Are Leaders Fragmented?

"man in a suit but incomplete" free AI image from www.gemini.google.com

The anatomy of leadership is complex and ambiguous at times. Anyone in a leadership position or with influence at the organizational level can relate to the challenges faced in daily operations. One could stretch one's mind and imagine if the situation befits the analogy of a leader navigating the work environment like a dancer on stage or a wrestler in the ring.

In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius is recorded for the reader today to remember that a person's character is revealed during times of challenge and for the reference and better analogy than was prefaced, especially applicable in today's environment of complexity in healthcare delivery, consider the wisdom of a renowned Greek Stoic. "The art of life is more like the wrestler's art than the dancer's, in respect of this, that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets which are sudden and unexpected" (Adler, 1952, p. 283).

Leadership is like a dance, whereas a person skilled at moving across the stage, in tune with the rhythm of music, must remain flexible and agile to coordinate footing with the melodies of sound and action. Likewise, more often than not, and in many cases, leadership is tantamount to the wrestler in the ring, and those in leadership positions are ready to navigate and respond to situations, as mentioned by the late Stoic, that are sudden and unexpected. Suppose the reader keeps an open mind when they occur randomly and sometimes unpredictably. In that case, this concept of sudden and unforeseen events in the work environment can expose a leader's strengths and competencies or their weaknesses and deficiencies. However, that may not be a bad thing.

The Fragmented Leader

Scholars have studied in depth and navigated much theoretical practice in leadership types, strategies, and observations in organizational and business leadership and strategy, what is working and what is not in terms of managing operations, meeting the needs of company mission, vision, and values, and keeping an edge in competitive markets. Some scholars have identified, which is worth noting, that being fragmented, wanting, or lacking in a leadership role may have its benefits, as Ancona et al. (2007) describe.

From the great insights discovered in the journal Harvard Business Review, the person in a leadership role must remove the myth that they are at the helm of the organizational ship. However, an illustrious and tempting idea, though the idea that leadership is at the top and often romanticized, does not exist (Ancona et al., 2007). Instead, leadership scholars describe four elements of the role for best practices, such as the leader practicing daily deciphering and interpretation of current events, or in short, making sense of the daily environment, practicing authentic interpersonal relationships, having the power to see potential forecasts and outlooks and finally being a proponent of creating and developing new ideas to support growth in the organization (Ancona et al., 2007). In a nutshell, the real demands of a leader are to try and make sense of the work, identify with organizational constituents, cast a great vision, and use and implement new ideas. The reality and tough facts regarding actually implementing these four core elements can be daunting because, in actuality, no individual leader could perform all of these functions flawlessly. Without support, a leader feels inadequate, incompetent, or incomplete, as the authors highlight (Anconan et al., 2007).

Although those who engage in leadership perform such roles and do so often from a sense of duty or calling, it is mindful to remember, as Ancona et al. (2007) spearhead, that leaders should do their best to practice and work towards their strengths, which often come easily for them. At the same time, others in the organization can help offset the areas in which they are less developed and skilled, "Because no one person can possibly have all the answers, or indeed, know all the right questions to ask, its crucial that leaders be able to tap into a network of people who can fill in the gaps" (Ancona et al., 2007, pp. 96-97).

References:

Adler, Mortimer J. (1952). The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. In The Great Books of the Western World. (Vol. 12, pp. 253–310). Encyclopedia Britannica.

Ancona, D., Malone, T. W., Orlikowski, W. J., & Senge, P. M. (2007). In Praise of the Incomplete Leader. Harvard Business Review, 85(2), 92–100.

Weighing In on "The Dad Bod"

 

"dad bod" free AI image from www.gemini.google.com

According to 2024 data, the percentage of men who are nurses in the United States is roughly 13% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024). Consider also how many men are primary breadwinners, married, and have children. What aspects of being a man in the healthcare profession and being a dad or a new father affect a man's overall health?

Environmental, financial, and social factors impact one's ability to maintain good health, also known in academic literature as social determinants of health or SDOH. The demographic region where a person is born and grew up, the current living environment or place where shelter is sought, the type of work performed to procur income or the lack there of, a persons age, a persons educational status, their ability to learn a skill or trade, as well as basic human amenities such as water, electricity, money and other materials to care for their health needs all influence there basic health (Datto, 2020, "Social determinants" section, paras. 1-2). These and other health inequalities are prevalent in underdeveloped nations, and the basic amenities that most first-world nations take for granted.

In addition, according to Garfield et al. (2006), one of the social factors that can affect a person's health, specifically men's health, is when men become fathers or fatherhood as an element of a social determinant of health. In other words, becoming a father can have inhospitable effects or amicable rewards on a man's overall health.

Health promotion can be considered as finding balance if health is on a continuum. According to Hood (2014), a person in good physical condition will embody the potential and wherewithal to make every effort and work toward their best self, possess the resourcefulness to condition oneself in any environment, and attain an ideal where the individual is in ownership of a sense of being put together. However, an image of wellness is not represented as the absence of pathology.

Suppose those of us in positions of influence remember that those we steward continuously look to us for marks of role modeling, as Thieman (2018) reinforces. In that case, we do ourselves a good thing and ensure that those under our direction perform self-care practices. Consider also the changing face of healthcare, where men are entering the healthcare space compared to previous decades.

According to Thieman (2018), a mouthpiece for healthcare workers, she reminds all those who care for others to care for themselves. She postulates that elements of self-care, such as getting plenty of water intake, good sleep hygiene, incorporating walking as exercise, deep breathing, using laughter with optimistic thinking, and practicing forgiveness as part of a spiritual scaffolding, all contribute to a healthcare provider's well-being. If performed well, personal self-care can translate to patient care outcomes such as patient safety, care experience, and quality of care patients receive (Thieman, 2018).

Self-Care is Not New

The wisdom of self-care is not a new concept. Consider the writings of intellectuals from our past. For the curious reader, insights from those whose mentors taught them are relevant today. In his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius records what he learned from his parents and family and the many teachers and philosophers he was exposed to from a young age until adulthood. One of his mentors, Maximus, expounded on self-care and caring for one's body.

 He took a reasonable care of his body's health, not as one who was greatly attached to life, nor out of regard to personal appearance, nor yet in a careless way, but so that, through his own attention, he very seldom stood in need of the physician's art or of medicine or external application. (Adler, 1952, p. 255)

Although essential to self-care and as an element of 21st-century population health, advances in medicine are critical to managing heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Medicine aims to thwart disease and diagnose it promptly when symptoms present themselves (Editors, 2018). None would disagree that healthcare is a partnership with a care provider when health promotion efforts are practical. Equally important, no one would argue the importance of first aid and emergency medicine, and the importance of seeing a doctor when an infection is present to get an antibiotic prescription.

The Dad Bod

The subsequent dialogue will revolve around revisiting the topic of men's health and concluding final thoughts about the peculiar "dad bod" popular on most social media platforms. As mentioned, Garfield et al. (2006) highlight that being a dad can positively and negatively affect men's health. For example, Garfield et al. (2006) explore the positive associations on mens health in fathers such as children being a joy to have, increased physical activity from the presence of offspring, and the favorable associations on a father who is raising children from a found sense of being a provider and fulfilling a sense of purpose. 

Conversely, however, the challenging aspects of being a father can include, but are not limited to, experiencing the demands of providing for a family at least financially and the demands of striving to create a sense of equilibrium between family life and work (Garfield et al., 2006). Unfortunately, one element of the demands of being a dad is the concept of life stressors and the link to cardiovascular disease processes as men age, impacting how the body handles biological stressors or changes in allostasis.

Men's health is essential because of the risk factors associated with the sex disparity in disease frequency and mortality (Bhasin & Basaria, 2018), such as cardiovascular disease, varying types of cancer, mental disorders and degenerative brain disorders, as well as the propensity to misuse substances such as alcohol, risks for developing diabetes and stroke and as men age the suicide prevalence also increases.

The Dad Bod Response

One social determinant of health on men's health, additionally, is addressed at what is known as muscle dysmorphia, otherwise known as the propensity of males to have and possess the hyperactive drive to build muscle with an overt preoccupation with being muscular, appearing lean, and looking fit (Bhasin & Basaria, 2018). Social media has, arguably, disorganized the ideal of what the average male physique should look like, as the overall representation of the American male is not the typical bodybuilder or CrossFit athlete.

Men who struggle with body dysmorphia thoughts about their body feel that their appearance and their potential inability to perform at least athletically, also struggle with the anxiety and resultant depressive mood swings associated with some unrealistic expectation of the male form (Bhasin & Basaria, 2018). It is important to note that researchers are investigating the connections to men's cardiovascular health and connecting the dots to mid-pregnancy and the first year of fatherhood (Landry et al., 2024).

As men transition from being single bachelors to engaging in romantic long-term relationships and deciding to begin a family, scientists are paying attention to the health effects of fatherhood and the dad bod phenomenon. Additionally, Landry et al. (2024) remind readers of the initiatives set forth by the American Heart Association.

The American Heart Association has lifestyle recommendations for all people. However, importantly, as a recommendation for men entering the paternal chapters of life, eight healthy benchmarks such as exercising, making better food choices, eliminating smoking, practicing good sleep patterns, keeping a healthy weight, monitoring and getting cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure monitored (AHA, 2025) can help modify risks factors associated with cardiovascular disease. It is important to recognize the weight management aspect of men's health, which discusses the importance of eating portion-sized meals, incorporating or supplementing fiber into one's meal regimen, choosing protein sources, reading product food labels and understanding calories as well as and keeping track of body metrics such as body mass index which are measurements associated with weight and height all to help improve risk factors associated with cardiovascular health.

AHA recommends as little as 20 minutes per day of moderate aerobic activity or 10 minutes a day of vigorous activity a week, such as going for walks, jogging, or swimming laps (AHA, 2025). Additionally, the AHA recommends strengthening the muscles; to do this, include types of lifting weights, with varying lengths of training, intensities, and durations. It is important to note that the science of cardiovascular disease management rarely emphasizes elements of muscular hypertrophy or appearances of leanness, a subject of much dispute in the fitness industry. Can the average person, with a dad bod, meet metrics set forth by, for example, the American Heart Association?

The answer is yes.

References:

Adler, Mortimer J. (1952). The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. In The Great Books of the Western World. (Vol. 12, pp. 253–310). Encyclopedia Britannica.

American Heart Association. (2025). My Life Check: Life's Simple 8. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/my-life-check--lifes-simple-7.

Bhasin, S. & Basaria, S. (2018). Men's Health. In J. Larry Jameson & Anthony S. Fauci & Dennis L. Kasper & Stephen L. Hauser & Dan L. Longo & Joseph Loscalzo (20th Eds., Vol. 2), Harrison's principles of internal medicine (pp. 2828-2835). McGraw-Hill Education.

Datto, A. (2020). Social determinants of health. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health. 

Editors. (2018). The Practice of Medicine. In J. Larry Jameson & Anthony S. Fauci & Dennis L. Kasper & Stephen L. Hauser & Dan L. Longo & Joseph Loscalzo (20th Eds., Vol. 1), Harrison's principles of internal medicine (pp. 1-8). McGraw-Hill Education.

Garfield, C. F., Clark-Kauffman, E., & Davis, M. M. (2006). Fatherhood as a component of Men's Health. JAMA, 296(19), 2365. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.296.19.2365

Hood, L. J. (2014). Leddy & Pepper's conceptual bases of professional nursing (8th ed.). Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. 

Landry, M. J., Pineda, J. P., Lee, J. M., Hoyt, M. A., Edwards, K. L., Lindsay, K. L., Gardner, C. D., & Wong, N. D. (2024). Longitudinal changes in lifestyle behaviours and cardiovascular health during the transition to fatherhood: The dad bod observational cohort study protocol. BMJ Open, 14(11). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-095200

Thieman, L. (2018). Selfcare for Healthcare: The best way to care for patients is to care for ourselves. Nurse Leader, 16(6), 393–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2018.07.014

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024). Employed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm

Courage a semblance of authenticity?

"cpr" free AI image created by www.gemini.google.com

To discuss the essence of authenticity, insights from early first-century nobles such as Marcus Aurelius, memorialized and unforgotten for the recordings of his Meditations, in which Adler (1952) credits his sayings in connection with what it means to be courageous, will be unveiled. During these early points in history, as a civil leader, the Stoic suggests that being the head of state often entails carrying a burden to bring about influence. As a leader of the Roman nation, he indicates that leadership is frequently full of challenges and obligations. Those challenges or opportunities for improvement are often strenuous and daunting, but the early Stoics reiterate that they are not insurmountable. What can the early first-century ascetics teach us today about courage in our leadership roles?

In a recent article in the April issue of Nurse Leader, Carrega and Rouse (2025) reveal authenticity in a leadership role in which they discuss plainly methods and strategies for improving workplace culture. Ways to strengthen workplace culture are to allow for and foster a speak-up environment, departmental partnering to make decisions involving all staff, recognizing wins and celebrating good work, effective daily staffing ratios, and leadership that approaches their organization from a position of authentic influence. One of the methods to improve workplace culture is to have leaders behave authentically or, better, just be themselves.

When authentic influence and behaviors are acted out, they manifest through certain habits and etiquette. One does not need to be in a formal position to behave authentically, but must possess social and peer influence. However, a precursor to authenticity and behavior types is self-awareness or being up to speed on emotional intelligence.

A broad definition from professors and scholars in the leadership literature underlines emotional intelligence as the capacity to be in tune with one's feelings or the current psychological state of other individuals to escort and aid their thought processes and affairs (Bass, 2008a). Nurse writers, such as Buechner Baugh and Gosselin (2025), also cast light upon emotional intelligence as part of being an authentic person of leadership that involves the continuous habit of listening to others with the intent to learn and help, practicing the idea of seeing oneself in the other person's shoes, and being in the moment, or being capable of feeling what is going on in certain situations which all are part of training for emotional intelligence.

Furthermore, being emotionally intelligent involves positive thought and speech, being able to relate to others through empathetic observance, and seeking to resolve disruptive situations when they occur (Bass, 2008a). Courage to be authentic takes practice, but when performed well, the leader who exemplifies courageous behavior to make changes will take accountability and responsibility for their environment of operations despite being open and vulnerable, take calculated risks despite unknown environmental and organizational hazards, and be willing to accept undesirable consequences to their personal situation and circumstance (Bass, 2008b).

References:

Adler, Mortimer J. (1952). Courage. In The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World (Vol. 1, pp. 252–267). Encyclopedia Britannica.

Bass, B. M. (2008a). Traits of Leadership (1970-2006). In The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, & Managerial Applications (4th ed., pp. 103–135). essay, Simon & Schuster.

Bass, B. M. (2008b). Ethics and Leadership. In The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, & Managerial Applications (4th ed., pp. 199–238). essay, Simon & Schuster.

Buechner Baugh, A., & Gosselin, T. (2025). Build your emotional intelligence. American Nurse Journal, 20(04), 40–43. https://doi.org/10.51256/anj042540

Carrega, J., & Rouse, M. (2025). Impact of a self-care intervention program on Clinician Health and well-being. Nurse Leader, 23(2), 209–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2024.08.005