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Ep. 032: Why The Wrong Leaders Get Promoted

November 25, 2025 · 46 min

Show notes

WE HIRE FOR CREDENTIALS AND HOPE FOR CAPABILITY


The best nurse becomes charge nurse, the best tech becomes director, and nobody asks if they can actually lead. Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs calls it the clinical excellence trap and explains why healthcare's leadership famine is a design problem, not a talent problem.


IN THIS EPISODE
• Why the skills that get you promoted (reliable, liked, busy) are not the skills that make you effective
• The five capabilities leaders need: systems thinking, emotional intelligence, change management, development mindset, strategic foresight
• His "three layers down" model for building bench strength, and Xerox's measure of what top people did after leaving
• Five fixes, from parallel clinical and leadership tracks to making succession planning a performance metric


YOUR CHALLENGE
Look at your last five promotions. Did you assess for leadership capacity, or just reward past performance?


FREE GUIDES FROM SIPS
SPD manager training and leadership
SPD career ladder
Sterile Processing Knowledge Center


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