From nuclear submarines to graduate medical education: applying David Marquet’s intent-based leadership model

L. David Marquet, a decorated Navy Captain, transformed an underperforming submarine crew by empowering his subordinates to be leaders and reach their full potential. He called this intent-based leadership (IBL). What would happen if Marquet’s model were implemented in Graduate Medical Education (GME)? In this letter to the editor, we summarize the potential of the IBL model in graduate medical education as opposed to the traditional leader-follower method. IBL harnesses human productivity toward the shared goals of GME, which are patient care and trainee learning. This shift in mindset could lead both teachers and trainees to focus more on the real reason that we undertake GME and change behaviors for the better. We suggest that IBL can and should be adopted in GME and propose that both patients and providers will benefit from this action.