By: Pete Geier
CEO of OSU Health System
COO of OSU Medical Center
In my last letter to all Medical Center faculty & staff, I wrote about our Medical Center value of Leadership. The supporting statement for the Leadership value is: We live in alignment with our values and are thoughtful about how we influence others as we develop personalized health care. Leadership is the ability to influence others. Never before has the idea that we each have influence over another been more important to OSU Medical Center. This is called personal leadership. While top leaders set goals and expectations, we rely on the leader within each of you to do the right thing as you fulfill your role in your department.
How are you exercising leadership by influencing others so that we can develop personalized health care?
A couple examples of personal leadership include each of you who helped the Medical Center set a new record for the March of Dimes March for Babies in April by joining our team of 400 walkers. Also, Dr. Quinn Capers, associate dean for admissions for the College of Medicine, was honored for his leadership last month with a prestigious 2010 Ohio State Distinguished Diversity Enhancement award. 
Consider taking the lead among your group of friends in making the commitment to ride in Pelotonia this year. All faculty and staff who pay their registration fee to ride this year before August 1st will be eligible to win an RPAC membership or a 2010 Honda Accord. Learn more by clicking on the picture of the car that will be given away.
An admirable example of personal leadership recently took place in the Labor and Delivery Unit at University Hospital when an alert patient-care team recognized an amniotic fluid embolism in a patient whose labor was well under way. This condition is extremely rare, unpredictable, unpreventable and usually fatal. The team quickly arranged an emergency cesarean section, which saved the baby’s life, then began stabilizing the mother, who had sustained a cardiopulmonary arrest and developed massive bleeding common to this condition. The cardiac anesthesiologists and cardiac surgeons were quickly consulted and the patient was transported to the Ross Heart Hospital for removal of the embolism and stabilization. Mother and baby are doing fine today because of the personal leadership and dedication of Obstetrics, the Labor and Delivery team and the Open Heart Surgery team consisting of the surgeons, cardiac anesthesiologists, Ross 4 nurses, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, and critical care pharmacists.
As these examples demonstrate, leadership is less about a title and more about behavior. To be the best leader that each of us can be, we need to understand our role on the Medical Center team, deliver on our commitments and not be afraid to accept responsibility for our actions and decisions.
Do you feel you have a deep enough understanding of your role on our team to be able to exercise personal leadership?
