Bold Leader Interview

I heard Gary Mendell, the Founder and CEO of Shatterproof, speak a few weeks back at Liberation, Medecision’s annual healthcare summit. Gary spoke just after I facilitated a panel about BOLD leadership, the kind required for the transformative change facing the healthcare industry. But I didn’t have a chance to meet him. Probably a good thing; I’m not sure I could have said a word in that moment! Like every other person in that room, I was moved to tears, speechless, emotions tinged with some personal guilt. Guilt about the stigma that persists in our society today in the way…

I met Carina Edwards, CEO of Quil when in Philadelphia for the B!PHL Innovation Festival a couple months ago. We were both speakers at this great community event centered on innovation. Since meeting, I’ve talked with Carina a few times and feel like I made a fast, forever friend. Each conversation has been at a lightning pace, packed full of ideas, and fun!   Within the first fifteen minutes of our first discussion, I knew I was talking with a BOLD leader. Happily, Carina agreed to an interview. We quickly confirmed that she was born with curiosity, confidence, empathy and…

At my request, colleague (and BOLD leader himself), Matthew Taylor, Vice President of Information Technology at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield introduced me to Carrie Whitcher, Vice President of Health Care Improvement at Excellus BCBS. Within 5 minutes of talking with Carrie, I knew Matthew got it right. Carrie is a BOLD leader! Carrie led our conversation with the “why” she is passionate about making healthcare better.  I ask, “Why devote your career to improving healthcare quality?” Carrie describes being fueled in this pursuit from an early age having been raised with a younger sister with special needs that often required the…

“They hired me because I’m bold. They are afraid of me because I’m bold.” A recent conversation with an amazing heath care leader started with that quote. It encapsulated what I’ve heard recently in a collection of BOLD interviews. And it brought back a theme I’ve heard over the past several years with many BOLD leaders. Organizations wanting to change are not the same thing as organizations willing to change. Talk is easy. Doing is hard. It’s why the “D” in BOLD is about doing. There is a whole section in BOLD, the book, about doing. It is sadly not…

I first met Matthew Taylor, Vice President of Information Technology at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, several years back when we were both working for the Catholic Health Initiatives national office of Population Health. It was a new team charged with starting and leading a transformation to a new Population Health model across the CHI enterprise of over 100 hospitals/markets across country. One of my very first impressions of him would be one I would see play out over and over. Matthew was the one on the team that was always throwing out a new idea from something he read, saw, or…

Dr. Julie M Smith was the co-founder of CLG, Inc., which she describes as “the world’s premiere behavior-based strategy execution firm.” She and her colleagues have reason to claim that position having worked with many in the Fortune 500, at all levels of organizations, all around the world. As we were talking, Julie described the firm’s ability to develop deep relationships and deliver results so that they “became the behavioral-change firm that is often recommended board room to board room.” That is an enviable position for any consultancy and a great legacy. Combining all she knows from her CLG experience,…