Table 2.

Surgeons’ perceived needs for specific leadership knowledge and skills.

Theme	Explanation	Representative Quotes
1. Leadership and communication	Learn effective communication and conflict resolution skills; and develop a compelling vision to motivate others.	“[I hope to learn] how you talk to people when you want to get things done.” “[I hope to learn to] craft a common vision.” “[I want to be more] effective in my personal interaction with people, troubleshooting people problems, helping motivated people succeed.” “[I hope to learn how to handle] conflict resolution” “How one handles difficult HR issues.”
2. Team building	Learn to create collaborative, effective, diverse teams.	“getting people to advance towards goals as a team” “[I want to learn to] empower others to drive the ship” “get them to want to do the right things, but don’t report to me”
3. Business acumen/finance	Learn about the basics of finance, marketing, strategy, and operations.	“I have considered business school before, this is a ‘Mini-MBA.’” “[I hope to learn more about] the business side, financial [side].” “[I am interested in] building the strategy for [a hospital setting], the business aspects, the economic forces.”
4. Greater understanding of healthcare context	Learn local context (e.g., organizational structure, and policies and procedures) and a greater understanding of health policy context.	“[I want to learn] how the ACA will influence surgery.” “[we can affect change] from the bottom up. From the clinics, to the department, to the hospital… But also from the top, those at the top can lead this health center.” “[I hope to get] integration across departments.”