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The head of a major US broadcasting company in the early days of television famously said: “Leadership is action, not position”. This ethos, now a founding tenet of modern leadership theory speaks to the importance of leaders having a set of well-developed skills and behaviours in order to be effective. Occupying a named or official leadership position may provide authority but does not equate to effective leadership. The corollary is that effective leaders may not have any official role or title but possess core skills that allow them to bring others along in positive change processes. Yet knowing how to ‘act’ as a leader is not inherent. Fortunately, we now know these skills can be learned.

For optimal healthcare systems, all health professionals need to be able to exhibit leadership at all levels of training and practice – in radiation oncology, the imperative to maximise leadership capability could not be more crucial. Like all professional learning, becoming a better leader is a life-long journey.

This presentation will examine what leadership means for radiation and clinical oncology health professionals, how leadership skills and behaviours can be systematically developed through structured programs, the relevant educational research to date and what our future goals for radiation oncology leadership education might look like. The session will provide an opportunity for the audience to voice their opinions and contribute to discussion around this important issue.