The Grit of A Fearless Leader

She is a leader who may at first intimidate someone or almost everyone because of her formal demeanor, a woman of few words, some may say. But once you get to know her, you will find that she is a “nurse” first before she is a “leader,” no matter how many golden years of experience she has. A nurse leader who creates an environment where attributes of trust, compassion, mutual respect, continued professional development, and ethical behavior are modeled and supported.
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She attends our huddles and meetings to witness great deeds and team work and not hoping to find faults or shortcomings, she comes to address staff questions and not to interrogate them, assess staffing challenges so that she may be able to advocate for us to improve our FTEs, to assess what we need instead of asking what else can we give.
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Many bedside leaders will refer to her as “The Fearless Leader” because of the way she advocates for nurses, because she knows if we cannot advocate for our nurses, then how can our nurses learn to advocate for our patients? This fearless leader, however, has a soft heart that fosters transparent and fluid communication, which allows the team to voice their concerns and empowers them to verbalize potential barriers in providing excellent patient care.
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She leads multiple initiatives and projects, both local and regional.
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Nurse leader Ruthi would stay up very late to understand our barriers and challenges to keeping our patients safe. How do I know? She would call me to brainstorm with her, and when an idea pops in, she doesn’t waste time, and she will share and discuss it with the leaders.
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That’s who she is, an inspiring, motivating, hardworking transformational leader. I know! She has transformed me from “Can We?” to “Yes We Can!