About the Book
Leadership is an integral part of what doctors do.
All physicians lead, not just those with “official” leadership titles, such as CMO or Chief of Surgery. If leadership can be defined as influencing thought and behavior to achieve desired results, then clearly it isn’t something physicians work toward only as a later-career goal. Leadership is a skillset physicians practice every day. Whether persuading a patient to stop smoking, a lab to return speedy results, or a surgical team to understand what needs to happen in the OR, physicians lead. Leadership is baked into the job.
In fact, we already look to physicians as leaders. We expect them to make critical healthcare decisions, inspire treatment teams, influence patients’ behaviors, communicate impeccably, and be exemplars of professional conduct. Few roles in society carry more built-in leadership expectations then that of physician.
And yet, most physicians receive little focused training in leadership. While clinical skills are drilled into every physician-in-training for years, leadership skills are left largely to chance. All Physicians Lead seeks to change that. Primarily aimed at physicians, it offers an intro course in physician-leadership, using a “concentric circles” model: As a physician, progressing from learning to lead yourself, to leading other individuals, to leading teams, and finally, to leading organizations, can improve healthcare team performance and patient outcomes. Fundamentally, self-awareness underpins every stage of leadership.
The book also speaks to those in charge of medical schools, healthcare organizations, and physicians’ professional associations, arguing that leadership should be considered a core competency throughout every doctor’s career and structured education in leadership fundamentals should begin the first day as a medical student. Better physician leadership results in higher-performing healthcare teams, improved patient satisfaction, and better health outcomes for patients.
Authored by a prominent neurosurgeon and seasoned healthcare leader who literally “wrote the book” on physician leadership for the U.S. Army, All Physicians Lead is more than a book title, it is a rallying cry for change.
2026 Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal Winner in Business Commentary
2025 Global Book Awards Silver Medalist in Business Leadership
20th Annual Indie Excellence Awards in Medical Books
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Let’s Change Our Thinking About Physician Leadership
Section I
The Value Of Physician Leadership (Why It Matters)
Chapter 1
Redefining Physician Leadership
Chapter 2
Qualities And Components Of Leadership
Chapter 3
Benefits Of Better Leadership
Section II
A Proposed Leadership Development Model: The Concentric Circles Of Leadership
Chapter 4
Leadership Circle #1: Leading Yourself
Chapter 5
Leadership Circle #2: Leading Another
Chapter 6
Leadership Circle #3: Leading Teams
Chapter 7
Leadership Circle #4: Leading Organizations
Section III
Redefining Physician Leadership At The Institutional Level
Chapter 8
The Four Essential Lines Of Effort (LOEs)
Chapter 9
Schools, Systems, And Societies
Closing Up
About The Author
About the Author :
LEON MOORES has studied and practiced leadership for over 40 years in military and civilian settings. After graduating from West Point, he was commissioned an Infantry officer in the 82nd Airborne Division. He earned his MD from the Uniformed Services University (USU) School of Medicine and his Doctor of Science in Healthcare Leadership from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Moores has served as Chief of Surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Deputy Commander for Integration at the National Naval Medical Center, Neurosurgical Consultant to the Army Surgeon General and most recently as CEO and President of the largest medical group in northern Virginia. He has earned top graduation leadership awards at West Point, the Army Infantry Officer Basic Course, the USU School of Medicine, and the War College. He was twice named the Army Surgeon General’s physician leader of the year. A practicing professor of pediatric neurosurgery, he has been designated “top doctor” by the Washingtonian and several Virginia magazines. He is a sought-after speaker, author, and consultant in physician leadership.
Review :
"Emphasizing accountability, consistency, professionalism, and other key characteristics of leadership, Moore explores, with clarify and inviting pros, how embracing such qualities results in better health care."
— BookLife by Publishers Weekly
Editor's Pick, December 2023
"All Physicians Lead is a persuasive career guide that argues for improving physicians' leadership training."
— Foreword Reviews
"[...] a canny, warmly encouraging guide to improving health care management and relationships."
— Kirkus Reviews
"This is a complete handbook to learn the requirements of a good leader that will help you begin your leadership journey."
— Readers' Favorite
“Fascinating. In All Physicians Lead, Dr. Leon Moores refutes the concept that the surgeon operating on you is simply a highly skilled technician. The West Point graduate and paratrooper-turned-medical-doctor argues persuasively that physicians must be effective leaders who shape our healthcare experience on almost every level, and that our institutions must reflect this requirement. More than a leadership handbook, it is an invaluable roadmap.”
— STAN MCCHRYSTAL
CEO and chairman, The McChrystal Group; Best-selling author, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement in a Complex World
All Physicians Lead is a must read for every medical student, young and mid-career physician, and medical educator. It is a reference for self-improvement, advanced curriculum development and ensuring physicians are prepared for the future to lead in increasingly complex times. Dr. Moores draws on his lifelong experience as a military officer and physician leader to define the essentials of physician leadership development that is important in driving positive change in healthcare. Dr. Moores shows how great physicians lead with vision and purpose, helping organizations pivot and remain competitive and relevant to the future. All Physicians Lead will be a trusted reference which readers will return to often.
— JONATHAN WOODSON, MD, MSS, FACS
“A refreshingly practical and well-written book with the powerful ideas that all physicians are leaders, that leadership can be taught, and that better physician leadership produces better patient outcomes. All Physicians Lead should be incorporated into every medical curriculum. Dr. Moores’ insightful work reflects the synthesis of his impactful careers as a physician and as a military leader in this must-read book.”
— JAMES K. STOLLER, M.D., M.S.
Professor and chairman of the Education Institute at Cleveland Clinic; Author, Better Humans, Better Performance
“In All Physicians Lead, Dr. Leon Moores delivers a revelation I wish I had encountered on my very first day of medical school. With captivating insights drawn from his military and medical backgrounds, Dr. Moores masterfully portrays every physician as a leader, regardless of their formal role. All Physicians Lead is a catalyst for personal and professional growth that leaves a mark on our medical practice and the lives we touch.”
— J. STEPHEN JONES, MD, FACS,
President and CEO, Inova Health System
“I urge you to read All Physicians Lead and allow its timeless wisdom and eminent practicality to seep into your mindset. Leon Moores writes with the voice of an authentic and accomplished practitioner. The most compelling aspect of this seminal work is not simply that Leon can articulate these principles, it is that he lives these principles. It is said the measure of integrity is how one acts in adversity, and I can assure you Leon Moores has faced every adverse situation imaginable and led himself and others through those moments with dignity, grace, and resolve. All Physicians Lead is not the latest output from think-tank academics or once-removed consultants, it is the accounting of indelible truths from one who honored them by living them.”
— DANIEL J. PORTER
Executive Coach; Best-selling author
“Physician leaders are needed around the world more than ever. All Physicians Lead shows every physician how to be a better leader every day and is a must read for them and for the health systems that employ them.”
— AMANDA GOODALL
Professor of leadership, Bayes Business School London; Author, Credible: The power of expert leaders
“This book is a must-read for any physician looking to elevate how they show up as a leader. Dr. Moores offers a timely and practical guide for navigating a new vision for leadership, one that is wholehearted, empathetic, and inclusive. The health care industry has no shortage of challenges and opportunities, and a new cadre of physician leaders is critical to the transformation.”
— RENEE DESILVA
CEO, The Health Management Academy
“Dr. Moores is to be congratulated on a unique concept of physician leadership. It is brilliant because it is simple, logical, and inspirational. As a physician and soldier, you will admire that he has taken the most egalitarian route imaginable towards leadership. Dr. Moores beautifully inspires us with the observation that we all lead with our patients. He demonstrates how each of us can do the same with our organizations and health care system. And, I am convinced that Dr. Moores’ concept can be practically extended beyond the physician job description. I cannot think of a more hopeful and practical solution, to the leadership challenges that face us in medicine.”
— RICHARD G. ELLENBOGEN, MD, FACS,
Professor and chairman of neurological surgery, University of Washington School of Medicine; Theodore S. Roberts endowed chair in neurological surgery; Chief of pediatric neurological surgery, Seattle Children’s Hospital
“Leon Moores has crafted an excellent book on physician leadership that makes an important contribution to healthcare. His major premise is that it is just as important for a physician to influence treatment teams to achieve desired results as it is for a physician to have good clinical skills. He notes that good leadership should be exercised by all physicians regardless of their formal title. All Physicians Lead is well written and is as enjoyable to read as it is impactful. It should be a must-read by clinicians committed to improving medical practice and health outcomes.”
— S. ROBERT HERNANDEZ, Dr.P.H.,
Distinguished service professor and director, Executive Doctoral Program in Healthcare Leadership, University of Alabama at Birmingham
“All physicians are leaders, right? After all, they make decisions directing others—staff, patients, payers, and the like—to do various activities. So what’s the problem? As Dr. Leon Moores describes in his book, All Physicians Lead, the premise is correct, but, while physicians may be leaders, many do not realize it and even fewer are trained in it. Dr. Moores convincingly argues that making leadership training an integral part of medical education will result in better decisions, more effective teams, and ultimately higher quality patient care!
— RONALD R. BLANCK, DO, MACP,
Former lieutenant general, US Army; Former Army Surgeon General
“Leon Moores’ book, All Physicians Lead, is an excellent reference for leadership education for physicians. Making the points that all physicians are leaders, leadership is a learned skill, improving physicians’ leadership skills makes healthcare function more robustly and efficiently, and perhaps most importantly, the chief beneficiary will be the patients, Moores offers leadership education in a very practical and straightforward way. In today’s world of rapidly changing healthcare delivery physicians must recognize their leadership role and improve these skills. Given the legislative and judicial challenges to the principles of evidenced base care and the challenges to the sanctity of the physician/patient relationship, physicians must provide leadership to our communities. Physicians must accept their personal social responsibility in leading in these issues of importance.”
— JOHN STUDDARD, MD, FCCP
“Leon Moores’ unique combination of leadership training and experience provides him with the ability to clearly communicate a proven path for physician leadership development at all organizational levels. His new book is concise and easy to follow, using examples and vignettes to convey his message. A must read for all physicians on their journey to becoming tomorrow’s healthcare leaders.”
— NANCY BORKOWSKI, DBA, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA
Distinguished professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
In All Physicians Lead our colleague Leon Moores has highlighted an opportunity that is so crucial for todays physicians. In convincing language, Leon shows how every physician leads every day and how recognizing and reflecting on that can improve patient health. His passion for this subject and his personal experience combine to give us a valuable resource for these key issues. I trust in him and all he has to offer with education in physician leadership, and I wholeheartedly commend his work to you.
— DOREEN J. ADDRIZZO-HARRIS, MD, FCCP
Professor of Medicine, Associate Director, Clinical and Academic Affairs, NYU Grossman School of Medicine 2023 President, American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST)
