Leadership Lessons from Steve Jobs (continued)

Translating the Steve Jobs' Leadership Lessons to health care leadership continues.

·         Don't Be a Slave to Focus Groups is his next lesson and I have never been big on focus groups so there is consistency there.  In health care today, I listen to a lot of people when making decisions, but you can't always wait for consensus.  You have to do what you think is best for the organization. 

·         Next is Bend Reality.  How this translates to health care is with quality and patient satisfaction.  We have to be error free and, if the patient is at the center, our level of satisfaction has to be in the top decile. 

·         Push for Perfection translates to relentless pursuit of the delivery of better care for our patients.  Tolerate only A players is tough but continues to be a focus at WMHS.  We assess our staff continually and work to get the B players to be A players.  We also work with the C players to get them to be eventual stars in our organization.  If they don't make it, then we work to politely separate them from the organization and guide to the extent possible onto a new career path.

·         Some of the other lessons, Engage Face to Face, which translates to continuous rounding,  and Know the Big Picture and the Details gets us to balanced scorecards, focusing on strategic direction and transparency in reporting. 

·         Lastly, Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish translates to embracing new ideas, eliminating complacency and challenging staff to bring fresh new ideas to the organization. 

Steve Jobs' Leadership Lessons can be applied to all leaders, but I hope the health care perspective helps the leaders at WMHS.