Leadership lessons don’t always come from boardrooms. Sometimes, they come from the people closest to us. For me, that’s my teenage daughters—graceful in their Bharatanatyam practice, disciplined in Taekwondo (both hold black belts), curious about the world through K-pop, and exploring new skills like tennis, playing the drums and football.

Watching them balance tradition, discipline, and global culture has made me reflect: Gen Z might already be modelling the traits healthcare leaders need to thrive. My younger one is actually Gen Alpha, but let’s go with the flow.

1. Discipline with Flexibility (Taekwondo)

Taekwondo is about structure, practice, and progression—earning belts step by step. But it’s also about adapting to an opponent’s unexpected moves.

• Leadership Parallel: Healthcare CEOs must build disciplined systems (compliance, governance, and financial discipline) while remaining flexible in responding to shocks, such as pandemics or fluctuations in funding cycles.
  👉 Lesson: Consistency builds credibility, but agility keeps you relevant.

2. Cultural Fluidity (K-pop and Global Identity)

K-pop is more than music—it’s a global community where fans effortlessly cross cultures and borders. My daughters engage with Korean lyrics as easily as they do with Indian traditions.

• Leadership Parallel: In healthcare, leaders must embrace global influences (digital health from the US, medtech from Israel, wellness from Korea) while contextualising them for India or local markets.
  👉 Lesson: Openness beats insularity—leaders who ignore global flows risk irrelevance.

3. Grace with Grit (Bharatanatyam meets Taekwondo)

Bharatanatyam demands precision, storytelling, and grace. Taekwondo demands power and grit. Watching them move between them shows me it’s possible to embody both.

• Leadership Parallel: Healthcare leaders must combine the visionary storyteller (building culture, inspiring investors, aligning clinicians) with the operator (fundraising, managing costs, scaling sustainably).
  👉 Lesson: Balance elegance with edge.

4. Curiosity and Multidimensionality (Gen Z Mindset)

Gen Z doesn’t see contradictions in loving classical dance, martial arts, tennis, and K-pop simultaneously. For them, identity is multidimensional, not linear.

• Leadership Parallel: The best healthcare CEOs today are also portfolio thinkers—investing in multiple growth engines (such as AI, speciality clinics, and global partnerships) without being confined to a single model.
  👉 Lesson: The future belongs to leaders who can hold multiple identities at once.

Conclusion

As a parent, I learn from my daughters every day. As a healthcare advisor, I see those same traits mirrored in the best leaders I work with.

Discipline with flexibility. Openness to the world. Grace with grit. Multidimensional thinking.

Perhaps the CEOs of tomorrow are already practising leadership—not in boardrooms, but in dance studios, dojos, tennis courts, and digital fandoms.