Bridgman, MI—The success of any organization or business is almost always a result of choosing the right people. One of the earliest examples of this is found in the Old Testament Book of Judges.
God had called upon Gideon to lead the Israelites into battle against the Midianites, an enemy army that had been oppressing the Israelites. Gideon started with an army of 32,000 and God instructed Gideon to send home those who were afraid. This reduced the size to 10,000. Then God told Gideon to take the remaining soldiers to a stream to drink. The men who knelt to drink were eliminated, only the last 300 who lapped the water with their hand while keeping their eyes on the horizon were selected for the mission.
With just 300 men and using the strategy of surrounding Gideon’s army, the Midianites at night were thrown into confusion. They fled in the face of the trumpets, torches and jars. By breaking the jars and lighting the torches and shouting, Gideon’s 300 shocked the Midianites into turning on themselves and fled, winning a great victory for God’s people.
In my career as a hospital CEO, I learned that selecting the right people matters. My first major flub as a CEO came when I was assigned to a small hospital in Louisiana. We needed to hire a nurse executive and since I wasn't familiar with the area, I gladly turned to experienced recruiter in the state for help.
After several interviews, one candidate stood out above all the others. He interviewed very well with the chairman and the chief of the medical staff. Our notes showed that he was clearly the strongest of all the applicants. I couldn't wait for him to start.
On his first day, he showed up wearing Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt underneath a lab coat. At the end of the day, I had a chat with him about his role as an executive and the importance of setting an example through his attire. During our conversation, I indicated that the attire he wore during all his interviews would be a great example of the clinical and professional dress code.
Over two days arrived, and he showed up with professional attire, much to my relief. However, the inappropriately casual behavior disappeared on day three. I began to feel this new employee had heartburn. Toward the end of that day I asked me if I had heard about the spittoon in his office.
“What is a spittoon?” I asked, being quite ignorant regarding the use of chewing tobacco.
When I visited his office, I saw one, though there it wasn't futile to call the hospital’s utilization review manager to confirm that the ugly bucket on the side of his desk had been used frequently that day.
Three years later, after being appointed CEO of Parkview Hospital in Brunswick, Maine, better fortune would smile on me, one of the greatest talents and acquisitions of my entire career.
The hospital didn't have an IT director though IT ratings of Maine hospitals were lowest in the state.
As a young man he convinced me to bring an overhead projector to the boardroom. He set up the projector for me. The projector screen was supposed to be pulled down over a chalkboard.
Before the meeting, he set up the projector for me. I asked Bill to show the overheads, I asked Bill to pull down the projector screen, then walked to the chalkboard to pull down the screen as I could see the slides I had prepared.
I had never seen the mechanism that kept the screen up. It would not stay down on its own. This was a troubling moment, but the presentation had been flowing well and I didn’t need any interruptions to distract from my message.
Without missing a beat, Bill, who was sitting in a corner of the room, got up and went to the blackboard where the screen was hopelessly wound up at the top. He picked up one of the black erasers from the chalk tray, pulled a piece of string from his pocket and tied one end tightly around the eraser. He tied the other end of the string to the small loop handle used to lower the screen and pulled it down.
I then beheld, the weight of the eraser tied to the screen was enough to keep the screen down so that my presentation could proceed. Wow. What an Einstein. Here was a young man who saw a problem and quickly looked outside the box for a solution.
I didn't need to search any further for this problem-solving talent. Bill was later promoted to Parkview's CIO. He went from being Parkview's farm program, from being one of the least competent to ranking 23rd among over 5,000 U.S. hospitals, and the smallest in the country at the time to achieve HIMSS Analytics Stage 6. This was an extraordinary achievement that brought significant financial reputational gains to Parkview.
Bill McQuaid is currently the chief technology officer at Mid-Coast Hospital in Maine and is truly a modern-day Gideon.
Theodore Lewis is the former CEO of Guam Memorial Hospital and has a healthcare consulting business in Bridgman, MI. He is collecting stories and lessons learned in life and can be reached at theodorelewis@yahoo.com.