The Business of Healthcare Power Players

For this week’s blog, I thought I would inject a little bit of fun and having been inspired by recently reading Simon Sinek’s latest book, The Infinite Game, I started to think about the ‘Power Players’ I am interacting with in the infinite game that I call the business of healthcare.

Like all good games, there are some rules of play:

1. All power players need and rely on each other and are highly connected.

2. All players should be acknowledged for their efforts.

Meet the players

Firstly, there are friends, people who you trust, who you can let your guard down with and you will do all you can to support them. They may offer the same or complementary services and you recommend them at every possible opportunity.

The second group of power players Simon Sinek refers to as worthy rivals and NOT competition. Worthy rivals are those who you respect, but make you feel a little insecure because you feel what you do is strikingly similar, and they trigger your insecurities.

The good thing about your worthy rivals is that they make you up your game and push you to be different. Not better; because as author of How to Fascinate, Sally Hogsheads showed us, being different is better than better.

"Better" is not better. It's worse. "Better" keeps you chained to the same way of working as your competition - Sally Hogshead

Now let me introduce you to The Red Belts. The Red Belts are strong and striving to dominate their field. Ambitious and strategic, they want to shake up the industry and are increasingly gaining visibility on social media, at industry conferences and well-known publications.

The Masters. The masters are confident and comfortable in their skin, deeply knowledgeable and experienced and have published academic papers, books and are keynote speakers. They are thought leaders and want to support others. They are our teachers, guides and professors.

Lastly, we have the industry titans who are internationally renowned. Like masters they are authors and keynote speakers, but they have an air of celebrity status and are a bit harder to reach. They don’t really mix with The Red Belts. They are commissioned by the highest to lead reviews and investigations and are the kind of people that are honoured on the Queen’s birthday.

Who do you have and need more of in your game?

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Tara Humphrey is the founder of THC Primary Care, a leading healthcare consultancy specialising in workforce transformation and the host of the Business of Healthcare Podcast.

Tara and her team also work with GP federations supporting the implementation of clinical services.

Tara has over 20 years of project management and business development experience across the private and public sector and has an MBA in Leadership and Management in Healthcare, is published in the London Journal of Primary Care and is the author of over 150 blogs.

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