how to position herself for career advancement in the face of competition from a colleague.

Want more articles? Contact the library for a literature search on any topic. Questions? Email us: library@allina.com

1. Persuading the unpersuadable: Lessons from science | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
A reprint of the article "Persuading the Unpersuadable" by Adam Grant, which appeared in the March-April 2021 issue, is presented. It explores how people like Mike Bell and Tony Fadell influenced Steve Jobs, showing that Apple’s success depended on persuading a determined leader. It outlines key strategies for influencing difficult personalities, such as asking know-it-alls to explain, collaborating with the stubborn, and praising narcissists indirectly. It emphasizes that successful persuasion depends on timing, approach, and emotional insight.

2. Insights Report: Awareness of structural racism rises but disparities in care delivery persist | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst
More than half of NEJM Catalyst Insights Council members say that structural racism affects patient care in their organizations, particularly in the United States.

3. Transforming the future of health: Building learning health systems across the globe | 2025 | Health Affairs Scholar
Health care has faced disruptions over the past 5 years, including a global pandemic, supply chain interruptions, workforce shifts, and the introduction of new artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Health care organizations continue to leverage the learning health system (LHS) concept to adapt to these challenges through iterative feedback loops. The Future of Health (FOH), an international community of over 50 senior health leaders that focuses on shared challenges across international health systems, collaborated with the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy in a consensus-building process with FOH members to identify opportunities for action in an LHS. Key areas for action identified include opportunities to leverage data and AI to support clinical decision-making, steps to create an organizational culture of learning, and strategies to engage patients and caregivers, illustrated through case examples.

4. Exploring turnover among first-line managers in healthcare: A cohort study of span of control, management performance and stress indicators | 2025 | Leadership in Health Services
The purpose of this study is to examine if and how an expanded span of control, management performance and work-related stress indicators (control, support and relationships) influence the time until first-line managers leave their position.

5.The conflict intelligent leader | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
As civil strife grows around the world, clashes are on the rise in the workplace too. Incivility on the job is getting worse, and each day it costs companies billions in lost productivity and absenteeism. To navigate the discord, today's business leaders need to develop conflict intelligence, writes Coleman, a Columbia professor and expert on conflict resolution. Like emotional intelligence, conflict intelligence involves empathy, self-regulation, and social awareness, but it also includes situational awareness and understanding the social dynamics and systemic forces that influence disputes. 

6. Developing a moral empowerment system for healthcare organizations to address moral distress: A case report | 2025 | Healthcare Management Forum
This article describes the development of an organization-wide intervention to address moral distress in healthcare. A multidisciplinary team, including researchers and organizational partners, used intervention mapping and the theoretical domains framework to create the moral empowerment system for healthcare. This system encompasses a suite of strategies designed for integration into organizations’ operations to empower healthcare professionals individually and collectively to address moral events. This suite includes an ethics education program for healthcare professionals, interprofessional teams, and leaders; moral empowerment consultations; reflective debriefings; and mentoring. An implementation and evaluation plan is also presented, highlighting a staged approach that reflects the organizational context. Ultimately, the approach described here offers health leaders a practical and systematic method to design, implement, and evaluate moral distress interventions, tailoring them to their specific environments.

7. Successful care delivery through the lens of the patient experience | 2025 | Journal of Healthcare Management
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
Historically, navigating the healthcare system for an acute illness would require a visit to a physician’s office or local emergency department, followed by admission to an acute care facility with subsequent discharge to a rehabilitation center, skilled nursing facility, or home. During the pandemic, hospitals and health systems that cared for patients who required additional close follow-up after discharge, but were unable to find accommodations in skilled nursing or rehabilitation facilities, turned to hospital-at-home care. Healthcare organizations across the country began these programs and quickly realized the healthcare benefits for patients, as well as how the model improves value by improving outcomes, enhancing the patient experience, and reducing cost (American Hospital Association, 2020). A recent study released by the American Medical Association surveyed 1,233 randomly chosen individuals using an online form to assess the acceptability of hospital-at-home care and the capacity for caregiver burden.

Multimedia

1. How to say no | 2025 | WorkLife | Podcast
In a world filled with requests, many of us are struggling to stay afloat. Even if you’re not a people-pleaser, the desire to maintain a positive reputation can make it hard to turn others down. In this episode, Adam explores the art and science of delivering an effective “no.” He highlights strategies for setting boundaries with others to create space for yourself—and healthier relationships with those around you. 

2. How race shows up at the doctor's office | 2025 | NPR's Code Switch | Podcast
We've probably said it a hundred times on Code Switch — biological race is not a real thing. So why is race still used to help diagnose certain conditions, like keloids or cystic fibrosis? On this episode, Dr. Andrea Deyrup breaks it down for us, and unpacks the problems she sees with practicing race-based medicine, from delayed diagnoses to ignoring environmental factors that lead to different health outcomes. She says that while race-based health disparities are very real, the idea that our bodies are genetically different based on race is simply not.

Want more articles? Contact the library for a literature search on any topic. Questions? Email us: library@allina.com

1. From discontinuity to transformation: Drucker’s wisdom for navigating today’s healthcare environment | 2025 | Journal of Healthcare Management
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
In 1969, Peter Drucker introduced the concept of an “age of discontinuity,” describing a world where predictable patterns of the past no longer defined the future (Drucker, 1969). Drucker foresaw a society characterized by rapid changes in technology, politics, economics, and organizational behavior. More than 50 years later, healthcare leaders find themselves confronting precisely the kinds of discontinuity Drucker described. From shifting political winds to technological disruptions, today’s healthcare delivery landscape demands the strategic adaptability and foresight that Drucker
championed.

2. Technology drives emerging roles in health care workforces | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst
Members of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council describe many new and emerging roles in health care organizations, from the front lines to the C-suite.

3. Meeting future demands of acute care through the home hospital care model | 2025 | Journal of Healthcare Management
As healthcare leaders consider how to meet the challenges of the future, we must continue to evolve our view of what standard hospital care looks like. Home-based care for acute conditions is a promising model that can serve as the foundation for new and innovative programs that are capable of much more.

4. The effect of registered nurse staffing and skill mix on length of stay and hospital costs | 2025 | Nursing Outlook
Sepsis is a common cause of hospitalization among Medicare beneficiaries, often leading to prolonged hospital stays and high costs.
Better RN staffing and skill mix can improve patient outcomes and yield significant cost savings.

5.Are you really a good listener? | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
Research has shown that when employees feel heard, their engagement rises and their performance improves, delivering big benefits to their firms. Yet 117 studies on workplace listening reveal that many managers aren't good listeners. Why? Because listening is mentally taxing and demands empathy and patience. This article describes the five common causes of poor listening and explains ways to counter each. The first pitfall is haste. To avoid it, set aside distraction-free time for conversations, ask clarifying questions, seek more details, and plan follow-up discussions. The second pitfall is defensiveness. When you experience this, you need to calm your emotions, buy yourself time by restating what you've heard, and get more information before responding. The third pitfall is invisibility—not showing that you're listening. So demonstrate that you are with body language and verbal cues and by summarizing what people have told you. The fourth pitfall is exhaustion, which prevents leaders from engaging productively. Setting clear boundaries and acknowledging your limits will help you address this problem. The last pitfall is inaction. The fix here is to always close the loop: Before ending a conversation, affirm what you've heard, identify next steps, and agree on a timeline for checking back in.

6. CALM amid chaos: The art of being a team leader. A toolkit to cultivate strong emergency management skills | 2025 | Canadian Family Physician
The College of Family Physicians of Canada characterizes leadership as a primary responsibility of family physicians.1 We are expected to demonstrate leadership at all levels to provide “accessible, high-quality, comprehensive, and continuous first-contact health care”1 to patients. The clinical environment often presents intense challenges for family physicians, amplified by limited resources, personnel, and specialized services. Additionally, as many family physicians work in high-acuity areas like emergency or urgent care departments, or as hospitalists, this framework is highly applicable.

Despite the need for strong leadership skills in these high-stress situations, formal leadership training was not offered during my medical education journey. This gap underscores the importance of family physicians developing their own effective stress management techniques to better support and lead teams in times of crisis.

7. Exploring the core of emotional intelligence in healthcare leadership: A concept analysis | 2025 | Journal of Advanced Nursing
Emotional intelligence in healthcare leadership contributes to better performing organisations, as emotionally capable leaders can inspire and empower their employees. Holistic management of organisational duties and people-oriented leadership is a crucial resource in healthcare organisations. Well-being and workplace resources can be vitally important for leaders to manifest emotional intelligence in their work.

Multimedia

1. Leading from within: Cultivating effective leadership and followership in health care | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst Conversation | Audio + Transcript
The integration of effective leadership practices in health care is essential for improving outcomes and fostering a collaborative environment. In this dialogue, James Mountford, Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Leader, discusses the distinction between “leading” as an action and “leadership” as a position, emphasizing that everyone can contribute to leading within their sphere, regardless of rank. The conversation explores the concept of followership and the importance of cultivating good followers who support leaders while maintaining shared values. Mountford highlights the need for clarity in leadership roles and the significance of mobilizing teams around a common vision. He argues that effective leadership is a practice that requires engagement and reflection, rather than merely theoretical training. As health care systems navigate complexities, understanding these dynamics will be crucial for enhancing service delivery and achieving better patient outcomes.

2. Reaffirming the heart of nursing | 2025 | Nursing Management Podcast | Video
For Nurses Month, Dr. Tim Porter-O'Grady joins us to talk about reaffirming the heart of nursing: a focus on humanity and caring. 

Want more articles? Contact the library for a literature search on any topic. Questions? Email us: library@allina.com

1. The power of mattering at work | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
Quiet quitting, the Great Resignation, chronically low engagement numbers, increasing numbers of labor disputes, demands for equity and dignity in the workplace—business leaders have been warily watching these trends for years and fighting each fire separately. But the trends continue, because leaders are missing the underlying problem that connects these symptoms: Many employees don't feel that they matter to their employers, bosses, and colleagues. Mattering—a mainstay concept in psychology—is the experience of feeling significant to those around us because we feel valued and know that we add value. In this article the author shows leaders how to apply this concept in the workplace. First, leaders need to truly see and hear team members during daily interactions. They must also regularly affirm their people's significance. And finally, senior leaders need to scale these skills up to the organizational level so that mattering becomes a cultural norm. These behaviors may seem like common sense, but they've ceased to be common practice in a world of brief digital communications and condescension toward soft skills, and they're well worth relearning. The article includes three activities leaders can use to get started. 

2. Insights report: How to improve poor patient health literacy | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst
Acknowledging the importance of health literacy for patient care, members of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council discuss who is responsible and how to improve health literacy.

3. Alleviating bedside nurse burden: A virtual nursing program | 2025 | Nurse Leader
The virtual nursing program was created in response to nursing workforce shortages. The rapid implementation leveraged current telehealth registered nurses and utilized existing technology and equipment, all while maintaining budget neutrality. The program created an integrated care model that enhanced patient and registered nurses satisfaction, throughput, turnover, and vacancy and demonstrated a financial impact. The conclusion of the pilot is that it is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Different hospitals and communities have different needs. For sustainable growth, having robust frameworks, operational procedures, program methodologies, and defined metrics is essential.

4. Exploring the core of emotional intelligence in healthcare leadership: A concept analysis | 2025 | Journal of Advanced Nursing
Concept analysis identified defining attributes of emotional intelligence in healthcare leadership, including leadership qualities, management competencies, and sets of leadership styles which were related to supportive and transformational leadership behaviour. The antecedents were socio-demographic factors, well-being, and workplace resources. Finally, employee-, manager-, organisation- and patient-related consequences were identified, such as the well-being of both employees and managers, organisational performance and patient care quality.

5. Creating and sustaining a culture of inquiry and research | 2025 | The Journal of Nursing Administration
Today's nursing leaders have complex roles. One of the expectations of the nurse executive is to create a workplace culture supporting nurses and exemplary nursing practice. In Magnet ® environments, creating this kind of culture is not enough. Nurse executives in Magnet-designated organizations must create and sustain cultures supporting inquiry and research. This column reviews some key actions that nurse executives can undertake to make a culture of inquiry and research a reality.

6. Second term policy changes signal a shift: Guidance for leaders through a fluctuating landscape | Healthcare Executive 
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
All eyes have been on Washington, D.C., as the Trump administration implements numerous policy changes. Context is key for understanding how these changes will impact the U.S. healthcare system.

7. Managing the sudden critical shortage of intravenous fluids | NEJM Catalyst 
In the wake of Hurricane Helene in late September 2024, hospitals across the United States were faced with a sudden shortage of intravenous fluid (IVF). The deadly Atlantic storm damaged a major IVF manufacturing facility in North Carolina, halting production and creating a sudden supply chain crisis. At Luminis Health, a hospital system based in Annapolis and Lanham, Maryland, Incident Command orchestrated a swift, multidisciplinary response that allowed for minimal disruption to the flow of patient care. Interventions included adjustments to perioperative protocols, daily reviews of clinical necessity, and an emphasis on oral hydration. Hospital inventory data were used to compare IVF use before and after the shortage. The incident reporting system and patient discharge surveys were analyzed to assess for potential harm. Incidences of potentially preventable renal failure and acquired hyponatremia were evaluated in retrospect. The hospital system saw a 60% (P<0.001) reduction in IVF use on implementation of the shortage protocols. Notably, implementation revealed important opportunities to reevaluate systemic processes and improve value in certain standard-of-care practices. The reduction was sustained and allowed the hospital system to continue all elective procedures after only 1 day of delay. The few adverse events related to the protocol changes that had been reported were resolved. Of the patients with plausible protocol-attributed renal failure, none required dialysis, and all improved toward baseline prior to discharge. Analysis showed no increase in acquired hyponatremia during the shortage, when compared with the year prior. The protocols enacted for IVF management serve as a blueprint for other hospital systems to follow in the case of future supply chain interruptions and highlight areas for standard system improvement without compromising patient care.

8. What people get wrong about psychological safety | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
Psychological safety—a shared belief among team members that it's OK to speak up with candor—has become a popular concept. However, as its popularity has grown, so too have misconceptions about it. Such misunderstandings can lead to frustration among leaders and employees, stymie constructive debates, and ultimately harm organizational performance. In this article the authors identify the following six common misperceptions: Psychological safety means being nice; it means getting your way; it means job security; it requires a trade-off with performance; it's a policy; and it requires a top-down approach. They explain why each misperception gets in the way and give advice on how to counter it. They also offer leaders a blueprint for building the kind of strong, learning-oriented work environment that is crucial for success in an uncertain world. Leaders should clearly communicate what psychological safety is and what it isn't, and take steps to improve the quality of conversations and to establish structures and rituals that will help teams assess their progress in building a psychologically safe environment.

Multimedia

1.  The conversations you should be having with your manager | 2025 | HBR IdeaCast (podcast)
As you advance in your career, you develop the skills to lead teams and manage direct reports. But no matter your role or seniority, you’ll always need to manage those above you and to develop the right relationships to progress. The secret to managing up, says Melody Wilding, is being strategic and thoughtful in several key kinds of conversations with your boss and boss’s boss—including finding alignment, setting boundaries, getting visibility for your work, and winning a promotion. She explains how the effort pays off both in future opportunities and your day-to-day satisfaction on the job.

2. Why AI is our ultimate test and greatest invitation | 2025 | Ted Talks (video)
Technologist Tristan Harris has an urgent question: What if the way we’re deploying the world’s most powerful technology — artificial intelligence — isn’t inevitable, but a choice? In this eye-opening talk, he calls on us to learn from the mistakes of social media’s catastrophic rollout and confront the predictable dangers of reckless AI development, offering a “narrow path” where power is matched with responsibility, foresight and wisdom.

1. Why should leaders be open about their flaws? | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
For decades, leaders have prioritized projecting strength and perfection, but research suggests that authenticity is more effective in building trust and engagement. Studies show that when leaders voluntarily disclose relatable weaknesses, they are perceived as more genuine without sacrificing competence or warmth. This shift from "Image Is Everything" to "Authenticity Is King" fosters stronger connections, enhances cooperation, and ultimately benefits both leaders and their teams.

2. CDC's funding for state and local public health: How much and where does it go? | 2025 | KFF
Federal funding has long been a major source of support for public health efforts across the United States, estimated to account for more than half of state and local health department budgets. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the primary public health agency of the federal government, provides much of this funding, helping to support public health systems and activities across the country. However, CDC and other federal health agencies are being targeted by the Trump administration for downsizing and budget cuts, reductions that could impact the amount of funding available for public health. To better understand how much CDC funding is provided to state and local jurisdictions, we analyzed FY 2023 funding obligation data (see Methods and Appendix 1).

3. A leader’s guide to transforming care delivery and improving nurse well-being | 2025 | Nurse Leader
This article highlights learnings from an Institute for Healthcare Improvement project funded by the Johnson & Johnson Foundation exploring innovative nurse-led acute care delivery solutions to promote a thriving workforce. Pilot sites tested virtual care delivery, innovative technologies, and creative use of resources. Results included a 7.78% increase in “I love my job,” time savings and reduced burden for staff, feelings of enhanced support, creation of new opportunities for nurses, increased staff engagement, and improved patient outcomes. A related toolkit offers strategic insights and resources to assist organizations in redesigning care delivery to support the nursing workforce.

4. What sets inspirational leaders apart? | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
When people around the world are asked to reflect on both inspiring leaders and infuriating leaders, they point to three factors that distinguish the former from the latter. Inspiring leaders are visionary: They see the big picture and offer an optimistic, meaningful view of the future. This fulfills the human need for meaning and purpose. Inspiring leaders are exemplars of desired behavior: They are calm and courageous protectors, authentically passionate, extremely competent but also humble. This fulfills the human need for protection and passion. Finally, inspiring leaders are great mentors: They empower, encourage, and are empathetic toward others, but they also challenge others to be the best version of themselves. This fulfills the human need for support and status. Each of us can develop the capacity to be inspiring in all three dimensions of leadership. For example, to get into a visionary state of mind, use strategies that broaden your perspective: reflecting on your core values, considering your past and the winding road that led to your present, and vividly imagining the future. To prime the exemplar pump, think of a time when you had power, when you felt secure and in control, when you were your best self. And to shift into a mentor state of mind, work to learn from those below you in the hierarchy.

5. Pathways to improved quality and safety | 2025 | Healthcare Executive
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
The article focuses on how healthcare organizations are advancing quality and safety through innovative initiatives that produce measurable outcomes. Topics include Northwestern Medicine's interdisciplinary quality improvement training program (AQSI), Kaiser Permanente Northern California's predictive Advance Alert Monitor system, and the Veterans Health Administration's use of the Surgical Pause to improve care for frail surgical patients.

6. Screening and intervention to prevent violence against health professionals from hospitalized patients: A pilot study | 2024 | Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
Health care providers, particularly nursing staff, are at risk of physical or emotional abuse from patients. This abuse has been associated with increased use of physical and pharmacological restraints on patients, poor patient outcomes, high staff turnover, and reduced job satisfaction.

Multimedia

1. In search of work-life balance | 2025 | The Pulse (podcast)
Our jobs can provide us with a sense of identity, connection, and meaning — but they can also feel like a never-ending to-do list that gets in the way of actually living. On this episode, we explore work-life balance: When do we find meaning in our careers, and when do we not? And how do we set healthy boundaries between our jobs and our personal lives?

2. What all leaders can learn from Taylor Swift | 2025 | HBR IdeaCast (podcast)
Whether you’re a fan of Taylor Swift or not, no one can deny her success as both a music star and businesswoman. Her career has been a masterclass in everything from customer connection to innovation, decision-making to digital adaption, offering lessons for people in any industry. HBR senior editor Kevin Evers investigated Swift’s rise and evolution for his new book, There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, and found interesting patterns. He explains how she’s kept audiences loyal, why her Eras tour was so successful, and the vision and “productive paranoia” that have kept her on top. Evers also wrote the HBR article “The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift.”

Welcome to Leadership in the Literature, a roundup of recent articles/multimedia on leading and managing from Allina Health Library Services.
 

1. What sets inspirational leaders apart? | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   When people around the world are asked to reflect on both inspiring leaders and infuriating leaders, they point to three factors that distinguish the former from the latter. Inspiring leaders are visionary: They see the big picture and offer an optimistic, meaningful view of the future. This fulfills the human need for meaning and purpose. Inspiring leaders are exemplars of desired behavior: They are calm and courageous protectors, authentically passionate, extremely competent but also humble. This fulfills the human need for protection and passion. Finally, inspiring leaders are great mentors: They empower, encourage, and are empathetic toward others, but they also challenge others to be the best version of themselves. This fulfills the human need for support and status. Each of us can develop the capacity to be inspiring in all three dimensions of leadership.
    
2. What's the role of kindness in the healthcare context? A scoping review | 2025 | BMC Health Serv Res
   The role of kindness in healthcare is receiving increased attention. Indeed, international research shows that a culture of kindness has a positive impact on healthcare organizations, healthcare staff members, and patients. Benefits include better patient outcomes, as well as a humanized work environment, which helps to prevent stress and burnout among healthcare workers. Studies across different settings suggest that healthcare managers need to foster not only technical and organizational skills, but also social skills such as empathy and kindness. The purpose of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the current research landscape regarding initiatives based on acts of kindness in healthcare organizations. We will also explore whether this is a topic of interest to academics, which countries have conducted the most research on the subject, the practical implications for healthcare management, and potential directions for future research.
    
3. Who are you as a leader? | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   Social scientists have recently developed a new appreciation for how your conception of yourself can affect your professional and personal lives. The good news is that recent research has shown that you can curate your identity in the workplace in ways that will improve your performance as a leader, the trust you're able to inspire in others, and even your overall well-being. The author discusses this research, including some of his own, and presents best practices for curating a multifaceted identity that will serve you well professionally and personally. At the center of this approach is the construction of what Ingram calls the identity map—a simple device that allows people to identify, visualize, and ultimately leverage the many interconnected elements that make up their sense of who they are. 
    
4. Driving for results: Building a partnership-driven leadership model for recruiting and retaining Black newly licensed registered nurses | 2025 | Nurse Leader
   A health care system in the Southeastern United States explored the impact of nursing education, recruitment, and strategic initiatives focusing on Black newly licensed registered nurses (BNLRNs). Strategies included recruiting from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, cultivating academic-practice partnerships, infusing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging into the Nurse Residency Program curriculum, creating formal mentoring programs, and health system inclusion council initiatives. Outcomes included an increase in the number of BNLRN hires and first-year retention rates. Leadership implications are vast; understanding workforce trends will innovate the future of nursing education and support for BNLRNs.
    
5. Improving patient outcomes without breaking the bank: The rise in chronic diseases drives the use of novel therapies | 2025 | Healthcare Executive
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   The article focuses on the increasing prevalence of specialty drugs, with three-quarters of FDA-approved drugs in 2023 falling into this category. Topics include the rising cost of gene therapies, the challenges healthcare providers face in improving access to these expensive treatments, and creative solutions like partnerships to reduce costs and improve patient care.
    
6. Emergency department boarding reflects ongoing strains | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst
   Emergency care has been in the spotlight since patient volume in emergency departments expanded in 2020 with Covid-19 patients, then waned as other ill and injured people avoided hospitals rather than risk exposure to the virus. As the public health emergency eased, ED volumes rebounded with patients who had delayed care in prior years or whose mental health suffered during the stress and isolation of the pandemic. For a current look at emergency care, NEJM Catalyst in November 2024 surveyed its Insights Council, a global group of clinicians, clinical leaders, and executives at health care delivery organizations.
    
7. The role of artificial intelligence in supporting the core mission of nursing | 2025 | The Journal of Nursing Administration
   Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize nursing practice and care delivery by streamlining workflows, enhancing patient insights, and reducing cognitive burden. However, leaders must recognize that the adoption of AI introduces both promise and uncertainty. Nurse leaders must navigate the tension between driving innovation and addressing concerns about ethical implications, reliability, and the need to preserve high-quality, person-centered care. This article examines how leaders can thoughtfully integrate AI to support the core mission of nursing: to protect, promote, and optimize health for patients and communities.
    
8. ‘We listened and supported and depended on each other’: a qualitative study of how leadership influences implementation of QI interventions. | 2025 | BMJ Quality Safety
   There is growing recognition in the literature of the ‘Herculean’ efforts required to bring about change in healthcare processes and systems. Leadership is recognised as a critical lever for implementation of quality improvement (QI) and other complex team-level interventions; however, the processes by which leaders facilitate change are not well understood. The aim of this study is to examine ‘how’ leadership influences implementation of QI interventions.
    
9. How to develop your leadership style | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   Bosses often sense that something is missing in an employee's tool kit but can't put a finger on what it is. They say something like "You need certain important intangibles" or "You don't have enough gravitas," but they fail to provide advice or guidance. What they're talking about is leadership style. In every interaction, we send signals to others that fall into two categories: power and attractiveness. Powerful markers are associated with confidence, competence, charisma, and influence but also arrogance, abrasiveness, and intimidation. Attractiveness markers are related to agreeableness, approachability, and likability but also diffidence, lack of confidence, and submissiveness. The more consistent our signals, the more distinctive our style. This practical guide offers concrete advice for developing a dynamic and effective leadership style that draws from both types of markers for maximum impact.
    

Multimedia

1. What you're missing by focusing on the average | 2024 | TED Talks - TED@BCG (video)
   Are you looking at the right data when making big decisions? Data deconstructor Sharon Zicherman challenges our reliance on averages, showing how they can be misleading — especially in life-changing moments. By rethinking the way we interpret data, he reveals a smarter approach to assessing risk and making better choices.
    

Welcome to Leadership in the Literature, a roundup of recent articles/multimedia on leading and managing from Allina Health Library Services

1. The impact of transformational leadership style on nurses' job satisfaction: An integrative review. | Gebreheart - 2023 | Sage Open Nursing
   The argument about whether leadership style affects nurses’ job satisfaction is centered around the impact of different leadership styles on the work environment and the quality of care provided by nurses. Therefore, this review was primarily aimed at assessing the impact of transformational leadership style on the job satisfaction of hospital nurses.
    
2. 'What matters to staff programme': Eight steps to improve staff well-being at work| Turner - 2025 | BMJ Lead
   The What Matters to Staff programme was designed at the Royal Free Hospital to address a key priority of improving workforce well-being. The initial aim was to set up a programme that responded to what mattered to staff and could be spread to 70 teams across the hospital within 2 years. Over the past 2 years, the programme has given staff the opportunity to have their voice heard and has supported leaders to ask, listen and do what matters most for their teams. This has led to improved workforce metrics and the programme being widely scaled and spread.
    
3.  Leaders shouldn’t try to do it all | Lafley - 2025 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   The authors, a former CEO of Procter & Gamble and a former dean of the Rotman School, respectively, frequently find themselves sitting across the table from overwhelmed leaders. These executives are trying to improve or turn around an organization or the piece of it they head. They all face a long—and typically lengthening—list of important items on their to-do lists. They all understand that the job of a leader involves working intensely hard. But for many of them the current state feels like too much—and it's getting worse. The problem here is that whereas a company can always expand capacity to meet increasing demand, a leader's hours are constrained by nature: As the saying goes, there are only so many hours in a day. Many leaders think they can get more done if they simply work harder and longer. But in due course they tire, their overall productivity falls, and they risk burning themselves out and exiting. In this article the authors, drawing on their own experience and that of CEOs they have advised, explain how to escape that trap.
    
4. Understanding what leaders can do to facilitate healthcare workers' feeling valued: Improving our knowledge of the strongest burnout mitigator| Stillman - 2024 | BMJ Lead
   Feeling valued is a striking mitigator of burnout yet how to facilitate healthcare workers (HCWs) feeling valued has not been adequately studied. This study discovered factors relating to HCWs feeling valued so leaders can mitigate burnout and retain their workforce.
    
5. What is the impact of leaders with emotional intelligence on proxy performance metrics in 21st century healthcare? -A systematic literature review | Chaudry - 2024 | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
   To manage the employee experience, leaders must deeply understand employees' perceptions, feelings, and desires and respond thoughtfully. This is particularly crucial when immense resources are invested in gathering employee feedback through pulse surveys, town halls, and data scraping from internal communications. But leaders are often overwhelmed by the data and struggle to translate it into actionable insights. The authors conducted detailed interviews with executives and HR leaders from more than 20 multinational companies in sectors such as technology, financial services, and consumer goods. Their work reveals that although technology has simplified the collection of data, the real challenge lies in making sense of it and integrating it into a coherent strategy.
    
6. Guidance for successful healthcare transformation: A systematic review of change management practices and outcomes | Hastings- 2025 | Australian Journal of Management
   The increasing pace of healthcare transformation places emphasis on how to enact it. However, there is a difference between healthcare commentators and policymakers regarding preferred change management practice; policy guidance is rooted in diagnostic practices, whereas  commentators suggest that dialogic is a more appropriate practice for ensuring success. What is missing from this debate is evidence to inform whether commentators’ suggestions will increase the likelihood of successful transformation outcomes. This study presents a systematic review of change management practices and outcomes, identifying 10 papers that report on 292 cases of transformation. It finds broad support that dialogic increases the likelihood of successful transformation, providing supporting evidence for updating healthcare policy and practice.
    
7. How to marry process management and AI | Davenport- 2025 | Harvard Business Review 
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   Process management, which swept the business world in the 1990s and then fell out of favor, is experiencing a renaissance, thanks to AI. The two reinforce each other: AI helps firms significantly scale up improved processes, and well-managed processes make it easier to obtain the high-quality data needed to train AI. Combining them can generate huge productivity gains—but it requires a lot of change management. In this article the authors outline seven steps companies can follow to bring together people, data, analytics, and technology—in particular, AI—to revamp processes and achieve increasingly higher business performance
    

Multimedia

1. Leading from within: Cultivating effective leadership and followership in health care | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst (article with audio)
   This discussion highlights the importance of recognizing that everyone can engage in leading within their roles, while also addressing the crucial skills of followership and the need for clarity in leadership roles to foster effective teamwork and improve patient outcomes.
   
   
2. Addressing mental health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities | 2024 |American Hospital Association - Advancing Health (podcast)
   We humans are a social species, and so it’s not surprising that we care a lot about what other people think of us. It’s also not surprising that many of us stumble when we try to manage others’ views of us. This week, organizational psychologist Alison Fragale explains why that is, and offers better ways to win friends and influence people.

Welcome to Leadership in the Literature, a roundup of recent articles/multimedia on leading and managing from Allina Health Library Services

1. Health care leadership in the AI era: A seventh test for the decade | Lee - 2024 | NEJM Catalyst
   AI poses challenges and opportunities that require qualitative change in the skills of leaders of health care organizations. It remains essential that leaders have expertise in operational excellence and strategy, but now they must add management of “breakthrough innovation” and leadership of the culture change necessary to take full advantage of AI. AI has the potential to help address several of the “problems with no solution” that currently challenge health care. Leaders who can move quickly and effectively will bring their organizations important competitive advantage.
    
2. Effectiveness of individual-based strategies to reduce nurse burnout: An umbrella review. | Hsu - 2024 | Journal of Nurse Management
   This umbrella review aims to comprehensively synthesize and analyze the findings of available systematic reviews on the effectiveness of individual-based strategies for reducing nurse burnout occurring in hospital-based settings.
    
3. Work-related impacts on doctors' mental health: A qualitative study exploring organisational and systems-level risk factors| Lunnay - 2024 | BMJ Open
   This study highlights how doctors experience layers of interconnected factors that compromise their mental health but over which they have very little control. Interventions must therefore address these issues at organisational and systemic levels, for which starting points evident within our data are identified.
    
4.  We're still lonely at work | Noonan Hadley - 2024 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   In recent years, the huge impact that work loneliness is having on healthcare costs, absenteeism, and turnover has received widespread attention. Despite growing awareness, the problem remains, with one in five employees worldwide feeling lonely at work. In this article, the authors debunk myths about work loneliness, such as the belief that in-person work or team assignments can solve the issue. They emphasize that loneliness is not just a personal problem but also an organizational one, influenced by the work environment. Practical actions that employers can take to reduce work loneliness include measuring loneliness, designing slack in workflows, creating a culture of connection, and building social activities into the rhythm of work. Simple activities like communal lunches and happy hours are particularly appreciated by employees of all types. Work loneliness is an epidemic, but a cure is within reach, the authors contend. By helping employees make social connections, companies build a happier, healthier, and more productive workforce.
    
5. Characteristics of leadership competency in nurse managers: A scoping review | Perez-Gonzalez- 2024 | Journal of Nursing Management
   This article aims to identify the characteristics of leadership competency for the nurse manager and describe the most cited leadership styles in the literature.
    
6. Implementing anti-racism interventions in healthcare settings: A scoping review | Hassan - 2024 | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
   To manage the employee experience, leaders must deeply understand employees' perceptions, feelings, and desires and respond thoughtfully. This is particularly crucial when immense resources are invested in gathering employee feedback through pulse surveys, town halls, and data scraping from internal communications. But leaders are often overwhelmed by the data and struggle to translate it into actionable insights. The authors conducted detailed interviews with executives and HR leaders from more than 20 multinational companies in sectors such as technology, financial services, and consumer goods. Their work reveals that although technology has simplified the collection of data, the real challenge lies in making sense of it and integrating it into a coherent strategy
    
7. Practice being a leader with vision | Steinbock - 2024 | Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing
   Successful leaders who consistently make great decisions are skilled at seeing and considering a 
   diverse set of options. This column explores how maintaining a broad field of vision helps leaders recognize possibilities and offers an exercise for practicing and developing this skill
    

Welcome to Leadership in the Literature, a roundup of recent articles/multimedia on leading and managing from Allina Health Library Services

1. Exploring the dimensions of authentic leadership and its impact on nursing outcomes : An integrative review | Huges - 2024 | Nursing Mangement
   Based on this comprehensive literature review, a clear and compelling body of evidence illustrates the substantial influence of authentic leadership to positively impact nurse well-being, quality of work culture and environment dynamics, and patient safety and quality outcomes.
    
2. Your team members aren't participating in meetings. Here's what to do. | Valasquez - 2024 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN). 
   This article discusses the issue of low team participation in meetings and provides strategies for leaders to address this problem. Research has shown that many people find meetings unproductive and leaders often lack formal training on how to conduct effective meetings. The article suggests that leaders should focus on fostering a safe and inclusive team culture by understanding individual and group dynamics. 
    
3. Mapping leadership, communication and collaboration in short-term distributed teams across various contexts: A scoping review | Morian - 2024 | BMJ Open
   Increased globalisation and technological advancements have led to the emergence of distributed teams in various sectors, including healthcare. However, our understanding of how leadership, communication and collaboration influence distributed healthcare teams remains limited.
    
4. The nurse as coach: Building high performing teams | O'Grady - 2024 | Nursing Administration Quarterly
   The provision of modern health care in the United States faces significant challenges, as evidenced by multiple national reports of a workforce in distress. In response to these challenges, the practice of coaching emerges as a transformative skill, recommended for individuals in high-stress environments. Coaching in health care focuses on developing nurses and building teams by fostering self-understanding, deploying strengths, improving relational strategies, and gaining moral clarity. It serves as a potent strategy for nurse leaders to navigate the complexities of their systems. This paper explores the practice of coaching as an important mindset and skill. A coaching mindset is characterized by trust, deep listening, curiosity, embracing both/and thinking, discernment over judgment, and fosters an environment where nurses can flourish. 
    
5. Unequal treatment: Disparities in care continue | Wilkins - 2024 | NEJM Catalyst
   A survey of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council finds that views on inequities in care delivery vary according to race and ethnicity.
    
6. Nurse manager success factors: The foundation for succession planning | Magri - 2024 | Nurse Leader
   An estimated 70,000 nurses, including nurse leaders, are expected to retire annually. Proactive succession planning programs are key mitigation strategies for this impending shortage of nurse leaders. Determining success factors that support a program to develop future nurse managers is the first step and lays a foundation for succession planning. Convening focus groups among current nurse managers to identify, in their own words, what it takes to be a successful nurse manager, and mapping those factors to the academic health system behavioral competencies and American Organization for Nursing Leadership manager competencies created the foundation for an established succession planning program.
    
7. Turn employee feedback into action | Burris - 2024 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   To manage the employee experience, leaders must deeply understand employees' perceptions, feelings, and desires and respond thoughtfully. This is particularly crucial when immense resources are invested in gathering employee feedback through pulse surveys, town halls, and data scraping from internal communications. But leaders are often overwhelmed by the data and struggle to translate it into actionable insights. The authors conducted detailed interviews with executives and HR leaders from more than 20 multinational companies in sectors such as technology, financial services, and consumer goods. Their work reveals that although technology has simplified the collection of data, the real challenge lies in making sense of it and integrating it into a coherent strategy
    
8. A pragmatic approach to assessing supervisor leadership capability to support healthcare worker well-being | Dyrbye - 2024 | Journal of Healthcare Management 
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   Goal: We sought to build upon previous studies that have demonstrated how healthcare workers' ratings of their immediate supervisor's leadership capabilities relate to their well-being and job satisfaction.
   
   
   

Multimedia

1. Empowering women in healthcare: Leadership and insights | Healthcare Executive (Podcast)
   Jessica Long, COO, and Rachel Thompson, MD, CMO, Core Clinical Partners, discuss their career journeys, the future of healthcare leadership for women and the essential skill needed to be successful in the field.
   
   
2. How to win people over | Hidden Brain (Podcast)
   We humans are a social species, and so it’s not surprising that we care a lot about what other people think of us. It’s also not surprising that many of us stumble when we try to manage others’ views of us. This week, organizational psychologist Alison Fragale explains why that is, and offers better ways to win friends and influence people.