Rapidly changing industry requires nuance, collaboration
This year’s Up & Comers stand out for how they work with others. The historical view of healthcare leadership has focused on aligning an organization around strategies and structure to accomplish goals. While still applicable, this approach is shifting significantly to match dynamic industry changes.
While challenges have always existed in our industry, structures were formerly more linear and outside forces more traditional. Executives today must lead with less formality and more nuance, artfulness and collaboration than in the past. The growth in systems requires leaders to excel at solving problems through a collective community rather than a linear line of authority. The advent of disruptive technologies requires today’s leaders to excel in answering new questions and analyzing the impact of new entrants into traditional businesses.
Healthcare today does not so much require a new brand of leadership as it does a brand that expects constant change and is willing to go beyond conventional solutions. It also requires establishing a culture where innovative thinking is rewarded.
Management guru Ken Blanchard has said, “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” I think this applies to healthcare. Does any one person really have all the answers in this day and age?
Successful young executives today—as modeled by the 40-and-under Up & Comers featured in this section—are those who clearly embrace the industry’s current vision of a more patient-centered, population-oriented healthcare world. Yes, they have a good measure of the more traditional do-it-yourself brand of leadership, but they marry this approach with one that prioritizes doing it together—with their boards, executive teammates, staff, community leaders, patients, families and others.
For the 18th year, Witt/Kieffer is proud to sponsor Modern Healthcare’s Up & Comer awards. The stories of the 2015 honorees illustrate how leadership can be done, expertly, with strength as well as subtlety. While these individuals might prefer to make their mark in an informal way, we are more than happy to give them formal recognition for their efforts.