--- title: Physician Burnout to Physician Wellness - One Doctor at a Time | physician communication skills description: physician communication skills | Stop Physician Burnout, Build Better Physician Leaders | The Happy MD --- [![Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W](https://www.thehappymd.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W-1.jpg?width=995&height=146&name=Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W-1.jpg "Stop-physician-burnout-dike-drummond-physician-leadership-you-can-banner-11-5-2018_opt995W")](https://www.thehappymd.com) ## **The Creative Destruction of Physician Burnout ** [![prevent doctor burnout matrix](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/263814/da1e787d-095f-4485-9d4d-9a9bc4195d86.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/263814/da1e787d-095f-4485-9d4d-9a9bc4195d86) # [Physician Leadership – 3 Reasons Doctors Make Naturally Lousy Leaders](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290715/physician-leadership-skills-3-reasons-doctors-make-poor-leaders-and-what-you-can-do-about-it) Posted by [Dike Drummond MD](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/author/dike-drummond-md) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://www.thehappymd.com/hubfs/Fotolia_63635941_XS.jpg) ](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290715/physician-leadership-skills-3-reasons-doctors-make-poor-leaders-and-what-you-can-do-about-it) ## **Physician Leadership Skills – Why Doctors Make Poor Leaders and What YOU Can Do About It** In ten years of coaching physicians, I have found one thing to be constant. ## **All physicians work too hard. ** We take on too much, do too much, worry about too much try to control too much. This overwork is a key cause of physician burnout and a direct result of our medical education. **The reason is simple. **You were never taught how to lead your team effectively. Key leadership skills never made into the curriculum of your medical education. As a result, we naturally and automatically fail to tap our team's skills and experience. We block them from sharing the workload more effectively.  Fortunately, the leadership skills to share the load are simple and can be quickly deployed in your practice day. **Here are three ways to begin your leadership upgrade. ** Tags: [Physician Leadership](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/topic/physician-leadership), [stop physician burnout](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/topic/stop-physician-burnout), [physician communication skills](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/topic/physician-communication-skills) [READ MORE NOW >>>](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290715/physician-leadership-skills-3-reasons-doctors-make-poor-leaders-and-what-you-can-do-about-it) # [Work Life Balance for Physicians – Three Steps to Saying NO with Elegance and Grace](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290781/work-life-balance-for-doctors-three-steps-to-saying-no-with-elegance-and-grace) Posted by [Dike Drummond MD](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/author/dike-drummond-md) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://www.thehappymd.com/hs-fs/file-50755905-jpg/images/gorilla-277x300.jpg) ](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290781/work-life-balance-for-doctors-three-steps-to-saying-no-with-elegance-and-grace) ## **Work Life Balance for Doctors – the Power of a Positive “NO”** Choosing to go to medical school and become a Physician is a lot like *inviting an 800 pound gorilla to be a permanent house guest*. Gorillas are big, take up a lot of space, eat all your food and are not house trained … so there are messes to clean up every week. Your quality of life - for you and your family - will depend in large part on a skill you will never learn in your medical education; how to say the two letter magic word of life balance. That word is "NO". **In this blog post, let me teach you when, where and how to say, "NO" with some elegance and grace. ** Tags: [stop physician burnout](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/topic/stop-physician-burnout), [physician work life balance](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/topic/physician-work-life-balance), [physician communication skills](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/topic/physician-communication-skills) [READ MORE NOW >>>](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290781/work-life-balance-for-doctors-three-steps-to-saying-no-with-elegance-and-grace) [All posts](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/all) ## **Find what you need here...** ## **We wrote the Book on Preventing Burnout** The first Field Manual to a more Ideal Practice - **40,000 copies in print. ** [**CLICK HERE to learn more and get your copy**](https://support.thehappymd.com/stop-physician-burnout-book) [![stop-physician-burnout-book-dike-drummond-40000_opt200W](https://www.thehappymd.com/hs-fs/hubfs/stop-physician-burnout-book-dike-drummond-40000_opt200W.jpg?width=200&name=stop-physician-burnout-book-dike-drummond-40000_opt200W.jpg)](https://support.thehappymd.com/stop-physician-burnout-book) ## **The Burnout Prevention MATRIX 2.0 FREE Report** **Over 235 ways to prevent physician burnout inside.  **[**CLICK HERE to learn more and get your FREE copy**](https://support.thehappymd.com/physician-burnout-prevention-matrix) [![Physician-burnout-prevention-MATRIX-report-6000-downloads_opt.jpg](https://www.thehappymd.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images/NEW%20HOME%20IMAGES/Physician-burnout-prevention-MATRIX-report-6000-downloads_opt.jpg?width=200&height=175&name=Physician-burnout-prevention-MATRIX-report-6000-downloads_opt.jpg)](https://support.thehappymd.com/physician-burnout-prevention-matrix) ### **Prevent Burnout** **~**  [Physician Burnout – Why It’s NOT a Fair Fight](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/295048/Physician-Burnout-Why-its-not-a-Fair-Fight) **~**  [Physician Burnout Symptoms Differ in Women and Men](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/294952/Physician-Burnout-Presents-Differently-in-Male-and-Female-Doctors)**~**  [Physician Burnout's Highest and Best Use ](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/378959/Physician-Burnout-Highest-and-Best-Use)**~**  [Pathophysiology and Treatment of Burnout](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290248/Physician-Burnout-Pathophysiology-and-Treatment-of-Burnout) **~ ** [Physician Wellness - Two Ways to Tell If Your Group Cares](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290377/Physician-Wellness-How-to-tell-if-Your-Group-Cares) **~**  [Burnout vs. the Bottom Line - the Epic Battle ](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/349242/Physician-Burnout-Vs-the-Bottom-Line-the-Epic-Battle)**~**  [Physician Burnout - Who Will Save Us? ](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/381680/Physician-Burnout-Who-Will-Save-Us) ### **Physician Leadership** **~**  [3 Reasons Doctors Make Lousy Leaders and What You Can Do About It](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290715/Physician-Leadership-Skills-3-Reasons-Doctors-Make-Poor-Leaders-and-What-You-Can-Do-About-It) **~**  [Monthly Staff Meeting Power Up and Team Venting process](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/290401/Physician-Leadership-Monthly-Staff-Meeting-Power-Up-and-Team-Venting-Process) **~**  [Employed Physician's Guide to Managing Your Boss ](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/369921/Employed-Physician-Guide-to-Managing-Your-Boss)**~**  [Disruptive Physician's Toolkit](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog/bid/285327/Disruptive-Physician-Toolkit) #### **"Changed my toxic work situation" ** *"I started to feel better about my life within a couple weeks of beginning our conversations. I knew that I had an ally and friend. I realized that my feelings were predictable based on my circumstances, that I was “normal”. For the first time in years I had real hope that things would change for the better. * *We worked together to find and interview for a new position in the worst job market for my specialty the recruiters have ever experienced. With Dike’s help and persistent positive attitude, I found a new position at a group that really cares about the doctors and I start in two weeks. * *For me, the program has been worth everything. It has enabled me to emerge from my depression, change my toxic work situation, improve my home and family life, and allow myself to be happy and realize that I deserve to be happy.” * **~ Anonymous MD** [![Physician-burnout-prevention-discovery-session](https://hubspot-no-cache-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/263814/cc0b1858-fb1c-4ed3-98e5-4c4f10706093.png)](https://hubspot-cta-redirect-na2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/263814/cc0b1858-fb1c-4ed3-98e5-4c4f10706093) - [Home ](https://www.thehappymd.com) - [Blog ](https://www.thehappymd.com/blog) - [About](https://www.thehappymd.com/about-the-happy-md)   - [ Contact ](https://www.thehappymd.com/contact) - |  - [Republish Articles](https://www.thehappymd.com/the-happy-md-content-network-signup-r)   || [Privacy Policy](https://www.thehappymd.com/privacy-policy) | [Terms of Use](https://www.thehappymd.com/terms-of-use) | [Anti-Spam Policy](https://www.thehappymd.com/anti-spam-policy) ||   **© TheHappyMD.com all rights reserved**