Prescribing Leadership in Healthcare

Book excerpt: With Foreword written by Chris Van Gorder (President & CEO, Scripps Health). Healthcare has been undergoing significant changes in recent years with more expected well into the foreseeable future. Now, more than ever, we need leaders who are well-versed in all aspects of leadership. Unfortunately, the skills that made healthcare leaders successful in the past may not be enough to be successful in the future. Managing change requires a very special set of skills. Project management, lean six sigma and other change processes all identify leadership as a key critical success factor. In fact, a recent study by the Healthcare Center for Excellence revealed that lack of leadership was the greatest challenge to implementing healthcare analytics. More alarming was the fact that those in leadership positions did not recognize their role in the change management process. Added to this is the confusing advice on what is needed to be a good leader, when, in actuality, all that is needed is for the leader to be them self. Leadership is a process that must be prescribed and practiced every day. It is the same way professional athletes worldwide have followed their prescribed training regimen to improve their already exceptional abilities. "Prescribing Leadership in Healthcare" is based on the proprietary 5-step Professional Leadership Process which creates a personalized leadership development program built on an individual's innate qualities and strengths. It is designed as a continually improving process to help leaders at any level of the organization develop and adapt a personalized leadership vision and philosophy for utilization in their daily leadership routine. The program creates better leaders by incorporating the most often overlooked steps that research indicates are essential to better leadership development. Additionally, the book includes the leadership perspectives from interviews with top healthcare executives such as Dr. Toby Cosgrove (President & CEO, Cleveland Clinic), Dr. Laura Forese (Executive VP & COO, New York-Presbyterian), Dr. Michael Hunt (President & CEO, St. Vincent's Health Partners), Nancy Schlichting (Retired CEO, Henry Ford Health Systems) and others. REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: "The lessons and practices [in the book] will make all of us better leaders and most importantly, will directly benefit those patients and families we serve." -- David Feinberg, President & CEO, Geisinger Health "This is one of the best and most powerful leadership books I have read. I believe he has found an elixir for making all of us better leaders." -- Jim Mattes, President & CEO, Grande Ronde Hospital "I highly recommend reading and following [Bryan's] leadership book. He is a remarkable person. The world needs more people like Bryan Bennett." -- Scott Becker, Publisher, Becker's Hospital Review "Prescribing Leadership in Healthcare is a book readers will want to come back to again and again." -- Tom Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Healthcare IT News