McKinsey Quarterly authored a compelling study on The hidden value of organizational health – and how to capture it. A key finding is that the link between organizational health and performance is much more straightforward and significant than previously thought. Healthy companies generated total returns three times higher than those of unhealthy ones.

In his best-selling book The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything, Patrick Lencioni makes an overwhelming case that organizational health will surpass all other disciplines as the greatest opportunity for improvement and competitive advantage. Mr. Lencioni clearly reveals four actionable steps to gaining the advantage: building a cohesive team, creating clarity, reinforcing clarity, and over-communicating clarity. I recommend reading The Advantage.

Organizational health matters. Above all else, leaders first bear a burden to ensure healthy organizations: the type of organizations that attract and grow talent critical to creating a better future.

If we miss this, we miss what matters most. Adding technical talent to unhealthy organizations adds value to no one. In the words of W. Edwards Deming, “A bad system will beat a good person every time.”

“A bad system will beat a good person every time.”

Learning From the Past

Physicians care for patients’ health, and leaders care for organizations’ health. Though there are many distinct differences, one compelling similarity is ensuring health. Deeply rooted in the healthcare tradition is a commitment to do no harm. This commitment must remain central as we steward AI’s transformation.

Of the Epidemics is part of the Hippocratic Corpus, a broad collection of ancient Greek medical texts. Regarding the actual phrase “first do no harm,” Of the Epidemics is thought to be the most likely source: the foundation of healthcare’s Hippocratic Oath.

Consider this quote: The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future – must mediate these things and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm.

A Shared Model for Ensuring Health

Though initially intended for physicians as an ethical commitment to caring for patient’s health, the spirit and intent of this oath is a model we can adopt for all leaders. Replace the term “physician” with “leader” and the term “disease” with “the organization.” The leader must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future – must mediate these things and have two special objects in view with regard to the organization, namely, to do good or to do no harm.

The leader must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future—he or she must mediate these things and have two special objects in view with regard to the organization: to do good or to do no harm.

• Tell the antecedents: A leader must understand and respect legacy, holding with respect what has come before and those commitments that have created outcomes enjoyed today. At the same time, a leader must possess the courage to change those things now leading to harm. What is celebrated, what is done, and what is ignored impacts organizational health. Both healthy and unhealthy systems do not happen by chance. As a leader, tell the antecedents.
• Know the present: A leader must be grounded in current reality and fully vested in knowing and understanding the present state. Pretending certain things do not exist or ignoring facts to shape perceived reality are not healthy postures. A leader working to build a healthy organization will be open to difficult facts, constructive debate, and differing opinions—all these work to present a clearer picture of the whole. As a leader, know the present.
• Foretell the future: A leader must relentlessly, with clarity and persistent communication, cast a compelling vision of the future. An effective leader will role model the connection between future benefits and present choices. Organizations, like people, do not become what they wish to be; they become by choices made. As a leader, foretell the future.

Adopting the above model will ensure a leader is stewarding and connecting (to mediate these things) an organization’s past, present, and future to do good and do no harm. As applied to leadership, these commitments provide a firm foundation for building organizational health.

Gaining Personal Clarity – A Lens Toward Action

As healthcare leaders, it is critical to pay attention to the health of the entities served—to do good and to do no harm. Amid transformative change, organizational health must be a sustained focus. It should be the overarching priority of all healthcare leaders. A leader must start with the self. Healthy organizations are envisioned and sustained by healthy leaders. One cannot give something away that one does not first possess.

Healthy organizations are envisioned and sustained by healthy leaders. One cannot give something away that one does not first possess.

As a starting point, here are a few practical questions written from a posture of self-reflection: a lens providing clarity toward concrete action. Let’s not begin with AI trends and competencies. A focus on technology as a strategy or panacea is a distraction. Starting with these questions will help shape an understanding and commitment toward leading for organizational health. Leverage AI as an assistant in shaping your answers, but the answers must be yours.

1. Am I fully engaged in improving my capability as a leader? How does my answer square with daily patterns, schedules, and energy management? What practical change can I make today to move in a better direction?
2. In what ways do I build future leaders? How is this effort seen and measured by those individuals? How do I seek their feedback and apply what I hear?
3. In what ways do I integrate individual leaders into a high-performing team? How do I seek the team’s feedback and respond positively? Do I function from a posture of command, control, and compartmentalizing, or do I ensure transparency, collaboration, and integration?
4. From a broader perspective, what is our organization’s definition of “health”? If we don’t have a shared definition how can I assist in creating one?
5. Do those I am accountable to understand the necessity and value of organizational health (whether another executive or Board)? How can I help educate and enlist their support in focusing time and energy on the most important things? How do I help them do the same?
6. Where do we find evidence of our organizational health? What system measures and feedback loops do we use, and what do we hear?
7. How can we best celebrate progress and sustain the wins?

What do Leaders Owe?

One of my favorite authors, Max DePree, in his book Leadership is an Art, asks, “What do leaders owe?” He quotes a good friend who characterizes leaders simply like this: “Leaders don’t inflict pain; they bear pain.”

“Leaders don’t inflict pain; they bear pain.”

As stewards of an industry in flux, we would do well to diligently and purposely build organizational health. This is our number one priority and our responsibility.

There will always be something in the way. There will always be a burning platform. There will always be disruptive change and other pressing priorities. Positive, purposeful, and sustainable action is the only meaningful strategy for what matters most. To do good; to do no harm.

The post Beyond the Tech: The Most Important Leadership Priority in the Age of AI appeared first on Medika Life.

Though the perspectives they imparted were valuable, my greatest teachers have always been my colleagues and clients. Their questions, encouragement and pushback made me think and feel, and desire to be better. They firmly solidified my belief that empathetic leadership is what opens hearts and minds and inspires us to be greater together.

They have been extraordinary teachers, and when extraordinary people unite, incredible things can happen.

“Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives,” says Oprah Winfrey. 

Oprah knows that leadership is not about control; it’s about encouraging others with a shared vision to join in an adventure together. Real leaders invite people with different talents, skills and backgrounds to become part of a like-minded community of purpose.

And real leaders know that the bond that creates that strong community is strengthened through kindness and transparency. It’s not enough to work hard. We also need to play nice.

Creating purpose driven communities is the first step

More than ever, the health sector needs expansive leaders who dedicate their communities’ energy and skills to breaking down the walls that keep out new ideas. Too many life-enhancing innovations are delayed from reaching people because the sector has become structured over time to resist change; too many of its leaders have forgotten that patients need to be at the heart of the health system.

If the ecosystem’s leaders were able to rapidly adapt to the emergency of COVID-19 and pivot their companies’ directions within days, why can’t they embrace and act upon the essential change of putting patients at the center of everything they do?

C-SUITE titles may dazzle  —  do they deliver?

Do not let titles fool you. We have seen too many who hold impressive titles demonstrate that they are not true leaders, but rather gatekeepers. They do not invite, encourage or rally people to a common cause. They wait to see who will act first, watch how people respond and then make calculated moves to reduce personal and organizational risk.

The Harvard Business Review offers a summary of leadership skills that need to be adopted and honed through practice:

– Shape a vision that is exciting and challenging for your team.

– Translate that vision into a clear strategy outlining what actions to take and what not to do.

– Recruit, develop, and reward a team of great people to carry out the strategy.

– Focus on measurable results.

– Foster innovation and learning to sustain your team and grow new leaders.

– Lead yourself, know yourself, improve yourself and manage the appropriate balance in your own life.

Ken Frazier is a textbook example of daring business leadership. Now executive chair of the Merck board of directors, Frazier, during his tenure as Merck’s CEO, returned this drug innovation giant to a high standard of medical innovation and global regard. Yet, it was his singular courage in resigning from former President Trump’s American Manufacturing Council that led to his being cited as “America’s Moral CEO.”

While almost all other CEOs on the Council followed his lead, only Frazier will be remembered for his bold, out-in-front stance against racism and extremism. People forget earnings per share — they remember ethical moves that set the tone for what leaders should do: unite with purpose.

There are others whose bold moves may not receive the level of attention of Frazier’s, yet they also deserve note. When Vesper Healthcare Acquisition Corp. CEO Brent Saunders was chair, president and CEO of Allergan, he published a “social contract” tying his company’s pricing to the cost-of-inflation index in response to pricing abuses by Turing Pharmaceuticals and the Mylan EpiPen.

While some may say Saunders’ social contract fell short, his bold leadership move compelled other biopharma companies to follow suit in setting pricing parameters. Saunders’s dramatic move had a positive ripple effect.

Leaders blaze a clear for others to follow

 In 2014, Larry Merlo, then president and CEO of CVS Caremark, announced his massive pharmacy retail chain would cease selling tobacco products at its locations. Merlo recognized that the sale of tobacco products was simply inconsistent with the health care chain’s purpose: helping people on their path to better health.

It seemed like a commonsense move for a company that sells prescription medication and wellness and personal care products, but it was courageous. Merlo led the way, focusing on doing the right thing with measurable, meaningful results.

Ten years ago, Amir Kalali, MD — then global head of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at Quintiles, now known as IQVIA — convened an assembly for those dedicated to drug development and patient care. Called the CNS Summit, his big-tent forum unites erstwhile competitors in a collaborative effort to identify and support much-needed, novel, patient care solutions.

When Quintiles was acquired and Kalali left to pursue another path, he continued to build his open-minded community, promoting the idea that innovation requires continuous learning and a readiness to nurture new leaders. Summit remains the meeting ground for life science leaders who aspire to do more within their companies and forge industry partnerships.

My greatest teachers are the thousands upon thousands of people with urgent health needs who step forward to share their stories and struggles. Some facing overwhelming odds continue to express hope that cures are close at hand and, even if they are out-of-reach, advocate for medical interventions and innovation that will improve others’ lives.

These are the leaders that push us forward and make us realize that we must accelerate efforts to improve and sustain life. Industry colleague Craig Lipset, the co-chair of DTRA.org, reminds me that it’s not that patients should have a “seat at the table, it is their table!”

Among the many, one person embodies the spirit of patient advocacy and has become one of my go-to patient-advocacy real-life mentors; Stacy Hurt. Stacy is a long-time physician practice management leader whose career covered sales, marketing, training, operations, customer service, and human resources. However, it’s her journey on the care and caregiver side — overwhelming to almost anyone else — that calls for the health system to reorient and recognize people who have big problems and need our help. Stacy is a caregiver for her intellectually and developmentally disabled son and a stage IV colorectal cancer patient/survivor navigating a very fragmented health system that is often not patient-friendly.

Stacy has her story. But her story is the saga of millions of people with health hurdles. There is no business strategy bestseller that could reinforce the lessons we can learn firsthand from someone facing almost unscalable obstacles of a health system forgets why it exists — to help people heal and be healthy.

To be a positive force, the health sector must match its healing mission with bold leaders who espouse purpose, inclusion, empathy and integrity. And while those leaders must be attentive to their shareholders, customers, and employees, they must, above all, deliver innovation and access to the patient communities that depend upon them to thrive and survive.

Bestselling bookshelf mentors, purveyors of C-suite advice, offer an intellectual foundation for leadership. Yet, it is the school of hard knocks and those “Profiles in Courage” moments that define leaders and set their future orbit. The health industry is not lacking brilliance, but it is at an inflection point where courage and empathy are required in its leaders to spur us forward to tackle the world’s pressing care challenges.

[Special thanks to my FINN Partners colleagues Shira Friedman and John Bianchi for their review of this article and comments. We share a mission to make a difference.]

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