Hospital Leaders Whom I Admire: Post 82
Happy Valentine’s Day.
I apologize that three weeks have elapsed since my last post:
- My wife and I put our house on the market. After living there 12 years, I underestimated the amount of work that it would take to have it ready to show; please see my post on the benefits of decluttering, including before and after photos; now that we are empty-nesters, my wife and I plan to move to the North shore of Massachusetts (PS our Natick home sold in 30 hours, with four offers)
- I put new material on dealing with a medical staff in crisis and on innovation in the face of recession into my ACHE seminar Practical Strategies for Engaging Physicians which takes place February 24-25, 2010 in St. Petersburg and May 5-6, 2010 in San Antonio
- I am taking a course in Advanced Fiction Writing in Chicago after my presentation (82x: Cutting-Edge Physician Recruiting, Contracting, and Retention Strategies) at the ACHE Congress March 24, 2010.
The course required submitting a first chapter, synopsis, and an agent query letter; there will be a new mystery novel on physician-hospital relations in 2012 - I am in an executive coaching program, where my coach challenged me to develop a new service based on my unique gift, something that nobody had ever asked me before
If, as the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gassett claims, that work is the anesthesia of the mind, I have anesthetized my mind against the pain of the recession and continued uncertainty about the direction of healthcare reform. In the midst of our pain, let me provide hope by sharing vignettes of enlightened healthcare leaders in action:
- A New England CEO whom I profiled in my second book, Collaborate for Success! (p.2), known as a turnaround artist with a series of five-year jobs, admitted, “I just don’t know what to do any more,” after eight years on the job. Twice, he has appointed two highly regarded physicians to co-chair Medical Advisory Panels to assist him with clinical priority setting and remains a highly respected leader in his 19th year at his hospital.
- A Colorado CEO, certain that a better way existed to contract with radiologists, ED physicians, anesthesiologists, and pathologists than being stuck in the middle of disputes between them and independent practicing physicians, asked a panel of complaining independent physicians to help him draw up, incentivize, and monitor performance of his contract physicians. The results of better performance and service (and less frequent complaining) were evident within four months.
- In Collaborative Control, I saluted a Northwestern CEO who, in a tense meeting about the implications of going forward with a physician-led process, had the following exchange with his Board Chair:
(Board Chair) ”Are you worried about ceding control to the physicians?”
(CEO) “Heck no, I never had control in the first place.”
In Good to Great:Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, Jim Collins summarized level 5 leaders as people who are humble and yet strong-willed and focused, believing with faith that transcended optimism that they and their teams would prevail in difficult times. I salute our level 5 healthcare leaders who work tirelessly in the face of complexity to improve physician-hospital relationships and clinical and financial outcomes.
What do you think?
- What level 5 leaders come to mind where you work
- To what extent do they embrace uncertainty
- What acts of courage have they displayed
As always, I welcome your input to improve healthcare collaboration.
Kenneth H. Cohn
© 2010, all rights reserved
Disclosure:
I have benefited from consulting with all of the CEOs who are mentioned above.
Music tracks: Mvt. 1 Horn Concerto No 4 K 495, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Publisher: Public Domain Recording Licensed from the UniqueTracks Production Music Library Inc.
Posted in Physician Engagement
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