Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Michael Gentry on Leadership, Balance and Risk

Transcript

Michael Gentry on Leadership, Balance and Risk · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - There's a small circle of people who truly
• 0:04
  - understand what it takes to lead a health
• 0:05
  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
• 0:11
  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
• 0:14
  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
• 0:17
  - And it's why the most effective c suite
• 0:19
  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
• 0:21
  - pressure test their thinking.
• 0:22
  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
• 0:26
  - brings together more than 1,500
• 0:28
  - executive level attendees
• 0:30
  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
• 0:32
  - around growth, financial sustainability,
• 0:35
  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
• 0:38
  - have easy answers.
• 0:39
  - Join us November second through the fifth in
• 0:41
  - Chicago.
• 0:42
  - For the agenda and event details,
• 0:45
  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:47
  - and click on the events tab in the
• 0:49
  - upper right.
• 0:50
  - Welcome to this episode of Leadership Unscripted, a
• 0:52
  - Becker's health care podcast. I'm Chris Sosa, your
• 0:55
  - host, and I'm joined to be joined today
• 0:56
  - by Mike Gentry. He, of course, is CEO
• 0:58
  - of Kettering Health in Ohio.
• 1:00
  - Mike, thank you for joining us today.
• 1:02
  - Chris, good to spend some time with you
• 1:04
  - this afternoon.
• 1:05
  - Fantastic. I'm looking forward to learning all about
• 1:07
  - your health care journey and what you wanna
• 1:09
  - share with your peers.
• 1:10
  - But before we get into that, could you
• 1:12
  - introduce yourself a little more fully and and
• 1:15
  - give us a little bit more about Kettering
• 1:16
  - Health in particular?
• 1:18
  - Sure. Kettering Health, about eight hospitals here. We're
• 1:21
  - about
• 1:22
  - centered in Dayton and maybe a 60 mile
• 1:24
  - radius around Dayton in, Southwest Ohio
• 1:27
  - and, about 15,000 team members. And it's really
• 1:30
  - a wonderful organization.
• 1:32
  - Started
• 1:33
  - in the nineteen sixties. And so just great
• 1:35
  - group of people here trying to work together
• 1:37
  - and take care of folks in Southwest Ohio.
• 1:41
  - Wonderful. Well, as I said at the top,
• 1:42
  - we just wanna get into your health care
• 1:44
  - journey now that you've been doing this for
• 1:46
  - a while and talk about, you know, the
• 1:48
  - things that are important to you as far
• 1:50
  - as the decisions you're making and how you
• 1:53
  - help people every day. So where we wanna
• 1:55
  - start? Simply, what is something that you've learned
• 1:58
  - outside of health care that you've applied to
• 1:59
  - your career?
• 2:01
  - My first three
• 2:03
  - positions
• 2:04
  - after college were all in manufacturing.
• 2:07
  - And so I sort of slid into health
• 2:09
  - care,
• 2:10
  - somewhat unexpectedly.
• 2:11
  - But I think in those roles, in a
• 2:13
  - couple of those roles, maybe two things stand
• 2:15
  - out. One
• 2:17
  - is observing people that do really well with
• 2:20
  - repetition.
• 2:20
  - And so, you know, one of those roles,
• 2:23
  - was more assembly
• 2:25
  - line like
• 2:26
  - and and
• 2:27
  - becoming aware that some individuals
• 2:29
  - really want
• 2:30
  - things done the same way
• 2:33
  - and over and over again.
• 2:35
  - And recognizing that was not me,
• 2:38
  - but some people had extraordinary talent and ability
• 2:41
  - to to handle that type of work.
• 2:44
  - And that just stood out because I realized
• 2:46
  - I needed variety at work, and I didn't
• 2:48
  - want the same thing all the time.
• 2:50
  - And then, secondly,
• 2:52
  - the way
• 2:53
  - the way different managers
• 2:55
  - interacted with,
• 2:57
  - team members.
• 2:58
  - Some some people had, you know, sort of
• 3:01
  - a command and control
• 3:03
  - model.
• 3:04
  - Others were very relational, kind of some in
• 3:06
  - the middle. And I saw all three styles
• 3:09
  - or, you know, more than three, really, but
• 3:11
  - multiple styles work.
• 3:13
  - And, and just was able to observe that
• 3:16
  - things really only go off the rails
• 3:18
  - when people believe you stop caring about them.
• 3:21
  - But there's a great deal of latitude
• 3:24
  - for how to be successful in management with
• 3:27
  - a lot of different styles
• 3:29
  - provided the folks that we work with believe
• 3:32
  - that they care about us
• 3:34
  - and and are interested in our welfare. And
• 3:36
  - so I think those were the two significant
• 3:38
  - walkaways before I got to health
• 3:41
  - care. That makes a lot of sense, Mike.
• 3:43
  - So as far as the repetition
• 3:45
  - aspect is concerned, where do you find that
• 3:47
  - particularly useful in your job right now? Even
• 3:50
  - I know you said it's not you necessarily,
• 3:52
  - but is there something where you think, you
• 3:54
  - know what? Yeah. It is good to do
• 3:55
  - this the same thing pretty much every day.
• 3:57
  - Oh, it's attention to detail. That is not
• 4:00
  - my strength, but it is so important,
• 4:03
  - tremendously important,
• 4:05
  - and especially related to safety practices.
• 4:09
  - And so remembering how individuals that would do
• 4:12
  - the same thing in a repetitive manner, and
• 4:15
  - they had multiple steps. And, you know, whether
• 4:17
  - they're, you know, in a manufacturing environment, there
• 4:20
  - are sequential steps to take, and you want
• 4:22
  - the product to come out be exactly the
• 4:24
  - same every time,
• 4:26
  - and you apply that to sort of our
• 4:28
  - safety thoughts and processes,
• 4:30
  - there's a great parallel there. And so something
• 4:32
  - that I came to realize was so important,
• 4:35
  - I didn't necessarily excel at it. But just
• 4:38
  - because you don't naturally have the talent in
• 4:40
  - something doesn't mean it's not really important or,
• 4:43
  - you know, valuable.
• 4:45
  - Certainly. Certainly. Thank you for expounding on that.
• 4:48
  - So Mike, my next question for you is,
• 4:49
  - you know, as a CEO or any leader
• 4:51
  - of any organization, really, you gotta keep yourself
• 4:53
  - healthy. You gotta do that physically, emotionally, mentally,
• 4:57
  - all those aspects.
• 4:59
  - How does that process work for you? How
• 5:00
  - does it look for you?
• 5:02
  - Well, your question has a bias that I
• 5:05
  - do it. So I
• 5:07
  - Fair enough. I appreciate
• 5:09
  - I appreciate those positive spin on the question.
• 5:12
  - Years ago, I heard someone speaking and it
• 5:15
  - was it was an individual that I respected.
• 5:17
  - I didn't know them well, but I respected,
• 5:18
  - you know, somebody that, you know, was in
• 5:21
  - in the health care field, ran a health
• 5:22
  - system.
• 5:23
  - And
• 5:24
  - the individual said, you know, you're not gonna
• 5:27
  - be in balance all the time.
• 5:29
  - You need to be cautious of being out
• 5:31
  - of balance for a prolonged
• 5:33
  - period of time.
• 5:35
  - I think that really helped me because I
• 5:38
  - thought, okay. I've got a routine,
• 5:40
  - and I can't always stick to that routine,
• 5:43
  - or I choose not to stick to it
• 5:45
  - for a variety of reasons because sometimes
• 5:48
  - sticking to the re routine is more stressful
• 5:50
  - than bouncing out of it.
• 5:52
  - And maybe that goes to a little bit
• 5:54
  - of my desire for variability in life. But
• 5:57
  - in general, to recognize
• 5:59
  - there are some things that we can do
• 6:01
  - to take care of ourselves, you know, and
• 6:03
  - and the most obvious is sleep,
• 6:05
  - diet, exercise.
• 6:06
  - And then the other one that's maybe less
• 6:08
  - obvious that we're all more aware of now
• 6:10
  - are relationships.
• 6:12
  - And so I think, you know, you can
• 6:14
  - quarter in your mind, think about bar graphs,
• 6:17
  - and think where are you in each of
• 6:18
  - those categories,
• 6:19
  - and get a sense of how you're doing.
• 6:21
  - And then be aware,
• 6:24
  - am I in
• 6:25
  - a drought
• 6:26
  - of being out of balance? Has this gone
• 6:28
  - on for more than a week or two
• 6:29
  - weeks?
• 6:30
  - I was just talking to a colleague,
• 6:32
  - a few days ago, and he said I've
• 6:34
  - been redlined for eight months.
• 6:37
  - And I thought, okay. Yeah. I'm gonna call
• 6:39
  - him up later and kinda check-in on the
• 6:41
  - guy. But,
• 6:43
  - and so to me, having a sense of
• 6:45
  - balance
• 6:46
  - over time
• 6:47
  - is the way that I try and approach
• 6:49
  - being healthy.
• 6:51
  - That's a very interesting perspective. Like, yeah, I
• 6:53
  - had not heard that's
• 6:55
  - that part about how
• 6:56
  - sometimes staying in your routine
• 6:59
  - is harder
• 7:00
  - is a harder aspect of it. Yeah. That's
• 7:02
  - that's how did you come to learn that?
• 7:04
  - I mean, I know you mentioned that you
• 7:06
  - you, you know, you had someone
• 7:08
  - mention that to you, but how did you
• 7:10
  - come to learn and apply that to your
• 7:12
  - own life?
• 7:14
  - When I was younger, I had a boss
• 7:15
  - that complimented me for keeping multiple balls in
• 7:18
  - the air. And I remember he told me
• 7:20
  - that, I thought, I actually wasn't doing that
• 7:22
  - very well, but he thought I was. And
• 7:24
  - I didn't I didn't
• 7:26
  - I didn't debate him and say, no. Actually,
• 7:28
  - you're wrong. You know?
• 7:30
  - But it caused me to realize
• 7:32
  - the importance
• 7:34
  - of sequencing my work
• 7:37
  - and in my time and attention and sequencing
• 7:39
  - and prioritizing in a way that match the
• 7:42
  - expectations and needs of the organization.
• 7:45
  - And I thought if I can do that
• 7:47
  - and sort of stay in front
• 7:49
  - of,
• 7:50
  - you know, the quadrant that people have in
• 7:52
  - their minds that are it's urgent and important,
• 7:55
  - and then important, but not urgent, and then
• 7:57
  - not important urgent. That, you know, that little
• 8:00
  - quadrant.
• 8:02
  - And I thought I need to make sure
• 8:04
  - that I don't live
• 8:05
  - in
• 8:06
  - the important and urgent, or not important and
• 8:09
  - urgent category. And so just like those earlier
• 8:12
  - bar graphs in my head I talked about
• 8:14
  - for balance, I think about that with my
• 8:16
  - time.
• 8:17
  - And I think, what do I need to
• 8:19
  - do
• 8:20
  - this week so that two, three, four, five
• 8:22
  - weeks from now,
• 8:24
  - I stay out of that urgent mode? Because
• 8:26
  - most of the time, you can see difficulty
• 8:29
  - coming at you. Not always, but most of
• 8:32
  - the time you can.
• 8:34
  - Got it.
• 8:35
  - Mike, you mentioned, also,
• 8:37
  - your friend who unfortunately has been redlining for
• 8:40
  - for eight months now.
• 8:43
  - It's always important to
• 8:45
  - find time to reach out to your colleagues
• 8:47
  - and and make sure they're doing okay.
• 8:50
  - Along those lines, you're gonna have tough days
• 8:52
  - yourself.
• 8:54
  - Right? There's and they're unavoidable. Right? So
• 8:57
  - when those days happen,
• 8:59
  - how are you looking to move forward? Who
• 9:01
  - do you turn to? What do you do?
• 9:04
  - I used to call my dad. I was
• 9:06
  - blessed. I had a great dad. He used
• 9:08
  - to call my dad. He's passed away.
• 9:10
  - And so I would say I went through
• 9:12
  - a period of time where I just looked
• 9:14
  - at the mirror, didn't call anybody.
• 9:16
  - And then over time,
• 9:19
  - got better at talking to colleagues at work,
• 9:23
  - you know, because you don't want to be
• 9:25
  - somebody that is that has an appearance of
• 9:28
  - being fragile because,
• 9:30
  - you know, that's just not terribly helpful for
• 9:31
  - you or for anybody else. On the flip
• 9:34
  - side,
• 9:35
  - you can frame up questions that are not
• 9:37
  - about your needs,
• 9:38
  - but you can frame up a question that's
• 9:40
  - more objective and almost third party
• 9:43
  - to say, in this situation,
• 9:45
  - in this dynamic, what are some thoughts? How
• 9:47
  - would you approach it?
• 9:48
  - And and so that way, it doesn't attract
• 9:50
  - attention to yourself,
• 9:52
  - but you can hear input from others. And
• 9:55
  - so I think
• 9:56
  - either I either I pause and think, okay,
• 9:58
  - I'll just figure this out myself, or I
• 10:00
  - try and think,
• 10:01
  - who are the people with the personality types
• 10:04
  - that I work with that have natural skills
• 10:07
  - in this area? And then I usually go
• 10:09
  - by and, you know, talk to them and
• 10:11
  - run some questions by them. But I but
• 10:13
  - rarely do they tell them it's my concern.
• 10:16
  - Now maybe, you know, that's that's probably some
• 10:18
  - other issue, I'm sure. But I just I
• 10:21
  - have a hesitancy.
• 10:24
  - You you don't want to burden people with
• 10:26
  - your concerns, but they can help you without
• 10:28
  - it being personal.
• 10:30
  - Yeah. I appreciate you sharing that, Mike. It's
• 10:32
  - that's a definitely
• 10:34
  - a a little bit different way that I've
• 10:36
  - heard some CEOs and not that everyone's the
• 10:38
  - same. They're certainly not. Yeah. Yeah. But but
• 10:40
  - yeah. I mean, certainly, that is something that
• 10:42
  - you find helpful, and and I'm glad certainly
• 10:44
  - that your colleagues are able to help you
• 10:46
  - through whatever
• 10:47
  - it is you're dealing with that day. I'm
• 10:49
  - sure they're happy to help you do it
• 10:50
  - as well. But yeah. I mean so let's
• 10:52
  - flip that for a second there. So when
• 10:55
  - a colleague comes to you with any sort
• 10:58
  - of issue, right,
• 11:00
  - how do you find it best to go
• 11:02
  - about helping them?
• 11:04
  - I start generally just like I would for
• 11:06
  - myself. I start with context
• 11:08
  - and and really to to context in two
• 11:11
  - areas. One,
• 11:13
  - to understand the magnitude of the concern that
• 11:16
  - the individual has
• 11:18
  - and why, if it's a significant if it's
• 11:20
  - a DEFCON for a moment,
• 11:22
  - why?
• 11:23
  - You know? So just objectively, what's causing the
• 11:26
  - level of concern? And so,
• 11:29
  - I think that's extremely helpful because and then,
• 11:32
  - you know, to be pretty open and find
• 11:34
  - out, are are you looking for any counselor,
• 11:36
  - or do you just want me to basically
• 11:38
  - remind you I'm your friend and support you?
• 11:40
  - Yeah. Because sometimes people just wanna vent or
• 11:43
  - be heard.
• 11:44
  - Right. So just to check-in and just say,
• 11:46
  - hey, man. Let me just listen. If you
• 11:48
  - want some feedback, I'll I'll offer some, but,
• 11:50
  - otherwise, I'll just, you know, do my best
• 11:52
  - to be a great listener. And then depending
• 11:55
  - upon the answers you get there,
• 11:58
  - you know, then I, you know, potentially bring
• 12:00
  - in some more context and and use and
• 12:02
  - start with a macro view and say, we're
• 12:04
  - wildly blessed. We live in America. We got
• 12:06
  - enough food.
• 12:08
  - You know? Our country
• 12:09
  - has friendly neighbors to the North and South.
• 12:12
  - We've got oceans on the East and West.
• 12:14
  - I mean, we're not Ukraine surrounded by potentially
• 12:17
  - challenged environments. And so at a baseline, just
• 12:20
  - sort of but, of course, depending on what
• 12:24
  - somebody's talking about, it may be health related,
• 12:27
  - which, you know, doesn't matter what country you're
• 12:29
  - in. That's a rough situation.
• 12:31
  - So I I look for
• 12:33
  - magnitude of the moment as the individual's feeling
• 12:36
  - it, and then whether or not bringing another
• 12:38
  - context is helpful.
• 12:40
  - Got it.
• 12:42
  - So, Mike, we've learned quite a bit about
• 12:44
  - you so far. We're gonna continue learning a
• 12:46
  - little bit more about you. And you mentioned,
• 12:49
  - off the top, near the top, how repetition,
• 12:52
  - not necessarily, you know, your thing. But
• 12:55
  - I do wanna know, is there something
• 12:57
  - else that you've learned about yourself from working
• 13:00
  - in health care?
• 13:02
  - I think that I've, over time and
• 13:05
  - this was an early impression, but it stayed
• 13:07
  - with me over time. I really
• 13:09
  - appreciate
• 13:11
  - what physicians
• 13:12
  - go through
• 13:14
  - from an educational
• 13:16
  - and, residency standpoint
• 13:18
  - in getting, you know, up close and personal.
• 13:21
  - I probably I don't know if I'm capable
• 13:23
  - of doing it. I definitely don't think I'm
• 13:25
  - willing.
• 13:26
  - And so I have just a great appreciation
• 13:30
  - for what physicians
• 13:31
  - are willing to do so they can be
• 13:33
  - a benefit and blessing to others and to
• 13:35
  - the communities and, you know, help people in
• 13:37
  - very difficult situations. So
• 13:40
  - I think
• 13:42
  - health care centric,
• 13:43
  - you know, you start with a sense of
• 13:45
  - gratitude. And then I would say,
• 13:47
  - in general, for people that we would put
• 13:49
  - under the,
• 13:51
  - quotes of caregivers,
• 13:52
  - just in general,
• 13:54
  - We're wildly blessed in our society that
• 13:58
  - most of the time when we're treating individuals,
• 14:01
  - it's a judgment free zone. I mean, a
• 14:03
  - lot of the people that come to emergency
• 14:06
  - departments have made some really poor choices,
• 14:09
  - You know? And if you're objective about it
• 14:11
  - and you spend any time in emergency department,
• 14:13
  - it's
• 14:14
  - a often, it's a collection of really bad
• 14:16
  - choices.
• 14:18
  - And yet, that's not how people are treated.
• 14:21
  - They're treated in the moment in terms of
• 14:23
  - what can we do to elevate you and
• 14:25
  - restore you to the extent possible.
• 14:28
  - And so the mindset
• 14:29
  - that caregivers have in every every organization I've
• 14:33
  - worked and and Kettering, I would double down
• 14:36
  - on that because
• 14:38
  - I'd never lived this far north before. There's
• 14:40
  - something about the Midwest. The people here in
• 14:42
  - the Midwest are just really
• 14:45
  - they're they're down to Earth. They're real.
• 14:47
  - It's just they're great they're great folks here
• 14:49
  - in the Midwest, and and I'd say specifically
• 14:51
  - at Kettering. So my appreciation
• 14:54
  - for individuals caring for people that they don't
• 14:57
  - know
• 14:58
  - and circumstances
• 15:00
  - that are
• 15:01
  - not ideal,
• 15:03
  - I have great,
• 15:05
  - admiration for our team members.
• 15:07
  - Thank you for pointing that out. Mike, I
• 15:09
  - I don't know that it can be pointed
• 15:10
  - out enough that's that objectivity that you just
• 15:13
  - highlighted
• 15:14
  - and how important that is to care. Right?
• 15:17
  - And I'm glad that that's something that shines
• 15:19
  - at Kettering and and other places that you
• 15:21
  - worked. Mike, last question for you. So
• 15:25
  - when you become an a CEO
• 15:27
  - or a leader in any organization, really, you
• 15:30
  - you're gonna have to take risks at some
• 15:32
  - point or another. Right?
• 15:33
  - What is one that has paid off for
• 15:35
  - you?
• 15:36
  - Well, I'd start by saying is I haven't
• 15:39
  - taken enough risk. Okay. I'm naturally a little
• 15:43
  - risk adverse.
• 15:44
  - I've got three sons.
• 15:46
  - The oldest one probably is a moderate risk
• 15:49
  - taker.
• 15:50
  - The middle one is closest to me, pretty
• 15:52
  - slow, and the youngest
• 15:55
  - would would take any risk available to him.
• 15:58
  - So
• 15:59
  - I don't think I have a great answer
• 16:01
  - to your question, other than I'm able to
• 16:03
  - look back and think about potential
• 16:07
  - opportunities
• 16:09
  - that may have panned out had I been
• 16:11
  - willing to take more risk.
• 16:13
  - And so in today's environment, I've tried to
• 16:17
  - modify myself to say,
• 16:19
  - invest more time in getting to know more
• 16:21
  - people.
• 16:22
  - Not that that's a risky thing to do,
• 16:25
  - but it's an allocation of scarce time,
• 16:28
  - and your your willingness to get to know
• 16:30
  - more people presents more opportunities.
• 16:34
  - And then you can evaluate, you know, the
• 16:36
  - risk associated with, you know, taking actions once
• 16:40
  - you have more opportunities in front of you.
• 16:42
  - But sort of by nature, I'm not a
• 16:44
  - bet the farm type person.
• 16:46
  - I would probably bet, you know, one or
• 16:48
  - two of the rooms of the farmhouse, but
• 16:50
  - not the whole farm.
• 16:52
  - Alright. Well, like, that that's a wonderful awareness
• 16:54
  - on your part. We appreciate, you breaking that
• 16:56
  - down for us and and your candor, certainly.
• 16:59
  - Mike, this has been a terrific conversation. You
• 17:01
  - know, I can't wait to share with our
• 17:02
  - audience.
• 17:04
  - Thank you again for taking the time to
• 17:05
  - sit down with us today, and we look
• 17:07
  - forward to the next time our pass goes.
• 17:09
  - Chris, you've been very kind. Thanks so much
• 17:11
  - for the time today.