Healthcare is changing rapidly. So are the leadership traits of the most effective top executives.
The presidents and CEOs of large and small health systems are tasked with navigating tight margins with an eye toward growth, investing in the right technology, forging creative partnerships and building the workforce of the future. It's a colossal task, but leaders with the right mindset and strong teams are poised to thrive.
Five leaders of hospitals and health systems across the country talked about what it will take to lead in the next few years during interviews with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. They answered the question: How are you evolving as a leader?
Note: Responses are lightly edited for clarity.
David Lubarsky, MD, Vice Chancellor of Human Health Sciences and CEO of UC Davis Health (Sacramento): The most important thing for any CEO is to have a growth mindset. It's not that finally you've gotten into a leadership position, but what are you going to do with that leadership position? There are constantly new ideas and new thought processes that you need to adapt to and frankly be in front of the organization in thinking about.
Personally, I really have invested a lot of my intellectual capital and focus on how AI is going to change the world of healthcare. I've been very involved in my research career around data and large data sets for the last 20, 30 years, and how they impact the business of healthcare. But this is different. This is truly a sea change in how data is applied in ways I frankly couldn't imagine as a researcher 20 or 30 years ago.
Understanding it, understanding the potential, understanding the pitfalls, and fully understanding what needs to be done to create safety first, but also to reassure people on the front lines about how that safety is guaranteed or not guaranteed [is important]. [We will figure out] how to guard against both complacency or give up decision-making to computers. That's as a human being and as a leader, I'm trying to grow into understanding how to best harness that new technology of AI and protect us from that new technology of AI in such a way that the patient benefits 100% of the time.
Wendy Horton, PharmD. CEO of UVA Health University Medical Center (Charlottesville, Va.): We are all works in progress for sure, and for me it's waking up, committing to doing the right thing, being courageous. For an academic medical center leader, it's always the commitment to action. There's a lot to decide upon how you make these decisions and move forward. Take the time to stay close to the mission, stay close to patients and always do the right thing. It sounds so simple, but you always want to stay grounded as a leader, actively listening; always taking more time to listen to really understand, build the strength of the team and communicate well.
It's nothing earth shattering or groundbreaking, but I think sometimes it's going back to the basics and being authentic and just doing the foundational components of leadership really well, which are really hard to do when you're busy and a growing organization.
Seth Ciabotti. CEO of MSU Health Care (East Lansing, Mich.): Slow down. We're constantly moving so fast, whether it's personally, whether it's the team, whether it's outside forces. Slow down, take a deep breath and either look at your accomplishments. Make more educated decisions. In healthcare, there are a lot of type A personalities; everybody wants to move super fast, but sometimes you have to slow down a little bit and go slow to go fast. That's really the mentality I'm taking right now.
Peter Banko. President and CEO of Baystate Health (Springfield, Mass.): I've absolutely gotten back to why I started doing this. I've got a great board that brought me here. Their sense of community is in every single conversation. We had a finance committee talking about our budget for the new year, and it's grounded in what we are doing for the community. How are we meeting our mission? How are we acting in ways that are consistent with our values? We are focused on getting it right rather than being right.
I spent an evening with 50 or so of our physicians talking about how we can communicate more effectively. Where are the issues that are bothering them? We've got an unrivaled physician network, and as I told them, the team and I can literally move mountains. I've got such inspiring and supportive coworkers. We have our challenges, we have our fair share of challenges, but I love a challenge.
Chuck Nordyke. CEO of Clarinda (Iowa) Regional Health Center: Prior to coming here, I was in a larger role for a national company. I had several different hospitals that I oversaw, and that version of leadership, being more remote and traveling in and out versus being back on scene, rallying the charge. It's a different mindset completely. In the last six years, I've learned a lot. I've been humbled. I've learned that your leaders, if you have a strong team, can really carry a lot of the weight and do a great job if you give them the tools to succeed and sit back and let them win.
It's been really fun. We have a great team here, and if someone does leave another person steps up and does just as good of a job. It's helped us overall in recruiting, expanding services, our patient volumes in the last six years have almost doubled. We are doing the right things. Personally, being able to reflect and see where my strengths and weaknesses are, I work on making the weaknesses a little bit stronger and the strengths shine a little bit brighter. Having a strong team that you can work with very closely will help you grow.
We have great resources in Iowa as far as the Iowa Hospital Association. I work really closely with them and the National Rural Health Association. Those two alone, and there are several others, we try to stay up to date with as much as we can. Make sure you are reading as much as you can. All those things do wonders to help you perform better.