This post was authored by Andrew M. Freeman, MD, FACC, chair of the ACC’s Early Career Professional Section.

“Leadership is a lonely place…” At least this is the age-old concept that others have told me for a long time. However, ACC’s annual Leadership Forum debunks this myth by showing just how leadership is not a sole effort, but rather, a team sport. The Forum brings together new and existing College leaders to learn how to engage others and work together for the common goal of advancing cardiology as a field and furthering the College’s goal of being a professional home for all of us.

To be a good leader – someone who engages, inspires, is a person others enjoy working with and who is also effective in producing results – is quite a challenge. It takes a concerted effort, continuous introspection and constant refinement to do it well. The ACC’s Leadership Forum does much to help advance this goal. New leaders are able to interact with and learn from expert leadership coaches and folks who have done this well over the years. Through breakout sessions and exposure to these fantastic transformative leaders, important leadership lessons are reviewed and pearls of wisdom are shared.

This year’s speakers were nothing short of spectacular. The first was Uwe Reinhardt, MD, an economics professor from Princeton, who reviewed many of the challenges facing the field of medicine and provided key insights into effective leadership through uncertain times. His directness and use of humor in all that he does was an important lesson for leaders in the College.

The evening’s capstone was a lecture delivered by NASA Administrator Major General Charles Bolden, Jr. Through his life story and leadership experiences we learned to remain ethical, flexible, open-minded and true to ourselves and to those we lead. We learned that every experience needs to be seen as a new chance to do more and serve others, while at the same time realizing the folks we interact with are all fellow human beings with their own families, desires, goals and needs. In this way, the humanistic approach to leadership was very positively reinforced. Through kindness while still holding others accountable, much can be done, and in this way, Bolden has achieved some enormous milestones.

Personally, each year the Leadership Forum is a time for me to reflect on my experiences over the past year and the efforts I have invested to bring new projects to completion. It’s a time for self-reflection, introspection, and to learn from others how to improve as a leader. Finally, I enjoy seeing my long-time colleagues, leadership mentors, and friends who have been working side-by-side with me to achieve our mutual goal – making our professional lives better and making the care we provide for others even more effective. When I leave, I’m rejuvenated and excited to make a difference for my profession, the College and most importantly my patients.

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