A lot of sports or business legends exhibit great courage and expertise, but their personal lives reveal things that are anything but exemplary. You might even call these legends phonies with feet of clay. But no one seems to care as long as they score touchdowns, slam the puck into the net or close a fantastic deal.
There are a few people, though, who combine courage, expertise, integrity and honor in one package. When you come across them, you realize how fortunate you are. My own example is a healthcare executive.
Edward A. Eckenhoff retired in 2009 after 28 years as CEO of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C.
In high school, he was captain of the track team and a fullback on the football team. He took a year off after graduating to study piano in Germany. His life changed forever, though, when he came back to the states and entered college. He was passenger in his roommate's MG sports car in 1963 when it crashed, killing the roommate and throwing Ed Eckenhoff from the car.
Catapulted onto his back, he suffered a spinal cord injury and ended up permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Spending months in rehabilitation, he rethought his life and eventually opted for a career in hospital administration. "There is something about a disability that wakes us up," he said many years later. "I don’t know whether we begin overcompensating or we realize we have fewer options for success. I do know it made me rethink my future, and I have observed this with a lot of people who suffered disabilities."
Joining the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, he worked his way up to become vice president of administration. Then, seeing a need for similar services in our nation's capital, he moved to Washington and founded the National Rehabilitation Hospital in 1984.
Combining empathy and courage
There are many things that make Ed Eckenhoff exemplary. One of the most obvious is his empathy for his disabled patients. Empathy is an important trait for all executives to have. He could understand his patients because he had gone through exactly what they were going through. "When I was injured, I spent months in the hospital," he said. "When I began my career as a rehab hospital administrator, I wanted to see that time reduced, and it has." Partly due to his efforts, length of stay is shorter and equipment for people with disabilities has become much lighter, helping them to be more mobile and become more a part of society.
Another outstanding trait of Ed Eckenhoff is his courage in the face of adversity. "Honestly, in retrospect if I could change anything, I don’t think I would," he recently said of his injury. "I do know that it actually was a great life experience. I know myself better and I’ve been able to use the experience to an advantage and hopefully to help others."
I am proud to know him. He is everything you would want in a friend. He's caring, generous and listens to you. He has a great sense of humor and occasionally likes to have a "toddie." He's a great golfer. Swinging a golf club with one arm and using the other to hold his crutch and balance himself, his scores are in the 80s and lower 90s.
Ed Eckenhoff has been married for 34 years to a wonderful soulmate. How he and Judi met is an interesting story. He was still running the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and she was one of his department heads there. He met her in an elevator and eventually asked her out. In today's workplace environment, that might be grounds for harassment because he might have exercised his power as her boss. But that didn’t happen.
Dedication to mentoring
He is an articulate man who would have made a great sports broadcaster. As a boss, he took the time to mentor his people so they could do their jobs more efficiently and productively. That alone is an almost lost art in healthcare today. It almost seems as if nobody has the time nor inclination to help others do their jobs better by giving them advice and counsel.
Whenever I visit a hospital, I ask the executives how they are doing with mentoring. They tell me they try but it takes a lot of time and, regrettably, they can't do very much of it. But Ed Eckenhoff did find the time for mentoring and his people were delighted.
His leadership style was to be completely transparent with staff, physicians, board and patients. Everything was on the table and no secrets were allowed!
He never forgot that the hospital CEO's mission is to put patients first and all else second. As far as Ed Eckenhoff is concerned, patients are what healthcare is all about. After all, without patients there would be no need for hospitals.
He saw his mission as healing patients' broken bones and their broken hearts. That's why he was such a wonderful leader all those years. In my 33 years as publisher of Modern Healthcare magazine, I met many great leaders in healthcare but Ed Eckenhoff stands out as one of the very best, combining integrity, honor, courage and character. That has made all the difference.
Chuck Lauer (chuckspeaking@aol.com) was publisher of Modern Healthcare for 33 years. He is now an author, public speaker and career coach who is in demand for his motivational messages to top companies nationwide.
There are a few people, though, who combine courage, expertise, integrity and honor in one package. When you come across them, you realize how fortunate you are. My own example is a healthcare executive.
Edward A. Eckenhoff retired in 2009 after 28 years as CEO of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C.
In high school, he was captain of the track team and a fullback on the football team. He took a year off after graduating to study piano in Germany. His life changed forever, though, when he came back to the states and entered college. He was passenger in his roommate's MG sports car in 1963 when it crashed, killing the roommate and throwing Ed Eckenhoff from the car.
Catapulted onto his back, he suffered a spinal cord injury and ended up permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Spending months in rehabilitation, he rethought his life and eventually opted for a career in hospital administration. "There is something about a disability that wakes us up," he said many years later. "I don’t know whether we begin overcompensating or we realize we have fewer options for success. I do know it made me rethink my future, and I have observed this with a lot of people who suffered disabilities."
Joining the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, he worked his way up to become vice president of administration. Then, seeing a need for similar services in our nation's capital, he moved to Washington and founded the National Rehabilitation Hospital in 1984.
Combining empathy and courage
There are many things that make Ed Eckenhoff exemplary. One of the most obvious is his empathy for his disabled patients. Empathy is an important trait for all executives to have. He could understand his patients because he had gone through exactly what they were going through. "When I was injured, I spent months in the hospital," he said. "When I began my career as a rehab hospital administrator, I wanted to see that time reduced, and it has." Partly due to his efforts, length of stay is shorter and equipment for people with disabilities has become much lighter, helping them to be more mobile and become more a part of society.
Another outstanding trait of Ed Eckenhoff is his courage in the face of adversity. "Honestly, in retrospect if I could change anything, I don’t think I would," he recently said of his injury. "I do know that it actually was a great life experience. I know myself better and I’ve been able to use the experience to an advantage and hopefully to help others."
I am proud to know him. He is everything you would want in a friend. He's caring, generous and listens to you. He has a great sense of humor and occasionally likes to have a "toddie." He's a great golfer. Swinging a golf club with one arm and using the other to hold his crutch and balance himself, his scores are in the 80s and lower 90s.
Ed Eckenhoff has been married for 34 years to a wonderful soulmate. How he and Judi met is an interesting story. He was still running the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and she was one of his department heads there. He met her in an elevator and eventually asked her out. In today's workplace environment, that might be grounds for harassment because he might have exercised his power as her boss. But that didn’t happen.
Dedication to mentoring
He is an articulate man who would have made a great sports broadcaster. As a boss, he took the time to mentor his people so they could do their jobs more efficiently and productively. That alone is an almost lost art in healthcare today. It almost seems as if nobody has the time nor inclination to help others do their jobs better by giving them advice and counsel.
Whenever I visit a hospital, I ask the executives how they are doing with mentoring. They tell me they try but it takes a lot of time and, regrettably, they can't do very much of it. But Ed Eckenhoff did find the time for mentoring and his people were delighted.
His leadership style was to be completely transparent with staff, physicians, board and patients. Everything was on the table and no secrets were allowed!
He never forgot that the hospital CEO's mission is to put patients first and all else second. As far as Ed Eckenhoff is concerned, patients are what healthcare is all about. After all, without patients there would be no need for hospitals.
He saw his mission as healing patients' broken bones and their broken hearts. That's why he was such a wonderful leader all those years. In my 33 years as publisher of Modern Healthcare magazine, I met many great leaders in healthcare but Ed Eckenhoff stands out as one of the very best, combining integrity, honor, courage and character. That has made all the difference.
Chuck Lauer (chuckspeaking@aol.com) was publisher of Modern Healthcare for 33 years. He is now an author, public speaker and career coach who is in demand for his motivational messages to top companies nationwide.