The Special Sauce: Lessons in Leadership Development from the Sojourns Scholar Leadership Program

Abstract

In 2014 the Cambia Health Foundation launched the Sojourns Scholar Leadership Program to promote, support, grow, and nurture a new generation of leaders in palliative care. As the program winds down after recruiting 108 scholars comprised of 10 cohorts of 10–12 professionals from across disciplines in our field, the members of its advisory board share the “secret sauce,” three aspects of the program that we believe were the keys to success—recruit great people, provide strong program leadership and mentorship, and create and sustain a supportive, engaged community—to guide future initiatives in leadership development. Palliative care needs visionary leaders to address the challenges in health care and meet the demand for quality palliative care. We strongly encourage other organizations committed to improving the care of people with serious illness to use these lessons to invest in the development of new generations of leaders.