Blog

Sachin Jain: Listen To Your Leaders, Learn From Them, But Don’t Mythologize Them

Sachin Jain/LinkedIn

Jun 12, 2025, 07:54

Sachin Jain: Listen To Your Leaders, Learn From Them, But Don’t Mythologize Them

Sachin Jain, President and CEO of SCAN Group and Health Plan and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“One of the most important lessons I learned early in my career was this: leaders are human—flawed, imperfect, inconsistent humans—just like everyone else.

In my twenties, I made the mistake that many early-career professionals make: I put senior leaders on a pedestal. I thought they had it all figured out. I assumed they were clearer thinkers, better decision-makers, and more emotionally balanced than the rest of us.

But over time—as I got closer to people I once idolized—I learned the truth: they wrestled with self-doubt. They changed their minds. They got tired. They sometimes made bad calls. They were human.

Why does this matter for you if you’re early in your journey?

Because when you put leaders on a pedestal, you sell yourself short. You assume they have something you could never possess. You stay silent in rooms where your voice might actually be the one that matters. You defer when you should challenge. You follow when you could lead.

Here’s my encouragement to every early-career leader:

Listen to your leaders, learn from them, but don’t mythologize them.

Instead—trust that your ideas, your instincts, your questions are just as important as theirs. One day, you’ll be the one sitting in the seat they occupy now—and you’ll realize just how much they too were just figuring things out as they went.”

More posts featuring Sachin Jain.