"I'm a big believer in management by wandering, so I will often leave my office a bit early and pop into different departments on my way to a meeting. I'll often round for 15 to 20 minutes on my way to meetings, because there is always a lot to see, a lot to learn and a great chance to refine my thinking by observing what happens on the front line by talking to patients and staff."

"Working at home is a reality of this job, so I'll often play catch-up at night, but I try to keep it reasonable — for my family and myself. If my team members feel compelled to work at home, I encourage them to set limits, too."

"Building energy and camaraderie within your team is so important in healthcare, because we have tough jobs. I always tell people that nobody coming into our building is typically having a good day and it's up to us to make a difference. We should be honored to have that opportunity."

"There's a piece of advice I received from a board chairman when I started my career: to live your life like you're riding an elevator … he told me if you want to be a successful executive, you must live your life in an elevator, so you are connecting at every level of the organization."

"Healthcare is always going through a lot of change, and sometimes employees, managers and even physicians think we are making those changes because somebody in administration decided it's the right thing to do. The reality is, we're reacting to what's changing in the marketplace or what we believe will be coming in the marketplace. If we don't adjust fast enough then it will negatively affect our organization and employees."

"I'm firm believer that as leaders, there's certain work that we need to be in the driver's seat conducting. We can't delegate all of it."

"I realized over time that being successful as a CEO is to be able to work very quickly and transition quickly from issue to issue."

"I think gratitude and focusing on the little things is really important for leaders. From my vantage point, it's important to focus on things that need to be fixed and where you want to head, and it's important to be appreciative of the things that are going right. We have to find the right balance between those two."

"I do snack rounds at least once a month, where I take some goodies out, visit a floor and just talk to people. I think I'm highly visible and engaged with my frontline team because I recognize their importance to the organization."

"Time is a very precious resource. Time enables or disables communication between people, and we all know that leadership is all about communication. The day's schedule has to accommodate the freedom to enable interpersonal communication."

  "I think visibility is important, but I think you have to be visible in a way that you're comfortable with. So, I do two things. I do skip-a-level meetings every week, which is when I'll go and I'll meet with the direct report of one of my direct reports at their place of work."

"The most rewarding part of the day is when I am heading home, and I know things are working as designed. It's knowing that the people and staff are in a good place and I'm leaving the university and medical center in a better place than where we started."

"There aren't really typical days when you're a clinical leader in a 974-bed hospital. There's really no such thing as 'typical.'"

"The needs of patients don't really fit into an eight-hour day, and the responsibility we have as leaders doesn't either. Leadership is largely about communication, and it doesn't fit neatly into a workday, especially in a patient care environment." 

"The most rewarding part of my day is usually at 8:45 a.m., when I hear a report of all zeros on the five safety metrics we focus on." 

"When I became CEO, which was not in my career plan, I was chief of surgery. The executive suite was on the fifth floor, and I felt that that didn't necessarily fit with my style. So I moved my office down beside the cafeteria, right in the center of the hospital."

"The way the AHA works — you spend a year as chair elect, then you spend a year as the chair, and finally you spend a year as the past chair. The time obligation is pretty significant and it's not just the travel piece, it's participating in a lot of calls and making sure you're staying on top of the issues we're facing as an industry. In my year as chair elect, I'm on the road probably two to three times a month."

"I'm an early bird, so I try to get to bed on time because having enough sleep is important. That is something I've learned as an executive. As a leader you meet hundreds and hundreds of people a day, and every interaction you have with folks is being measured and perceived differently. These conversations may be just one conversation out of dozens and dozens in a day for me, but to the person I'm speaking with it may be the most important conversation they will have in an entire year."  

"When I do meet in person with my direct reports, I hold what are called performance management meetings where we cover a wide range of topics. We each come in with an agenda and after every meeting I personally type up a summary including to-do lists, what's next for them and timeframes. It's a way we stay connected and clear on what was said in the meeting and it cuts down miscommunications."