Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

10 Ideas That Hospital and Health System CEOs Need to Ditch

Now, more than ever, hospitals and health system CEOs cannot sit on their hands as new care delivery models, payment systems and other changes flood the health care system. For CEOs and other leaders who may believe the new health care reforms and social norms will not apply to their institutions, there is no more time to be "unreasonable," as Mr. Shaw put it.

Several of the nation's most progressive CEOs have signed onto this thought process — David Feinberg, MD, Chris Van Gorder, Dean Gruner, MD, Bill Carpenter and many others outlined below. More specifically, here are 10 ideas that CEOs need to cast aside and what the alternative leadership strategy should be, and how those hospital and health system CEOs embody "new school" ways of being "reasonable" and progressive.

1. Old: Micromanage your employees. New: Empower your employees.
2. Old: Management by walking around. New: Management by watching and listening.
3. Old: Knowing everything and dictating the work. New: Knowing your leadership and trusting them.
4. Old: No mistakes are allowed. New: We learn from our mistakes.
5. Old: Physicians are the customers. New: Physicians are our partners.
6. Old: Having clinical competency is enough. New: Clinical competency is expected, and collaboration is required.
7. Old: Buy a lot of new technology. New: Invest in people and culture.
8. Old: Demand change. New: Nurture change.
9. Old: Gloss over drivers of chronic diseases. New: Promote holistic health and well-being programs.
10. Old: Formal leadership. New: Informal leadership.