A holiday message from Furst Group CEO Bob Clarke:
We are all very busy in the healthcare industry.
We work diligently and frantically all year to ensure that the business operations run smoothly, that our EMR system is implemented and codes are properly entered, that our business development efforts are hitting their targets, that our inventory of supplies is properly managed, that our underwriting and pricing is set appropriately, that our bills are being collected, that the products and services we offer are enough to capture market share.
Those are all important tasks. But let’s remember why we work in healthcare in the first place and the impact we have on others.
The video above is another of our occasional examples.
Martha Irvine of the Associated Press reports on the legacy of Mark Staehely, a young cancer patient at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and his concern that no child in the hospital feel forgotten at Christmas. Mark’s toy drive is the largest in Children’s history. In 2005, the hospital honored him with its highest leadership award. His mom and other friends have kept his toy drive going since his 2006 death, and they continue to raise tens of thousands of dollars a year for neuroblastoma research.
Please watch the video. You may also want to visit the website of Mark’s foundation at www.makeyourmark7.org.
Sherrie Barch
By Sherrie Barch
Furst Group President
The hospital’s search for a new executive was down to two finalists. They were leaning toward Mark, but it was clear to me that John was a better fit and a stronger leader. So why was John lagging behind as the final interviews approached?
It was simple. John knew he was initially the underdog, and he became so focused on his competition that he neglected the very qualities that had brought him to the table. I pulled him aside.
“This job is yours to lose,” I told him. “You’re managing to your competition instead of touting your strengths. You’re the best candidate. The board likes you. They want to hire you. But you have to forget about the other guy and focus on who you are and what you can do for this organization.”
It worked. John took the hint, got the job, and has been thriving ever since.
I was reminded of this recently as I read an article by Joan Magretta in Harvard Business Review, “Stop Competing to Be The Best.” Read more…
Bob Clarke: Leadership “is about the individuals and families who rely on you to act in their best interest.”
At least two more leaders appear to have had their legacy tarnished in the current 24/7 news cycle – one a presidential candidate and one a legendary football coach. One is in trouble for what he is alleged to have done, the other for actions he failed to take. But there’s a key lesson about leadership in these events, and the nature of the behavior is merely the symptom of a root issue: selfish leadership.
The best leaders, says Bob Clarke, CEO of Furst Group, are selfless, putting others first.
“I’ve had the opportunity to recruit and develop leaders since the early ‘80s,” Clarke said, “and have witnessed some outstanding executives. Leadership is all about having those you lead achieve things they themselves didn’t think possible.”
Leaders, said Clarke, need to remember that their actions don’t occur in a vacuum and can have a long-term and widespread impact. Read more…
Robert L. Johnson
Robert L. Johnson, the African-American billionaire who founded the BET television network, is calling on U.S. companies to follow in the footsteps of pro football’s so-called Rooney Rule, which requires NFL teams to interview African-Americans for head coaching openings.
Johnson wants companies to interview two African-Americans for executive openings at the VP level and higher. Read more…
Derek Sivers’ presentation at last year’s TED Conference earned a standing ovation and then caused a long stir in cyberspace with his musings on the role of the “first follower.” We saw the video again recently and it got us thinking about all the uncertainty that still remains in healthcare as political and legal battles over reform continue.
Wherever we end up, it seems to us that there are some definite dance lessons here about good leadership and good followership in the world of healthcare.
So take a look at the video above and then see what you think about the steps we’ve broken down below. Read more…
Maureen Bisognano: “In every country that we work in, there are insufficient numbers of skilled people to do the kind of work we need.”
One in a series of profiles of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare (sponsored by Furst Group)
In her travels around the world as the president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Maureen Bisognano has discovered something: healthcare reform isn’t an exclusively American issue. Many countries, she says, are realizing they need to make some fundamental changes in their healthcare systems.
“There are so many similarities that it’s uncanny,” she says. “You need to use different languages in different countries, but the fundamental problems are very, very similar.”
Bisognano sees several universal issues, including finances, labor and patient-centered care. Read more…
Proctor: “You keep measuring the outcome and you adapt the strategies if they’re not getting you to the outcome.”
One in a series of profiles of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare (sponsored by Furst Group)
Outcome vs. strategy: which takes the lead?
Deborah Proctor, president and CEO of St. Joseph Health System in Orange, Calif., makes it clear where she stands on that age-old business dilemma.
“One of the things that I learned in my career is that most people will develop a strategy and then measure how well they’re accomplishing that strategy. To me, that’s an insufficient process,” she says. “I think you have to first determine what outcomes you’re trying to achieve and then develop strategies to get to those outcomes.
“But you keep measuring the outcome and you adapt the strategies if they’re not getting you to the outcome.” Read more…
Sally Jeffcoat: “A focus on prevention and wellness is where we need to reform the system.”
One in a series of profiles of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare (sponsored by Furst Group)
A lot of the dialogue about healthcare reform is focused on cost, but Sally Jeffcoat, president and CEO of Saint Alphonsus Health System in Boise, Idaho, says she thinks there’s an equally important element that is being overshadowed.
“Health reform has really taken shape in the form of financing reform, but what we haven’t done yet is the care-delivery reform that’s required,” she says. “This gets to the heart of operational effectiveness: how are we going to reorganize care delivery that shifts patients to lower cost environments so that we can still deliver better quality than what we have today?”
To do that, she says, some of the responsibility needs to shift to the patients. Read more…
Donovan: “Hospitals are like running 40 different businesses.”
One in a series of profiles of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare (sponsored by Furst Group)
As the daughter of a surgeon and an operating room nurse and now as one of the leading healthcare executives in the nation, Gail Donovan has been around hospitals all her life. So when she says she’s a bit worried about healthcare reform, one tends to listen more intently.
“Hospitals are like running 40 different businesses,” says Donovan, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Continuum Health Partners, Inc. “As a large provider system, our hospital emergency rooms care for 250,000 visits a year in our system and we have very large ambulatory services handling more than 3 million visits a year. I love being able to provide access and to make sure that, as much as possible, we’re able to meet the needs of the very large and diverse communities we serve.” Read more…
medical group,
Leckman was the first woman resident to finish the surgery program at the University of Utah.
One in a series of profiles of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Healthcare (sponsored by Furst Group)
Linda Leckman was in her car – again – driving up to Ogden, Utah, from Salt Lake City, to meet with a group of thoracic surgeons. Road trips like this one – which Leckman actively seeks out to keep in touch with her colleagues and staff — are common for the vice president of Intermountain Healthcare and the CEO of the Intermountain Medical Group.
“I’ve learned the value,” says Leckman, a general surgeon herself, “of sitting down face to face and actively listening to people.”
While Leckman’s reputation precedes her as one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare, she is transparent about her growing pains in moving from a career as a surgeon in private practice to an administrator. Listening, she says, was actually something she had to grow into. Read more…
Page 1 / 4
RSS Blog Updates