2/13/2023

Are you the James Bond of pharmacy or just another average labcoat?

The ‘complete retail pharmacy experience’ has a way of bringing out the pharm-grumpies. But take heart, there is an antidote. Not a pill (or a suppository like you were thinking – yes, you were), but it does involve looking inside and doing a little pharmacist-introspection.

Jason Chenard

We have been through a lot in pharmacy, even before a global pandemic (remember the early days and toilet paper shortages?!) played havoc. So, if you are feeling a little jaded, no one will blame you.

You will be the only one capable of pulling yourself out of that rubble and back to the motivating days you felt when you first graduated. It is time for a reset and only you can do it.

How?

What if you were Bond, James Bond?

Think about you being a leader. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, you are frontline to your team. Whether you like it or not, that team looks to you to lead, so harness that distinction.

Yuck, that’s all you got, Jason? I thought you were going to suggest something easy to do, like just waive a copay.

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Photo by OSPAN ALI on Unsplash

So, who is this brilliant Mr. James Bond pharmacy leader you speak of, exactly?

As a manager/owner (and a writer) I often find myself journaling about the daily grind of pharmacy practice, how to solve problems and what my to-dos need to be to thrive. Those around me would say there is probably an Excel spreadsheet involved and grimace, smirk or frown. To which I’ll reply, that’s called constipation and there are pills for that…pointing to the picture above.

Through journaling about the anecdotes and lessons of over a decade and a half of real-life pharmacy practice in the trenches, I came across seven recurrent themes, disguised as pharmacy leader characteristics.

Those characteristics are my James Bond of pharmacy. Not for the spying. A little for the charisma. But mostly for their likelihood of saving the day. By understanding those 7 leadership traits and applying them with practice, you can save the day (and get the girl or boy).

Photo by Marcel Eberle on Unsplash

These 7 themes represent the common characteristics that solved the deepest pharmacy problems in the most meaningful ways, and I describe them using the anagram LAYERED, which I've written about before in this space. They make up the foundation of my accelerator course now available to pharmacy workers.

Here's my pitch to you:

This course has a runtime of only one hour, is geared to pharmacy life and aims to level-up the way we lead, empowering more pharmacy experts to go from jaded labcoat to motivated leader.

It comes with a ton of bonuses like downloadable templates, guiding PDFs and printables to show your team for added buy-in.

By the end, you may not be jumping from an airplane or driving with the top down in your sleek Aston Martin, but you may just love the profession again and look forward to undertaking new adventures that transcend the labcoat!