USC Professor Teaching ACPE Leadership Course

The difficulty many physicians have with leadership stems from a common misunderstanding, according to David Logan, PhD, USC faculty member and best-selling author. "The problem is most people have leadership problems they try to address using management solutions, which never, ever works," said Logan. There are a lot of differences between management and leadership. Both are important but they address different problems. Management is what you need when you have a cost overrun or an unclear process. But when you must inspire employees, get everyone working toward a common goal or deal with disruptive behavior, management just won't cut it. "Leadership can create change," Logan said. "Management doesn’t create change – management creates predictability and order. That’s not going to get us where we want to go."

Logan brought his extensive expertise on the subject of leadership to the popular Physician in Management seminar, ACPE's foundational course. He made his debut at the 2011 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas on Monday, April 11.

“Leadership can create change... Management doesn’t create change”



Logan has an extensive history in the field of management and organization. He has taught at USC's Marshall School of Business since 1996, including courses in management consulting, negotiation and leadership. He currently teaches management and leadership in the USC Executive MBA.

Logan also served as Marshall's Associate Dean/Executive Director of Executive Education from 2001-2004. During that time, he became acquainted with ACPE when the schools collaborated on a Masters in Medical Management (MMM) degree.

“I just fell in love with the physician leadership issue," Logan said. "I really like physician leaders. They’re smart people and they’re very well intended. They really want to do the right thing, but they’re usually under-resourced.” Logan said his goal is to teach physician leaders effective leadership techniques that can be applied to everyday situations. Too often, he said, physicians fall back on management practices that won't help them achieve their goals. Now more than ever, physicians need to be trained as leaders, Logan said. The status quo will no longer be acceptable. For the first time in health care, we absolutely need leaders of change," he said. "They’re not optional."

The 2011 ACPE Annual Meeting was in San Antonio, Texas, April 8-12.