Shortly after then-governor of New York Andrew Cuomo nudged him into a position as chair of the New York Racing Association, David J. Skorton, MD, then the president of Cornell University, saw the headline: “New NYRA chief: ‘I really don’t know much about horse racing.’”
There it was: doubt in Skorton’s ability to lead, published in large, bold print across the top of the webpage of the Times Union, a daily newspaper in Albany, New York, that proclaims itself to be the “leading news organization in New York’s Capital Region.”
And something else was there, too: that old, familiar nag, impostor syndrome, working its way back to the front of Skorton’s psyche.
Even as an already-accomplished leader who had been trusted enough by the state’s governor to lead the NYRA out of a mismanagement crisis that threatened to derail 20% of the nation’s thoroughbred racing industry, Skorton was not immune to the all-too-common feeling of doubting one’s own skills and ability to lead.
It’s apparent that impostor syndrome is a topic that is close to Skorton’s heart even today, 12 years after that headline was blasted to greater New York. Only now, he has learned to embrace it, and he encourages other leaders to do the same.
Guest of honor
Lesson 1: It's okay to learn while one leads.
Lesson 2: Know your limitations.
Recognizing the limits of one's own knowledge leads to better decision-making, he said, because one learns to seek input from people who do know what he or she doesn't.
This is especially true of high-level leaders. “When you’re at the very pinnacle of an organization, there is no chance that you understand every little thing that goes on in every part of the organization. No way,” he said. “Only the people in those different intricacies of the organization really know what’s going on there.”
Great leaders must be willing to obtain input from others — and not just other high-level leaders.
Lesson 3: Leaders must seek input from the people who know the nuances of the problems they must solve together.
The students who are learning from our faculty are the ones who will be the most affected by our decisions. They're also the ones closest to the “problem” our school solves — that being the challenge of developing learners into successful healers, researchers and medical practitioners. Their voices should be included in decision-making, said Skorton.
Leaders should also seek input from — and seek to build — diverse teams of faculty and staff. Skorton passionately encouraged leaders to become familiar with the abundant evidence that proves that diversity brings better answers, better processes and better results. Diversity is not an ideology, he said, but a better way of doing things.
Lesson 4: Don't shy away from diversity.
“These folks who don’t believe in the values of inclusion are looking for opportunities for me or others who have the privilege of a national platform to say something that is not backed up, strictly speaking, by evidence,” said Skorton.
In fact, naysayers are examining everyone with a voice of any kind, looking for opportunities to dismiss comments or challenge efforts to create diverse environments. As a result, Skorton said, when interacting with others — whether it be top-tier university leaders, state legislators, gubernatorial-appointed boards or others — leaders must first “believe it down to the core of your being that diversity adds excellence” and second, develop talking points and lead conversations that are supported by evidence that diversity is a successful approach to business. Avoid speculation and personal opinion.
“You have the evidence, then you develop the rhetoric — not the other way around,” Skorton said. “It’s very, very important to look hard at the evidentiary base.”
Lesson 5: It's not going to be easy.
Leadership, after all, isn’t always a grand endeavor.
And while Skorton encourages leaders to find some enjoyment throughout their journeys, he acknowledges that it isn’t always easy. Leaders will make mistakes.
“Forgive yourself for not being a perfect leader,” Skorton said. “You’re doing the best you can. … Remind yourself that you can do it. And just take it one breath at a time.”
There’s more!
- how he chose the medical profession (it wasn’t his first choice)
- what it was like to hold the mitt of baseball legend Sandy Koufax (his father’s idol) at the Smithsonian
- the “wrong answer” he told his wife after playing flute onstage with Billy Joel at Cornell University
- the time he stepped in for journalist Dan Rather to interview the musical artist Sting
... by watching the recording of the Bogdewic lecture.
About the Stephen P. Bogdewic Lectureship in Medical Leadership
The Stephen P. Bogdewic Lectureship in Medical Leadership is an annual program that brings outstanding leaders to the IU School of Medicine to share their leadership insights with our community, allowing faculty, staff and learners to have a rich conversation about leadership while helping to cultivate a leadership mindset among all of us.
The event was founded in honor of Stephen P. Bogdewic, PhD, who retired in 2019 after 28 years of distinguished service to IU School of Medicine. Bogdewic was Faculty Affairs and Professional Development’s first executive associate dean and the School of Medicine’s first executive vice dean. A cornerstone of his career has been the belief that we should do all we can to help faculty be successful. He built his career around faculty development and is nationally known for his innovative work in leadership development within the specialty of family medicine and, more broadly, in academic medicine.
