Let’s talk about leadership in the eye care industry. You always hear about leadership in the realms of politics, entrepreneurship, the military, yet it never seems to come up in any of the medical fields. That’s quite possibly because most people think of these industries as being nothing more than a bunch of white coats buried in piles of scientific literature, or crouching behind test tubes or microscopes.

As eye care professionals, perhaps more than most medical fields, is a uniquely human one. We’re always interacting with our patients, getting to know them, working closely with our teams, building solid relationships with our vendors — all of which require strong leadership skills.

As the President of Shamir Insight USA, I’ve spent my career building my own leadership skills, as much as I’ve strived to foster them in my teammates around me. This goes beyond simple person-to-person relations, into what it means to lead a company towards the future — by remaining on the cutting-edge of technological developments, groundbreaking new optical solutions, and so much more.

So with that in mind, here are my most valued leadership strategies that you can bring into your own eye care practice, for the benefit of your patients, your employees and your business as a whole.

Listen, Listen, Listen

Leading your eye care practice to success starts with listening. Staying present and really hearing what your patients, partners, employees and vendors have to say is key to building long-term relationships. It goes beyond just words, pay attention to body language, facial expressions, people’s overall mood that day — everything they’re saying without actually saying. Fostering strong listening skills is an effective way to build and establish trust.

Transparency

On the other side of the communication coin lies transparency: what you tell your patients as well as staff. In the eye care industry, even more so than any other, being an effective communicator means being straightforward and honest with everyone you work with. Pull the curtain back and let your people know the reasons for your decisions, and trust that they will be able to understand what you’re saying.

Pay Attention to Everyone’s Strengths

Everyone on your team will have certain strengths as well as weaknesses; and as a leader, it’s your job to decipher which are which, and to position your team in the best possible place to succeed. Don’t fault any of your employees for not being particularly strong in a certain area, but utilize what they do well, and give tasks that are not in their wheelhouse, to others who are more skilled in those areas.

Do Your Homework

One of the reasons why I personally love the eye care industry is how many new and exciting developments there are, each and every year. Groundbreaking techniques, cutting-edge technologies, even new approaches to old problems are what keep this industry fresh. When talking about leadership, I’m also referring to making your practice into a leading position with your competition — and that means doing your homework. By that, I’m referring to attending all the biggest conferences, subscribing (and actually reading) important industry publications, and checking out the latest research in the field. If you stay abreast to all the latest happenings in and around eye care, you’ll be the first to adopt these new technologies — while providing your patients with the very best care possible.

Stay Agile

At Shamir, agility is one of our most foundational tenets of our organization, our mission and our success. By agility, I’m talking about staying open to every new opportunity, new technology, and new technique that spring up in the eye care industry. We also go one step further, as developers of some of the most innovative lenses, coatings and optometry devices around. We fully embrace artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data visualization to move our industry forward, and think you should, too.

To learn more about what we do at Shamir, visit shamir.com/us/

We wish you luck, good fortune, and of course, success!