Many pharmacists are highly sensitive to risk. I would actually go so far as to say that pharmacists are largely risk averse. And for good reason. We hold people’s lives in our hands. If you have ever made a dispensing error, it sticks with you.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of addressing thousands of pharmacists and pharmacy students. While I have not shared this story for quite a while, I believe it is fitting for our consideration of courage.

Pharmacists face the call for courage in the presence of a single person all the time. Much of the time, the stakes can be quite low. But there are also times when the stakes can be very high.

If pharmacists are to be the Hope of Healthcare, we must be alert to the conformities all around us and the results they deliver. Additionally, we must have the courage to explore new models, systems and services which deliver better results.

When I began my career as an intern, the stories were still common about preparing prescription labels on typewriters. Yes, you read that right. That was the prevailing technology at one time. When printers came along, all sorts of things changed. And for the better.

We all have skills, and not only do we have skills, we have certain kinds of skills. Not all skills are created equal. Some skills will increase in value over time, while other skills will decrease in value over time.

When you consider the systems and processes we all work in, doing something outside the norm may seem a little uncomfortable, or even not allowed. This is the way we have always done it, and this is how we will always do it.

In the pharmacy, we often find ourselves locked into rigorous workflows designed to reduce, if not eliminate, the possibility of errors being made. In other words, we have agency. But...having agency is not permission to be reckless.

How many of us have encountered situations with patients where we find ourselves dealing with bigger problems because the smaller problems were not addressed earlier? We all have! Medication adherence, complex therapies, opioid use, managing drug interactions, the list can go on and on!

Emotions have everything to do with leadership! Emotions are the fuel of leadership. And when harnessed correctly, they can advance us a great distance. When we entertain the idea that pharmacy is the hope of healthcare, we must quickly recognize that hope is an emotion.