Lessons from the road

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This is not a consultant’s or salesperson’s road warrior set of lessons. But rather observations and a few life lessons after a two-day drive home from Florida to Massachusetts. While my husband napped during one of my driving shifts, I had plenty of quiet time to think and observe. Here goes on my lessons from the road:

  • Without the big picture and context, it’s easy to make a mistake. That’s what happened when going around Washington DC day two. I lacked context for the different options. I took an exit based on how I interpreted the signage that caused us to get rerouted and sit in the rush hour traffic we were trying to avoid.
  • You need to ask yourself if shortcuts are worth it and at what cost if you are unsure of the outcome. Near DC, I took the express lane with high tolls when I wasn’t sure if I could exit in time for the next highway that I was supposed to take. My goal was to avoid DC rush hour traffic as much as possible, so it seemed worth it.
  • Estimated hours and schedules for anything is just that, an estimate. You never know what obstacles will get in the way to change it. Watching the ETA on your navigation system can give hope until you run into heavy traffic, accidents, or construction work and the ETA starts bouncing around. We ran into so much of all this on the way down to Florida that we had two 15 hour driving days instead of what was expected to be closer to two 10-hour days.
  • Alerts are great for awareness and/or taking action but you never know the true impact until you get in the middle of the situation. Our map/navigation app gives crash and hazard alerts, whether they have been cleared yet or not, and the number of minutes delay they will cause. In most cases, the delay was far longer than the initial alert said it would be.
  • The higher you go in an organization, the more uncertainty you face requiring a steady hand and focus on the goal. On the way home, we decided to take a route that avoided the big Northeast cities and all their traffic even if it meant more miles. At one point driving through Pennsylvania, we had about 45 minutes at 1600 feet altitude with very heavy fog and near zero visibility. My husband’s steady hand on the wheel was reassuring.
  • Everyone you talk to will have an opinion or advice, but you must decide what is right for you. People who make this trip regularly are willing to start off in the middle of the night to avoid rush hour in a big city. That so didn’t sound like something we would do so we left early morning each day.
  • Even two people make a team and teamwork is critical. Friends who have done this drive talk about doing 5 hour driving shifts before taking a break. Not us. My husband and I would drive as long as we each were comfortable and switched drivers often making our pit stops as efficient as we could. Fortunately, our two furry team members were perfect in the back seat – happily sleeping in between each stop.
  • Technology has changed the way we live and travel – duh! I’m old enough to remember when we used a paper trip tik book from AAA for family vacations as a kid. Probably many of you are old enough to remember when we used to have spiral bound paper map books for a state or city with the tiniest of print. Now we rely on smart car navigation systems and apps on our iPhones.

We spent two relaxing weeks visiting friends at their condo overlooking the ocean. The balcony was an awesome office with a view for keeping up on email each day and doing some time sensitive work calls. Daily morning beach walks and afternoon pickleball, lovely sunsets and moonrises, a few museums and some shopping, and seeing a midnight space launch from a 35 miles distance down the coast. Our two dogs behaved and got along well with their two dogs. Good news – we’re invited back next year. Now that we’ve done the long drive that many northerners do in the winter months to spend time in sunny Florida, we know what it takes and learned a few travel and life lessons along the way.

End of year thoughts and advice for 2023

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This week in between holidays is a time when leaders may be working a more relaxed schedule and planning for the coming year. When I was a full-time CIO, I appreciated this last week of the year with few to no meetings and the opportunity to cleanup, catchup, and prepare for the new year.

While the past three years have at times been a blur as I try to recall when certain pandemic related events and changes happened, and the political discourse is incredibly discouraging at times, I remain optimistic about our collective future.

Health IT leaders will continue to face staffing challenges and cost constraints as organizations are under increased financial pressures. The successful health IT leaders in 2023 will be those who can partner effectively with their peers as a member of the executive team, support their organization’s strategic priorities and goals, find ways to reduce costs without reducing services, create flexible work environments with workforce strategies that ensure the best talent on the team, and embrace new and innovative technologies that solve real problems and improve the patient, clinician, and employee experience.

As in previous years, my StarBridge Advisors colleague, David Muntz, has again written an excellent year end blog – 12 Steps to Prepare for 2023 – Big Challenges – Bigger Opportunities. His 12 steps are worth considering as you plan for 2023. And his intro is a powerful reminder of why we work in healthcare and the kind of people we should strive to be in all our interactions:

“Healthcare is a people business.  We need to remind ourselves and our coworkers that mercy and compassion, not anger, define our profession and us as professionals.  We need to model mercy and compassion in our personal lives, in our interpersonal relationships, not just with family and friends, but with strangers and, equally important, our coworkers and business partners.  One way to do that is through genuine listening in pursuit of true understanding – so easy to say, so difficult to do.  Give others an avenue to express themselves.   For your own sake, lower your defenses.  As you create a list of resolutions for the new year, please add to it active and courageous listening, building trust, and treating everyone with kindness.”

May your 2023 be a healthy, peaceful year filled with kindness!

Grief and loss during the holidays

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In this Season of Gratitude as we celebrate holidays with family and friends, I am mindful that it can be a very difficult time for people who are grieving. A particular holiday song can be a trigger, decorations can be a trigger, just about anything can be a trigger. Whether it’s been a few weeks or many years since losing a loved one, holiday times can be especially difficult.

Being mindful of what others may be experiencing is so important. I won’t pretend to be an expert in helping people process their grief, but I have certainly experienced it this year with family members. Being aware of what they are going through, letting them talk openly about it, and just listening is my best advice. There are no right words.

While social media can be a pit of negativity, there are also bright spots of inspiration and positive messaging. I saw something on Facebook recently and shared it with my sister whose husband passed away in September. Healing Hugs (a non-profit organization that helps support parents who have lost children) shared these words from Angela Miller, founder of the grief organization, A Bed for My Heart:

There are no rules for surviving holiday grief.

Do what you need to do to survive.

Honor your loved one how you need to, and do what feels best for your fragile, aching heart.

You are missing a huge piece of you, so do whatever you need to do to find a sliver of peace.

I also saw something shared on Facebook about holiday host etiquette from Sarah Nannen who writes about the paradoxes we face in life, grief, motherhood, and our shared humanity:

If you’re inviting someone to your home and they’re grieving, be sure you’re inviting their grief to attend, too. It will be there, anyway.

Don’t invite someone with the goal of cheering them up for the holidays. Don’t expect them to put on a happy face in your home. Don’t demand they fake it til they make it or do something they don’t want to do, either.

Invite them with the loving intention of offering cheer and companionship and unconditional care during the holidays. To do this, you will need to honor and be responsive to their needs and emotions. Continue reading →

Ban books? No, encourage young readers

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It’s that time of year – whatever holiday you celebrate during this Season of Gratitude there is likely some gift giving involved. You may have an obligatory attitude of just getting it done or (hopefully) a more positive giving attitude spending time selecting thoughtful and more personalized gifts. When I had leadership teams reporting to me, I would give them a book each year. It was often the hardest gift to buy – deciding on the perfect book that they would all like. Over the years, my books included some of the best titles on innovation, leadership, technology, public health and more.

Now my holiday gift book buying is all for younger people. In addition to the one big gift for each of my grandchildren, I get them a book. I will be starting two of them on the “National Geographic Kids Almanac 2023” this year – it is filled with information on animals, science, nature, technology, conservation, and more.  I bought “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Inspiring Young Changemakers” for one of the granddaughters at my daughter’s suggestion. I was delighted to get the suggestion as I have been patiently waiting for my granddaughters to be old enough so I could start buying some of the feminist books for girls I see in bookstores. And for my grandson who loves all sports and is learning to read, I’m getting a fun story he should like – “The Dog That Stole Football Plays”. The football player on the cover has a “Jets” jersey on and that happens to be the name of my grandson’s flag football team. Hoping he loves the story, and it encourages him to read more!

I have another book buying annual holiday tradition that continues. I buy a book for each of my grandnephews and grandnieces back home in Minneapolis where I’m from and where my siblings and their families all live. That group is older – mostly teenagers. So, we have progressed over the years from picture books when they were little to books focused on their interests including baseball, ballet, and opera during middle school years, to more scholarly and political books now that they are in high school. For example – “A Choice of Weapons” by Gordon Parks, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas”, and “The 48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene. I count on my three nieces to help me with recommendations and to understand their kids’ evolving interests. The grandnephew who wanted baseball books when he was younger is now into Nordic skiing and heavy metal with his own band. Yes, with my sister’s (their grandmother) help, I found a book he will like.

I can’t talk about nurturing young readers without mentioning the current banned books controversy that goes hand in hand with concerns about teaching critical race theory and talking about LGBTQ. Continue reading →

From an oversubscribed podcast fan

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If you’re a podcast listener like me, you probably have subscribed to a lot of different podcasts. You get a recommendation from a friend or colleague, somehow you hear about a new podcast on a topic of interest, so you search for it and subscribe. At least that’s what I do. It results in being way oversubscribed. Let’s be honest, you can only listen to so many different podcasts regularly whether on your commute, when you’re working out, or walking the dogs.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the This Week Health channels. I subscribe to all three – Newsroom, Community, and Conference. I am a regular listener of the Daily News shows on Newsroom to keep up and because they are nice and short – about 10-15 minutes each except for the Monday show. I listen to many of the Community Town Hall interviews and humbly note that I’m one of the hosts committed to doing one a month. My interviews so far this year have included John Glaser, Kisha Hawthorn, Lisa Stump, Scott MacLean, and Pamela Arora – leaders in our industry you probably recognize.

Since it’s conference season, Bill Russell and his team at This Week in Health have been doing the Interviews in Action series again – 10-15 minute interviews with many health IT leaders which can be found on the Community channel.

If you want to keep up and learn from others, check them out and encourage your team to listen as well. As in past years, Bill will be doing the end of year highlights shows – they are a great way to introduce others to these podcasts. There will even be one with all the Town Hall hosts covering highlights from our interviews this year. And as Bill has done every year for the past 5 years (congrats Bill on an awesome 5 years!!), we can count on tweaks to current channels and maybe some new programs in the coming year.

Back to the oversubscribed challenge and a bit of a diversion. Continue reading →

Grateful for the love of family, savoring the moments

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What can I say at Thanksgiving this year that is new and unique? How about the fact that two of the biggest birds I’ve ever seen flew by my home office window yesterday? You guessed it, they were wild turkeys. Yes, we live in a more rural area now. In fact, last year while the dogs and I watched two wild turkeys strut along behind our townhouse (you can imagine what the dogs thought….lot of yelping through the window), my husband who was on a conference call later told me he saw a third one up in a tree wondering how it got there and not looking very elegant as it tried to get out.

On the turkey cooking front, we had to cook ours yesterday, two days in advance with a plan to reheat it on Thanksgiving when the family arrives. Why? There were no frozen turkeys at the store and buying a fresh one 4 days in advance we have learned is too far – google says cook within a day or two. Guess that’s my health angle for this post – not serving my family old fowl that will make them sick, and my technology angle – depending on the power of google to ask any question and get an answer. The downside is when everyone arrives, we won’t have that wonderful turkey cooking in the oven fragrance throughout the house. There’s an idea for a candle maker! But the upside is more room in the single oven to reheat the side dishes our daughters are bringing.

I’ve said to a few people that we’re ready for plenty of chaos as the six adults will be outnumbered by our four grandkids and three dogs including a very active 7-month-old puppy that is bigger than both our 3- and 14-year-old little dogs. But it will be wonderful, loving, family chaos. The best kind!

10 years ago on Thanksgiving I was on baby watch. I had just moved to Ann Arbor for my new CIO job and was living alone for 9 weeks. My first grandchild was due any day out in California. Continue reading →

Reflections on recent career conversations

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I’ve often written about career advice. After talking to several people in transition while I was at the CHIME 2022 Fall Forum last week, I decided it’s a good time to revisit the topic. Here are some of those interactions – anonymized of course – followed by my general advice given the common themes:

  • I asked a colleague who I knew was unhappy with their situation a few years ago how things are going these days. I got the same response as before – still unhappy. I say, time to do something about it. No one should stay in an organization or position where they are truly unhappy if there are options out there.
  • I met a CIO whose position was eliminated due to a merger. While actively looking for the next position, there are concerns that lacking Epic experience at the CIO level is an obstacle. Yes, there are benefits to having worked with a particular vendor and understanding the challenges and issues with their products and services but as I like to say, the CIO is not doing report writing in the tool so in the end, does specific vendor experience matter?
  • I met a CIO who is concerned about ageism. Will they be given a chance if they are 60 years old? There are laws against age discrimination but unfortunately, we know it’s a reality. I say go for it and focus on your experience.
  • I spoke with someone who is mid-career and unhappy in their current organization given cultural issues and limited opportunities. They are actively looking at a wide range of options as they should be.
  • I got an email from someone at a vendor whose position was eliminated and wanted help networking. I connected that person with someone who is well connected in that specific part of our industry.
  • I spoke to a couple CIOs who have retirement dates set. They will be thinking about the next chapter and whether to go cold turkey or stay involved in some way. The beauty of that phase is you can pick and choose, say “yes” to what you are passionate about and “no” to what you no longer want to do.
  • I spoke to a CIO who isn’t ready to retire but is open to working less and considering alternatives. This may be a growing trend after the pace and demands of the past few years.

And I spent time with some of the people I have formally coached in recent years. Hearing how they are doing and seeing how they have grown in their roles and careers is very rewarding. I’m honored that I helped in some small way. Continue reading →

CHIME Fall Forum 2022 – it’s a wrap!

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This week was my first in-person conference with CIO colleagues since Spring 2019. The CHIME Fall Forum is an annual gathering of health IT leaders, and this year is the 30th Anniversary of CHIME. Prior to the pandemic, I’ve attended CHIME fall forums almost every year since 2000 when I first joined CHIME. It was so good to again see friends and colleagues I’ve known for decades and finally meet in-person new colleagues and connections I’ve only known via Zoom for the past few years. There is nothing quite like in-person events for networking and informal conversations with colleagues. Kudos to the entire CHIME staff and board who did an excellent job once again!

From the DEI retreat on Monday to the League of Women’s luncheon and track sessions on Tuesday, to the somewhat creepy humanoid robot interview that CHIME CEO Russ Branzell so patiently did as the keynote on Tuesday, to the insightful “CHIME 30th Anniversary – Past, Present, Future” keynote panel on Wednesday, to the inspiring keynote from Carey Lohrenz on Thursday, and all the track sessions and receptions in between….it was a great few days in San Antonio.

I’ve been involved in the CHIME DEI Committee for the past two years. The panels at the DEI Retreat on Techquity and Next-Gen Leadership generated lively discussion amongst the diverse group of attendees. Kudos to Sheree McFarland, CIO West Florida at HCA, and Cletis Earle, SVP and CIO at Penn State Health, who co-chair the DEI Committee with support from the CHIME staff.

The CHIME League of Women track sessions covered a range of topics aimed at encouraging women to lean into leadership roles and take career risks. These were standing room only sessions – a diverse, multi-generation group of women attended with many male allies. Personal journeys and challenges faced were openly shared by the panelists. Kudos to Sheree McFarland and Sarah Richardson, SVP & Chief Digital and Information Officer at Tivity Health, for their leadership to the League of Women.

Past board chairs in attendance took the stage at the opening session to be recognized.  I am grateful for their contributions and leadership over the years. 25 of the past board chairs over CHIME’s first 30 years are white men. Seeing them on stage together was a stark contrast to the diverse group at the DEI retreat and the League of Women’s sessions. Change is happening and health IT leaders are becoming a more diverse and representative group. Continue reading →

Remember what our parents taught us – civility and respect

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Last week I wrote about exercising our right to vote. With the mid-term election dominating the news it’s hard to think about much else. With the brutal attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, the threat of political violence during this election season is heightened. The amount of disinformation and baseless conspiracies are contributing to the situation. And bullying behavior that you wouldn’t tolerate from your boss or co-worker, or from your kid’s teacher or coach is somehow acceptable coming from elected officials and candidates for office.

As we approach Election Day, I go back to civility and respect. Basics that seem to be lost in the recent years. Civility and respect are important and necessary in our everyday lives and discourse, be it with family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, or people we know only as a name and social media account online.

With no new novel message on this, I’m asking you to revisit two of my posts in recent years that highlighted the need for civility and decency drawing on comments from well-known healthcare leader, Michael Dowling, President & CEO of Northwell Health – “Towards a more civil society” and “The healing power of humanity”.

Be kind, be respectful, and be sure to vote your values!

Time to exercise your right to vote

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It is less than two weeks to election day. I voted early yesterday at my city hall since I will be at the CHIME Fall Forum in San Antonio on election day, November 8. I hope my colleagues who are attending and everyone else reading this who can’t vote in person on election day has a plan to vote early in-person or will mail-in their ballot.

Voter intimidation is real. Already we hear candidates saying the election is rigged – their way of saying they won’t accept a loss. Voting is your fundamental right as a citizen. Voting rights were fought for by our ancestors. We can’t take this right for granted. And we can’t be intimidated.

It is encouraging to see long lines for early voting in swing states with tight races. And it is more encouraging to know that early voting is outpacing 2018 levels by one million. As of last night, 13.6 million people have voted compared to 12.6 million in 2018.

What is at stake in the midterm elections? A lot! I’ve commented in previous posts on reproductive care and a woman’s right to choose (A step backwards), same sex marriage (Marriage equality, it’s personal), and common-sense gun control (When is enough enough?). It should be no surprise that I voted a straight Democratic ticket up and down the ballot.

I won’t tell you how to vote. But I encourage you to exercise your right to vote and to vote your values. Your vote matters!

Resources:

I will vote – website where you can select your state, make sure you’re registered to vote, then choose how you’re going to vote this year. Also has a hotline number to call with questions.

When we all vote – is a leading national, nonpartisan initiative on a mission to change the culture around voting and to increase participation in each and every election by helping to close the race and age gap. Website has useful information on your voting rights and provides an Election Protection Hotline to report voting issues.

Related posts:

Make your voice heard, your vote counts!

Vote your values