I started this weekly blog 7 years ago right before our major Epic go live when I was serving as CIO at University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers. Given my decades of experience in health IT leadership roles, I decided that I had plenty of lessons and experiences to share. A blog seemed like a great forum to do so.

7 years later, I am still writing. I have shared lessons and experiences that have included my interim CIO and CTO engagements at three other healthcare systems since I left Michigan – University Hospitals in Cleveland, Stony Brook Medicine on Long Island, and University of Vermont Health Network. Since March, I have been serving as interim SVP and CIO at Boston Children’s Hospital.

I often wonder how much longer to keep this going. How much more do I have to share and who cares? The feedback and appreciation I get in notes and comments from readers keeps me going. And the topic ideas keep coming.

I was asked recently how I find time to write each week. Good question. I am pretty busy. I am a full-time interim CIO and am helping my colleagues keep things going at our firm, StarBridge Advisors. My response to the question is that I have a lot of ideas and not enough time to write. With this week’s post I am changing when I publish. I will try to write on the weekends and publish early in the week instead of percolate an idea all week and then finally write it Thursday night when I am exhausted.

And while I have a lot of topic ideas, I am definitely open to suggestions from my readers. I was recently asked by a CIO colleague if he could suggest topics – of course I said yes.

At this 7-year mark you might be interested in knowing which posts have gotten the most attention. In the world of social media, keywords, amplification, and cross linking are key. The top 5 most read posts since I started are:

• A passion for health care
• 6 tips for successful huddle boards
• Leadership huddles: not just another meeting
• Where do new ideas come from?
• Importance of rounding or going to the “gemba”

It is worth mentioning that #6 is “New year, next chapter”. When I left my permanent CIO role at Michigan in early 2016 and started down the path of consulting, interim management, and leadership coaching, I guess a lot of people found my transition to be an interesting one.

As I continue to carve out time to write, this excerpt from my blog post, “Time to stop and smell the roses”, from 2015 might resonate with some of you:

“Leaders say they don’t have time to think. It’s one meeting after another, one email after another. Carving out time to look ahead, plan, strategize and think is something we all need to do. Creating routines that include think time, reading, reflection, relaxing and taking care of ourselves is necessary.

When I started blogging a year ago, I wanted to share experiences and lessons with more people. With my 30+ years in health IT management, I saw it as one more way to give back. The weekly routine of writing has also become a reflective discipline. Taking time to pull lessons from events and experiences before they are too far in the rearview mirror and forgotten.”

Finding time to reflect, being a continual learner, and being willing to share and teach others are all part of my ongoing commitment to develop next generation leaders.