SHSMD: CEOs Discuss Cultural Change Leadership

Q. How do you avoid 'flavor of the month' initiatives?

Marinello: You have to keep driving the strategy you are working to accomplish and reinforce that it's not going away. Keep bringing it up.

Sadvary: In our jobs as CEO, we are guilty of [flavor of the month initiatives]. We need to deliver the message in a consistent way.

Q. In an organization with multiple systems, how do you mix multiple cultures?

Kuhn: Banner Health recently acquired two new hospitals and there was a very structured integration program. A lot of it is having a common infrastructure; you need to have a common electronic medical record system, etc. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to get the groups and leadership buy-in from the top to make everything the same.

Q. What is the greatest value a marketing team brings to the C-suite?

Marinello: They are out there as the eyes and ears. Our regional marketing director understands ROI and what brings value to the organization.

Sadvary: Marketing intelligence is very important. We need to know what the doctors, patients, and employees are thinking. As a CEO, the more I know the more I can drive a strategy. We have a long way to go, we think we know what docs and patients are thinking. Wrong.