Hospital and health system CEOs must think strategically to prepare their organization for success over the long term.
Becker's regular series of conversations with CEOs of the nation's leading health systems poses a variety of questions, including what leaders are reading to prepare for the next three to 10 years. Here are answers collected this year.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
David Herman, MD. CEO of Essentia Health (Duluth, Minn.):There's a book that came out in the 1980s called "The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made." I'm reading that again … because I truly believe, particularly in times of stress, that leadership matters, and that there are times that are made for different types of leadership. And one of the reasons I'm reading those books is because … in several years, I'll be handing the reins of this organization off to someone else. And I need to be developing a diverse group of young leaders who will be ready to lead. So I will need somebody that perhaps is strategic, or someone that's a hard driver, or someone that is a calming hand in times of turmoil. And I need to have all those people ready for my board to select from as they choose the next leader of this organization. And I find that reading about the history of society, societies and leaders, and learning about the characteristics of different leaders, helps me frame on a daily basis what I need to do to develop the leaders for the future of my organization.
K. Scott Wester. President and CEO of Memorial Healthcare System (Hollywood, Fla.): I'm spending a lot of time reading about how we, as health systems … have an enormous amount of data. We utilize the data in a fractional aspect, not really looking at it from all angles of how we treat our patients from a quality perspective to how we deliver that optimal level of service or try to improve operational efficiency. So I'm reviewing how other industries continue to really evolve and change. Then [I'm] reviewing a lot about the streaming service market … Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and the evolution of entertainment. My grandfather ran a radio station in Toledo, Ohio, and the changes from the radio station to linear TV and now streaming, we've gone from delivery that's one to many to systems that are now one to one. It's the ultimate personalization of media consumption that is reshaping our consumer expectation about everything.
Very similar to the streaming service, I think we have to be more individualized to our patients, and every patient has a story. Every patient has their unique needs. In the next three to 10 years, I'm very encouraged by the usage of our technology and our data integration that we're going to offer more personalized care in the future.
Larry Antonucci, MD. President and CEO of Lee Health (Fort Myers, Fla.): There's a book that I finished called "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" by Yuval Noah Harari. He's a historian. And it is a fascinating book that delves into what the century is going to look like regarding AI and robotics and computers and globalization. And how Big Data is watching us and the fact that when we use computers and we use the internet that we're not customers, we're actually the product. The information we put in there is being sold to others. It's really a very fascinating thought provoking book. I would recommend it to anybody.
Bob Riney. President and CEO of Henry Ford Health (Detroit): I'm reading a book right now called "Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America" by Barbara McQuade. It just came out, and the book itself is about the level of disinformation flooding citizens of our country [through] social media networks. But what I'm walking away with from reading the book is the unbelievable impact that [misinformation] is having on our mental health. And so I look at the advancement of disinformation and its sophistication as a real threat to our mental health and the impact that it could have on healthcare because we're already seeing mental health demands that we are struggling to keep up with. And I think that the issues that are raised in this book tell me that we're going to see a lot more, and we have to prepare for it.