Leadership in the Literature: Updated Monthly

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.