Pushing the needle for equity and justice: Art and creative works take the stage at BMJ Leader

BMJ Leader’s commitment to equity and social justice1 2 as a leadership-focused journal has taken many paths, all providing incredible learning and opportunity, with some paths more circuitous than others. One such path was the addition of art and creative works as a submission type in the BMJ Leader Journal. Many might wonder why a journal rooted in science and scientific enquiry might go along this very different or even divergent path. For us, this path represents an expansion on how we view health and healthcare as both an art and a science. We believe that stories are a type of data or evidence, and we have already embraced forms of storytelling as a journal through Leadership in the Mirror and Blog publication types—stories about different domains of leadership and varied leadership journeys. As such, art and creative works simply provide the storyteller with more varied modalities to share their stories and inspire reflection (see figure 1). These stories will build the connectivity and offer opportunities for dialogue and debate that BMJ Leader has strived for as a key purpose. Understanding the story through art and creative works makes what we do richer and enhances engagement. It supports sharing through different forms of expression—such expansion of modalities achieves a goal of social justice and broadening participation. Ultimately, we believe that art and creative works will bring the humanity and social context of health and healthcare to life. It is through this engagement with the humanities—a way to build relationship-centredness that will foster creativity, critical thinking and compassionate leadership practices—all needed to advance social justice for all, across different contexts and cultures. After all, the key role of health professionals and learners is to help patients, care partners and communities share their stories in the context of their health and well-being. It is also through story that the health leaders (and followers) will understand and then act on behalf of the patients, care partners, communities, teams, learners, staff/employees, organisations, health systems and the planet.