Shawn Sheffield, chief strategy officer at Keck Medicine of University of Southern California in Los Angeles, discusses her prior academic and clinical administrative roles, what she's learned along the way and her advice to aspiring health system CSOs.
Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How have your previous health system executive leadership positions prepared you for your role as CSO at Keck Medicine of USC?
Shawn Sheffield: My previous administrative roles running large academic clinical departments at both Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and UC San Francisco as well as associate vice chancellor of resource and planning at UC San Diego have all helped prepare me for my role as CSO at Keck Medicine of USC. To be effective in an externally facing strategic role, you need to know operations, work well with faculty and understand the complexities of your market and all the players. Strategy roles are nuanced and oftentimes political. All of my previous roles at various academic health systems have honed these skills.
Q: What advice do you have for aspiring health system CSOs?
SS: My advice to aspiring CSOs would be to find a mentor who believes in you and will constantly push you to take on new challenges. I remember thinking, 'I have no idea how to do this,' several times in my early career, but then I would just figure it out. There really isn't a playbook, you just have to be willing to work really hard and be nice to people.
Q: What is the vision for your team in 2019? How will you approach your role and meeting your goals?
SS: I have the best team in healthcare. Our vision for 2019 can be summed up in one word: Growth. We are constantly pushing the organization forward with new growth opportunities — partnerships, acquisitions and service line expansions. My role in helping to make that happen is to communicate and problem solve. I work with really smart people. Most of the time when we get the right people in the room, we can make great progress.
Q: What is one conviction in healthcare that needs to be challenged?
SS: A conviction in healthcare that needs to be challenged is doing things the way we've always done them and expecting new results. Healthcare, like other industries, will need to transform. I think everyone knows change will involve seamless customer service and making things easier for our consumers. We know what we need but implementing is harder. Still, I think it will happen soon in healthcare and I am excited to be a part of that change.
To participate in future healthcare executive thought leadership Q&As, contact Jackie Drees at jdrees@beckershealthcare.com.