Yet this does not suggest that one should abandon efforts to define health systems leadership. Indeed, if such efforts are conducted as part of the process of health systems transformation itself, then leaders can become aware of their own leadership actions and how they are contributing (or not) to effective change. In this context, in the past two years, two major qualitative “applied research” projects were conducted, in which quality leadership in health systems in British Columbia and Canada was investigated through a process of triangulating data from interviews, focus groups, and literature reviews (Dickson, 2008; Dickson et al., 2007). One product of this work (outside of the productive dialogue itself generated in the doing of the work) is the LEADS framework. It defines exceptional health leadership in terms of five capabilities: i.e. an exceptional health leader:
(1) leads self;
(2) engages others;
(3) achieves results;
(4) develops coalitions; and
(5) transforms systems (Leaders for Life, 2008).