In a recent HealthSystemCIO.com webinar, Daniel Barchi, SVP/CIO at Yale New Haven Health System, shared advice from his many years of leadership experience in the US Navy, the telecommunications industry, and in healthcare.
Among Barchi’s best tips for being an innovative leader:
- Be Bold
- Think Differently
- Take Risks
- Invest in Your Team
- Fail and Adapt
- Persevere
Barchi’s leadership style does not focus on autonomous decision making at the executive level. Instead, he stresses the importance of grassroots decision making. By getting everyone involved in the process, you have a better chance of long-term success. That’s not to say you give all the decision making power to your team. Do your part to give them all of the information they need to make an educated choice. If all members of the team agree, or you have a vast majority vote, then you can rest assured that the right decision has been reached.
If you’ve made a bad decision, admit it and “don’t ride the bomb all the way down”, says Barchi. An important quality of any leader is the ability to admit to failure, learn from it, and adapt your strategies.
Invest in People
Barchi says the best decisions he’s made in his career revolve around people, not processes or technology. Invest wisely in talent and make sure employees are challenged to take advantage of their skills. This is a principle our healthcare marketing agency strongly believes in.
