By: Chip Souba
Dean, Ohio State University College of Medicine
Every academic medical center – large or small, public or private, wealthy or lacking – has one resource that is more precious, more vital than any other. And that asset is its people – and, in particular, the right people. Some might argue that cash is king or that grants trump everything or that operating margin rules. These factors matter, but not near as much as the right human capital.
The war for talent is intense and it is tempting to grab superstars if and when you can. Amidst the frenzy of the rat race, one guiding principle is key: social competence is just as important as technical competence. Recruiting talent with an eye for leadership and people skills doesn’t mean that candidates must have a capital “L” branded on their forehead. Most leadership is of the small “l” variety. It does mean that fit with the culture is essential. It means paying attention to competencies that are not apparent in a CV. It means saying no if the interviews, evaluations or the references raise a red flag. Everyone knows that it only takes one skunk to ruin a perfectly good picnic (see below, Brock Starr: A Leadership Fable).
What has worked for you in identifying and recruiting “l”eaders who have a high level of social competence?
What are you doing to develop the pipeline of tomorrow’s “l”eaders?
Just stumbled upon your blog. Truer words were never spoken. I like the philosophies behind this post. I’m going to check out some of your related posts and visit again soon.
The thing that also come to mind in this article is the chairs reluctance to “Rock the Boat.” Dale Carnegie once said ” Change is like walking in a country valley, it is easier to walk in the flat area then have to climb the hills, but eventually you have to do it anyway and when you get to the top, look around and see how you got there and be amazed on how far you can see in to the horizon”
Leadership means different things at different levels of an organization. At the top level, I can think of nothing more important that foresight. The future belongs to those who anticipate and prepare for it. Leaders who simply project past trends into the future never rise above mediocrity. Only those who discern where events are headed can achieve true greatness.
Medicine costs too much. The country literally cannot aford it, and the problem will get worse each year. Cleveland Clinic is experimenting with a new way of paying doctors. Whether or not that works remains to be seen, but my point is that top leadership is about preparing to meet the needs of the future today. In all the discussions I have seen about Cleveland Clinic, nobody talked about the social skills of the CEO. Everyody talked about the validity of the new model.
Gordon Gee talks about a new university model that prepares people for jobs. Ultimately, this idea will be judged by whether or not the new model lowers unemployment. Are the graduates of OSU more fully employed than those of Harvard?
A leader is somebody people copy, not necessarily somebody people like. The most important skills in a high level OSUMC leader is foresight and ability to recruit. Social skills are fine, but a lot of what some “leaders do, is take their personality traits and use their brins to argue that those traits are the traits of a leader.
Nice thoughts Chip.
If I had my genie grant me two wishes for us they would be:
1. Have rank and file feel they can take risks in expressing their thoughts/concerns/ideas to make improvements without worrying about their position, tenure or any retaliation. Leaders must be able to convey this to the ‘troops’
2. Executing and translating Dr Gee’s comments on retention into reality. We use enormous resources on recruiting the best physicians only to have them disappointed and leave, taking their referrals with them, because we have not worked hard to keep them but partly, its because competitors take their treatment of physicians to a different level. When we realize that physicians are also customers, no one can compete with Ohio State. No one. We can do this.