I’ve just had a great time speaking at the UK’s biggest ever conference on medical leadership. It was an opportunity to introduce FED to 700 doctors and was a brilliant couple of days.

One of the fascinating features was the very wide range of age and experience present, with junior doctors mingling with veteran consultants. What thoroughly energised me was the youthful vitality of these junior doctors. So many of them were ‘up to something’ and they’d come along to learn about how to get even better at leading – somehow they had realised that to be a doctor who makes the biggest difference in the future will require them to be a leader as well as a solid technician.

This energy from these young players had me wondering what happens to people over the years and which of us retain our youthful vitality, that spark, that freedom to imagine a different future and so challenge the status quo.

What do you see about yourself? What were you like in your early working years? How freely did you challenge the norms? And what are you like now? Are you up to something that gives you energy and has you test the boundaries of what’s possible round here? If not, what’s happened?

You can never be too old to have youthful vitality!

By Steve Radcliffe