The Solomon Paradox: Why Healthcare Leaders Solve Everyone's Problems But Their Own

In ancient biblical texts, King Solomon was renowned for his extraordinary wisdom. He could render brilliant judgments and provide insightful counsel to others – yet his personal decisions often reflected poor judgment. This disconnect between wisdom in advising others versus wisdom in personal decision-making has come to be known as the "Solomon Paradox."

For healthcare leaders, this paradox is particularly relevant. We expertly guide our organizations through complex challenges while sometimes struggling to apply the same clear thinking to our own leadership dilemmas.

The Science Behind the Paradox

The Solomon Paradox isn't just an interesting historical reference – it's a documented psychological phenomenon. Research from Kross and Grossmann (2012) demonstrated that people reason more wisely about others' problems than their own. When participants were asked to reason through relationship conflicts, those who analyzed the situation from a third-person perspective showed greater wisdom than those immersed in first-person thinking.

What's happening cognitively? When we distance ourselves from a problem—viewing it as if it were happening to someone else—we activate different neural pathways that allow for more balanced analysis, greater perspective-taking, and less emotional reactivity.

How This Manifests in Healthcare Leadership

As healthcare leaders, we experience the Solomon Paradox in numerous ways:

1. Strategic Planning Asymmetry: We can brilliantly analyze market forces and competitive landscapes for our organizations while struggling to objectively assess our own leadership strategies.

2. Talent Development Blindspots: We identify development needs in team members with precision while remaining oblivious to our own skill gaps.

3. Burnout Blindness: We counsel physicians about work-life balance and wellness while ignoring our own symptoms of exhaustion.

4. Change Management Disconnect: We expertly guide organizational change initiatives while resisting personal adaptation.

5. Communication Double Standards: We coach others on effective communication while failing to apply those same principles in our own interactions.

Why We're Particularly Vulnerable

Healthcare leaders face unique factors that intensify the Solomon Paradox:

1. High-Stakes Environment: The life-or-death nature of healthcare creates pressure that can cloud self-reflection.

2. Expertise Culture: Medicine's emphasis on expertise creates psychological barriers to acknowledging personal limitations.

3. Perfectionism: The medical training model often selects for and reinforces perfectionism, making it difficult to acknowledge our own struggles.

4. Rapid Change: The accelerating pace of healthcare transformation leaves little time for introspection.

Breaking the Paradox: Practical Strategies

The good news? Once recognized, the Solomon Paradox can be addressed through specific practices:

1. Create Psychological Distance

When facing a difficult leadership challenge, ask yourself: "What would I advise a colleague facing this exact situation?" This simple mental shift activates the wisdom you naturally apply to others' problems.

Try writing about your challenge in the third person: "Dr. Smith is struggling with..." This linguistic distancing creates cognitive space for clearer thinking.

2. Establish Personal Board of Directors

Select 3-5 trusted colleagues who will provide honest feedback and perspective. Meet regularly to discuss your leadership challenges, giving them permission to highlight your blindspots.

Unlike casual mentorship, a personal board should have structured expectations and regular meetings—just as you would with an organizational board.

3. Schedule Reflection Time

Block 30 minutes weekly for structured reflection. Ask yourself:

• What decisions am I currently delaying or avoiding?

• Where am I applying different standards to myself versus my team?

• What advice would I give my successor about the challenges I'm facing?

This discipline of regular reflection counteracts the tendency to postpone self-examination.

4. Apply Your Own Medicine

Identify three leadership principles you frequently recommend to others. For each, rate your personal adherence on a 1-10 scale and identify specific implementation opportunities.

For example, if you advise others to "delegate more," assess your own delegation practices and identify three tasks you could delegate this week.

5. Broaden Your Decision Frames

For important decisions, deliberately consider:

• How will this look in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years? (Temporal distance)

• How would this be viewed by someone from a different specialty? A patient? A board member? (Perspective distance)

• What would the ideal leader in this role do? (Conceptual distance)

These "distance frames" activate the wisdom you naturally apply to others' situations.

The Paradoxical Advantage

While the Solomon Paradox presents challenges, it also offers a unique advantage. By recognizing this tendency, healthcare leaders can leverage the natural wisdom they possess.

The next time you face a difficult leadership decision, remember that you already have access to the wisdom needed—it's the same wisdom you use when advising others. The key is creating enough psychological distance to access it.

By embracing strategies that leverage our natural capacity for wisdom, we can lead our organizations—and ourselves—with greater clarity, balance and effectiveness.

What leadership challenges might you approach differently by applying the wisdom of distancing?

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