Leadership Lessons on Courage, Reflection, and Service
Leadership often asks more of us than skill alone can provide.
It asks for steadiness when outcomes are uncertain. It asks for courage when the path is unclear. It asks for humility when we would rather appear confident than admit we are still learning. And it asks for reflection in a world that rewards speed, output, and constant motion.
In this week’s episode of The Growth Edge Leadership Podcast, I sat down with retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling to talk about leadership, service, family, and his new book, If I Don’t Return. What emerged from our conversation was not simply a discussion about military life. It was a powerful reminder that the deepest leadership lessons are often profoundly human.
We discuss:
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Why Reflection Is a Leadership Discipline
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The Shift from Self-Protection to Stewardship
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Why Diverse Teams Make Better Leaders
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Courage, Fear, and Growth Under Pressure
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What It Means to Lead as a Good Human Being
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3 Practices to Apply This Week
Whether you lead in healthcare, business, academia, or any other high-stakes environment, the challenge is the same:
- How do you lead with clarity and character when the pressure is real?
- How do you grow through fear rather than be governed by it?
- And how do you make time to reflect so that experience becomes wisdom?
These are not soft questions. They are essential ones.
Why This Matters for Leaders
One of the most important ideas in this conversation is that leadership maturity shifts our focus outward.
Early in our careers, it is natural to think about proving ourselves, protecting ourselves, and finding our footing.
But over time, strong leaders grow into a deeper responsibility. They begin to ask different questions.
Not “How do I succeed?” but “How do I serve?”
Not “How do I preserve my image?” but “How do I help others thrive?”
That shift matters.
In complex environments like healthcare, leadership is rarely about authority alone. It is about trust, judgment, emotional steadiness, and the ability to bring people together across differences. It is also about reflection.
As Mark shared, experience does not automatically produce wisdom. Reflection is what turns experience into growth.
For high-performing professionals, that is a critical reminder. Many leaders are highly disciplined in action, but underdeveloped in reflection. Yet without reflection, we risk repeating patterns rather than refining them.
Leadership Framework
1. Great leaders move from self-protection to stewardship
One of the clearest insights from this conversation was the evolution from inward focus to outward responsibility.
As leaders grow, they become less preoccupied with themselves and more committed to the people they serve. That is true in the military, in medicine, and in every organizational setting. Leadership becomes less about personal performance and more about stewardship.
This shift changes how we make decisions. It deepens accountability. It sharpens discernment. And it strengthens the kind of leadership others trust.
A practical question to consider: Am I leading primarily from self-concern, or from responsibility for others?
2. Reflection is not passive. It is a leadership discipline.
For many driven professionals, reflection can feel unproductive. It does not check a box. It does not clear an inbox. It does not create the immediate satisfaction of visible progress.
But reflection is where insight is formed.
Mark spoke powerfully about journaling, after-action reviews, and the importance of learning from experience rather than simply moving on from it. This aligns closely with what great coaching and mentorship also require: thoughtful questions, honest assessment, and the willingness to pause long enough to learn.
Leaders who reflect well become leaders who adapt well.
3. Diverse teams are stronger because they see more
Another important thread in this episode was the strength of diverse teams. Not diversity as a slogan, but diversity as a practical leadership advantage.
When healthcare leaders bring together people with different disciplines, backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, they create the conditions for better thinking and better outcomes. In healthcare especially, this matters immensely. Physicians, nurses, administrators, and other professionals do not need to think the same way. They need to understand one another well enough to work effectively together.
Sameness may feel efficient. But diversity produces depth.
4. Courage grows when we act in the presence of fear
Fear is not evidence that you are unqualified. Often, it is evidence that you are doing meaningful work.
One of the most encouraging parts of this conversation was the reminder that courage is not the absence of fear. It is the decision to move forward despite it. Leaders will face uncertainty. They will enter rooms they have never entered before. They will carry responsibility they do not feel fully ready for.
But growth happens there.
When we meet fear with courage, humility, and discipline, we expand our capacity. We become more grounded, not because the challenge disappeared, but because we walked through it.
5. Leadership begins with being a good human being
This may be the simplest and most powerful takeaway of all.
Before we are healthcare executives, physicians, entrepreneurs, or experts, we are human beings. Character is not separate from leadership. It is the foundation of it.
Values, integrity, empathy, humility, service, and self-awareness are not secondary traits. They are central. The most effective leaders do not merely achieve. They cultivate the kind of inner life that makes their leadership trustworthy.
Leadership is not only about what you accomplish. It is also about who you become.
Try This This Week
1. Conduct a personal after-action review.
Choose one recent meeting, presentation, or difficult conversation and ask: What went well? What did not? What will I repeat or change next time?
2. Build one relationship across difference.
Reach out to someone whose role, background, or perspective differs from yours. Ask thoughtful questions and listen to understand.
3. Schedule 10 minutes of reflection.
Before the week ends, write down what leadership is teaching you right now. Not just what you are doing, but what you are learning.
Closing Reflection
The longer I lead, the more convinced I become that leadership is not built in grand moments alone.
It is built in reflection. In courage. In humility. In disciplined growth. In the willingness to learn from others and in the commitment to serve something beyond yourself.
You do not need a military title to live these lessons. You simply need the courage to lead with intention, the humility to keep learning, and the discipline to become more grounded with time.
That is the work.
And it is worthy work.
I’m rooting for you.
Additional Resources
If I Don’t Return by Mark Hertling
A thoughtful exploration of service, family, leadership, and the lifelong value of reflection.
Growing Physician Leaders, a Growth Edge Leadership Podcast Episode with Mark Hertling, May 20, 2019
Measuring Leadership Growth: Metrics as a Part of Physician Leadership Development, by Dr. Hertling and Dr. Kim Smith-Jentsch, for the American Association for Physician Leadership, January 9, 2026
Physician Leadership Development: A Comparative Study of Two Approaches, by Dr. Hertling and Dr. Kim Smith-Jentsch, for the American Association for Physician Leadership, November 14, 2025
Course Connection
This conversation connects especially well to my course Leading Self: Strengths Based Leadership, which helps leaders grow in self-awareness, understand how they are wired, and lead with greater clarity and confidence. Great leadership starts from within, and self-awareness remains one of the most important foundations for long-term effectiveness.
