In the face of different health system challenges, there is a large gap between the required and needed healthcare executives’ and managers’ competencies. If we address the future healthcare, the competencies gap widens.

For years, most healthcare agendas, such as people-centred care or VBHC, have been there. We need to realize that the problem is not the merit of the ideas. The problem starts with the lack of management, including the inability to share an organizational vision. We can envision the perfect healthcare system; we will face failure without proper management and leadership.

There are two main questions that we need need to answer:

• Who are the current healthcare managers? — across Europe, there is a lack of information about the career paths that lead to management positions.
• Which competencies will be required to lead the transformation of hospitals and healthcare in Europe?

These were the main ideas that I conveyed during the Expert meeting “Rethinking the future of Hospitals in the European Region” organized by the World Health Organization, Brussels.