I was recently on a flight when seemingly out of nowhere, the plane encountered unplanned turbulence causing the aircraft to drop without warning. Few things can be more unsettling than flying 30,000 feet above the ground and, without warning, the aircraft loses altitude, causing people and objects to be scattered throughout the cabin. As a passenger on a plane, I always appreciate it when the pilot makes an overhead announcement letting us know that turbulence is expected ahead. This opportunity to mentally and physically prepare for what may lie ahead makes the turbulence easier to endure rather than being caught off guard.

With the news of the $28B acquisition of Cerner by Oracle, I have fielded several questions regarding what I think this means for Cerner, Oracle, and the healthcare industry. Here are my immediate thoughts:

Much has been written lately about the benefits and drawbacks of managing remote teams. Some articles tout the increased job satisfaction and improvement in productivity, while others lament the lack of spontaneous in-person conversations and creative brainstorming an office setting can provide.

Communication is at the core of everything we do. Communication directly impacts so many areas of our life and society, including athletics, military conflicts, family life, politics, relationships, and business. Without good communication, we are doomed to fail. The faster the pace and greater the stakes, the more important communication becomes.

The statistics speak for themselves; while women account for just under half of the entire workforce, they account for only 26% of all tech jobs. Sadly, this number has been declining over the past decade and has only accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To make matters worse, the turnover rate for women in tech is more than double (41% vs. 17%) of their male counterparts. Nearly 1 in 4 women who leave their tech job take a non-technical job at another company.

I recently had the opportunity to join a Zoom meeting that consisted of state and local government leaders, hospital CEO’s and top physicians from various health systems and hospitals. The topic was the impact COVID-19 was having on our healthcare systems. As each physician leader spoke about the struggles and opportunities each healthcare system was facing, an interesting theme began to emerge.

When I was starting out in the IT field, I applied for an IT infrastructure position at a hospital and was called in for an interview. I was currently working as an infrastructure support engineer for a company that was being acquired, and there was a lot of uncertainty around whether they would retain the local staff or not. I vividly remember showing up for the interview and being called back to an office. I sat down, and the very first question the interviewer asked me was, “do you have any healthcare experience”?

Because of the importance of cyber security and the increasing risk to healthcare organizations, most companies now have someone responsible for leading and overseeing cyber security. In many organizations, information security leaders (i.e., CISO, IT Security Director) report to the CIO making it easier for the CIO to influence cyber security decisions directly. Even in cases where this is not true, the CIO should remain heavily involved in promoting and supporting cyber security initiatives.

In Part 1 of this blog, I covered the first three parallels I observed between my fitness journey and leadership. This second and final blog post on the subject will include the remaining four lessons I have learned.

A few years ago I decided it was time to get serious about fitness and my overall health. Stress, poor diet, and lack of physical activity had led me to a point where I was struggling with low energy and battling with fatigue. I decided to embark on a lifestyle change and get serious about my health and fitness. What I did not know when I started this journey was that many of the lessons I learned along the way would translate to several other areas of my life. One of the most significant parallels I found was between fitness and leadership.

Healthcare IT has dramatically changed in the past decade and every indication points to this change continuing in the future. Gone are the days of IT purely focusing on connectivity, email, and file shares. IT has moved into a much more strategic role and is involved in providing solutions to business challenges rather than just working behind the scenes to deliver connectivity to systems. 

For any technology department, group, or organization to be successful long-term they must develop and use a technology plan. This plan is often frequently referred to as a technology roadmap. When designed and used correctly, this roadmap can be a helpful tool for aligning resources, setting priorities, and communicating with relevant stakeholders.

If you are a leader, you know how much managing people and projects can be a demand on your time. It seems like our days and weeks are full of endless meetings, phone calls, emails, text messages, and “drive-by” conversations. All of this can take a toll on a leader and lead to frustration, exhaustion or even burnout.

Healthcare is changing rapidly and technology is at the forefront of that change. The healthcare industry in the United States is in the midst of significant change as the current model is not sustainable long-term. There are several “market disruptors” that have received media attention as of late. As you look at each of these offerings and solutions they all have one thing in common - technology is the vehicle enabling the change.

Core values are used to outwardly express what an individual, organization or company stands for. They are helpful in explaining what is valued and what is held in high regard. In organizations and companies, core values are generally decided on at the highest level and pushed down to the rest of the individuals to adopt and adhere to.

By now you probably know that diversity has become a large focus for companies of all sizes. While there is a lot of discussion regarding the need for diversity, we as leaders do not focus a lot on the benefits of having a diverse team.