Some of the most difficult moments CEOs have faced in their careers have left them with leadership lessons — including the importance of teamwork and resilience.
Becker’s recently connected with three health system CEOs, who shared what they learned from a challenging time — and what proved to be most important.
1. Collaboration and community. Timothy Pehrson, president and CEO of Oklahoma City-based Integris Health, told Becker’s in April the hardest set of days in his career was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m part of several CEO groups, and we got on Zoom calls to share what was going on in our organization and best practices. One of the things we learned in the pandemic is that we as humans like to be with other humans. Part of that human experience is just knowing that other people are walking the same paths as us and it gives us comfort. That collaboration across the country with other CEOs was super helpful in making that long, two-year day possible to make it through.”
2. Rise to the occasion. Robert Brenner, MD, president and CEO of Paramus, N.J.-based Valley Health System, told Becker’s in May he served as a physician in the Air Force. A few months into active duty, the Gulf War erupted, and he was deployed to Spain.
“In just the eight weeks I was deployed, I learned quite a bit about leadership and how to lead amid profound uncertainty. The stakes were high, so I also learned that even though you may think something’s really challenging, you can rise to the occasion. The other part was the enormity of the situation and the momentum that the military had in a singular mission, and it was humbling. It taught me that in leadership, you can bring people together to move forward with such great momentum, and the power of a team working together.”
3. Resources and support for front-line employees. Rishi Sikka, MD, CEO of Albuquerque, N.M.-based Presbyterian Healthcare Services, told Becker’s in June that working in the emergency department as an emergency medicine physician included some of the hardest days of his career.
“The truth is that when those kinds of hard things happened back then when I was practicing, the only way you got through it was to just get through it. Maybe I could take a minute or two, but I would just suppress it and finish my shift. It wouldn’t be until later on at the end of the day or in the middle of the night — in one instance, it was days later that I had to pull over on the side of the road and just cry. … One of the things that I’m honored we do for our providers and our teams here at Presbyterian is that when something like that happens, you can call a ‘Code Lavender,’ and it leads to an immediate response for resources and emotional support to our teams.”
At Becker's 4th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, taking place November 2–5 in Chicago, more than 1,500 hospital and health system executives tackle decisions that determine whether organizations thrive or merely survive: protecting margins under cost pressure, choosing where to grow, renegotiating payer relationships, stabilizing the workforce and proving real ROI on technology. This is where leaders work through them together, face-to-face. Apply for complimentary registration now.
