Strategic Healthcare Leadership Models

I've spent 10 years creating practical leadership tools for healthcare. Not theory, but stuff you can actually use. In healthcare leadership, theory alone isn’t enough. To make good decisions, leaders need to understand the real environment we’re working in, from contracts and funding flows to system integration, digital capability, and population needs. That’s why I developed the 10 Forces Framework, which blends classic business theory (Porter’s 5 Forces) with NHS-specific realities such as: ✅ Workforce sustainability ✅ Regulatory control ✅ Digital capability ✅ Population complexity 📊 In the carousel below, I’ve shared: ➡️ A snapshot of the 10 Forces Framework ➡️ Key insights from the NHS 10-Year Plan (hospital → community, analogue → digital, sickness → prevention) ➡️ A PESTEL analysis of primary care pressures ➡️ Practical implications for PCN leaders today This is the context we explore in The Business of Healthcare Leadership programme: not just theory, but practical tools, plus the time and space leaders need to navigate whatever comes their way. There are still a few spaces left on our leadership programme if anyone is interested. #HealthcareLeadership #PCN #PrimaryCare #LeadershipDevelopment

Many healthcare systems are stuck. And for a long time, I was stuck too. As a consultant and earlier, as a product leader in consumer health and virtual care, I kept running into the same challenge: Everyone wanted a strategy. But most of the frameworks we had weren’t built for healthcare. Too many priorities. No clear drivers. No real alignment across consumers, providers, and payers. I didn’t set out to create a new framework. I just needed a way to think clearly and nothing fit. So I built this: The Health System Strategy Framework Three self-reinforcing loops. Three essential questions. One goal; build a system that actually scales. This is the same Growth Flywheel but Zoomed out, clarified, and built for decision-making. ___________________ 🔁 The Care Loop Why do consumers choose us? This loop is driven by access, experience, and preference. 🔁 The Outcome Loop Can we deliver consistent, defensible outcomes? This is the clinical bone, the foundation of provider trust and clinical performance. 🔁 The Value Loop Is our payer mix aligned with our financial goals? This loop ensures we’re delivering and capturing value. ___________________ ⚙️ And what powers it all? Every loop depends on three system-wide enablers: 📊 Data & Intelligence: To guide decisions, measure performance, and close feedback loops. 🏆 Culture & Leadership: To drive alignment, execution, and accountability. 💻 Capital & Technology: To fund, build, and scale what actually works. Without these, loops stall. With these, strategy turns into motion and motion compounds into growth. ____________________ I’ll break each loop down in detail in the next issue of The Healthcare Strategist. But for now: Which of these loops do you think most systems are underinvesting in? 👇

Why Healthcare Leadership in West Africa Needs a Different Playbook I’ve planned to start sharing these insights for a long time, but I wanted to first settle properly into my new role leading a quaternary care hospital in Abuja. Now feels like the right time. In Nigeria, healthcare management is not just about running hospitals — it’s about navigating financing gaps, cultural resistance, and fragmented systems. When I transitioned from founding Doctoora to leading a hospital, one thing became clear: Western management models don’t transplant neatly into African healthcare. Here’s what I’ve seen firsthand: 1. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. We once rolled out a learning platform to upskill staff — adoption was below 30% until we aligned policy and culture. 2. Procurement is risk management. I’ve seen patients delay life-saving surgery because implants were priced out of reach. Strategic partnerships cut those costs by 60%. 3. Financing is as critical as clinical quality. Universal Health Coverage in Africa won’t be built on clinical skill alone, but on access and affordability. Healthcare leadership here requires a different playbook — one that blends strategy, innovation, and cultural intelligence. 👉 Over the coming weeks, I’ll share real-world case studies from my experience in Nigeria: 1. How procurement restructuring reduced stockouts. 2. How implant price negotiations made surgeries more accessible. 3. How governance and culture shape hospital strategy. My goal is to spark honest conversations on what it really takes to build sustainable healthcare systems in our region. What do you see as the biggest leadership challenge in African healthcare today?