"Great organizations are not really led by a single person. One person is the CEO, but the organization won't become great because of that one person. They become great because of the collective work and commitment of the staff that come to work every day."

"I am working on being more effective about scheduling a margin in my calendar for more time to think and explore new ideas. I really admire leaders who have built that margin into their schedules, and it is something I am working to mirror."

"The loss of talent is one of the most damaging occurrences that can happen to an organization. It goes without saying that I spend a lot of my time trying to anticipate employees' needs, developing our leaders and working to ensure we retain our staff. It is one of the reasons I am so passionate about driving employee and physician engagement, as well as combating physician burnout."

"I think it's critical to our well-being to decompress and let things go ... As I'm always telling my kids, you can't obsess over what you can't control. If something doesn't work and you can't control that outcome, you must move on. Otherwise, you get engrossed in what didn't happen and have trouble moving forward."

  "I prefer to be at the practices where I believe the magic happens instead of in meeting rooms."

"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."