Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leadership Unscripted with Pete November, President and CEO of Ochsner Health

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Leadership Unscripted with Pete November, President and CEO of Ochsner Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to this episode of Leadership Unscripted, a
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  Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Chris Sosa, your host,
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  and I'm thrilled to be joined today by
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  Pete November, who, of course, is the CEO
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  of Ochsner Health in New Orleans.
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  Pete, thank you so much for joining us
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  today.
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  Chris, thanks for having me. Look forward look
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  forward to talking with
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  you. Awesome. So,
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  Pete, you're a fixture at Becker's events, and
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  and you're probably pretty well known in the
• 0:22
  in the health care community.
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  But for those who may not be
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  intimately familiar with, your experience as a health
• 0:29
  care leader, can you tell us a little
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  bit about yourself and your background?
• 0:33
  Yeah. Thanks, Kristy. Yeah. I'm,
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  I actually got
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  to my role in a very different way
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  than, than most people that,
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  that are in this role. I,
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  grew up in a small town in Kentucky,
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  and, then I I was an accountant and
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  worked at public accounting and then went to
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  law school.
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  And,
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  then practiced law, in Atlanta for, quite a
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  while, fourteen years, and was a partner at
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  a law firm
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  working with all health care companies. And then,
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  actually, her hurricane Katrina happened, and,
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  that's how I met the people at Ochsner.
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  And, then ultimately,
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  ended up coming to Ochsner, as the general
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  counsel and then had
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  a bunch of different roles.
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  And then my role right before being the
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  CEO was, the CFO, and then I was
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  blessed to get the job as the the
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  CEO. And I've been here since 2012.
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  And,
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  so, again, a little bit of a different
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  route. Most people,
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  you know, come you know, get to this
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  role differently, but,
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  those experiences, I think, you know, have certainly
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  been helpful.
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  I'm I'm in this role. And then, you
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  know, outside of that, I've been married for
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  thirty two years, and I have two kids.
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  And,
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  my wife, Stephanie, and I've got a son,
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  Charlie, who's who's the youngest, and my daughter,
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  Anna,
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  is the oldest. And, Anna lives in New
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  York, and and Charlie lives in Washington, DC.
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  Wonderful. Thanks for sharing all that, Pete. I
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  am curious. So was was there a seminal
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  moment that that pushed you toward health care
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  related to, the hurricane or or otherwise?
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  Yeah. I think, I got into health care.
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  I I I always wonder sort of what
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  inspired me to get into health care, and
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  my mom was a nurse. So, you know,
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  my my parents were divorced,
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  single mom,
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  and,
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  she was a nurse. And so,
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  I was always,
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  I think, drawn to health care,
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  because I saw her and,
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  and she you know, I say this about
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  my mom. My mom didn't care at all
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  about the business or the financial side of
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  health care. She only cared about
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  taking care of people.
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  And,
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  and so even when I was in college
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  at the University of Kentucky, my mom was
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  a nurse at the University of Kentucky, and
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  I would go visit her,
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  over she was actually a cancer nurse over
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  at the Markey Cancer Center at the University
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  of Kentucky. And so so I think that's
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  what drew me to health care. And then,
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  you know, I got when I ended up,
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  going to practice law, I ended up working
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  in a health care group.
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  And
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  so I I really
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  I I attribute it, to that. And then,
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  you know, and then
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  I'm happy to tell the story if you're
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  interested in how I actually made that jump
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  from law into,
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  out of out of law. And,
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  it was because I had a a friend
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  of mine who was the CEO of a
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  company called LHC Group, and I had done
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  all the legal work for them. And he
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  goes, Pete, he was your really good lawyer,
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  but I could tell you really
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  have a a desire to be part of
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  an organization and to be a leader, and,
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  you care a lot about people.
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  And,
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  and I think, you know, you would be
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  great at it, and I think you should
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  come join us. So it was actually him
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  noticing that in me that that gave me
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  the confidence to jump out of practicing law
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  and and to go, to go into the
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  other side.
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  Well, thank you so much for
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  mentioning all that, Pete. This as I said
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  off the top, this podcast is meant to
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  get to know health care leaders a little
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  bit better, so that definitely helps. And I
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  love that insight you just gave about
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  sometimes it does take someone
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  outside of us, right, to say, you know
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  what? We we we might have those internal
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  insights, right, pushing us in a certain direction,
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  but it always helps to hear someone else
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  say, you know what? You're really good at
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  this. You know? Please come join us because
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  we think you'd be a great fit. It
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  it it's always a confidence booster at the
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  very least. Right? It absolutely is. And,
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  look. All of us,
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  you know, all of us
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  have issues about, you know, confidence. You know,
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  can I really do something? And,
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  and and I think, you know, if you
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  look at everybody, there's somebody in their life
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  and some that they've come across who finds,
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  you know, positives in them and then helps
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  give them the confidence and the support to,
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  to do things that they didn't think they
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  could do. And, you know, I think I
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  always I I always think back
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  on that. And I've had many people like
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  that in my career, and I I think
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  that's a big part of my job is
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  to be that person for other people that,
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  you know, I'd you know, people that are
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  coming up in their career and and seeing
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  things in them and and then telling them
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  how great they are and giving them the
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  trying to give them that confidence boost so
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  they could try things that they never thought
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  that they could could do.
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  It's a big deal for sure.
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  Pete, you've now that you are the CEO
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  and you've laid out several of the experiences
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  you had that you already had, which I
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  love, so my first question you for you
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  is simply this. What's something you learn
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  outside of health care that you've applied to
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  your career? I mean, you've you said you've
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  been a CPA or, yeah, you've been Right.
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  In accounting. You've been
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  an attorney. So, you know, what what lends
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  itself to
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  health care that you've learned outside of your
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  career out of outside of the industry, I
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  should say. Yeah. Sure. I'll I'll I'll give
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  two. One is,
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  I I I was really blessed when I
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  first got to practicing law to have
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  a a guy I work for, a mentor,
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  a guy named John Lowe. And John Lowe,
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  is a man who went to Harvard Law
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  School,
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  very, very smart guy.
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  He was also he was incredibly smart, incredibly
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  driven, but he was also one of the
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  most kind, caring people I've ever met. And
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  he,
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  cared about me
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  as much
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  professionally as he did personally, meaning he he
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  cared, you know, how's my family, how's my
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  personal life, how am I doing.
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  And he was just a real gentleman and
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  a very caring person, but he also had
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  really high standards about
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  hard work and the the the quality of
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  the work you did and your responsiveness.
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  And
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  I I really do think I learned most
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  of what I know about leadership from John
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  because John taught me that, you know, you
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  can be driven and you can and and
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  wanna be results oriented,
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  but you you can and should also care
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  about people,
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  and be kind to people and treat everyone
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  with respect.
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  And that actually,
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  the best leadership is when you combine those
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  two things. So,
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  you know, I I think I I learned
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  that from John, and I try to, you
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  know, like, all of a sudden, not perfect
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  at it, but I try to apply what
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  I learned from from John every day.
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  And then I think the other,
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  thing is is people will say, well, Pete,
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  gosh,
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  how does being a lawyer help you? And,
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  obviously, there's some things that you understand that
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  you've learned over the years. But, you know,
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  I was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer.
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  And so I tell people, look. In every
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  situation, I walked into a room where people
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  were trying to get something done, and almost
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  every time,
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  they had two different perspectives and ideas on
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  how to get there and and and had
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  differences of opinions.
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  And my job was to find common ground
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  and bring people together
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  to then
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  figure out how to go achieve what we
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  were trying to achieve.
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  Turns
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  out, in leadership and as being a CEO,
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  that's what you do almost every day. You're
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  fine you know, you're you're
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  defining what we're all trying to as an
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  organization to achieve and then
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  bringing people together with different perspectives and trying
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  them trying to get them to find common
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  ground
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  to move towards getting that goal accomplished. And
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  so those those skills I learned in law,
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  are applicable every day in what I do.
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  Yeah. I think those are very important lessons
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  for for any business, including health care.
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  Yeah. I mean, you said it. I'll just
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  underscore that finding common ground is gonna be
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  helpful in pretty much any leadership position. So
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  I'm glad I transferred from law over to
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  you and Ed Ochsner.
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  Being a CEO is is not so easy.
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  You don't need me to tell you that,
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  Pete,
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  but I simply use that as a segue
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  to ask. So
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  there has to be ways that you're keeping
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  yourself healthy. Right? Not only your patients, you
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  gotta worry about yourself too. So how are
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  you doing that, whether it's emotionally, physically, mentally?
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  What are your routines that that you try
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  and lock in?
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  Yeah. Well, first of all, it starts with
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  my family. I mean, as as as I
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  started out, look, I've been blessed. I've been
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  married for thirty two years. My wife, Stephanie,
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  we met when we were in college.
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  We've got a great family
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  and, you know, two wonderful kids. So I
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  always I I certainly always,
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  know that I've got that wonderful support network,
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  and I couldn't do what I do without
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  them. And,
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  you know, my my greatest joy is, you
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  know, when one of my kids calls and
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  and and and wants to to talk about
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  something. And, so I think that keeps me
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  grounded,
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  and and and it really helps. And then
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  I realized that,
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  you know, being a a CEO,
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  there's a there's as much a physical component
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  to this there there as there is sort
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  of a mental component to it. And if
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  you don't take care of the physical side
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  of it, you know, you're not gonna be
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  where you need to be mentally. And so,
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  you know, a couple things. One, I learned
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  real early that, you can't let your schedule
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  totally control you. And so, like, I
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  you know, at the beginning, I was like,
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  well, I can go out to a dinner
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  four and five nights a week or events
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  four or five nights a week and and
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  and be fine. And I and I quickly
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  realized you can't do that. So little things
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  like I've said to my assistant, look. I'll
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  do two events a week, but I'm not
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  gonna do five,
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  just because I need to go home and
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  spend time with my family and get sleep
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  and and and be able to,
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  you know, to to relax and get myself
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  refreshed for the next day.
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  And then also, you know, I I do
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  have a physical trainer I go to twice
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  a week to do strength training.
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  And, you know, I admit the last couple
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  years, I've actually got a yoga instructor I
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  go to once a week and,
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  for an hour for private session,
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  and I've gotten really that really helps me
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  both mentally and physically.
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  And so I I've and I've always worked
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  out, so I I really, really try to
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  do that. And then,
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  you know, try to definitely carve out time,
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  to be with friends and family and and,
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  people outside of work that I that I
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  know and love and care about, particularly my
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  kids. I mean, I any chance I can
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  get to go to New York to see
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  my daughter or DC to see my son,
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  I take it. But, again, it really begins
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  with family,
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  trying to control the schedule, and then also
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  absolutely trying to exercise and,
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  you know, make sure I take care of
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  myself physically so that, you know, I can
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  can handle
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  the demands of the things that are coming
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  at you every day.
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  Makes total sense. I'm curious. What drew you
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  to yoga in particular?
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  You know, it,
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  I I had a friend, actually a neighbor,
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  who who mentioned that they had, you know,
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  gone to this one particular yoga instructor and
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  that they really, really loved it. And, you
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  know, one day, I thought, you know, I'm
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  just gonna go try it. And, and but
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  I I was like, look. I I'm not
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  gonna go in a class because, you know,
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  I'd I'd you know, I I didn't wanna
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  go embarrass myself.
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  And so I I went and did it
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  and, and look. And I and I just
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  really and it again, there's a a mental
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  component to it because it's an hour where
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  you can just
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  relax your mind. There's it's also you know,
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  you get you do get a lot of
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  strength out of it and a lot of
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  flexibility and balance. And,
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  I don't know. It was just I I
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  was really taken to it, as a way
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  to sort of stay grounded and and and
• 12:02
  help with health in addition to the strength
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  training. I've always loved I played high school
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  football and k. Loved lifting weights all the
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  way back to high school. So that's always
• 12:10
  been something I did,
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  but this was an added component to it
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  that that I've really enjoyed.
• 12:17
  That's wonderful. Yeah. I've I've only dabbled in
• 12:19
  it slightly,
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  but
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  I know enough to understand that it is
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  way harder than it might look.
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  Being in one pose for
• 12:29
  a considerable amount of time, yeah, that you're
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  you're testing muscles that if you haven't trained
• 12:34
  them properly,
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  it's it's gonna put some stress on you,
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  but not in a bad way necessarily.
• 12:39
  Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting, you know, guy
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  look, I've I'm a strength training guy. I
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  love lifting weights. A lot of guys I
• 12:45
  used to think, well, no guys are doing
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  yoga. It turns out there's a lot of
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  guys who are out there doing yoga. But
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  you're right. It can absolutely humble you because
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  you think, oh, I can do this. And
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  then you walk in and they're like, okay.
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  Stand on one leg for a minute.
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  And, and all of a sudden, you're falling
• 13:00
  over. So, yeah, you it's definitely humbling, and
• 13:02
  you're and you're working different muscles.
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  Absolutely.
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  Speaking of being humble, Pete, this is a
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  great segue.
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  So I appreciate that. So you mentioned how
• 13:12
  much you lean on your family, which is
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  terrific.
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  I'm also wondering
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  when you do have those tough days,
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  what do you do to
• 13:20
  to try and move forward? Is there someone
• 13:21
  you turn to? Is there a certain practice
• 13:23
  you have? I mean, you do extra yoga.
• 13:26
  What what what is the case for you?
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  Like, how do how do you say, you
• 13:29
  know what?
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  This day was really, really hard, but I've
• 13:32
  gotta find a way to turn the page,
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  and sometimes it's sooner rather than later.
• 13:36
  Yeah.
• 13:37
  A a couple different ways I do that.
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  One is I'm a I'm a big I'm
• 13:40
  a big history fan,
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  particularly
• 13:43
  of World War two history. And,
• 13:46
  sitting in my office
• 13:48
  is a picture of, Omaha Beach, which,
• 13:52
  you know, for anybody that's a history fan
• 13:54
  of World War two,
• 13:56
  was the beach that was the most difficult
• 13:58
  on d day back during World War World
• 14:00
  War two. And, in that picture is a
• 14:03
  German gun emplacement
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  that,
• 14:06
  a particular soldier led people to go take,
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  and had they not taken it, we would
• 14:11
  have never gotten off the beach. And that
• 14:13
  the the soldier that led them,
• 14:16
  actually
• 14:17
  was killed that day and has got the
• 14:19
  congressional medal of honor and is buried in
• 14:21
  the cemetery,
• 14:23
  in Normandy.
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  I I do this often when, you know,
• 14:26
  it's a tough situation or something's going bad.
• 14:28
  I'll get up and I'll go look at
• 14:30
  that,
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  And, I'll take a look at that that
• 14:32
  that picture, and I'll go, you know what?
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  Whatever I'm dealing with is not near as
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  tough as what, you know, those people were
• 14:39
  dealing with on that day, and I've got
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  to I've gotta get over it and turn
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  the page. And, so I I I I
• 14:45
  really do do that a lot, when I
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  when I need to.
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  And then I also, you know, again, go
• 14:51
  rely when I'm having a tough day, I'll
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  I'll, again, rely upon my family. And, you
• 14:56
  know, if I and if I really need
• 14:57
  a boost, I'll call one of my kids.
• 14:59
  And, you know, I can go from, you
• 15:01
  know, being stressed out and and and grumpy,
• 15:04
  and I talk to my son or I
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  talk to my daughter, and, you know, I've
• 15:07
  got a smile on my face. So,
• 15:10
  I rely, you know, you know, I did
• 15:12
  they're a huge boost for me. And then
• 15:15
  I am blessed to work with amazing people,
• 15:18
  up and down, you know, up and down
• 15:20
  this hallway that I sit on now. And
• 15:22
  I know a lot of them care about
• 15:23
  me, and and I certainly care deeply about
• 15:25
  them. And,
• 15:27
  when I'm having a tough day, I'll just
• 15:29
  go plop down in their office and and
• 15:31
  and and they'll help me through it. And,
• 15:35
  I would tell anybody that's a CEO or
• 15:37
  anybody
• 15:38
  in business,
• 15:40
  surround yourself with people who care about you
• 15:42
  and who you care about, who are willing
• 15:44
  to support you, and you're willing to support
• 15:46
  them. And, that'll make it a whole lot
• 15:48
  easier to get through the tough stuff.
• 15:51
  Thank you for sharing all of that insight,
• 15:52
  Pete. I mean, it's I think that would
• 15:54
  be helpful for a lot of people to
• 15:56
  kind of keep in mind, keep themselves centered,
• 15:59
  keep perspective, really, especially with respect to what
• 16:01
  you're just saying about Omaha Beach. Like,
• 16:04
  it might seem like such a simple,
• 16:07
  trivial is probably not the word, but but
• 16:09
  very very small thing that, you know but
• 16:11
  it can be very powerful, it sounds like.
• 16:14
  Yeah. I I look. I think perspective is
• 16:16
  one of those things in life that's so
• 16:17
  powerful. I mean, you could we can all
• 16:19
  get lost in,
• 16:21
  you know, gosh. I'm having a tough day.
• 16:24
  But, look, I look at myself and say,
• 16:25
  look. I'm the CEO of a amazing organization
• 16:30
  that takes care of gets to take care
• 16:32
  of people every day, which is, you know,
• 16:34
  what what an amazing thing we get to
• 16:36
  do.
• 16:37
  And, obviously, I'm blessed, you know, you know,
• 16:40
  probably with more resources, you know, with lots
• 16:42
  of resources. And,
• 16:44
  I I get to have all these incredible
• 16:47
  experiences.
• 16:48
  And when I look at that, I'm like,
• 16:49
  hey.
• 16:50
  Like,
• 16:51
  your life is really good. It's your life
• 16:53
  is is,
• 16:55
  you know, far better than you ever expected
• 16:57
  it would be when you were a young
• 16:59
  kid sitting in rural Kentucky
• 17:01
  and,
• 17:01
  you know, get over whatever
• 17:04
  emotions you're having and get some perspective about
• 17:07
  how good life is, and then just deal
• 17:09
  with whatever you're dealing with.
• 17:11
  And then turn around and working with others
• 17:14
  to to make their lives better Yeah.
• 17:16
  Fairly directly is is a great thing too.
• 17:19
  Yeah. It is. And I mean, that's the
• 17:21
  I mean, the best part of getting to
• 17:23
  do what I do is,
• 17:25
  is getting to work with amazing people and
• 17:26
  try to help them. And, I'd I'd I'd
• 17:29
  you know, know, people ask me, where do
• 17:30
  I get the most joy of of now?
• 17:33
  And my my greatest joy is watching people
• 17:35
  that are earlier in their career than I
• 17:38
  am who've got amazing talent, a great an
• 17:40
  amazing skill, and just trying to help them,
• 17:43
  you know, achieve whatever whatever they're trying to
• 17:45
  achieve professionally,
• 17:47
  and,
• 17:48
  to make sure that,
• 17:50
  you know, they have the same types of
• 17:51
  blessings that I had going growing up and
• 17:54
  that, you know, I can become a mentor
• 17:55
  to them like
• 17:57
  John Lowe was to me when when, you
• 17:58
  know, when I was younger.
• 18:01
  Fantastic.
• 18:02
  Pete, you've been incredibly introspective so far, which
• 18:05
  is great for this conversation in general. So
• 18:07
  so thank you again for that. That brings
• 18:09
  me to my next question, which is simply,
• 18:12
  what is something you've learned about yourself
• 18:14
  from working in health care?
• 18:17
  Yeah. I,
• 18:19
  I I think that I from my from
• 18:21
  my own perspective,
• 18:23
  I've realized that I guess I was drawn
• 18:26
  to it just because I I even though
• 18:28
  I'm not a physician and not a clinician,
• 18:31
  I just do like, I have this internal
• 18:33
  desire to help people. Like, that's my joy
• 18:36
  of of knowing that
• 18:37
  that you're you're
• 18:39
  trying to trying to help others.
• 18:41
  Again, I realize I'm I'm not a doctor
• 18:43
  or nurse and and or or any of
• 18:45
  our employees who are on the front lines,
• 18:47
  you know, taking care of people every day.
• 18:49
  But
• 18:50
  I don't know. I just I to me,
• 18:52
  I get such joy out of just the
• 18:53
  idea that maybe I can provide a little
• 18:56
  bit of help so that they can help
• 18:57
  people or,
• 18:59
  you know, when people call and say, hey.
• 19:01
  My family member needs help. Can you can
• 19:03
  you help them? I'm just getting to do
• 19:05
  that. And I I don't know. I just
• 19:07
  I I've found that that's
• 19:09
  what gives me just huge joy.
• 19:13
  That's so wonderful, Pete. I'm glad you're able
• 19:15
  to share that with us and our audience,
• 19:17
  and,
• 19:17
  you know, it's I'm sure it's reflected in
• 19:20
  in how you're you're treating your colleagues and
• 19:23
  in anyone who's under Ochsner's care for certainly.
• 19:27
  Lastly, Pete,
• 19:29
  risk, it's gonna be part of of anyone's
• 19:31
  journey.
• 19:33
  Again, you've you've gone through that a little
• 19:35
  bit so far, but
• 19:37
  if you could highlight for us
• 19:39
  just one thing. Well, it's a I guess
• 19:41
  it has to be one thing, but at
• 19:42
  least one thing in particular, one risk that
• 19:44
  you you can look back now
• 19:46
  and say, you know what? That really paid
• 19:48
  off.
• 19:49
  Yes.
• 19:50
  And this is one of those this is
• 19:52
  a question that I have complete clarity on
• 19:54
  what the answer is,
• 19:55
  and,
• 19:56
  which I know is is it may be
• 19:58
  unusual for folks. But
• 20:00
  so 2008,
• 20:02
  I had just made equity partner at this
• 20:04
  big law firm.
• 20:06
  And it is a firm of people I
• 20:07
  love, and I loved my time there. And,
• 20:09
  some some of my great friends are still
• 20:12
  there, and I and I,
• 20:13
  you know, have great,
• 20:15
  aberration for the firm.
• 20:17
  But I knew in my heart of hearts
• 20:20
  that, you know, practicing law at the law
• 20:22
  firm wasn't gonna fulfill me,
• 20:25
  you know,
• 20:27
  my desire to be a leader,
• 20:28
  back to, you know, being part of health
• 20:30
  care and helping, you know, helping, you know,
• 20:32
  people who are in need,
• 20:35
  and that I really had this passion to
• 20:38
  go
• 20:39
  be a leader inside an of of a
• 20:41
  of an organization.
• 20:43
  But
• 20:44
  huge risk. Right? I mean, you just make
• 20:47
  equity partner at this big firm.
• 20:50
  Your career is essentially set for the next
• 20:52
  twenty years.
• 20:54
  Your family could live in one place. You
• 20:56
  you know, financially, you're gonna be well off.
• 20:59
  You're gonna do interesting work. And in that
• 21:02
  year, when you make it, to say, you
• 21:04
  know what? I'm jumping out of this, and
• 21:06
  I'm jumping over
• 21:08
  to do something totally different. I'm moving my
• 21:11
  family. I'm uprooting my kids from school.
• 21:14
  That was a huge, huge risk.
• 21:16
  And and, thankfully,
• 21:18
  I always say I way overmarried.
• 21:20
  And,
• 21:21
  my wife,
• 21:23
  she
• 21:23
  Stephanie, she knew
• 21:25
  that about me. And when we were talking
• 21:28
  about it, she's like, let's do this. And
• 21:29
  I'm like, it's a huge risk. She goes,
• 21:31
  I know,
• 21:32
  but we'll only live once, and you let's
• 21:34
  go for something that, you know, I think,
• 21:37
  you know, you'll really will really be great
• 21:39
  for us. So I took that risk and,
• 21:41
  you know, when I did and, of course,
• 21:43
  the past since I I did that, you
• 21:44
  know, wasn't exactly as linear wasn't linear.
• 21:48
  But I look back and say,
• 21:50
  had I not taken that big risk, I
• 21:52
  wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right
• 21:54
  now as the the CEO of this amazing
• 21:57
  organization.
• 21:58
  But that was really, really a huge risk.
• 22:00
  And and I do tell
• 22:03
  when I'm trying to to coach
• 22:05
  people who are coming up, I'm like,
• 22:08
  you do have to just
• 22:09
  take risk, and you gotta follow your passion.
• 22:12
  And and you've got to
• 22:14
  recognize that there's something that's really important to
• 22:16
  you that's gonna make you happy and that
• 22:18
  that you feel like is your calling.
• 22:20
  It's worth taking a risk to go after
• 22:22
  that. And, and I but I look back
• 22:24
  on that moment. And, at the time, I
• 22:26
  had a lot of people who thought I
• 22:27
  was crazy, and
• 22:29
  there were moments I thought I was crazy
• 22:30
  too. But but but, obviously, and it it
• 22:33
  was the right thing to do.
• 22:35
  So crazy that it just might work. Yeah.
• 22:38
  It just might work. Exactly. Yeah. Just might
• 22:40
  work.
• 22:41
  That is so wonderful, Pete.
• 22:43
  I think that's a great place to to
• 22:45
  call it a day here. Pete, you've been
• 22:46
  so generous and candid with with us today,
• 22:49
  and we very much appreciate that.
• 22:51
  Certainly, we're gonna see you at our Becker's
• 22:54
  events. We that's gonna be terrific too.
• 22:57
  But, yeah, just thank you again for being
• 22:59
  here, and, you know, we look forward to
• 23:00
  the next time, we cross paths. Right. Thanks.
• 23:02
  Chris, thanks so much for having me. Appreciate,
• 23:05
  being with you, and I appreciate everything that
• 23:07
  Becker's does. And, and I look forward to
• 23:09
  seeing you soon and, and seeing you at
• 23:11
  one of the events.
• 23:12
  Likewise.