Dr. Renée Branch Canady, CEO of MPHI, was recently interviewed by The Nation’s Health, a publication of the American Public Health Association (APHA), about her keynote at the APHA Women’s Leadership Institute during the APHA 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo in Atlanta, Georgia. During her keynote, Dr. Canady spoke about “productive outrage” as a woman leader.
In the interview, Dr. Canady shared an anecdote about a male nurse colleague she once had who she constantly butted heads with. Despite her best efforts, the two just couldn’t seem to get along. He also happened to be a yeller, and she would often tell him, “let’s lower our voices.” One day, as he began yelling at her, Dr. Canady thought of Michelle Obama’s advice: “When they go low, we go high.” So, what happened next? “Well, he went low — and I followed him right into it,” Dr. Canady explained to the knowing laughter of women at the “APHA Women’s Leadership Institute: Finding Your Impact and Influence” on Saturday during the APHA 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo.
Dr. Canady’s keynote, titled “Cultivating Your Leadership Persona without Apology,” was presented to more than 50 women at the inaugural Leadership Institute. In her book “Room at the Table: A Leader’s Guide to Advancing Health Equity and Inclusion,” Dr. Canady also outlines the yelling match with her colleague as an example of “destructive outrage.” She emphasized that such behavior does not help build relationships or advance the work being done. You can read more about Dr. Canady’s book here. You can read the full article here.
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