The Big Three: Confidence, Courage & Experience

Posted on April 15, 2013 by John G. Self

In the realm of leadership, executives must successfully manage their departments, their divisions or their companies. At the same time they must apply these same leadership principles to their own career management.

That said, for the Baby Boomer and older Gen X leaders, experience counts. It is an important brand equity that distinguishes them from those who are on their way up.

As leaders “mature” – which I find to be a nice word for age – two things happen. They get better at what they do based on applied experience, and they begin to glance over their shoulder to check on the up and comers – the competition. For most, the latter is not an all-consuming fact of life, but there is almost always some curiosity. That curiosity is healthy as long as it does not become more than a passing interest.

Applied experience is also in play when it comes to career management. Leaders become more aware –and honest with themselves – regarding their strengths and their weaknesses. Smart leaders have the confidence and the know-how to maximize and leverage their strengths. Their honesty regarding their weaknesses typically keeps them from making the most serious of the missteps.

There are two more words that apply: confidence and courage.

As the provider segment of the healthcare industry undergoes major transformation over the next five to seven years, leaders from the Baby Boom era and Generation Xers will face some challenging career management tests. This transformation will require confidence, courage, applied experience and lessons learned to avoid pitfalls – terminations, layoffs and possibly long periods of unemployment.

Over the last several months I have heard from a number of executives in their late 40s to mid-50s who see this transformative period as a real threat to what they thought would be a stable career with a smooth path to retirement. They see the Affordable Care Act and deficit reduction as two very large and daunting threats to their plans. With good reason.

The biggest career management threat I see is not legislative or business reform but a loss of confidence and waning courage. True, successfully navigating these career pitfalls will be challenging – more for some than others, but these hurdles are not the end of the world as we know it. Here are some thoughts to consider:

Don’t blink – There are no guarantees in life, but being afraid of losing your job can easily become a self-fulfilling prophesy as hospitals look for a way to reduce their costs below Medicare. Leaders must continually prove they can deliver the necessary results
Be confident – People follow confident leaders
Remember – You have experience. Don’t sell yourself short. Draw on your past experience, the political and operational insights that the up and comers have yet to master. Use this knowledge and experience to deliver killer results
Have courage – Just as fear of losing a job can drain energy and distract focus, having courage is part and parcel of having confidence. Leaders who lack the courage of their convictions in themselves or in their decisions are of little use to anyone, especially their employer
Your competitors – Look but do not stare and obsess. The current conventional wisdom is that the hard charging younger Gen Xers and Millennials will take over the world, and your job sooner rather than later, is just wrong, as long as you deliver exceptional results and value

One more thing, the conventional wisdom also says that these Millennials and the younger end of the Gen X generation are dominating in the number of start-up companies is also wrong. The average age of entrepreneurs who have the appetite and the confidence and courage for the risk is rising.

Battle for Physician Loyalty, Admissions Drive Doctor Employment

Posted on November 2, 2012 by John G. Self

In markets where physicians hold ownership stakes or financial interests in one hospital, and where there is evidence that those same physicians are discharging patients from a competing hospital’s emergency department over to their own outpatient facility to be possibly treated in their own hospital, look for new battle lines to be drawn.

For hundreds of community not-for-profit hospitals throughout the nation, physicians are still seen as the customer since they are the only ones who can admit a patient to a hospital. However, today, it is not uncommon for those physicians to be a customer at 9 AM and by 2 PM to be a competitor, working in facilities in which they have an ownership interest or where they are rewarded for their contributions. This anomaly too, is one of the many things that is changing in healthcare.

There are few remaining days left where there will be friendly competition between hospitals for the loyalties of independent physicians. Many not-for-profits, which for years have allowed entrepreneurial doctors to cherry-pick patients for admission—allowing those physicians to have their cake and eat it too—are taking a much tougher stand. They will have no other choice if they hope to survive.

This shift to a more no-nonsense market strategy is what happens in medicine when it becomes all about the money. Doctors are being forced to choose sides. In defense of doctors, the drive to owning, or having an equity interest in a hospital or some outpatient service, is an attempt to protect real and perceived threats to their incomes.

Community not-for-profit hospitals are employing physicians at an increasing pace. Eventually, to make these employed physician practice investments work monetarily, they will have to move to the integrated health system/closed medical staff model as a means of survival.

With a strategy that has its fair share of risks and requires skillful implementation, there is a cautionary note:

You cannot acquire physician practices and maintain a business-as-usual management model. A collaborative, shared governance structure is essential. This means recruiting or developing physician executives to share in the leadership responsibilities. Having a Chief Medical Officer is not the end game but just the first step.

This transformation will keep the recruiters and organizational development consultants very busy and dramatically change medical development and physician recruiting.

Career Management, Not Luck

Posted on July 31, 2012 by John G. Self

By Cygnus921 (Own work) CC-BY-SA-3.0 or via Wikipedia Commons

I have had a wonderful career, uniquely varied, filled with multiple successes, some disappointments, but mostly great reward and satisfaction.

I was on the start-up team and served as the first director of Hermann Hospital’s acclaimed Life Flight program in Houston. I played a major role in setting up the next 13 programs nationally. I helped build one of the largest not-for-profit network of community hospitals in the mid-1980s. I have built two successful search firms and recruited in six countries on four continents. In the US, I have been involved in numerous high-profile executive searches. In 2010, I was honored with the Regent’s Award as Senior Healthcare Leader of the Year for North Texas.

I do not have a master’s degree, fellowship, or certifications from any of the professional associations.

The chances that I could replicate my career and its success without the graduate degree and credentials today is doubtful. The opportunities are more limited and the competition for career opportunity is intense. Today it is simply not sufficient to be a great relationship builder, communicator, or rainmaker. I had talent, but in an era of new rules where hiring mistakes are increasingly expensive, employers want more.

Employers today are elevating the bar for credentials, experience and prior performance. These three are the gold currency in today’s hyper competitive job market. For each one of these important qualities that you lack, you drastically reduce your chances for landing a top job.

Here are some strategies to enhance career management:

Have an updated mission statement. Who are you, what do you stand for, what do you want to accomplish with your career? This document should drive what you do and say, as well as the career opportunities you pursue. If you do not have the academic and/or professional credentials, you must address the deficiencies within your plan. If you cannot produce a compelling personal vision statement, how can you motivate and lead others?
Keep a career journal. Not only will this help you maintain an accurate account of employment dates, names of supervisors and compensation increases, but you can also record your significant accomplishments. Moreover, it is a tool for regulated thought—the practice of reviewing decisions from a different perspective. It is the process of thinking about what you could have done differently or better with your decision making and execution. Athletes and musicians, for example, practice. Regulated thought is a form of “practice” to improve your decision-making skills. Think of it as replaying the game film of, for example, a meeting where you executed on an important decision.
Cultivate an effective professional network. Size is important, but bigger is not necessarily better. You want a network that adds value. If you are a hospital executive in rural Montana, being connected to a telemarketer in Lahore, India or a financial planner in Northampton, MA who wants to sell you something, is of questionable value. Link with people who can help you solve a problem, or connect the dots for the next new job that will advance your career. This is a career-long endeavor.
Be active in professional associations—nationally and locally. Continuing education and professional development are essential to remaining relevant. Be open to new ideas because the transformation of healthcare will produce a tidal wave of new ideas and innovations. Volunteer for committees or even the board. This is a key part to building a network and enhancing your brand and can position you to achieve a credential.
Share your ideas on LinkedIn and other business and social media sites. Your posts should add value to your brand, which includes everything you write, post or say. If you enjoy writing, then blog. The blogoshere is crowded, but consistently delivered fresh ideas have a way of moving to the top. And this takes us back to having an up-to-date mission statement which should drive the boat for career management. If your posts and comments are not consistent with that statement, you may be drifting into image muddle.

Above all else, pay it forward. When someone helps you with your career, turn around and help those coming up behind you. Surprisingly, this is not a common practice in business today but is one way you can distinguish yourself in the market.