Being a Medical Thought Leader

In advance of my talk for Chicago Health 2.0 on October 5^th, I wanted to offer some thoughts regarding thought leadership.  I recently wrote a guest blog post for the popular KevinMD blog regarding patient-focused, or “grass-roots,” thought leadership (See, “How Jenny McCarthy Became a Medical Thought Leader”); but for purposes of this post I’d like to look at thought leadership more broadly.  I simply want physicians to understand the many flavors of thought leadership and give the medical field an aggressive nudge toward being better thought leaders – both for the health of their practices and, more importantly, the communities they serve.

Thanks in large part to the Internet and the plethora of resources now readily available to the consumer population, patients are becoming increasingly educated about their healthcare options and, as a group, they are far savvier about how and where they research and select an appropriate practitioner for themselves and their family.  Patients are seeking a medical professional whom they deem to be a true expert in their area of specialty – in essence, a doctor who is also a “thought leader” and who is representative of the best and most prolific members of their trade.  After all, most patients (and especially those who have carefully researched their physician selection) would clearly prefer to align with a physician who is considered to be an opinion shaper and expert, as well as competent practitioner.

A physician who is a thought leader may be an academic; may serve on the advisory boards of hospitals, research institutions, and foundations; and may be frequently quoted in the healthcare, general or business press – but most importantly they are respected by patients, doctors, and/or hospital leaders as a superb clinician and true luminary within their chosen specialty.

A medical thought leader would typically be characterized by a number of the following sample accomplishments:

• Running a solvent and respected medical practice that delivers above-average care outcomes and is frequently  a source and recipient of patient referrals
• Professorship at a leading medical education institution
• Involvement in clinical trials
• Playing an incremental role in molding the careers of emerging medical talent (taking promising younger physicians “under your wing”)
• Serving as a mentor to office staff
• Observing and advocating medical ethics standards
• Authoring clinical abstracts and other opinion papers that hold sway among physician peers and hospital leaders
• Being published in respected medical periodicals such as The Lancet and JAMA
• Hosting patients and other doctors in a cutting edge, clean, and up-to-date office environment
• Pursuing philanthropic work that betters the doctor’s hometown or global community – and using the funnel of medicine to enact some form of positive social change
• Managing an active online community that offers patients and doctors credible “sticky” content and information
• Creating a robust online presence that includes a functioning and interactive professional website and updated and accurate profile pages on key social media outlets, such as Avvo,  Facebook and LinkedIn

Collectively, these thought leader initiatives – some more formal, and some merely strategic in terms of their required time and commitment – can make a lasting impact on a physician’s reputation and success in marketing himself.  Doctors who are busy (as most practitioners are) need to identify the correct resources to help them levitate their reputation and build broad awareness about their services and credentials among target constituents.  This is an essential first step to creating an effective thought leader platform – and this is also a place where Avvo can help to provide a springboard that will help doctors generate visibility on myriad levels.

Avvo offers doctors free tools that can serve as the cornerstone of a winning thought leader platform – such as the opportunity to participate in our Health Q&A forum and pen contributed articles as part of our Health Guides program.  Visiting a trusted source such as Avvo to obtain ideas for creating thought leadership and also having the opportunity to connect with patients and physician peers is an excellent starting place for any doctor looking to learn more about becoming an influencer in his or her field.  The team at Avvo is also happy to come speak (for free of course) directly to your physician community about thought leadership, online marketing and reputation management.  If interested, please let us know.  I’ll also be covering some of this in my talk on October 5^th.

Go ahead . . . be a leader!

Mark

Mark Britton is the founder and CEO of Avvo (www.avvo.com).  Avvo is a free resource that rates and profiles 90% of all doctors and lawyers in the U.S.  Avvo also offers free health and legal Q&A forums where anyone can ask health and legal questions and the Avvo community of doctors and lawyers answer them.  Avvo facilitates 175,000 contacts between its visitors and professionals every month.