What happens when compassion meets operational excellence in healthcare leadership? Alexander Fernandez's journey from frontline nursing to Corporate Director at Jackson Health System reveals the transformative power of people-centered leadership in high-pressure healthcare environments.
Known affectionately as "The Mayor," Fernandez brings a rare ability to unite clinical and administrative teams while driving measurable results. His leadership philosophy—"the heart behind the hustle"—perfectly captures how he balances human connection with strategic execution. Born into a family where his grandmother modeled compassionate service and his father rose from being a Cuban orphan to becoming the first Hispanic police officer in Metro Dade and eventually a U.S. diplomat, Fernandez inherited both compassion and a powerful work ethic that defines his approach to healthcare operations.
While many leaders focus exclusively on metrics, Fernandez builds cultures that sustain performance by reducing turnover and fostering loyalty across diverse teams. "I build trust and structure at the same time," he explains, ensuring operational support recognizes that people are not just numbers. This approach has proven particularly effective when leading complex initiatives spanning patient access, stroke care, workforce staffing, and system-wide technology implementations.
Mentorship stands as a cornerstone of Fernandez's leadership strategy. Having benefited from the guidance of a CEO who recognized his potential early in his career, he now pays this forward by nurturing others' growth. His advice to aspiring healthcare leaders? Find a mentor and don't let fear stop you from moving forward. "Confidence comes through experience," he shares, emphasizing that stepping into challenging roles builds the expertise needed to navigate healthcare's complex landscape.
Connect with Alexander on LinkedIn under Alexander A Fernandez or email at afernandez3@jhsmiami.org to learn more about his approach to transformational healthcare leadership.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome everybody to the Final Brand Podcast.
This is your host, grantMcGaugh.
We're going to bring it all theway back to Jackson Health
System.
I love the people at JacksonHealth.
They invited me in.
We've had some really candidconversations with a lot of
frontline leaders.
These are the leaders of nowand tomorrow and I'm always
curious about healthcare.
(00:21):
I'm always curious about healthcare.
I'm always curious about healthcare leadership and I wanted to
really share some stories witheverybody, because these
particular leaders have gonethrough my brave framework and
they've come across their ownunique experiences about how
this was impactful for them, howthey can use it going forward
(00:44):
to help them on their careerjourney.
So first I'd like to get youintroduced to Mr Alexander, the
Mayor.
Fernandez Alexander, would youlike to introduce yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hi, Grant.
Thank you for having me on yourshow.
My name is Alex Fernandez.
I'm a corporate director hereat Jackson Memorial Hospital
Health System.
Sorry, I'm in charge of nursingoperation for the system and
I'm glad to be part of your showand you're part of your course.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Now, thank you, thank you.
We had four to five weekstogether in which you shared
some things with me.
We share with each otheractually, about your journey,
about what you're doing.
Now I want to ask you thiswe're going to kind of jump
right in right and I want you toshare your journey from
frontline nursing to becoming anoperational leader.
(01:33):
Can you give us some contextaround that Absolutely Grant.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So my story begins in a house filled with compassion,
where my grandmother showed mewhat it meant to serve others
quietly and consistently.
And what shaped me was myparents, my work ethics working
hard, my father, who also was aCuban orphan from Cuba who came
here through Peter Pan.
He became the first Hispaniccop here at Metro Dade, later to
(01:57):
become a drug enforcement agent, to then becoming a diplomat
for the United States.
Becoming a diplomat for theUnited States, seeing all that
reaching his highlights in hiscareer and the pursuit of his
purpose, the work ethics thatset the tone how I would live my
life by entering nursing for me.
I embarked in the nursing career.
I carried the nursing qualitiesof my grandmother, which
(02:20):
modeled through my parents, andpersistent work ethics to
commitment to higher education.
With that deep belief andcontinuous growth, I dedicate
myself an advancing brand.
But when I stepped intoleadership, I believe that care
didn't end at the bedside.
And from the frontline nursingto patient access director, from
service line administrator tostroke program leader, I led
(02:43):
through all these crises torealign teams, help restore
performance when it matteredmost.
What I've learned above all ofthis is that people power is the
most important.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Well, you said it there, you have a what I call
unique people first approach.
In talking to you, you justshared some of the things I
thought very I mean things yourfamily was able to accomplish in
coming here to America, andit's very inspiring.
(03:16):
It's very inspiring and so myquestion I think the audience
would be very intrigued tounderstand a little bit more
that this approach, this peoplefirst approach, influence does
it help in your leadership style, your operational decisions?
How does that work for you?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So, being a leader who never loses sight on the
human core, I've created a hightrust environment where staff
feel supported and motivated toperform.
While others focus on metrics,I build culture to sustain
performance, reduce turnover,foster loyalty across clinical
and administrative teams.
My ability to transform moralinto momentum makes me unique,
(03:55):
suited to lead workforcetransformation at a scale,
especially in moments of crisis,transition and operational
fatigue.
What really drives me isbuilding that trust and
structure at the same time Grantmaking and operational fatigue.
What really drives me isbuilding that trust and
structure at the same time,grant making sure that
operational support are people,not just numbers man I'm glad
you said that we hear that somuch from leadership.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Or even you know people that are doing the work.
They think like, wow, you know,everybody's just pushing paper,
they're just looking at thefinances.
They don't see that I'm aperson, not a number.
I think that's so important tounderstand.
And as we unpack that even morebecause we're talking about
(04:37):
frontline staff, we're talkingabout people can you give us a
specific example where you feelyour leadership significantly
improved organizationalperformance based on your
people-first approach?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Absolutely, grant.
Unlike leaders who operate insilos, I bring rare ability to
connect departments, alignsymptoms, execute strategy
across boundaries.
I have led successfulinitiatives spanning from
patient access, stroke care,workforce staffing and service
line integration, always withthe mindset of cohesion over
control.
My strength lies in bridgingboth clinical and administration
(05:15):
goals, translating the bigpicture strategy into practical
action, ensuring executionwithout an evil.
Well, this makes me theoperator that executives trust
when multiple parts must move asone and when healthcare systems
need both speed and stability.
Right that's important.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Thank you for that speed ability.
You're executing, but at thesame time, you've got to balance
compassion right.
You've got to be compassionatebecause what you're doing in a
high pressure healthcareenvironment is very, very
important.
So I want to understand, I mean, how do you keep that balance,
you know, and with strategiceducation, because you've got
(05:57):
your orders from people that youserve and then you're serving
people on your team.
They're serving you and whatyou want to accomplish.
I want to understand how youbalance that compassion with
strategic education in thesehigh-pressure healthcare
environments.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
In today's dynamic healthcare landscape, my role
plays a pivotal role in aligningclinical delivery, operational
efficiency and enterprisestrategy to meet escalation
demands in high quality,value-based care.
In today's high-pressureenvironment, one must lead
through the complexity ofposition and agility, transition
and vision into execution,while building scalable systems
(06:38):
that improve outcomes, costcontrol, elevate patients and
staff experience.
My success in my role demandsmastery and cross-functional
leadership, data-driven decisionmaking.
The workforce integrationacross diverse service life,
especially leveraging technology, is on the technology right.
That's important.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You just you know, obviously I'm a big tech guy.
I understand the technology, Iunderstand what you've got to do
to operate in these high-levelenvironments, because lives are
at stake.
And that leads to another, Ithink, very important question,
and that is there's some bigchallenges facing healthcare
(07:20):
operations today.
Everybody knows about it theworkforce, the finance issues,
the clinical design, you name itbut how are you uniquely
equipped to address?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
them.
So, as a health careorganization, face mounting
regulatory pressures, financialconstraints and shifting in
consumer expectation.
Nowadays, we're expected tohave champions in innovation,
optimize the resource allocationand, of course, most important,
foster that culture ofaccountability, collaboration
and continuous improvement.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I love it.
Continuous improvement.
That's a tech term, right.
Continuous improvement,continuous improvement.
You're doing that becauseyou're moving people on both
sides of the ball and make sureyou get a positive outcome.
That's the goal right.
Have a positive healthcareoutcome.
Now, especially during ourdiscussions, we understand to
(08:21):
operate at the level that youoperate, you've got to integrate
financial discipline with thedata that you've been given.
So data-driven decisions veryimportant.
How do you drive that into yourleadership practice?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So by bringing departments, connecting people
with a purpose that's criticaland transforming operational
chaos into coordinatedperformance.
By doing so, we redefine whathealth care leadership looks
like at a system level, becomingnot just operators but
architects of sustainable people.
Centered transformation is thekey.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I think that's important.
Now you're bringing up a lot ofthe technical and tactical
aspects of what you do.
I want you to help.
A lot of you don't understand.
They understand what a doctordoes, they understand what a
nurse does to a certain degree,but help us understand from a
COO level.
(09:16):
From a COO level, if you wereoperations officer, describe me
a scenario where yousuccessfully navigated
organizational change, or itcould have been a change or
transformation.
Can you give us a description?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Absolutely Grant.
So I was selected to lead asystem-wide technology
implementation that impactedevery level of my organization,
from frontline staff toexecutive leadership.
My role was to spearhead thisdeployment of technology across
clinical providers and ancillarydepartments, ensuring seamless
integration and adoption.
(09:54):
This initiative requiredorganizational awareness,
extensive planning, strategiccommunication to gain staff
buy-in, which is critical.
Multiple meetings were held tosupport this implementation,
along with essential resourcesto facilitate this transition.
None of this would have beenpossible without the dedication
and collaboration of my team andsenior leadership support.
(10:16):
Over a course of a year, wewere successful implementing
this technology across bothinpatient and outpatient
facilities.
Our success was driven bycareful planning, teamwork and
shared commitment at theoperational level.
That's important.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I like to hear that, because you got a lot of moving
parts.
It's a lot of moving parts.
All these different departments, all these different things are
happening, usually behind thescenes.
You know, sometimes could be athankless job.
I mean, people just don'trealize how you, how did you get
to that level, especially ifyou're a patient in the hospital
and you're sitting like wow, Isurvived, like yeah, but you
(10:53):
know how close, how close it was.
But you've got to coordinateall of those things and make it
happen.
And that's what you know froman operational level.
You're doing it Now through ourwork.
Let me get through the BRAVEframework right.
We came up with a tagline foryou, alexander Fernandez, and
(11:14):
that tagline was AF the heartbehind the hustle.
How does that reflect yourleadership value?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So I love it so much.
I added to my email signatureso I'm a leader who blends
frontline compassion withenterprise position.
Trusted by my comments ofauthority, operational
excellence and people firstapproach, I'm known as the mayor
.
My relation leadership styleunites both clinical and
administration teams to driveresults, elevate patient care
(11:47):
and, of course, prepareorganizational to be scalable
for future ready transformation.
So the heart behind the hustle,it's me.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I love that, the heart behind the hustle.
When I saw that, I said that'shim, that's who he is, that's
what he does, that's what heexudes.
I think when people see that,I'm like, yeah, that's him.
It's like putting on a suitthat fits and it fit without
question.
And as we worked together wedid a lot of role playing we got
(12:19):
a better understanding of howto deliver on the aspects of
what you bring to the table as aleader.
I want you to help usunderstand from your lens.
What role do you feel thatmentorship plays in your
leadership strategy, both from apersonal level and also for
(12:42):
your teams.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
So from a personal level along the way, I was
fortunate to have a CEO whorecognized my potential and took
the time to mentor me, helpingme navigate challenges and
honing on my skills.
His guidance shaped me into theperson I am as a person, as a
leader and today as acompassionate caregiver
determined for leader, and todayas a compassionate caregiver
determined for professional andadvocate for growth and
development.
(13:04):
From both nursing to leadershipposition, every step was a
reflection of my traits,instilled in me by my family and
by my mentor.
Due to that, in my gratitudefor his mentorship and wisdom I
have received, I'm committed togiving back passionately to
mentorship and nurturing others,to growth and helping them to
(13:25):
reach their goals.
Through this cycle of supportand empowerment, I continue to
honor his legacy of those whoinspired me and shaped my
journey.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
That's important.
You've got to have good peoplearound you.
You've got to have people thatbelieve in you, advocate for you
, because they see that all ofus are going to be moving on.
We're just moving through theseworlds.
If you don't prepare the peoplearound you, you don't prepare
your team, whether it's the teamabove you, the team below you,
(13:56):
the team around you.
You're going to run into issuesand as we become intentional
about that, we can have betteroutcomes and achieve the goals
that we want to achieve.
I want to ask you, as you,where you sit now and as you
look toward the future, whatimpact do you hope to have on
(14:19):
healthcare systems and patientcare for Alexander Fernandez.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I want to be able to lead transformational health
care operations by bringing bothclinical, with compassion, and
strategic execution, empoweringteams, elevating systems,
honoring the legacies throughoperational excellence,
definitely mentorship andvisionary leadership.
It's key.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
It's very key.
All of that is key.
Now I want to get a little bitmore on the lens of the BRAVE
framework.
You went through my program.
You had your brand assessment,you had a skills gap analysis,
you had the brave blueprintstrategy and now we're here at
(15:04):
the level we can have aconversation with our audience
about that experience From yourlens.
How did you feel that thatprogram helped you?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It helped me in a lot of ways, grant, from finding my
why, finding my brand.
I have my tagline, that skillset comparison.
You provided me that blueprint.
Show me tactics and where Ihave opportunities to take me to
the next level.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I highly recommend it .
You're going to be at the nextlevel.
We went through that entireprocess and we kept coming
across.
One thing I like and I'll sharethis with the audience is that
you get to look at yourself, notjust where you're at now at
Jackson, but on the nationallevel.
Where do you sit inrelationship to your market and
(15:53):
what does that look like?
And man, I was like you'rethere, you have what I call
natural gravitas.
Right, not everybody has that.
You don't have the.
You say well, how do you getthere?
Well, some of that has to beyour own personality and belief
(16:15):
system and conviction.
And when you had to developyour personal story, remember, I
asked that like all right, um,alexander, can you, you know,
help me understand where you'reat now, your current state, help
me understand what you've beendoing over the last five years?
You had to write a story.
You had to actually write itout.
How did you like that exercise?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I liked it.
It was a little bit emotionalbecause it shows my legacy from
how I started to where I'm atnow.
So it was a little bitemotional Looking back from when
I started as a nurse, goingthrough leadership and all the
mentorship that I received fromthe CEO, and then the person who
I've become today um, yeah, Istill pitch myself Brad so well
(17:01):
and keeping myself humble at thesame time.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
and I, that's you you have that humility and we
always say well and it's alwaysgood, and I worked with a lot of
different people.
But sometimes, because you'removing so fast on your day to
day, week to week, month tomonth, quarter to quarter, that
you don't always get a chance toreflect and look back at your
really your whole journey, Right, what is that journey been?
(17:25):
And you're like, wow, you knowwhat?
I was In a row five, 10 yearsago that I probably couldn't see
myself in my current state ofwhere you're at now and where
you can go.
If you had to go back and talkto that younger Alex that Alex
that was five or 10 years agobecause there's people in your
(17:48):
position or in that positionright now and they were like, oh
man, I want to be just likeAlex.
What would you suggest?
Some things that you feel wouldbe very beneficial for them?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Two things, brad Definitely get a mentor.
And number two don't have thefear, go forward.
Yeah, you know, the impact thatwe have on others is the most
important thing Move forward.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That whole confidence world, as you said earlier,
like as you get another step upthe rung.
Let's say, you get that anotherstep and then you always have
that and this happens even atthe CEO level or board level.
There's that, that moment ofcan I do this job?
You know, people call it nowimposter syndrome.
(18:36):
I don't really like the termimposter like you're not who
you're supposed to be.
But no matter what, you knowyou, everybody gets butterflies
when you're about to dosomething new, right, right.
But the only way to get atleast for me, the only way I get
confidence is by doing it.
At first I have to rehearse it.
I've got to like get my juicesgoing and then when I get out
(18:59):
there, you know you can really.
You know, let the engine go.
You're like you know we're downdown miami, right, you're gonna
get the boat on plane and yougotta get it going.
And then you know you're flyingout there, right, right, right.
I want to be very honest,because we had this conversation
a little early.
Like you know, grant, I'm alittle nervous.
You know I'm going to be on apodcast, I'm going to be talking
(19:20):
to people, I'm just not sure.
But here we are getting towardthe end.
You're motorboating now, right,right, I'm planning now.
You're up on plane.
You're up on play.
You're up on play you got theconfidence.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Talk to us about how do you gain that confidence for
yourself, Brad.
I think it's the experienceliving through the day-to-day
operational and stepping in thatrole and then just working hard
what you do.
Confidence to me is experience.
That's the bottom line.
It's not that I'm smarter, it'sjust that I've been exposed to
that role or that job or thatproject.
(19:59):
And building that experiencethat's what builds confidence.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Love that and you're starting to take on some high
level, high visible projects.
Now People are seeing you.
Now do you feeling confidentyou can sit in the boardroom
with the board, you can sit inthe room with the C-suite
executive because they're comingto you about operational
situational awareness.
(20:24):
I guess that you have that.
Others maybe not have, but theyfeel confident that you can get
the job done.
That's got to be a good feeling, right?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
It is.
At first it's scary, I'm notgoing to lie to you, but I don't
let fear stop me, like Imentioned, and then just you
know, once you get into thatproject, just get going.
And it's nice to be recognizedand being selected for these
system-wide projects.
I'm very blessed.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I love it.
I love it.
We're going to go ahead andconclude.
This has been a really goodsession.
I want to tell you, and I wantto tell your family, it was a
joy working with you.
It was a joy understanding yourstory.
I wasn't even aware.
When you said Peter Pan, likePeter Pan, I'm like, well, what
exactly is that?
(21:11):
And then you're telling me thatyour father, I believe, became
one of the first police officersLatin police officers in
Miami-Dade.
So you know, that's that moment.
You lean in, like this guyactually has a story and he has
a story that I want to listen toand then understanding how he
(21:31):
got into the healthcare fieldand then how he's gotten his
track all the way up tohealthcare leadership at this
point and then he still has roomto grow and you're becoming
this whole new person, that fromwhere you were when you first
started out.
I think it's been wonderful.
I want to thank you and yourfamily and Jackson Health again
(21:53):
for having this type of program,because this is how we can all
come together.
You never know when you'regoing to touch the health care
system.
No one wants to be in ahospital on the patient side of
that, or you want to know thatthere's people like Alexander
Fernandez, who's hey, I got yourback, we're going to get
(22:15):
through this, you know, together, because, as you said, you've
had the experience.
You've seen how this happens.
You know the players that needto be involved.
You know how to communicate thesituations to all the key
players so that we can havesuccessful outcomes, not only in
just your particular hospital,but throughout the system.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I want to thank you again.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
How do we get you on Modern Healthcare?
How do I get to ModernHealthcare?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah, how do we get you to do an article for us on
Modern Healthcare?
We could definitely connectafter this, greg.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well, we're going to get you there.
And before we let you go, howdo we get in touch with you?
Tell us about your LinkedInhandle.
What's the best way?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
So you can reach out to me on LinkedIn.
I'm under Alexander A Fernandez, I work for Jackson Health
System and also my email isafernandez3 at jhsmiamiorg.
Thank you, this has beenwonderful.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I want to thank you again for being on the show.
I want to encourage your entireaudience to tune into all the
episodes on Follow the Brand at5 Star BDM.
That is the number five, thatis star, that is B for brand, d
for development informationcom.
Again, this has been wonderful.
Thank you again for being onthe show.
Thank you, grant, it's been apleasure.
You're welcome.
Welcome everybody to the Final Brand Podcast.
This is your host, grantMcGaugh.
We're going to bring it all theway back to Jackson Health
System.
I love the people at JacksonHealth.
They invited me in.
We've had some really candidconversations with a lot of
frontline leaders.
These are the leaders of nowand tomorrow and I'm always
curious about healthcare.
(00:21):
I'm always curious about healthcare.
I'm always curious about healthcare leadership and I wanted to
really share some stories witheverybody, because these
particular leaders have gonethrough my brave framework and
they've come across their ownunique experiences about how
this was impactful for them, howthey can use it going forward
(00:44):
to help them on their careerjourney.
So first I'd like to get youintroduced to Mr Alexander, the
Mayor.
Fernandez Alexander, would youlike to introduce yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hi, Grant.
Thank you for having me on yourshow.
My name is Alex Fernandez.
I'm a corporate director hereat Jackson Memorial Hospital
Health System.
Sorry, I'm in charge of nursingoperation for the system and
I'm glad to be part of your showand you're part of your course.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Now, thank you, thank you.
We had four to five weekstogether in which you shared
some things with me.
We share with each otheractually, about your journey,
about what you're doing.
Now I want to ask you thiswe're going to kind of jump
right in right and I want you toshare your journey from
frontline nursing to becoming anoperational leader.
(01:33):
Can you give us some contextaround that Absolutely Grant.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So my story begins in a house filled with compassion,
where my grandmother showed mewhat it meant to serve others
quietly and consistently.
And what shaped me was myparents, my work ethics working
hard, my father, who also was aCuban orphan from Cuba who came
here through Peter Pan.
He became the first Hispaniccop here at Metro Dade, later to
(01:57):
become a drug enforcement agent, to then becoming a diplomat
for the United States.
Becoming a diplomat for theUnited States, seeing all that
reaching his highlights in hiscareer and the pursuit of his
purpose, the work ethics thatset the tone how I would live my
life by entering nursing for me.
I embarked in the nursing career.
I carried the nursing qualitiesof my grandmother, which
(02:20):
modeled through my parents, andpersistent work ethics to
commitment to higher education.
With that deep belief andcontinuous growth, I dedicate
myself an advancing brand.
But when I stepped intoleadership, I believe that care
didn't end at the bedside.
And from the frontline nursingto patient access director, from
service line administrator tostroke program leader, I led
(02:43):
through all these crises torealign teams, help restore
performance when it matteredmost.
What I've learned above all ofthis is that people power is the
most important.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Well, you said it there, you have a what I call
unique people first approach.
In talking to you, you justshared some of the things I
thought very I mean things yourfamily was able to accomplish in
coming here to America, andit's very inspiring.
(03:16):
It's very inspiring and so myquestion I think the audience
would be very intrigued tounderstand a little bit more
that this approach, this peoplefirst approach, influence does
it help in your leadership style, your operational decisions?
How does that work for you?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So, being a leader who never loses sight on the
human core, I've created a hightrust environment where staff
feel supported and motivated toperform.
While others focus on metrics,I build culture to sustain
performance, reduce turnover,foster loyalty across clinical
and administrative teams.
My ability to transform moralinto momentum makes me unique,
(03:55):
suited to lead workforcetransformation at a scale,
especially in moments of crisis,transition and operational
fatigue.
What really drives me isbuilding that trust and
structure at the same time Grantmaking and operational fatigue.
What really drives me isbuilding that trust and
structure at the same time,grant making sure that
operational support are people,not just numbers man I'm glad
you said that we hear that somuch from leadership.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Or even you know people that are doing the work.
They think like, wow, you know,everybody's just pushing paper,
they're just looking at thefinances.
They don't see that I'm aperson, not a number.
I think that's so important tounderstand.
And as we unpack that even morebecause we're talking about
(04:37):
frontline staff, we're talkingabout people can you give us a
specific example where you feelyour leadership significantly
improved organizationalperformance based on your
people-first approach?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Absolutely, grant.
Unlike leaders who operate insilos, I bring rare ability to
connect departments, alignsymptoms, execute strategy
across boundaries.
I have led successfulinitiatives spanning from
patient access, stroke care,workforce staffing and service
line integration, always withthe mindset of cohesion over
control.
My strength lies in bridgingboth clinical and administration
(05:15):
goals, translating the bigpicture strategy into practical
action, ensuring executionwithout an evil.
Well, this makes me theoperator that executives trust
when multiple parts must move asone and when healthcare systems
need both speed and stability.
Right that's important.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Thank you for that speed ability.
You're executing, but at thesame time, you've got to balance
compassion right.
You've got to be compassionatebecause what you're doing in a
high pressure healthcareenvironment is very, very
important.
So I want to understand, I mean, how do you keep that balance,
you know, and with strategiceducation, because you've got
(05:57):
your orders from people that youserve and then you're serving
people on your team.
They're serving you and whatyou want to accomplish.
I want to understand how youbalance that compassion with
strategic education in thesehigh-pressure healthcare
environments.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
In today's dynamic healthcare landscape, my role
plays a pivotal role in aligningclinical delivery, operational
efficiency and enterprisestrategy to meet escalation
demands in high quality,value-based care.
In today's high-pressureenvironment, one must lead
through the complexity ofposition and agility, transition
and vision into execution,while building scalable systems
(06:38):
that improve outcomes, costcontrol, elevate patients and
staff experience.
My success in my role demandsmastery and cross-functional
leadership, data-driven decisionmaking.
The workforce integrationacross diverse service life,
especially leveraging technology, is on the technology right.
That's important.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
You just you know, obviously I'm a big tech guy.
I understand the technology, Iunderstand what you've got to do
to operate in these high-levelenvironments, because lives are
at stake.
And that leads to another, Ithink, very important question,
and that is there's some bigchallenges facing healthcare
(07:20):
operations today.
Everybody knows about it theworkforce, the finance issues,
the clinical design, you name itbut how are you uniquely
equipped to address?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
them.
So, as a health careorganization, face mounting
regulatory pressures, financialconstraints and shifting in
consumer expectation.
Nowadays, we're expected tohave champions in innovation,
optimize the resource allocationand, of course, most important,
foster that culture ofaccountability, collaboration
and continuous improvement.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I love it.
Continuous improvement.
That's a tech term, right.
Continuous improvement,continuous improvement.
You're doing that becauseyou're moving people on both
sides of the ball and make sureyou get a positive outcome.
That's the goal right.
Have a positive healthcareoutcome.
Now, especially during ourdiscussions, we understand to
(08:21):
operate at the level that youoperate, you've got to integrate
financial discipline with thedata that you've been given.
So data-driven decisions veryimportant.
How do you drive that into yourleadership practice?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So by bringing departments, connecting people
with a purpose that's criticaland transforming operational
chaos into coordinatedperformance.
By doing so, we redefine whathealth care leadership looks
like at a system level, becomingnot just operators but
architects of sustainable people.
Centered transformation is thekey.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I think that's important.
Now you're bringing up a lot ofthe technical and tactical
aspects of what you do.
I want you to help.
A lot of you don't understand.
They understand what a doctordoes, they understand what a
nurse does to a certain degree,but help us understand from a
COO level.
(09:16):
From a COO level, if you wereoperations officer, describe me
a scenario where yousuccessfully navigated
organizational change, or itcould have been a change or
transformation.
Can you give us a description?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Absolutely Grant.
So I was selected to lead asystem-wide technology
implementation that impactedevery level of my organization,
from frontline staff toexecutive leadership.
My role was to spearhead thisdeployment of technology across
clinical providers and ancillarydepartments, ensuring seamless
integration and adoption.
(09:54):
This initiative requiredorganizational awareness,
extensive planning, strategiccommunication to gain staff
buy-in, which is critical.
Multiple meetings were held tosupport this implementation,
along with essential resourcesto facilitate this transition.
None of this would have beenpossible without the dedication
and collaboration of my team andsenior leadership support.
(10:16):
Over a course of a year, wewere successful implementing
this technology across bothinpatient and outpatient
facilities.
Our success was driven bycareful planning, teamwork and
shared commitment at theoperational level.
That's important.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I like to hear that, because you got a lot of moving
parts.
It's a lot of moving parts.
All these different departments, all these different things are
happening, usually behind thescenes.
You know, sometimes could be athankless job.
I mean, people just don'trealize how you, how did you get
to that level, especially ifyou're a patient in the hospital
and you're sitting like wow, Isurvived, like yeah, but you
(10:53):
know how close, how close it was.
But you've got to coordinateall of those things and make it
happen.
And that's what you know froman operational level.
You're doing it Now through ourwork.
Let me get through the BRAVEframework right.
We came up with a tagline foryou, alexander Fernandez, and
(11:14):
that tagline was AF the heartbehind the hustle.
How does that reflect yourleadership value?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So I love it so much.
I added to my email signatureso I'm a leader who blends
frontline compassion withenterprise position.
Trusted by my comments ofauthority, operational
excellence and people firstapproach, I'm known as the mayor
.
My relation leadership styleunites both clinical and
administration teams to driveresults, elevate patient care
(11:47):
and, of course, prepareorganizational to be scalable
for future ready transformation.
So the heart behind the hustle,it's me.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I love that, the heart behind the hustle.
When I saw that, I said that'shim, that's who he is, that's
what he does, that's what heexudes.
I think when people see that,I'm like, yeah, that's him.
It's like putting on a suitthat fits and it fit without
question.
And as we worked together wedid a lot of role playing we got
(12:19):
a better understanding of howto deliver on the aspects of
what you bring to the table as aleader.
I want you to help usunderstand from your lens.
What role do you feel thatmentorship plays in your
leadership strategy, both from apersonal level and also for
(12:42):
your teams.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
So from a personal level along the way, I was
fortunate to have a CEO whorecognized my potential and took
the time to mentor me, helpingme navigate challenges and
honing on my skills.
His guidance shaped me into theperson I am as a person, as a
leader and today as acompassionate caregiver
determined for leader, and todayas a compassionate caregiver
determined for professional andadvocate for growth and
development.
(13:04):
From both nursing to leadershipposition, every step was a
reflection of my traits,instilled in me by my family and
by my mentor.
Due to that, in my gratitudefor his mentorship and wisdom I
have received, I'm committed togiving back passionately to
mentorship and nurturing others,to growth and helping them to
(13:25):
reach their goals.
Through this cycle of supportand empowerment, I continue to
honor his legacy of those whoinspired me and shaped my
journey.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
That's important.
You've got to have good peoplearound you.
You've got to have people thatbelieve in you, advocate for you
, because they see that all ofus are going to be moving on.
We're just moving through theseworlds.
If you don't prepare the peoplearound you, you don't prepare
your team, whether it's the teamabove you, the team below you,
(13:56):
the team around you.
You're going to run into issuesand as we become intentional
about that, we can have betteroutcomes and achieve the goals
that we want to achieve.
I want to ask you, as you,where you sit now and as you
look toward the future, whatimpact do you hope to have on
(14:19):
healthcare systems and patientcare for Alexander Fernandez.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I want to be able to lead transformational health
care operations by bringing bothclinical, with compassion, and
strategic execution, empoweringteams, elevating systems,
honoring the legacies throughoperational excellence,
definitely mentorship andvisionary leadership.
It's key.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
It's very key.
All of that is key.
Now I want to get a little bitmore on the lens of the BRAVE
framework.
You went through my program.
You had your brand assessment,you had a skills gap analysis,
you had the brave blueprintstrategy and now we're here at
(15:04):
the level we can have aconversation with our audience
about that experience From yourlens.
How did you feel that thatprogram helped you?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It helped me in a lot of ways, grant, from finding my
why, finding my brand.
I have my tagline, that skillset comparison.
You provided me that blueprint.
Show me tactics and where Ihave opportunities to take me to
the next level.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I highly recommend it .
You're going to be at the nextlevel.
We went through that entireprocess and we kept coming
across.
One thing I like and I'll sharethis with the audience is that
you get to look at yourself, notjust where you're at now at
Jackson, but on the nationallevel.
Where do you sit inrelationship to your market and
(15:53):
what does that look like?
And man, I was like you'rethere, you have what I call
natural gravitas.
Right, not everybody has that.
You don't have the.
You say well, how do you getthere?
Well, some of that has to beyour own personality and belief
(16:15):
system and conviction.
And when you had to developyour personal story, remember, I
asked that like all right, um,alexander, can you, you know,
help me understand where you'reat now, your current state, help
me understand what you've beendoing over the last five years?
You had to write a story.
You had to actually write itout.
How did you like that exercise?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
I liked it.
It was a little bit emotionalbecause it shows my legacy from
how I started to where I'm atnow.
So it was a little bitemotional Looking back from when
I started as a nurse, goingthrough leadership and all the
mentorship that I received fromthe CEO, and then the person who
I've become today um, yeah, Istill pitch myself Brad so well
(17:01):
and keeping myself humble at thesame time.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
and I, that's you you have that humility and we
always say well and it's alwaysgood, and I worked with a lot of
different people.
But sometimes, because you'removing so fast on your day to
day, week to week, month tomonth, quarter to quarter, that
you don't always get a chance toreflect and look back at your
really your whole journey, Right, what is that journey been?
(17:25):
And you're like, wow, you knowwhat?
I was In a row five, 10 yearsago that I probably couldn't see
myself in my current state ofwhere you're at now and where
you can go.
If you had to go back and talkto that younger Alex that Alex
that was five or 10 years agobecause there's people in your
(17:48):
position or in that positionright now and they were like, oh
man, I want to be just likeAlex.
What would you suggest?
Some things that you feel wouldbe very beneficial for them?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Two things, brad Definitely get a mentor.
And number two don't have thefear, go forward.
Yeah, you know, the impact thatwe have on others is the most
important thing Move forward.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
That whole confidence world, as you said earlier,
like as you get another step upthe rung.
Let's say, you get that anotherstep and then you always have
that and this happens even atthe CEO level or board level.
There's that, that moment ofcan I do this job?
You know, people call it nowimposter syndrome.
(18:36):
I don't really like the termimposter like you're not who
you're supposed to be.
But no matter what, you knowyou, everybody gets butterflies
when you're about to dosomething new, right, right.
But the only way to get atleast for me, the only way I get
confidence is by doing it.
At first I have to rehearse it.
I've got to like get my juicesgoing and then when I get out
(18:59):
there, you know you can really.
You know, let the engine go.
You're like you know we're downdown miami, right, you're gonna
get the boat on plane and yougotta get it going.
And then you know you're flyingout there, right, right, right.
I want to be very honest,because we had this conversation
a little early.
Like you know, grant, I'm alittle nervous.
You know I'm going to be on apodcast, I'm going to be talking
(19:20):
to people, I'm just not sure.
But here we are getting towardthe end.
You're motorboating now, right,right, I'm planning now.
You're up on plane.
You're up on play.
You're up on play you got theconfidence.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Talk to us about how do you gain that confidence for
yourself, Brad.
I think it's the experienceliving through the day-to-day
operational and stepping in thatrole and then just working hard
what you do.
Confidence to me is experience.
That's the bottom line.
It's not that I'm smarter, it'sjust that I've been exposed to
that role or that job or thatproject.
(19:59):
And building that experiencethat's what builds confidence.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Love that and you're starting to take on some high
level, high visible projects.
Now People are seeing you.
Now do you feeling confidentyou can sit in the boardroom
with the board, you can sit inthe room with the C-suite
executive because they're comingto you about operational
situational awareness.
(20:24):
I guess that you have that.
Others maybe not have, but theyfeel confident that you can get
the job done.
That's got to be a good feeling, right?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
It is.
At first it's scary, I'm notgoing to lie to you, but I don't
let fear stop me, like Imentioned, and then just you
know, once you get into thatproject, just get going.
And it's nice to be recognizedand being selected for these
system-wide projects.
I'm very blessed.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I love it.
I love it.
We're going to go ahead andconclude.
This has been a really goodsession.
I want to tell you, and I wantto tell your family, it was a
joy working with you.
It was a joy understanding yourstory.
I wasn't even aware.
When you said Peter Pan, likePeter Pan, I'm like, well, what
exactly is that?
(21:11):
And then you're telling me thatyour father, I believe, became
one of the first police officersLatin police officers in
Miami-Dade.
So you know, that's that moment.
You lean in, like this guyactually has a story and he has
a story that I want to listen toand then understanding how he
(21:31):
got into the healthcare fieldand then how he's gotten his
track all the way up tohealthcare leadership at this
point and then he still has roomto grow and you're becoming
this whole new person, that fromwhere you were when you first
started out.
I think it's been wonderful.
I want to thank you and yourfamily and Jackson Health again
(21:53):
for having this type of program,because this is how we can all
come together.
You never know when you'regoing to touch the health care
system.
No one wants to be in ahospital on the patient side of
that, or you want to know thatthere's people like Alexander
Fernandez, who's hey, I got yourback, we're going to get
(22:15):
through this, you know, together, because, as you said, you've
had the experience.
You've seen how this happens.
You know the players that needto be involved.
You know how to communicate thesituations to all the key
players so that we can havesuccessful outcomes, not only in
just your particular hospital,but throughout the system.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I want to thank you again.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
How do we get you on Modern Healthcare?
How do I get to ModernHealthcare?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah, how do we get you to do an article for us on
Modern Healthcare?
We could definitely connectafter this, greg.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well, we're going to get you there.
And before we let you go, howdo we get in touch with you?
Tell us about your LinkedInhandle.
What's the best way?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
So you can reach out to me on LinkedIn.
I'm under Alexander A Fernandez, I work for Jackson Health
System and also my email isafernandez3 at jhsmiamiorg.
Thank you, this has beenwonderful.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I want to thank you again for being on the show.
I want to encourage your entireaudience to tune into all the
episodes on Follow the Brand at5 Star BDM.
That is the number five, thatis star, that is B for brand, d
for development informationcom.
Again, this has been wonderful.
Thank you again for being onthe show.
Thank you, grant, it's been apleasure.
You're welcome.
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