On the support of others, mentorship, and leading with strength and humility

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Physicians are trained to be leaders of medical care of patients, and other forms of physician leadership may emerge in different ways.

But leadership may not develop at all without support of family, friends and other doctors to help each other. 

Robert G.G. Piccinini, DO, D.FACN, was installed as president of the American Osteopathic Association in July. He spoke with Medical Economics about his background and a variety of issues across health care. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Medical Economics: In your inaugural address, you had a lengthy list of thank-yous, and it really felt like you wanted to address what seemed like a whole community of support. Why is that so important to you as a physician, and how does that inform your practice of medicine and your leadership style?

Robert G.G. Piccinini, DO, D.FACN
_{© American Osteopathic Association}

Robert G.G. Piccinini, DO, D.FACN: I really appreciate that question, because it's multilayered, because, one, nobody rises to be a physician without the help and mentorship of somebody. Growing up, I remember the stories of my grandparents telling me of different members of our family that strive to make things better for their children and their children, and a long generational thing. So, growing up, family was always there supporting you. And then nobody definitely rises to level of president of the AOA without a lot of mentorship and a lot of support from all different people. So I thought it really made sense to me to make sure that I did the best that I can acknowledge some people. There's a so many I didn't acknowledge that have made impact in my life, but of the ones that I did knowledge, they were the most significant impact. And, yes, it was lengthy, because I've had wonderful mentors and wonderful support, both from family and friends and colleagues that I wouldn't be able to say that I would have made it without them. So, it just made sense and it was the right thing to do.

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Medical Economics: If there are some physicians out there, especially practicing physicians, who might want to reach out to some of their younger colleagues and maybe medical students, what advice would you give them?

Robert G.G. Piccinini, DO, D.FACN: It takes 30 seconds to ask somebody how they're doing in the day and that itself can be a mentoring experience. You don't have to have a special skill set. You just need sincerity, empathy for when somebody's having a rough time, maybe some self-reflection about your own hard times that you went through that you can possibly pass on to somebody. And mentorship is a two-way street. I asked my younger colleagues and medical students when I'm teaching, what's the newest app to use? How do you do this? How do you do that? Mentorship’s a two-way street, and it is such a rewarding thing because what it does at its core is bring back the community. And we know with mental health, and we know with society, it's really what we need is the sense of community to weather the pitfalls and the ups and downs, because, again, if you're isolating yourself, if you don't have those connections, you're at higher risk for burnout, you're at higher risk for depression or anxiety. So mentorship is both a gift and a necessity in in our profession,

Medical Economics: In your inaugural address, you talked about leading with strength and humility. What does that mean in the medical profession?

Robert G.G. Piccinini, DO, D.FACN: It means accepting the fact that we don't know everything, and that sometimes the humility part of it is, is reaching out and saying, I don't know everything, I need to search for the answers. And sometimes searching for the answers means going to somebody else and asking them. Yes, it's sometimes easy to look it up or but it doesn't always mean finding that information in the book. So strength comes when you accept that you're just like the next person, and you can lead through strength by showing the fact that you need to be able to outreach to others, that collectively, we can succeed. You can't do it all on yourself, and accept that and move forward.