Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leadership Lessons on People, Healthcare Transformation and the Power of Listening: Part 1

Transcript

Leadership Lessons on People, Healthcare Transformation and the Power of Listening: Part 1 · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - You for tuning in to the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:01
  - podcast.
• 0:02
  - This is part one of our leadership unscripted
• 0:04
  - conversation with Mark Clement, recently retired president and
• 0:08
  - CEO of TriHealth in Cincinnati.
• 0:10
  - He discusses why 2026 was the right time
• 0:12
  - for him to retire, what he has learned
• 0:14
  - from decades of running marathons,
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  - and the people in whom he finds inspiration.
• 0:19
  - We hope you enjoy this episode as well
• 0:20
  - as part two and find more podcasts at
• 0:23
  - bectorshospitalreview.com.
• 0:24
  - Welcome to this episode of Leadership Unscripted at
• 0:27
  - Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Chris Sosa, your host.
• 0:30
  - And I'm thrilled to be joined today by
• 0:31
  - Mark Clements, the recently retired president and CEO
• 0:34
  - of TriHealth in Cincinnati.
• 0:36
  - He's with the health system for about eleven
• 0:37
  - years.
• 0:38
  - Mark, thank you for joining us today.
• 0:41
  - Chris, it's great to be with you. Thank
• 0:42
  - you for this opportunity.
• 0:44
  - Perfect. Mark, so for those in our audience
• 0:47
  - who may not be as familiar with you,
• 0:49
  - who and your work as we are here
• 0:51
  - at Becker's, could you please just, let our
• 0:53
  - audience know a little bit more about your
• 0:54
  - background?
• 0:55
  - Oh, of course. Thanks, Chris. And, again, thanks
• 0:57
  - for the opportunity to to do this podcast
• 0:59
  - with you.
• 1:00
  - As you indicated, you know, following eleven amazing
• 1:03
  - years of leading TriHealth,
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  - TriHealth is a a large
• 1:07
  - integrated delivery system... Regional delivery system in Cincinnati,
• 1:11
  - Ohio,
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  - serving about 700,000
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  - members of the Greater Cincinnati community, second largest
• 1:16
  - employer.
• 1:17
  - Following eleven years leading TriHealth and and nearly
• 1:21
  - fifty years in, leadership roles in in health
• 1:24
  - care, I made the decision
• 1:26
  - to kinda transition into the next chapter of
• 1:29
  - of my, my life. And, so I stepped
• 1:32
  - down as as president, retired,
• 1:34
  - just a few months ago and and transitioned
• 1:36
  - to,
• 1:38
  - my successor,
• 1:39
  - who is is... Has been
• 1:41
  - really in a succession planning mode for the
• 1:43
  - last five years. So the the organization has
• 1:46
  - not missed a beat, with this transition.
• 1:49
  - And, Mark, real quick, what was the most
• 1:51
  - difficult part about deciding to step down?
• 1:54
  - Oh, gosh. Yeah.
• 1:56
  - Yeah. You you know, I've I've,
• 1:58
  - I'm in my early seventies. I probably, you
• 2:00
  - know, stayed longer than I had anticipated when
• 2:03
  - I joined, but I didn't anticipate
• 2:05
  - dealing with all of the challenges of COVID.
• 2:09
  - And then and then I think in many
• 2:11
  - ways, the equally difficult challenges following COVID, you
• 2:14
  - know, workforce shortages,
• 2:17
  - challenges
• 2:18
  - around,
• 2:19
  - new workforce, you know, a younger less experienced
• 2:22
  - workforce,
• 2:23
  - economic challenges.
• 2:24
  - So all of those things, you know, I
• 2:26
  - felt obligated to remain with the organization to
• 2:29
  - work through this. We did. We worked through
• 2:31
  - those extraordinarily well,
• 2:33
  - and this this is absolutely the right time.
• 2:34
  - You know, TriHealth is kind of a special
• 2:36
  - organization for me. I grew up in Cincinnati.
• 2:38
  - I was born in one of the TriHealth
• 2:40
  - hospitals,
• 2:41
  - and my dad and brother were both practicing
• 2:43
  - physicians at TriHealth. So making the decision to
• 2:45
  - return to Cincinnati was an easy one. What
• 2:48
  - was important to me was to ensure that
• 2:50
  - as I, transitioned out of my full time
• 2:53
  - CEO role, which is a twenty four seven
• 2:55
  - always on role, that, succession in leadership
• 2:59
  - was well thought out. And so almost the
• 3:02
  - day that I arrived at trial eleven years
• 3:04
  - ago, I began a conversation with our board
• 3:06
  - about the importance of succession planning, and
• 3:09
  - and, I'm I'm I'm really proud of how
• 3:11
  - that has played out. You know, my,
• 3:14
  - successor has been a part of trial for
• 3:16
  - seventeen years, served most recently
• 3:19
  - as the organization's chief operating officer. So when
• 3:22
  - I, announced my plans to to retire, move
• 3:24
  - into the next chapter of my life, I
• 3:27
  - recommended her. She's well known to the board.
• 3:29
  - They immediately
• 3:30
  - appointed her to to succeed me. And so
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  - as I noted a moment ago,
• 3:36
  - the organization
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  - has not really missed a beat,
• 3:39
  - through this transition. And and, oftentimes, you know,
• 3:42
  - organizations
• 3:42
  - do,
• 3:43
  - when there's a change at the top. And
• 3:45
  - I thought it was important that this be,
• 3:47
  - you know, well thought out and and that
• 3:49
  - the right person step in, and that person's
• 3:51
  - Terry Hamlin Bremer, and she's doing a great
• 3:53
  - job.
• 3:54
  - Thanks for that, Mark. Yeah. It's wonderful that
• 3:56
  - you got to
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  - close out your health care career. I mean,
• 3:59
  - I know I know you had other stops.
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  - But so glad... I'm so glad you got
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  - to close it out in Cincinnati where you're
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  - from. And you mentioned succession planning. That's a
• 4:07
  - huge part of president and CEO's job, and
• 4:10
  - we wanna talk all about your health care
• 4:11
  - journey today. That's why you're on our podcast.
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  - The question I just wanna start with first
• 4:15
  - simply is what is something that you've learned
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  - outside of health care that you've been able
• 4:20
  - to apply to your career?
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  - You know, Chris, as as you know and
• 4:23
  - as as as your listeners know as well,
• 4:26
  - you know, you know, leadership, you know, contrasted
• 4:28
  - with management. Leadership's about,
• 4:31
  - you know, taking an organization
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  - to a better place, you know, achieving
• 4:35
  - its compelling
• 4:37
  - vision for the future.
• 4:39
  - And,
• 4:40
  - you know, some of the lessons I've learned
• 4:41
  - about leadership
• 4:42
  - are really parallels from one of my... One
• 4:45
  - of the passions of in my life. I've
• 4:46
  - I've been a long distance runner.
• 4:48
  - Since the early nineties, I probably run forty,
• 4:51
  - fifty marathons and a number of ultra marathons.
• 4:54
  - Actually, ran the New York marathon with my
• 4:56
  - daughter.
• 4:57
  - Thought I thought I had hung up my
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  - marathon,
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  - shoes
• 5:01
  - until my kids took up, marathon running. So
• 5:05
  - I've run run marathons with my kids. We
• 5:08
  - were we were in the New York marathon.
• 5:10
  - I'll be running the Chicago marathon, at least
• 5:12
  - the second half of it, break... Running my
• 5:14
  - daughter in, who's who's gonna be running in
• 5:16
  - early,
• 5:17
  - October. But there's strong parallels between
• 5:20
  - some of the lessons I've learned in, long
• 5:22
  - distance running, marathon running, and in leadership. And
• 5:25
  - that is, you know, the importance of clear
• 5:28
  - goals,
• 5:29
  - the necessity to develop a plan to achieve
• 5:32
  - those goals,
• 5:33
  - to train and prepare,
• 5:35
  - whether it's training yourself or your organization
• 5:38
  - as we've done, I think, really successfully at
• 5:40
  - TriHealth, you know, building, leadership
• 5:43
  - and management muscle by investing in our leaders.
• 5:46
  - And it's staying the course. It's staying the
• 5:49
  - course. Yeah. Even in the face of adversity
• 5:52
  - and difficult challenges,
• 5:54
  - those are lessons I learned from,
• 5:56
  - from long distance marathon running that have served
• 5:59
  - me well in my leadership,
• 6:02
  - in the roles of of major health systems,
• 6:04
  - most recently, trial... Before trial health, Rochester Regional
• 6:07
  - Health in in Upstate New York, a a
• 6:09
  - large integrated delivery system.
• 6:12
  - Before that, Holy Cross Hospital in in Chicago,
• 6:15
  - where I worked with my friend, Quinn Studer,
• 6:18
  - who's, I think, you know, well known to
• 6:19
  - to many of your listeners.
• 6:21
  - You know, I'd say the other thing that
• 6:23
  - that I've learned from outside of our industry
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  - is the importance of facing
• 6:28
  - difficult
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  - challenges and adversity
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  - in the moment
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  - and not waiting for those difficult challenges or
• 6:35
  - adversity
• 6:36
  - to, you know, put your organization
• 6:38
  - in a compromised position.
• 6:40
  - It's really, you know, a lesson around doing,
• 6:42
  - you know, hard better. And that that I
• 6:45
  - think has served organizations that I've been a
• 6:47
  - part of, extraordinarily well,
• 6:49
  - basing the brutal reality,
• 6:51
  - that oftentimes exists in in our leadership work,
• 6:55
  - and dealing with it proactively in the moment.
• 6:58
  - Mark, I love that your family has picked
• 7:01
  - up, your legacy of of marathoner. I mean,
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  - that's that's a just doing one of those,
• 7:07
  - I think, is
• 7:09
  - extremely...
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  - It... It's gotta be rewarding just to know
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  - that you finished something like that and to
• 7:14
  - do ultra marathons and all the other sorts
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  - of races that you've done,
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  - is just fantastic. So kudos on that, and
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  - I'm glad that you were able to share
• 7:22
  - what you've learned about that and how you've,
• 7:24
  - brought that into health care.
• 7:26
  - Mark, we also wanna talk about,
• 7:28
  - how you keep yourself healthy, whether it's physically,
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  - mentally, emotionally. So when... Before we get into
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  - the
• 7:36
  - crux of that,
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  - could you let the audience know, though, what
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  - you love most about running?
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  - You know, the opportunity to really,
• 7:44
  - to reflect. You know, I think some of
• 7:46
  - my best thinking,
• 7:48
  - most creative thinking comes when I'm running or
• 7:51
  - cycling.
• 7:52
  - It... It's,
• 7:53
  - renewing as well. It, and it's... You know,
• 7:56
  - I I I love a challenge. It's, it's,
• 7:59
  - you know, it's it's very rewarding to,
• 8:02
  - you know, complete a challenge like running, particularly
• 8:05
  - at my age, you you know, in my
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  - early seventies.
• 8:08
  - Yeah. It's it's it's not without its challenges
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  - to to go out and run 26.2
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  - miles. And, the New York marathon, even though
• 8:15
  - it's... You know, there's not a lot of
• 8:16
  - mountains in in New York,
• 8:18
  - there's more elevation gain in in the New
• 8:21
  - York marathon than there is in the Boston
• 8:23
  - marathon, whichever runs six times,
• 8:25
  - because of the bridges. You know, there's, like,
• 8:27
  - eight, nine hundred king of elevation gain. So,
• 8:30
  - all of those, you know, you know, the
• 8:32
  - clarity of thought,
• 8:34
  - the creative thinking that comes just by being
• 8:37
  - in the zone, the fulfillment that comes from,
• 8:39
  - you know, facing and overcoming a big challenge,
• 8:42
  - and then just the fitness.
• 8:43
  - It it may seem, paradoxical,
• 8:46
  - but, you know, the more energy you consume
• 8:48
  - running and working out, the more energy you
• 8:50
  - will have.
• 8:52
  - And so it's it's
• 8:53
  - kept me,
• 8:55
  - you know, pretty energetic as a leader, meaning
• 8:57
  - the physical activity that that I've engaged in
• 8:59
  - throughout most of my life.
• 9:02
  - Mark, so I'm also curious. So what would
• 9:03
  - you say are the... Since you've done ultra
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  - marathons,
• 9:07
  - what would you say are the most challenging
• 9:09
  - conditions to run it?
• 9:11
  - Heat. Heat. Got it. Heat and humidity for
• 9:14
  - sure.
• 9:15
  - So, you know, I ran the Chicago marathon
• 9:17
  - with with another one of my child... The
• 9:19
  - kids. They're all daughters four or five years
• 9:21
  - ago. And and,
• 9:23
  - yeah, the the the humidity was about 90%
• 9:26
  - and, the the the temperatures were upper eighties.
• 9:29
  - That that is the most difficult
• 9:31
  - running conditions for a runner or for an
• 9:33
  - athlete.
• 9:35
  - You know, hills, you can deal with.
• 9:38
  - Rain, you can deal with. I ran the
• 9:39
  - the the flying pig marathon here three years
• 9:42
  - ago. It was a it was a torrential
• 9:44
  - downpour.
• 9:45
  - Running in the in the rain, no big
• 9:47
  - deal, but the heat and humidity is very
• 9:49
  - difficult, very challenging.
• 9:52
  - Well, I hope you don't have to deal
• 9:53
  - with that on your next, race here
• 9:56
  - in Chicago, Mark. But
• 9:58
  - but I I love that you're able to
• 9:59
  - share all these details with us.
• 10:01
  - So, yes, I I previewed that question a
• 10:03
  - minute ago. So along those lines,
• 10:06
  - obviously, you you love running, and you love
• 10:08
  - using that to keep yourself
• 10:10
  - physically healthy. And, certainly, that's part of your
• 10:13
  - mental and emotional health as well. So is
• 10:15
  - there anything else you'd like to add to,
• 10:18
  - that equation as far as keeping yourself healthy
• 10:21
  - is concerned?
• 10:22
  - Yeah. No. Chris got a great question. Probably
• 10:24
  - probably won't come as a surprise
• 10:26
  - to your to your listeners that, you know,
• 10:28
  - physical fitness, you know, running, cycling, playing tennis,
• 10:33
  - going to the gym, and and and,
• 10:35
  - engaging strength,
• 10:37
  - training, All of those things have been important
• 10:40
  - throughout my life. I would say in addition
• 10:43
  - to staying physically healthy, eating well, you know,
• 10:45
  - keeping my weight, you know, at appropriate levels
• 10:48
  - is, the importance of, you know, having a
• 10:51
  - full and rich life with family and friends
• 10:54
  - and service and can give back to the
• 10:56
  - community
• 10:57
  - and a great spouse. You know, my wife
• 10:59
  - is a... Is an amazing,
• 11:00
  - human being, and, you know, it's been said
• 11:02
  - that behind every successful man is
• 11:05
  - is even stronger, more successful, you know, woman,
• 11:08
  - or spouse, and I think that's absolutely true.
• 11:11
  - I would absolutely
• 11:12
  - concur,
• 11:13
  - Mark. And I'm sure no no doubt a
• 11:15
  - number of our readers, but if if not
• 11:17
  - all of them, concur with that as well.
• 11:19
  - That... That's great,
• 11:20
  - notion that that you just pointed out there,
• 11:22
  - Mark. You also mentioned,
• 11:24
  - your preparation
• 11:25
  - and how that's important, not only for a
• 11:27
  - race
• 11:29
  - or any sort of athletic events, but for
• 11:32
  - leadership in health care as well. Yep. But
• 11:35
  - as much as you try to prepare and
• 11:37
  - do prepare,
• 11:39
  - they're gonna be hard days. Right? And those
• 11:41
  - Yeah. Things things happen that you just cannot
• 11:43
  - control. Right? So when those tough days happen,
• 11:47
  - where do you turn to move forward and
• 11:49
  - to whom do you turn to move forward?
• 11:52
  - Yeah. Boy, another another really good question.
• 11:55
  - Yeah. We we all have, you know, challenging
• 11:57
  - days, and and in leadership, we may have,
• 12:01
  - more more challenging days than than most. These
• 12:03
  - are these are difficult times,
• 12:05
  - for health care,
• 12:07
  - and and I think growing even more challenging
• 12:10
  - every day with, you know, the big, you
• 12:12
  - know, one big beautiful bill act and and
• 12:14
  - the number of, you know, changes that are
• 12:16
  - being contemplated in
• 12:18
  - around, either site neutrality
• 12:20
  - and three forty b,
• 12:22
  - you know, persistent inflation.
• 12:25
  - And those are just to keep the lights
• 12:26
  - on and other other challenges, you know, relating
• 12:29
  - to,
• 12:30
  - how do we continue to carry out our
• 12:31
  - mission with,
• 12:33
  - missions of improving the health of our community
• 12:36
  - with, new insights
• 12:38
  - from artificial intelligence and new care models and
• 12:40
  - so on and financing systems. The challenging days
• 12:44
  - are are kind of an everyday event.
• 12:47
  - I find, you know, my,
• 12:49
  - inspiration
• 12:50
  - and energy
• 12:52
  - in the people that have had the privilege
• 12:54
  - of leading.
• 12:55
  - So on a, you know, particularly bad day
• 12:57
  - or even on a good day, I try
• 12:59
  - to get it... Get out into our
• 13:02
  - hospitals and ambulatory campuses, our physician offices,
• 13:06
  - our post acute post acute,
• 13:08
  - you know, programs and services like hospice and
• 13:12
  - advanced, you know, disease programs and and and
• 13:15
  - interact with our physicians and our and our
• 13:18
  - caregivers
• 13:19
  - and and and as well interact with, you
• 13:21
  - know, our patients in the community that we
• 13:23
  - serve. And I I I derive
• 13:25
  - an enormous amount of
• 13:28
  - satisfaction
• 13:29
  - and
• 13:30
  - renewal
• 13:31
  - and,
• 13:32
  - inspiration from seeing the important work that's happening
• 13:36
  - at the frontline of the organization
• 13:38
  - every day,
• 13:40
  - one patient at a time, thousands of patients
• 13:42
  - over the course of a day. And that...
• 13:44
  - That's something that we,
• 13:46
  - have hardwired at TriHealth during, you know, during
• 13:49
  - my tenure,
• 13:50
  - the importance of leader rounding
• 13:53
  - on, on on team members, the importance of
• 13:56
  - leader rounding on patients,
• 13:59
  - and customers,
• 14:00
  - and that extends up and down and across
• 14:02
  - the organization to every leader. So, you know,
• 14:05
  - as the CEO of TriHealth
• 14:07
  - on a regular basis was in every hospital,
• 14:09
  - every ambulatory campus
• 14:11
  - in in trial. One of the areas of
• 14:14
  - focus during my time
• 14:15
  - has been to really expand access,
• 14:18
  - recognizing that health... The the vast majority of
• 14:21
  - health care encounters moving outside the four walls
• 14:24
  - of of hospitals
• 14:25
  - and into the community and even into the
• 14:27
  - home. So we've, you know, created a a
• 14:30
  - very large ambulatory network of 13 major ambulatory
• 14:34
  - campuses,
• 14:35
  - major destinations
• 14:36
  - for, ambulatory services. So so Lending is very
• 14:40
  - much a part of the leadership work,
• 14:43
  - expectations and and the culture of our organization.
• 14:46
  - I could I could walk into any one
• 14:48
  - of our hospitals or any one of our
• 14:50
  - campuses,
• 14:51
  - and not not only do our team members
• 14:53
  - know who I am,
• 14:55
  - but they don't run away. They actually run
• 14:57
  - up to me or or walk up to
• 14:59
  - me and say,
• 15:00
  - Mark, let me tell you what we're doing
• 15:02
  - here today, or let me tell you about
• 15:03
  - this challenge that we we need some help
• 15:05
  - in trying to, you know, resolve. And that's
• 15:07
  - the role of leaders is to be a
• 15:09
  - servant to those we serve. You know, as
• 15:11
  - leaders...
• 15:12
  - As servant leaders,
• 15:14
  - we don't, you know, you know, directly provide
• 15:16
  - care to patients, but we serve those who
• 15:18
  - do. And and that's very much the model
• 15:21
  - of of leadership and the philosophy of leadership
• 15:24
  - at TriHealth and and other organizations
• 15:26
  - that I've had the, you know, the privilege
• 15:28
  - of of leading and being a part of.
• 15:30
  - That's well said, Mark. And no doubt it's
• 15:32
  - very humbling and
• 15:34
  - inspiring to see, your team care for people
• 15:36
  - who are,
• 15:37
  - really there on some of the worst days
• 15:40
  - of their life. But, you know, at least
• 15:41
  - they have people there,
• 15:43
  - to care for them and and that you
• 15:44
  - draw inspiration from that is terrific.
• 15:46
  - Well... And it and it is a, an
• 15:49
  - important reminder of why we do what we
• 15:51
  - do.
• 15:52
  - Mark, thank you. You've been so gracious with
• 15:54
  - your time and your experience with us today.
• 15:57
  - Well well, thank you, Chris. It's been a
• 15:59
  - lot of fun.