Ep #5 – Setting Your Own Agenda: Leadership, Pivots, and Finding Joy in Medicine

Leon McCrea, MD, MPH, Executive Vice President and Dean for Educational Affairs, Drexel University School of Medicine The most important leadership decision of your day may happen before you ever open your inbox. Leon McCrea, MD, Executive Vice President and Dean for Educational Affairs at Drexel University School of Medicine, joins Dr. Brian McDonough for a candid conversation on what separates intentional leaders from reactive ones — and how that distinction plays out across an entire career. Drawing on his own path from an unexpected detour out of Brown's combined BS/MD program to the dean's office, Dr. McCrea challenges executives to embrace strategic pivots, name their ambitions publicly, and build cultures where talent is recognized and developed at every level. The conversation tackles AI's dual role as both a clinical accelerator and a de-skilling risk, the post-pandemic erosion of organizational connectivity that C-suite leaders are still navigating, and why the leaders who last are those who find freedom in their work — not just freedom from it.