Pediatr Radiol (2005) 35: 937–940 DOI 10.1007/s00247-005-1538-z

Stuart A. Royal

Ó Springer-Verlag 2005

S. A. Royal Children’s Health System, Pediatric Radiology, 1600 7th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35233, USA E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: +1-205-9399730

SPR

SPR 2005 Presidential Address

The SPR is the oldest subspecialty society in radiology, having been started in 1959. The strength and longevity of the SPR is a testimony to the leaders who have sequentially molded and evolved the organization into the vibrant entity it is today. Who are our leaders and how did they become presidents of the SPR? How have they contributed to the enduring legacy of pediatric radiology? Have we chosen the correct leaders for the right reasons? There has been no study of SPR leadership, despite the volumes of material written on the subject and its importance. Where and how should we look for our future leaders? Being in the somewhat unusual position of having worked with ten past presidents, I would like to reflect on their leadership qualities. These presidents have used a variety of leadership styles, all successful in their own way. Leadership is learned, and leaders make a difference. ‘‘Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen’’, says Alan Keith of Lucas Digital. There are so many ways to consider what leaders do. However, I found my most recent inspiration for this subject from the current book ‘‘Leadership—the Challenge’’, by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner. In reviewing their material,

I abstracted a leadership survey (available upon request) that I sent to ten past presidents of the SPR in October 2004. I have relied heavily upon their writings to make my analysis. Although they were relatively brief, the questions centered on the following five leadership attributes: 1. Model the way—find your voice, set the example 2. Inspire a shared vision—envision the future, enlist others 3. Challenge the process—search for opportunities, take risks 4. Enable others to act—foster collaboration, strengthen others 5. Encourage the heart—recognize contributions, celebrate wins The survey had ten questions, two per attribute. The past presidents were asked to delve into how they viewed their leadership characteristics. They rated each question as to how the issue affected their success as an SPR president on a scale of 0–5, from unimportant to extremely important. There was also room for them to make comments about their view of SPR leadership, and these are mentioned where appropriate. Let us go through each of the questions and see how they have applied to ten SPR presidents. In collating the information, I found similarities and differences in prior SPR leaders. I summarize the material and focus briefly on each previ-

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ous SPR president who participated in the survey. The first questions in the survey concerned modeling the way—finding your voice, setting an example; that is, becoming a role model as a leader. In order to do this, you must clarify and understand your personal values and articulate them regularly. You must have strong values and align your actions with your values. Only by understanding yourself and demonstrating your commitment to your beliefs will you gain credibility with your peers. If members of your organization trust you—your skills and value system—they will allow you to lead effectively. In general, on the survey our past presidents found this important to achieving success as an SPR leader. Of the respondents, 83% wrote that these characteristics were moderately or extremely important in achieving success as an SPR president. The group did not expound further on values and being a role model as being important for leadership, likely indicating that these features of leadership are so innate in these people that it is a given in becoming an effective leader. However, when mentioned, honesty was singularly pointed out as an important leadership characteristic. Results of surveys on characteristics of admired leaders regularly put honesty at the top, and it is true with our SPR leaders. My own observations would place strong values as being particularly important to Bob Lebowitz’s success. I sat through many SPR board meetings where complex issues were being discussed. Bob had the remarkable ability to use his value system—especially his honesty—to see through the details and to identify the best position for the SPR to take. I learned (and we can all learn from Bob) how to apply this crucial skill to problem-solving. It goes beyond intelligence. It requires you to listen to your inner beliefs at all times and never to stray from your core values.

The next questions dealt with envisioning future possibilities and enlisting others in a common vision—that is, the ability to inspire a shared vision and make your vision a reality. Being forward-looking and asking others to join in this shared vision gives us credibility as leaders. Of course, having passion for your theme, immersing yourself in it with persistence, and developing a shared sense of destiny with those around you will increase your probability of giving life to your vision. Again, our past presidents were relatively uniform in supporting this area for SPR leadership success, with threefourths of them indicating that this was moderately to extremely important as a leadership characteristic. Further comments emphasized how most SPR accomplishments were achieved when an individual recognized the importance of his or her vision and pursued it with dogged persistence, devoting extraordinary time and energy to the job. There is not one person in the history of SPR leadership who embodies these features better than Tom Slovis. He saw the SPR as relatively unorganized when he first became involved. He set about writing the policies and procedures for the Board of Directors and society and has been involved for 15 years to be sure that the board stayed on track with its operational concerns. Of course, even when he finished his tenure as a board officer, he immediately became the editor of our journal, and so, with dogged persistence, he remains intimately involved with the SPR’s educational mission. Bruce Parker emphasized his enjoyment of the SPR presidency because it allowed him to think of the long-term in the strategic planning process, a part of the visioning scenario. Bruce was peerless in his adherence to the SPR long-term strategic plan, always emphasizing how we must go back to our mission and not deviate from it—even when we are working on mundane opera-

tional details. We must thank him for steering the ship in the correct direction. I then asked about seeking innovative ways to change and take risks, to avoid accepting the status quo. The survey’s issue of challenging the process brought out differences in the ways our past presidents viewed SPR leadership success. Most wrote that it was important to search for opportunities to move the society in the right direction. Most presidents who originated ideas, especially those who were not immediately accepted but were eventually popular, were energized and fulfilled in the long-term by their involvement with SPR leadership. However, half of the leaders who took part in the survey wrote that taking risks during their SPR presidency was not an important part of their success as an SPR leader. Long-term success in organizations frequently requires taking risks, although SPR’s success in the last 10 years does not appear to greatly emphasize this quality. Knowing whether risk-taking is truly unimportant to the SPR leaders, whether the organization discourages risk-taking, or whether our leaders are not inherent risk-takers could help us understand what qualities our future leaders need. Perhaps the most aggressive risk-taker of this group has been David Kushner. After his presidency, he began his board chairmanship by completely revamping our SPR strategic initiatives. This required tremendous effort on his part conceptually, but more important, he took leadership risks by putting this system in place. Times change, and the SPR must change to adapt. Let’s hope David Kushner stays around for 15 more years as Tom Slovis has to see his efforts come to fruition! Several SPR leaders mentioned that the most effective SPR leadership characteristic was the ability to organize and control board meetings efficiently. When change or crisis is occurring, we must be able to control the process to have ultimate

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success. Charles Gooding was a master at this. During his tenure as president and chairman of the board, we went through the most turbulent time I experienced at the SPR. The ethics of the society were questioned. Charles used his wisdom, his objectivity and his calm, clear-headed approach—along with an understanding of Robert’s Rules of Order—to be sure the SPR board handled itself in ways that were beyond reproach. We can all be thankful for his leadership during that time. Rich Towbin is a leader who bucks the trend. He never accepts average results. He always pushes the envelope. He is an ultimate risktaker in his clinical care and his administrative responsibilities. He is now in charge of the SPR strategic initiative regarding the questions of our membership: Should we expand? Should we stay the same? How should we analyze this issue? This will require a leader who is willing to challenge the status quo, and Rich Towbin fits the bill. As I have emphasized, we have recently been through a strategic planning process for the SPR, and I would anticipate that the new structure for our organization will encourage risk-taking. We will carefully consider whether we should expand our society membership, whether we should invite major corporations to support our research and education efforts, whether we should invest in new business opportunities for the society, etc. We have to accept failure as part of the success process if we wish to be on an innovative path. The survey moved on to the areas of promoting cooperative goals and sharing power; i.e., enabling others to act by fostering collaboration. Virtually unanimously, the SPR past presidents surveyed recognized the importance of fostering collaboration in achieving success. Even the most extreme risk-taker knows that only teamwork brings the best results and improves performance. In

my experience in the SPR, this is one of the most difficult issues with which we deal. The leadership is chosen by the membership, and in that process we sometimes find ourselves with a group of leaders who have good chemistry, ones in whom there is a climate of trust and with whom there is a facilitation of positive interdependence. Ken Fellows had to put this characteristic into action during his tenure as SPR president because he had to plan the IPR in Boston. Being able to bring consensus within the SPR board requires a good synthesizer, but bringing together the multinational, multicultural groups with which you deal in planning a joint meeting with the SPR and ESPR requires finely tuned organizational skills that Ken obviously has and used successfully. Janet Strife mentioned that she admired leadership by example and consensus rather than by fiat. Not coincidentally, she also had to plan the IPR in Paris, and these skills led her to a very successful meeting. I admired her as I saw up close her diplomacy and tact when melding into consensus the various factions she confronted during her year as SPR president. However, the area of promoting cooperative goals and sharing power has not always been easy in my observations of SPR leadership. Finding that balance where the SPR president is strong enough to reach a consensus through compromise where all parties have been heard but where the consensus-building process does not bog down has been tricky at times. The most difficult area for some past presidents was sharing power, according to the survey. Only 30% indicated that it was an important contributor to his or her success as an SPR leader. However, most experts in organizational leadership say the members feel strongest and most capable when they feel their input makes a difference. This requires assigning crucial tasks to others, offering the resources to

accomplish the tasks, enlarging people’s sphere of influence, and delegating authority within the spheres of influence. This small survey indicates that this might be a weakness of SPR leadership. However, the current SPR strategic planning process where we have identified various strategic initiatives and assigned leaders to those tasks is a perfect template to allow sharing of power. As the next Chairperson of the Board of the SPR, I pledge to make this a priority of my year in that position. The last questions involved the ability of our SPR leaders to recognize individual contributions and create a spirit of community, therefore encouraging the heart. It is very important in successful organizations that contributions are recognized, that performance and motivation are encouraged, and that high expectations are set that lead to the creation of positive outcomes. When the SPR has victories, we should be sure to tell the story and celebrate our successes that touch the hearts of our society. My survey found our past presidents strongly supporting this aspect of SPR leadership. Diane Babcock emphasized how important it is to pass on the knowledge of our leadership to our younger generation, and in that sense to create a community of leadership in the society. Diane has always looked for input from all involved when discussing decisions. This characteristic will continue to contribute to her success in leading the SPR as she serves as the current SPR website editor.Joanna Seibert had perhaps the biggest heart of all past presidents. You could see it as she worked during her tenure to create the first SPR review course in general pediatric radiology, which I am attempting to replicate this year. She truly wants to do the best for all around her. She has been a role model for me and now is contributing in new ways to humanity in her current pastoral role.

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To continue this theme of creating a community of leaders for the SPR at this meeting, we have begun a process of incorporating younger members as moderators for our scientific sessions and will blend them into our society’s structure through the strategic planning process. This is another one of my goals for next year, and I plan to pursue aggressively getting a broad spectrum of input to the SPR through the strategic planning process, through our committee structure, and through involvement in the SPR annual meeting.

In summary, I have found that the SPR has a diverse group of leaders in our past presidents, and that each had qualities that served both them and the SPR well during their period of SPR leadership. The selection process for identifying and selecting SPR leaders needs to recognize and account for the leadership qualities needed to run an organization effectively. I have identified several areas where I feel SPR leadership could improve, specifically in the areas of promoting

risk-taking and in sharing power. I believe the current strategic planning process has the ability to encourage risk-taking if the leadership recognizes the importance of this feature of organizational success. We will continue the process of fostering sharing of power during my tenure as chairperson of the board of the SPR. Let’s look forward to a renewed vigor in the SPR as we finetune our best hope for the future of pediatric radiology—a strong SPR.