How to Lead as a Woman Physician Series
The Power of Self-Compassion for Leaders
We first introduced the concept of
criticism, and perfectionistic inner
our Inner Critic several articles ago,
critics. First described by Drs. Kristin
the voice of our Saboteur, our inner
Neff and Christopher Germer, self-
gremlin, that puts us down, tells us
compassion is in essence speaking to
we’re not good enough, and feeds our
ourselves as we would a good friend
self-doubt. We also discussed how
or someone we love. Through their
the Inner Critic is a natural and
extensive research, Drs. Neff and
normal part of our experience as
Germer have shown the significant
human beings, and how we can begin
correlation between self-compassion
to think about and approach this
and reduction in depression and
critical, judgmental voice.
anxiety, and improved quality of life and personal relationships (1).
Self-Compassion is a powerful antidote to our self-doubt, self-
So how can incorporating self-
Tammie Chang, MD, LLC