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.

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Make your voice heard, your vote counts!

Vote your values

On listening, compassion, and empathy

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In early September, StarBridge Advisors colleague, David Muntz, published a blog “Ring Theory – A Framework for Helping Others”. For me personally, the timing could not have been better.

I was in Europe on a multi-week vacation but calling my sister in Minnesota every day. Her husband had gone into home hospice just before we left for Europe, and we knew it was a matter of time. He passed away on September 16th. I was scheduled to be home from vacation on September 20th. I told her I could come to be with her as soon as I got home. But we agreed that being with her around the time of the memorial service scheduled for a month out would be best.

I recently spent 10 days with her and had time with her two daughters and four teenage grandchildren. While I was there, I tried to be a non-anxious presence and listen a lot. Just as I did when my sister and I had daily phone calls from Europe and when I was back home. Much of what David talked about in his blog post were great reminders on how to be and what to say/not say.

My brother-in-law planned his memorial service over his final months. It was a beautiful service. The theme was love. There were many tears and a few laughs. As my sister said in a Facebook post shortly after he died, “In these last six weeks, he showed us all how to die.  He was ready, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  In his words ‘I’m just leaving the party too soon’.” Each of us will face death at some point.  My brother-in-law did it with grace. And he did it with love for his family.

Over the years I’ve learned how to be a non-anxious presence from my minister husband and have tried to develop my active listening skills, being compassionate and empathic with others. With David’s post, I am adding “ring theory” to my working knowledge. This is an excellent piece and I highly recommend it. As he says at the end, “We all will spend some time in the center (referencing a visual in the post) as the aggrieved or afflicted. Please use Ring Theory to help yourself help someone else. When done well, they will appreciate it; you will appreciate it.”

I have much more to reflect on from my family experience and losing my dear brother-in-law who I knew for 55 years. But for now, I wanted to highlight and share David’s post and encourage you to read it. You never know when you may need it.

More wisdom from one of the best

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We all can point to a few key people in our career who served as mentors. People who believed in us, encouraged us, and guided us when we needed it. For me, there is no question that John Glaser is one of those mentors.

I first met John when I attended the pre-cursor to CHIME’s CIO Boot Camp back in the early 1990s. John was one of the faculty members for the weeklong program. At the time he was CIO at Brigham and Women’s Hospital before it joined with Mass General to form Partners HealthCare (now called Mass General Brigham). I remember sitting next to him at lunch the day he spoke and having an engaging conversation.

I next met John in 1999 when I walked into his office to interview for the CIO position at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. John was then the CIO at Partners HealthCare which had formed in 1995. I recall that first awkward moment. I had just finished reading his first book, “The Strategic Application of Information Technology in Health Care Organizations”. I told him so along with the fact that we had met before at the boot camp. But then I said he probably meets a lot of people so why would he remember me. Awkward opening, right? He said he would be listening to not just what I said but how I said it as personality mattered. And so, the interview commenced……

Fast forward, I was hired and worked for and with John until 2010 when he left to become CEO for Siemens Health Services. For my generation of CIOs, John is a legend. I have learned so much from him over the years and appreciate the support and guidance he gave me, helping me to be successful as a CIO.

Fast forward again, John is what he calls small “r” retired though he appears to be quite busy teaching, writing, and serving on boards. He is Executive in Residence at Harvard Medical School and Program Director, Leading Digital Transformation in Health Care – continuing to teach next generation leaders. His newest book, “Advanced Introduction to Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare” co-authored with Thomas H. Davenport and Elizabeth Gardner was published in August.

John graciously agreed to let me interview him for the This Week Health Town Hall show on the Community Channel. We had a great time talking and covering some very relevant topics – the evolving role of the CIO, new digital advances in healthcare, Artificial Intelligence, and what small “r” retirement means and how to prepare for it. The interview was published this week – check it out here. You’ll learn from one of the best and probably have a few laughs.

Related Posts:

Inspiring and developing new leaders – learning from the best

7 Ways to develop the next generation of leaders

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Importance of community for health IT leaders  

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I am a fan of Bill Russell and his multi-media company This Week Health – today is no exception. Bill had a very insightful and spot-on episode last Friday on isolation and the importance of choosing community –“Isolation Destroys Leaders – Choose Community”. It is worth 15 minutes of your time to listen!

Bill starts with a neighborhood community analogy post Hurricane Ian and goes on to talk about the importance for health IT leaders to fight isolation and be part of a sharing and learning community. He talks about checking your ego and being willing to learn from everyone comparing his 16-hospital health system CIO experience with that of a small community hospital CIO with a staff of less than 10 people. As CIOs they both dealt with the same regulatory environment and set of issues.

He encourages health IT leaders to consider getting a coach and uses a sports analogy to distinguish between a coach and a consultant. And he encourages people to find small peer groups to be part of for ongoing learning and sharing.

One of the common goals Bill and I share is developing next generation leaders. There are many ways to do that, and Bill’s podcasts are one of them – thanks Bill for another great episode!

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The power of your network and learning from others

Considering a coach in 2022?

Different organizations, common IT challenges

 

A post vacation teaser for future posts

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I am just back from a long vacation in Europe. Probably too long away from home but it was wonderful overall. I learned a lot, saw a lot, took hundreds of pix that I now must organize, kept in touch with family back home, and made some new friends.

And I have a lot of takeaways for future blog posts such as:

  • smart technology in everyday life (Europeans seem ahead of us)
  • importance of infrastructure (can’t say enough positives about the train system in Europe)
  • value of language translation tools (Google translate is a great tool for basics)
  • learning value of travel (part of trip was Road Scholar cruise with professors lecturing onboard and local experts on tours)
  • email management (the art of monitoring while on vacation)
  • and yes, some political commentary (Europe knows what it takes to fight fascists and Nazis)

I will be writing some of these posts in the weeks to come as I am still catching up and getting back into work and routines.

I leave you with a quote we saw on a small riverboat in Narbonne, France (which looked like a wonderful place for retirement if you didn’t have family and grandkids you wanted to see often). I used the Google translate app to get this: “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s deadly!”

Related Posts: 

Vacation season reminders for a more balanced life

4 tips when you must work on vacation

Paying it forward with career advice

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I get a lot of calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages asking for career advice. Knowing that people have been very supportive of me over my career, I try to pay it forward. I do a short call, find out where the person is at in their job search and career transition, ask some key questions, and give whatever advice makes sense for their situation. For people I know well and keep in touch with during their search, I often share useful articles that I find. These may include resume writing and layout, prepping for the interview, how to follow-up after the interview, dealing with rejection, how to identify red flags, or building your personal brand.

Many of the resources I have found and shared are from LinkedIn which as we all know is the “go to” for professional networking and content.

A Fortune article by Jennifer Mizgata in March of this year addresses a key question many people are faced with – “Should I take a fancy new career opportunity or stick with the old job I still like?”.  In it she references a great HBR piece, “A Scorecard to Help You Compare Two Jobs”, written in 2017 by a former colleague of mine from Mass General, Allison Rimm. It includes a scorecard tool similar to one I have used when doing career coaching.

I’ve written a lot on career management over the years. My post, “Career advice revisited” from May 2021 has links to most of them. Check it out and share with anyone you know who might find it helpful. In other words, let’s pay it forward!

Note – I am taking a short break from writing new posts over the next month. With all the blog posts I’ve written over the past 8 years, I’m using this break to share some of my “classics”. Thank you for being a subscriber – I hope you will encourage your colleagues to subscribe in the coming year.