Reflections on Leadership Lessons

APA Leadership Conference

February 13, 2009

Marianne E. Felice, M.D.Marianne E. Felice, M.D.

Chair, Department of PediatricsChair, Department of Pediatrics

University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolUniversity of Massachusetts Medical School

Physician-in-ChiefPhysician-in-Chief

UMass Memorial Children’s Medical CenterUMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center

Disclosure InformationDisclosure Information

Name of Presentation: Reflections on Leadership Lessons

Name of Speaker:Name of Speaker: Marianne E. Felice, M.D.Marianne E. Felice, M.D.

I have no financial relationships to disclose.

Original Charge: Summarize content taught at this conference

Review Leadership/Management Principles

Suggest ways to implement conference materials at home base.

Be inspirational

This Speaker may not be qualified!

Objectives Chosen:

Share lessons learned from varied sources Recommend some books I have read Advise continual learning about leadership

and… To put “My Lessons” in perspective, I would like

to tell you a little bit about my life…

2nd largest health care system in Massachusetts

10,000 Employees $1.1B budget Largest employer in Central MA

UMass Memorial Health Care in 2001:

3-campus Academic Medical Center under one license

4 owned community hospitals Own 1 Nursing home and 1/2 Rehab

Hospital Ventures/Real Estate 6 Unions/7 bargaining units 800 Physicians in Group Practice

UMMHC is a complicated system:UMMHC is a complicated system:

Would be temporarily “equal” to the Dean who hired me Would be the “boss” of the other clinical chairs, (ALL men) Had just been “Hunterized” Losing $ Chairs of Orthopedics, Radiology & Anesthesiology open JCAHO expected in 8 months; CMO Group Practice President resigned 7 Union contracts up for renewal & HR VP let go. COO and Chief Legal Counsel issues

BOT orders to me:1. Get budget out of the red2. Heal the organization

Unique Challenges of Position:

So…So…Ten Lessons I have Ten Lessons I have

learned about learned about Leadership…Leadership…

Sometimes the “HARD WAY”

Lesson #1

There are lots of “bosses”; there are fewer leaders. (Learned from my little brother when I was 11 and he was 8).

Lesson #2

The word “administrator” comes from the Latin root words: “ad” and “ministrare” and means to serve or take care of.

Lesson #3

When a person moves into a position of power, s/he gets a bigger head or a bigger heart; s/he rarely remains the same. (Taught to me by Sister M. Alma, RSM, when I was in the convent).

Managers do things right; Leaders do the right thing.

Lesson #4

Lesson #5

Men and women lead differently; one is not better than the other, just different.

Lesson #6Lesson #6

Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right position on the bus…and you can take the bus anywhere.

(Major premise of the book Good to Great by J. Collins)

Lesson #7

Make sure that everyone is rowing in the same direction!

Lesson #8

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Have clarity and consistency in your message.

Lesson #9:

Be generous with praise, and stingy with blame.

Lesson #10

It is lonely at the top…even if the service is better. (Told to me by Dr. Aaron Lazare, former dean at UMass).

What happened at UMass Memorial in 2001-2002? Passed JCAHO Settled all Union contracts Filled all Chair positions Ended year with $9M surplus (Whew!) Superb new CEO arrived after 10 months! (whew) Dean welcomed me back as “his” chair with open arms Fellow chairs cheered when I came back as “one of the

guys!” but… The department of pediatrics took about 4 months to

accept me back! (sigh) and now 7 years later, UMMS and UMMHC and Department all thriving and I grew immensely.

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails, and explore.

Mark Twain