Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Turning Adversity Into Leadership and Lasting Impact with Naya Kehayes

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Turning Adversity Into Leadership and Lasting Impact with Naya Kehayes · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous,
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  - the variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable brings
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  - together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees and nearly 400 speakers for
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  - four days built around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - Podcast.
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  - We're thrilled today to be joined by Naya
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  - Kehase.
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  - Naya is this brilliant industry leader who who
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  - built a consulting practice in the surgery center
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  - and payer contracting area,
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  - and then built that into a much bigger
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  - business.
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  - Highly successful.
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  - Now retired or semi retired,
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  - but, you know, we'll we'll we'll probably won't
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  - stay retired forever because she's got so much
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  - energy and is so smart.
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  - We're gonna talk today about leadership and business
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  - principles.
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  - Naya
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  - and for those in the health care sector,
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  - you might have seen her over the years.
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  - She was one of the leaders after sort
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  - of selling her business
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  - to ECG,
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  - and becoming a leader there, and had just
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  - a wonderful, wonderful career.
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  - Naya,
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  - first first of all, before we get started,
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  - take a second and introduce yourself, then I'll
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  - ask you about a couple of the leadership
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  - principles
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  - that have had the biggest impact on your
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  - career.
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  - Great. Thanks so much, Scott, and congratulations
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  - on your book. It was awesome.
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  - Anyway, as you said, I have been
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  - working in the ASC industry
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  - primarily as well, originally as an operator, but
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  - then as a as a consultant
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  - for over thirty five years.
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  - And I had
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  - really
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  - developed a niche business
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  - with a concentration and expertise in reimbursement in
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  - the economics of the business. And I think
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  - that's what I really became known for and
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  - what the firm really became known for, with
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  - our expertise in that space.
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  - And it was
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  - really a great ride,
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  - and I really enjoy it and still enjoy
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  - it. And I believe that it serves a
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  - tremendous purpose,
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  - and I'm looking forward to thinking about, you
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  - know, the future and what comes my way
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  - and new opportunities that might be down the
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  - road.
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  - And talk a little bit about you had
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  - this great career, built this great practice of
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  - lot of leadership, both a brilliant person and
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  - built a great team and great business. What
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  - are a couple leadership principles that you think
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  - about?
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  - There's three that really come to mind for
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  - me, Scott, and I mentioned a little bit.
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  - One, I really believe in niche businesses
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  - where you identify a need and have the
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  - expertise and and
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  - keep building on it
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  - and where your organization
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  - can demonstrate and create value,
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  - for customers and clients is really the recipe
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  - for success.
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  - It's really important that you stay focused on
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  - your core business
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  - and deliver quality and service,
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  - and constantly understand how the customer needs are
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  - changing.
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  - And then second, I would say
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  - invest and recognize in developing great team and
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  - creating a culture
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  - that embraces
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  - accountability,
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  - loyalty, and commitment from your team.
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  - I always said I I never
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  - know everything. Right? And surround yourself by others
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  - that know more than you do is I
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  - don't think you'll ever be an expert in
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  - everything.
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  - I think one of the greatest
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  - compliments or comments I received from a customer
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  - in the past in in the original firm,
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  - was when they told me we have a
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  - deep bench.
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  - And he spread that news to a lot
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  - of others. And it was so rewarding, and
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  - it instilled confidence and
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  - and drove business, and it was just awesome.
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  - And then I think with respect to when
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  - you're building great teams, it is so, so
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  - important to recognize your team and support them
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  - and to nurture the stars.
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  - I was a strong advocate and believed that
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  - the reason why my initial team stayed with
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  - me for many, many years, I had an
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  - extremely low low attrition rate,
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  - was showing appreciation,
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  - thanking people, and recognizing
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  - them for their leadership and contributions
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  - and making accommodations and and compensating the stars
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  - and the leaders so that they stay with
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  - you for the long run.
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  - It definitely costs far more, I think, to
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  - lose those stars and leaders than it costs
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  - to replace them. And I I was a
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  - firm, firm believer in that. I think that's
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  - what made,
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  - the firm really, really
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  - successful. And I think the third thing I
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  - would say
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  - is the concept of being a partner and
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  - not a vendor to your customers,
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  - sustaining those relationships and building those relationships
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  - where the customer really values your services and
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  - your team
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  - is incredibly
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  - critical to your long term success.
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  - And it's really interesting because you'll see sometimes
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  - customers transform for from vendor to partner.
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  - And when they're aligned with you and your
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  - organization
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  - and they feel comfortable,
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  - you know, reaching out to you and having,
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  - you know, conversations
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  - with you, you learn more about them. And
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  - that trusted
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  - goes a long, long way
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  - rather than being a vendor and being, you
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  - know, totally dispensable. And and I would see
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  - that a lot. I saw that a lot
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  - in my career, and it it was really,
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  - really critical. But it's really, really takes a
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  - lot of hard work,
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  - to establish those types of relationships, but they're
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  - well worth it for the long run.
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  - When you look at people that you've worked
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  - side by side with,
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  - what qualities do you value the most
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  - in in emerging leaders, in colleagues, in people
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  - that you work with?
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  - What are the qualities you think you value
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  - the very most in those people?
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  - How how do you look at that?
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  - The number one quality that I
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  - value the most was passion and motivation,
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  - because I firmly believe that you can provide
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  - education and tools, but passion comes from within
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  - and cannot be taught.
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  - I always would say, you know, for those
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  - who had fire in their belly, I will
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  - take that any day because I cannot teach
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  - that. That type of person is going to
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  - be very loyal and committed,
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  - but you also
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  - have to have alignment and
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  - see that they're willing to learn, contribute, and
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  - offer new ideas.
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  - I think that goes a long way.
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  - I also really value people who are willing
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  - to tell me when I can do something
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  - better.
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  - Sometimes you can't always see that for yourself
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  - and see what your own opportunity is to
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  - improve upon. So I I think those are
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  - some of the key
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  - things that are I really, really,
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  - valued when I was looking at, you know,
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  - hiring people and developing leaders.
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  - Talk about a time and and you've had
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  - this fascinating career. I've had a chance to
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  - have a front row seat and have loved
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  - it. Talk about a time where where
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  - you've had a setback
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  - or a difficult decision
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  - that ultimately was very important in in driving
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  - you forward and thinking differently or how you
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  - did things, and and what did you learn
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  - from that experiences?
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  - And, Scott, if I may, I'd love to
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  - talk just about two experiences because I think
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  - I think they're very different and and might
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  - add some value to the conversation.
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  - In the very early years of the company
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  - that I founded, there was a time that
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  - I was really, really reluctant to hire people,
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  - and I actually turned away a lot of
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  - customers and put them on hold because I
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  - didn't have enough people to service the demand.
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  - The company had no debt. It was self
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  - funded. I was obsessed with cash flow and
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  - making sure we had enough money to cover
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  - our expenses. So I was always thinking about
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  - whether or not we had enough fees to
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  - cover, you know, the salaries.
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  - And, unfortunately,
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  - from that, we left money on the table,
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  - and we lost some prospective clients that were
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  - not willing to to wait. And I think
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  - the biggest lesson that I learned from that
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  - was was that there was really a fine
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  - line for overstaffing and understaffing. I have certainly
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  - also experienced
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  - the pain of overstaffing,
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  - but that you had to really monitor it
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  - closely and be prepared to grow.
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  - And,
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  - I thought about the really early days where
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  - I did a lot of subcontracting,
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  - and I think subcontracting really helps bridge the
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  - gap and capture the opportunity. I wish I
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  - did more of it later and and really
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  - thought about that when I lost those customers.
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  - I should have added more subcontractors
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  - because customers will move on, and they won't
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  - wait forever. And it can, you know, amount
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  - to a significant amount of missed opportunity and
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  - revenue growth, you know, if you're not careful.
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  - So I think, you know, that's incredibly
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  - important.
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  - And if I may, second,
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  - example of an experience,
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  - I had a customer once that owed us
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  - a meaningful amount of money. They represented
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  - about 10% of the revenue at the time.
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  - This is many years ago. And a senior
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  - executive of that company was a long term
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  - colleague, so I was pretty committed
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  - to helping and staying with with the company
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  - and and probably should have been a little
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  - bit harsher about paying the bills for months.
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  - We kept servicing them, and they eventually went
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  - bankrupt,
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  - and we never recovered the money. And it
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  - caused delays in payments,
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  - you know, to,
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  - and impacted,
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  - even retirement funding. So I guess my lesson
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  - learned from that was that recognize when you
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  - have a bad company and draw the line
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  - and put limits in place.
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  - There's significant exposure when you have customers that
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  - represent meaningful dollars as they can put you
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  - at meaningful risk, and it can be difficult
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  - to recover from that.
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  - I remember I would scramble and just go
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  - out running looking for more business.
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  - So it's really important to diversify your customer
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  - base. I realized
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  - too when when, a vendor is not a
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  - good partner and recognize that you don't have
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  - a good customer, it's probably better to let
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  - them go than to retain them, because it
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  - could cause more harm than good.
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  - Thank you very, very much.
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  - And and and talk for a second, Naya,
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  - about when you look at
• 10:50
  - today
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  - and you're giving advice to CEOs,
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  - to founders, senior executives,
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  - What to build their businesses?
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  - What ought to be their priorities? How should
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  - they think about it?
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  - Yeah. I mentioned a lot of this already,
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  - but I think that investing in your team
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  - and developing leaders and stars that are aligned
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  - with the company envision
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  - and drive growth. I think
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  - identifying
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  - people that have passion and fire in their
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  - belly and provide the education that they need
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  - to give them the autonomy to thrive, I
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  - think I think it's really important to compensate
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  - them appropriately so they are committed to stay
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  - with you.
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  - Retaining great people for the long term creates
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  - consistency, loyalty with customers, and significant long term
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  - value,
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  - which I really believe drives your success. You're
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  - not gonna do it on your own.
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  - I also really believe in recognizing and showing
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  - your appreciation to those leaders and star performers,
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  - and that aligns with their hard work and
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  - then striving,
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  - to be a partner and not a vendor
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  - with your with your customers. Capturing and retaining
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  - great
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  - customers requires constant attention and many hours of
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  - your time
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  - to developing relationships
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  - and also great teams because it's not just
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  - about you. The the
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  - the the great customer that's a partner
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  - wants the great team that's surrounded by them
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  - and and that they trust and that they
• 12:13
  - have
• 12:14
  - relationships with, whether it's a product or a
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  - service that
• 12:18
  - drives demand and ultimately,
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  - you know, results in driving your financial performance,
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  - and it's a win win for everybody.
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  - Thank you. And and and take a second,
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  - Naya. When when when you look at sort
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  - of,
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  - when you are operating your best in business,
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  - when you are offering the top of your
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  - game, what are the things that you're doing
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  - right that you would encourage other CEOs to
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  - do right as well?
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  - I think the things that I was doing
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  - right was I was constantly
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  - networking
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  - and constantly
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  - looking at new opportunities while staying in our
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  - niche.
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  - You know, as you mentioned, you know, our
• 12:57
  - expertise
• 12:58
  - was strongly focused on the business side of
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  - ASCs, and we were very, very well known
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  - for our expertise in reimbursement and analyzing the
• 13:08
  - surgery business.
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  - But reimbursement is constantly, constantly changing.
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  - And I I could never know, and I
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  - and I still sit, you know, in in
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  - involved with it now. I you can never
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  - know everything.
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  - And I think making sure that you have
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  - your
• 13:25
  - finger on the pulse constantly and how things
• 13:28
  - are moving me today, right, with AI and
• 13:31
  - transparency data, I think about, you know, how
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  - that impacts,
• 13:36
  - you know, all businesses, but even, you know,
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  - the business that I had. And and I
• 13:40
  - think the reason why we were so successful
• 13:42
  - is we were constantly
• 13:44
  - a step ahead
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  - and constantly
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  - also being mindful of what our clients were
• 13:50
  - facing. We had clients
• 13:52
  - that were consolidating.
• 13:53
  - We had clients that were independent. We had
• 13:56
  - clients that were, you know, very large ASC
• 13:59
  - companies in understanding the differences
• 14:02
  - between them and what their needs were in
• 14:04
  - servicing them,
• 14:06
  - the service
• 14:07
  - with results and being able to demonstrate results
• 14:10
  - was definitely the key to success. And and
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  - really
• 14:14
  - being transparent when you didn't think you know,
• 14:16
  - I was in a space where, you know,
• 14:18
  - I'm trying to help them financially. And if
• 14:21
  - we're there were certain markets that were really,
• 14:23
  - really challenging
• 14:24
  - and being very forthright about,
• 14:26
  - you know, things in the market and the
• 14:28
  - environment that you could not control,
• 14:32
  - and being really transparent,
• 14:34
  - I think was really, really important,
• 14:37
  - to our success.
• 14:39
  - No. I absolutely love that. I had a
• 14:40
  - chance to watch Naya throughout a a great
• 14:42
  - deal of her business leadership career.
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  - Simply remarkable what you did in building AVEA
• 14:48
  - Millennium,
• 14:49
  - ultimately doing a transaction at some point to
• 14:51
  - continue to lead at that next firm for
• 14:53
  - a very long time.
• 14:55
  - Naya Kiheis, what a pleasure to visit with
• 14:57
  - you. One of the best in the business.
• 14:59
  - We look forward to seeing you back in
• 15:01
  - the arena in not too long, at least
• 15:03
  - some arena.
• 15:04
  - Nai Kehe is a great, great leader. Thank
• 15:06
  - you so much for joining us today on
• 15:08
  - the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 15:09
  - Thank you, Scott. Great to be here.