September 23, 2025 • 36 mins
Jaclyn Strominger welcomes Chris Nicholas, the CEO of Renown Regional Medical Center, to share his remarkable journey to success in healthcare leadership. Chris’s ascent from Texas to the top of a pivotal hospital in Reno is not just a tale of ambition but also a blend of timing, luck, and a commitment to continuous self-improvement. He emphasizes the importance of listening and learning, as well as the power of mentorship in navigating one’s career path. In this engaging conversation, we explore the significance of being coachable and the value of investing in personal growth, all while keeping a focus on community impact. Join us for insightful anecdotes and expert tips that can inspire anyone striving for unstoppable success.
Takeaways:
- Chris Nicholas emphasizes the importance of self-investment and lifelong learning in achieving leadership success.
- He believes that being a good leader requires active listening and the ability to ask the right questions.
- Nicholas suggests that finding mentors and being coachable can significantly accelerate professional growth in healthcare.
- He shares that personal relationships, including with family, can enhance leadership effectiveness and team dynamics.
- The significance of creating structured meetings with clear agendas helps avoid meeting paralysis and keeps teams aligned.
- He highlights the power of vulnerability in leadership, connecting with team members on a human level builds trust and engagement.
Chris Nicholas’s journey to the role of CEO at Renown Regional Medical Center is a compelling narrative of unexpected twists and the power of self-growth. Starting his career with aspirations far removed from healthcare, Chris quickly realized that his true calling lay in leading and improving healthcare services. He shares with host Jaclyn Strominger how he navigated his way through various roles, ultimately finding fulfillment in caring for vulnerable populations. His story is a testament to the idea that sometimes, the path to success is anything but linear.
Throughout the episode, Chris offers insightful perspectives on the core attributes of effective leadership. He discusses the importance of being a lifelong learner and the value of mentorship, particularly for those aspiring to leadership positions. Chris provides practical advice on how to cultivate a culture of openness within teams, emphasizing that great leaders must listen attentively and engage with their teams meaningfully. He also highlights the significance of setting clear agendas in meetings to avoid paralysis by analysis, thus ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working towards common goals.
The conversation further explores the current landscape of healthcare and the unique challenges leaders face, particularly in light of the pandemic. Chris discusses how Renown has adapted its strategies to meet evolving community needs while focusing on resilience and recovery. His insights inspire listeners to not only pursue their ambitions but also to invest in their personal development and the development of those around them, solidifying the idea that true leadership lies in empowering others.
Links referenced in this episode:
- renownregionalmedicalcenter.com
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-nicholas-humbitious-authentic-leader/
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Renown Regional Medical Center
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:41):
Hello, everybody, and welcometo another amazing episode of Unstoppable
Success, the podcast.
We hear from amazing leaders,humans and professionals and how
they have risen to success andhad that unstoppable success.
And today I have another greathuman with me, and that is Chris
Nicholas.
And let me tell you a littlebit about Chris.
(01:02):
He actually is the chiefexecutive officer of Renown Regional
Medical center, which he inReno is one of, well, the only hospital
you actually ever want to go to.
But he has had a great rise,starting off in Texas and rising
up through administration,executive directorship to again now
being the CEO of the RegionalMedical Center.
(01:26):
He has had a great rise andhe's got great tips, shares of wisdom
on how he has risen to thisposition in such a short amount of
time.
So welcome, Chris.
Thanks, Jacqueline.
And to the comment about thehospital, we're proud of what we
do here, but I do think wehave other good, good providers in
our community and around ourcommunity as well.
(01:46):
But we're definitely proud ofthe work we do at Renown.
Well, you know, I am a littlepartial, but, you know, for those
of you that don't know, myhusband is actually a physician at
the hospital.
But it is like mostcommunities, there are great medical
providers at all the differentlocations, but we are partial to
Renown.
(02:06):
So, Chris, you know, as Ishared, you started in Texas.
You actually have got a littlebit back and forth from Texas to
Nevada, but you're now the CEOof the hospital.
And it has not been like many,many, many, many years, like 20 years.
It's been a short amount of time.
(02:28):
So can you share a little bitabout your rise to CEO?
Yeah, absolutely.
I'll give you a little bit ofbackground, but I'll attribute it
to two simple things, which isa little bit of dumb luck and timing.
But going back, I reallydidn't intentionally go into healthcare
originally.
I went to law school and onday three realized that that wasn't
(02:51):
the path in life for me andcalled my then girlfriend of two
weeks and now wonderful wifeDenise of 15 years, actually as of
two days from now.
Happy anniversary.
Thank you.
And.
And told her I was going todrop out of law school and she said
okay.
And thank goodness she wasthere because I don't know that I
would have made that movewithout that kind of support.
And funny enough, I called herback two weeks later and told her
(03:13):
I was going to be a golf pro.
And she told me no, said Iwasn't good enough.
And thank goodness again thatshe was there because she was very
Much right.
And very likely right.
So.
But then I obviously found myway into health care.
I decided to go get an mha.
Still not for the typicalreasons that people get into healthcare.
Most of the people inhealthcare have this calling from
(03:35):
a pretty early point in life,whether it's because of a life event
or they just are naturallycalled to the profession and the
science.
But I got into it because itused to be seemingly a recession
proof industry, a father whowas a financial advisor.
And so it made a lot of sense.
The Affordable Care act washappening and the government was
pretty focused on changing healthcare.
And so it seemed like a goodfield to go into because I didn't
(03:59):
have that typical path in.
I really struggled to find a job.
I was seemingly overqualifiedgetting an MHA to take an entry level
position in a hospital, but Iwas seemingly under qualified to
lead people because I had notled anybody before.
And so I found myself in thisgray area.
I ultimately found my way intowhat they call post acute care or
(04:21):
skilled nursing facilityleadership, which I thought would
be a one year stop and then Iwould just catapult my way into being
the CEO of a hospital andended up spending six years in the
work.
I generally loved what I did.
I got the opportunity to carefor some of the most vulnerable population
and probably one of the mostchallenging areas of healthcare.
(04:42):
And it taught me some truevalues around how to operate and
lead in the healthcare space.
It really forced me because ofno layers to learn how to engage
with patients, how to engagewith clinicians and really how to
navigate challenges across theboard, whether it be in the rev cycle
or the human resources orobviously the clinical aspects of
(05:03):
things.
And then what brought me intoRenown was a couple of years later
you mentioned I had moved backand forth.
I had kind of seemingly toldmy wife we were going to move from
Texas to Reno.
Was really drawn bysnowboarding and a little bit naive
and novice in marriage.
And so I said we're moving toReno and apparently you should ask.
(05:27):
And so we ultimately moved.
She's always again been awonderful support system.
And then a couple of months,couple of years into that, sorry,
we, I got the itch to moveback to Texas.
Things didn't materialize as Ithought they would here.
And we did so in about eight months.
And she looked across thetable and said, I'm moving back to
Reno.
You can come if you want.
And that's when Renown called.
(05:48):
And I don't think that there'ssuch a thing as coincidence.
I think everything Happens fora reason.
And I started in our inpatientrehab hospital and that's where I
realized I was always calledto healthcare.
I just didn't know it.
It took a exceptional not forprofit healthcare organization like
Renown to make me realize theimpact that you can have leading
in healthcare andparticipating in healthcare in a
(06:10):
community like Reno.
And then the rest is kind of history.
In Renown.
I've just a little bit of it,like I said, has been kind of right
place, right time and timingand luck and I've had the opportunity
to progress through the organization.
I've had a lot of support indoing that.
But you know, if you attributeit to a couple of things like how
(06:33):
do you go from running askilled nursing facility to I GUESS
it's maybe nine years nowlater, 10 years later, having the
privilege of being the CEO ofthe largest hospital in the region.
Outside of the luck andtiming, it's self investment.
I actually gave this advice toa healthcare MHA student a couple
(06:54):
of months ago.
He met with me and Irecommended some books for him.
And then when we came backtogether about six months later,
I asked if he read them and hesaid no, he didn't have time.
My next question was how manysocial media apps do you have and
how long do you spend on them?
He proceeded to tell me about30 minutes a day and I said 30 minutes
on each app and that's two ortwo and a half hours a day.
(07:14):
And I just simply said, youknow, if you want to be different,
you have to behave differentand so pick up the books and read
them there.
There's a reason that thatthere's a recommendation for them.
I think the other is often newleaders especially, or just people
in general really think aboutthe organization as their sole source
of development.
And while I think that it isthe organization's responsibility
(07:35):
to develop people, I alsothink that that that doesn't take
you as far as you want to go.
If you're that passionate,you've got to invest in your own
sel.
Good organizations will havedevelopment for leaders and for the
team members, but you can gomuch further if you take the time
to invest yourself.
The other is just being asponge, right?
(07:56):
Aggressive learning, pickingup anything that I could.
I already kind of touched onit, but obsessive reading is how
I would categorize it and thenfinding my way into rooms and next
to people that were doing thethings that I wanted to do.
Ed Mylett has a great quotethat most learning is caught, not
taught.
(08:16):
And I think that that's really true.
Observing and listening, youcan pick up a tremendous amount of
skills and expertise just from that.
And then I'd say lastly is,well, maybe two more things.
Seeking mentorship.
It's pretty surprising howavailable people that have had high
levels of success will makethemselves to people that are eager
(08:40):
and hungry to learn and grow.
And LinkedIn has been a great resource.
I picked up several mentorsalong the way, both through that
avenue as well as others.
And the last one is being coachable.
You know, it's sometimesharder the higher you get that you
have to control that ego alittle bit.
But I think being open tofeedback and seeking that feedback
(09:00):
aggressively and then doingsomething with that feedback is critically
important.
Yeah, I love that.
Well, you said a couple ofthings I want to kind of go back
to.
So you went in to that first,you know, facility, you know, and
you were thinking, you know,one year.
You were thinking one year,and then off to a CEO.
(09:22):
Yeah, of course, right.
23, 24 years old.
Of course.
So this is gonna sound like a.
You know, what made youdecide, like, so then, right.
I mean, obviously you saythere's six years, but.
But what made you decide thatyou wanted to be a CEO, and then
(09:42):
was there something that madeyou, in that six years, realize you
had to learn?
I think it's a lifelonglearning experience, but, yes, what
made me want to be a CEO, Ithink initially, going into the mha,
(10:03):
that's just kind of thenatural mindset of a lot of people,
is that's kind of theprogression that you see yourself
getting to at some point.
But the reality is, I think itbecame more real as I was leading
that first facility, and justthe impact that I could have on the
people that I led, the people that.
That they led, and the peoplethat they cared for.
(10:25):
And so I said this to leadersoften, especially clinicians.
Clinicians always struggle tomake that leap into the.
You know, sometimes the fullleadership or just the leadership
role in general.
We talk to a nurse, andthey'll say, you know, I just.
I really love caring for mypatients and making sure they get
great care.
And I said, well, you canmultiply that by 100 or 500.
(10:45):
If you really focus on, youknow, leading your teams in the right
ways and empowering andsupporting your teams to care for
patients.
You can.
You can have that effect, butat a much more magnified proportion.
Yeah, that's.
That's.
You know, it's.
It's.
You know, it's the impact andthe duplication of, like, or the,
the mass.
People that you can actuallyaffect is.
(11:07):
Is great in that leadershiprole, more so than just obviously
the one on one.
So, you know, the.
And I think this is somethingthat is.
Is somewhat harder for a lotmore people than they actually realize,
but which is, you know, youeven said, you know, it's great where
(11:31):
you can actually, you know,whether it's leadership knowledge,
a lot of times it's caught,not taught.
And that takes listening.
And so how do you as a leaderreally bring that out to people?
Because so many people, youwalk into the room and they're so
(11:51):
used to like, oh, I've got toraise my hand, I got to raise my
hand or I got to speak.
And, and they, they don't knowhow to use these two things next
to their, you know, on theside of their head, which are their
ears.
Yeah.
I think I have two sayings.
One is, I think commonly knownand the other comes from an executive
coach that I recently had.
The first one is, is you havetwo eyes and two ears and one mouth
(12:12):
for a reason.
Right.
Is you should be observing andlistening more than you should be
talking.
And great leaders do that.
My most recent coachingventure, which had some of the most
profound impacts on my life,he said good leaders know how to
ask the right questions andthen shut up and the people will
help get to the right answers.
(12:33):
And a lot of times it's notthe answer that you would have come
up with as the leader.
And so I think it's a skill Icontinue to work on and I think many
leaders try to focus on isusually when you're in executive
leadership rooms, everybody'stechnically smart and technically
good at their job, but it'sthose what we call interpersonal
(12:55):
skills that.
And listening is one of those.
How do you become kind of afanatical listener is critically
important.
And I think by doing that, youreally empower your teams too.
If you're the first to speakas the CEO, it's pretty likely that
people are going to run withthat idea or that thought as opposed
to generating their ownoriginal thoughts.
Or they may know exactly whatto do, but they may decide not to
(13:17):
say it.
So I think you sometimes haveto get out of your own way.
And a lot of times, like mycoach said, ask the right questions
and then just be quiet.
Right.
So would you say that, youknow, I mean, I, I find that the
active, active listening is somuch harder and then also being able
(13:39):
to ask the question and thenas we say chip, clip it or zip it.
Yeah.
You know, there's actually asimple thing you can do to these
days to help with listening.
I think we are a distracted society.
Right.
It's.
And how often do you sit inmeetings and see phones and computers
and iPads and all of those things.
(14:00):
Right.
And.
And trust me, I'm guilty of it.
Like anybody you have that thedopamine hit almost right.
And you want to solve theproblem quickly and that little device
in your hand gives you theability to do it.
But, but oftentimes you thesubstance and the context and the
importance of the discussion.
And so, you know, evencreating rules around meetings can
(14:23):
be valuable with your teams tosay, hey, we're committed to this
next hour of time to, youknow, discuss whatever the topic
is we're here to discuss.
And let's, let's put thephones down and be present with each
other and make sure that we'regiving this our full attention because
it probably deserves it giventhat we brought this group of people
into the room.
Yeah.
So how do you go.
How.
As a CEO, I mean, you know, bycreating that meeting structure.
(14:46):
And a lot of times people say,like meeting paralysis.
How do you avoid that?
Yeah, I think it starts firstwith kind of rules to engagement.
And so depending on themeeting, if it's kind of your routine
executive leadership meeting,call it each week.
(15:06):
You know, having a clearagenda is really important.
That's done in advance.
I think any meeting shouldreally have an agenda.
How often do we, especiallythese days, we get on virtual meetings
and you've got 10 peoplesitting there and you can kind of,
you can kind of add up howmuch the meeting costs for the hour.
And, and there's no agenda.
It just somebody tries to kickit off.
And there's not a lot of structure.
(15:27):
So I think a little bit ofrules of engagement, a clear agenda.
I think content in advance,like pre reads are really important.
So this is something our teamhas been working on is, is that if
you have a topic that you'regoing to be presenting content on
that it's in there 24 hours in advance.
And then everybody else'sresponsibility is to look at it and
(15:47):
do the pre read so that you're.
You're informed coming intothe room.
And then we really try topractice two things kind of throughout
the meeting.
And really at the end is.
Is making sure that we do thenext agenda while we're sitting there
so that the people that havethat responsibility to bring something
into the next encounter knowit and are on the hook for it.
(16:08):
And then secondly, Is, youknow, really making sure that we
understand what did we talkabout today, what decisions did we
make and what should peopleknow that aren't in this room that
we need to communicate to them?
So that helps create clarityand alignment from the team.
We all heard the same thing,we all agreed to this and this is
what we're going to communicate.
So there's some consistencycoming out of it.
(16:29):
You know, I really like that,being able to create the agenda and
create that consistency.
And it kind of brings me backup to the question of accountability
and where people are, youknow, today were one of the topics
that, you know, I've beenactually listening to a book, I tend
to listen to a lot of books asI walk my dog.
(16:49):
And you know, as leaders, youknow, one thing that has been said
in like the past, like when Iwas in the corporate world, it was
like, you know, you had yourjob, you did your, you know, you
came in, you had the blinderson, right?
And people didn't necessarilyknow what your, what your life was
outside side of work or thatyou were not supposed to even think
(17:12):
about your life outside ofwork while you were sitting at work.
So how do you now like, youknow, with all the different tools
and things that are out thereas a leader, you know, maybe bring
into that emotionalintelligence into leadership and,
and creating thoseaccountabilities without creating,
(17:35):
I guess the, you know, I guessthe, the negative.
Any negativity in the likewater cooler talk.
Maybe try to answer the question.
I'm not sure I fullyunderstand it, but I'll take a stab.
I, I think first what you'rekind of hitting on is a separation
(17:56):
of your personal life and yourwork life.
And I, I don't actually thinkthat that exists.
And, and I'll give you a great example.
So at Renown Regional Medicalcenter, We have roughly 3,500 or
so employees all in.
And that's a lot of people totalk to.
And how do you do that in aneffective way that's meaningful?
And I was fortunate to have amentor that did similar work to me
(18:20):
in a similar sized hospital.
And he pushed me pretty hardto do what we call employee forums.
And so 3 times a year for a 2week period, I do 28 forums that
are 30 minutes long kind ofmorning, noon and night.
And we get about 3,000 of ouremployees that show up to those three
times a year.
It's a powerful way to connectwith people, to share where we're
(18:42):
going, what we're focused on,how we're Performing and frankly,
where we need to focusdifferently and the other one, and
there's always an ask in it.
There's always first say,here's what we're going to do as
leadership and as theorganization, but here's what we
need from you as a frontlineteam member.
Simplest example is, you know,if we're dealing with, you know,
infection rates and thingslike that, it's like we need you
(19:03):
to wash your hands.
Right.
It sounds simple, but beingable to say that to 3,000 people
is.
Is impactful.
And so in those forums, Ibring myself into them.
I bring my family into them.
My wife's not always ecstaticabout the pictures that I might use
to share the family.
She always looks great, and Ialways remind her that I'm standing
next to her so she'll lookeven better.
(19:24):
But, you know, sharing storiesabout your family and humanizing
yourself and being vulnerableI think is a critically important
skill these days.
You know, people want to knowthat the organization they work for
has the right mission and thatthey can connect to it.
And they want to know that theperson that's leading that or the
people that are leading that are.
That they're people and thatthey care about the not only success
(19:46):
of the organization and itsmission, but of them and that they're
there to support them.
And another great saying froma recent executive coach was that
people will only be asvulnerable up to the level, but not
beyond that, that you are withthem and you.
You gain an incredible levelof trust and confidence by just sharing
with people a little bit ofinsight about yourself.
(20:06):
I don't know if that answeredyour question, but.
Yeah, no, it does.
And the part about, you know,it's like.
Because one thing that peopleused to say is that sometimes when
people are too personal, itactually ends up breeding that some
negativity comes into it.
So there's almost like, don'tbe personal because it'll help curb
negativity.
But not necessarily.
Yeah, I don't.
I don't know.
I think.
(20:27):
I think being a full.
Being your full self at workhas tremendous value.
I mean, you.
You have to be careful, butyou also should be a consistent person
in my mind, inside and outsideof work.
Yeah, no, that's actuallyreally true.
So, you know, as, you know,with, I guess, things that are happening
(20:49):
today in the world and, youknow, I've heard different.
Different.
Some people say there's morelayers, some people say there's less
layers.
So as the.
As a CEO of the hospital, howdo you deal with you know, creating
the team.
And is it, is it better tohave a lean team or is it layers?
Like, what if, like, how doyou help those, you know, the organization?
(21:15):
Yeah, you take me back to aclass in, in undergrad organizational
theory that I was justthought, thought it was going to
be the worst class in the world.
It ended up being an amazing class.
And some of the, some of theteachings in that were about org
structure and, and we're allconstantly evolving our work structures
to find the right balance andthe right numbers.
(21:37):
I think that there's somepretty clear indications of how many
direct reports a leader caneffectively lead and have.
And so I think that's a foundation.
It's kind of a directional ora guidepost to use.
And then it's just, you know,a little bit of art, I guess.
There's, there's some scienceto it from a foundational perspective
and then a little bit of art.
(21:58):
But, you know, what we focuson is, yeah, one, can the person
effectively lead the group ofpeople that they have just by pure
numbers and then reallysetting some clear operational priorities.
We created, created a system,we call it leader alignment.
And it's about taking thepriorities, the strategic priorities
of the organization and of thehospital and cascading those down
(22:20):
through leaders and makingsure that they clearly understand
how their work, that they do,connects to the strategic and operational
priorities of the organization.
And then you gotta give themthe authority and the autonomy to
actually do that.
And then you actually have to.
One thing that I think I'vebeen labeled with is being protective
of their time and reallytrying to make sure that we don't
(22:42):
throw too much into the top ofthe funnel and that the right stuff
comes out of the bottom, thatthe right work and, and the good
work gets done first and always.
And then lastly is give themthe support, the tools, the training
to actually do the work thatwe're asking them to do.
Yeah, that's.
Yeah, it, yeah, it's having ateam and, and having people actually,
(23:04):
you know, seeing where peopletake the work is really important.
I want to, I do want to goback to something that you said,
you know, again, on your, onyour way up and in part of your success,
you know, it's.
It's something that I think alot of people forget about, and that
is using resources and askingfor, either asking for mentorship
(23:29):
or asking or being inquisitive.
So is there something that,you know, somebody who's a rising
leader or somebody who'slooking for that success?
You know, how do how do you,how would you share or tell somebody,
like to be able to just go outand ask?
(23:52):
Because some people are afraid.
That's probably a hard one forme to answer because I don't know
that I've ever been labeled as shy.
Right.
So, yeah, I mean, I think asa, you know, if you have a goal and
you have a position you wantto be in, what better way to learn
how to get to that place thanfrom the people that are doing it
(24:13):
today?
And I like, I think I sort oftouched on it.
People that have excelled to acertain point, they, they feel a
responsibility, I think, and,and actually I think find a tremendous
amount of joy in helping kindof pay it forward and pass that on.
It's not even like an owed debt.
I think it's actuallymeaningful and I think reinforcing
(24:34):
to them to be able to coach.
And then often times thementor learns more from the mentor
mentee relationship than thementee does.
Right.
When you try to teachsomething, you recognize some of
the opportunities you have inand of yourself to learn from it.
And so I think you just haveto have the courage to reach out.
I tell you, there's aprominent author pretty well known
(24:57):
in healthcare and as I wastrying to, to make the decision of
actually accepting this job,there was some unique challenges
with it kind of coming in the door.
I reached out to him onLinkedIn and didn't expect much,
but I tell you, I think thesame day he responded and said, here's
my cell phone, let's jump on a call.
And it was 30 or 40 minutes ofsome of the probably best advice
(25:21):
I've ever gotten in my career.
And it was all because I waswilling to just send a message.
I think today you have thepeople that are trying to come up
in leadership have more accessto some of the thought leaders and
the people doing the work thanyou ever have before.
LinkedIn is, like I said, anincredibly powerful tool for professionals
if used in the right ways.
(25:42):
Yeah, you know, I absolutelylove that.
And I think listeners asyou're, you know, I think that's
actually one of the biggestthings is, is being able to have
that courage to be able to askpeople do like to share and know
like if you have a goal andwhere you want to go look for people
or companies that you admireor, and have like values that align
(26:06):
with what you like.
Yeah.
And I think internally in yourown organization, you know, oftentimes
people aren't trying toexclude people.
And so sometimes just theopportunity to ask you Know, could
I join that meeting?
I'd really like to learn aboutwhat you guys are talking about.
I think more often than notpeople are going to be willing to
accommodate that.
They, you know, they wanttheir leaders and their people to
(26:29):
learn and be interested in growth.
And you know, I think oneimportant thing, we recently went
to do a search for a keyposition on our leadership team and
a couple of internalcandidates applied and just saying
thank you for the interestbecause when people internally are
saying, I want to do more andI want to commit more of my, my time
(26:49):
potentially and obviously mylife to the, to you and the team
and the organization, it means something.
People don't step up unlessthings are going well in the organization
from their perspective.
So yeah, you've just got tohave the courage to ask.
And I think that all theavenues are there both internally
and externally today, probablymore than they ever were.
And I, I'd also say thatorganizations, I think are more focused
(27:10):
on internal talent developmentkind of post pandemic in the healthcare
space than they have been previously.
Yeah, you know, and you, andyou, you shared, you know, that something
else that I think is reallyimportant for, you know, is to be
coachable.
Yeah.
And so, so tell us a littlebit about that because I think that
(27:32):
people, some, I think peoplethink that they're all coachable,
but they're not.
Yeah, yeah.
It goes back to the listeningthing a little bit.
Right.
First and foremost, you haveto be willing to hold up a mirror
or have somebody else hold upa mirror.
And oftentimes when thathappens, like in professional coaching
situations or informalcoaching situations, is that mirror
(27:56):
doesn't often show what youwant it to show when you're really
objective about it.
And so, yeah, I think that youhave to constantly challenge yourself
to say, where could I havebeen better?
Where can I be better?
And then what do I need to beable to do that?
And you know, the higher youclimb, the harder it is to get people
to be honest with you and giveyou feedback whether they're above
(28:19):
you or, or next to you orbelow you in the org structure.
And so I think you have tocreate that, that personality and
that Persona that you want itand that you're actually going to
receive it.
Well, the worst thing that youcan do is ask somebody for feedback.
They give it to you and thenyou dispute it almost immediately.
Right.
You just, you killed the whole purpose.
(28:41):
So I think it's showing peoplenot only that you want it, but that
you'll actually take actionfrom it.
Again, not to reference it too much.
But the most recent coachingexperience, one of the people who
had to give me feedback was my wife.
And I would say it was direct,it was honest, it was pretty accurate,
and it was hard to hear, But Itook action on it.
(29:01):
And because I took action onit, things are different in that
part of our relationship.
And so it's meaningful if youseek it out and if you actually do
something with it.
Yeah, you just said something,too, that it's hard to hear, Right?
Like, that is, you know, Ithink that is actually one of the
(29:27):
things that, you know, canmake a person, you know, when they
hear something is how do younot be negative about it?
It's.
And being reflective ofyourself and being able to look inward
and being able to be open tohearing something that's negative
and so.
(29:47):
Or maybe not as positive.
How much do you think whenpeople do that, whether it's yourself
or like, as you said, it'smade a difference.
How much do you think itreally does make a difference for
somebody when they are open to hearing?
Oh, I think that when yourecognize where you are in whatever
(30:08):
is being assessed and thefeedback being given on it, it allows
you to see things from acompletely different perspective.
There's this grid.
I'm going to get this wrong,but it's like the things that you
know about yourself thatothers don't know, and the things
that.
That others know about youthat you don't know about yourself.
I think that.
(30:28):
And there's four quadrants to it.
I'm giving you two of them.
But, you know, thatperspective of people looking from
the outside in, they see youfrom an entirely different place.
It can be really powerful.
So I think if you are open tohearing the feedback and you actually
want to do something with it,you have to want to do something
(30:49):
with it.
And likely when you're askingfor feedback, you actually sometimes
have to push people to giveyou the negative.
They'll tell you, you know,you're really great at this, or you
do a good job at that.
And you sometimes have to saythank you.
And then can you tell me whereI could be better?
Where can I be a better leaderfor you?
Where can I be a better leaderfor the organization?
(31:10):
What can I do?
From an interpersonalperspective is another one I touched
on that a little while ago is,you know, at a certain point, everybody
in the room is pretty smartand technically good at their job.
Then it comes down to what Icall blind spots or interpersonal
behaviors.
And where, where are some ofthose Gaps.
And, you know, there's asimple way to do it in my mind, which
is, you know, sit down withthe person and say, you know, I'm
(31:31):
really looking for somefeedback on this topic.
Where would you rate me on a 1to 10 scale?
And, and once they rate you,well, what would it take me to be
a 10?
So not only are you askingthem to tell you where they think
you are, but you're askingthem what would help me progress
to a different place from yourperspective, from an outsider's perspective,
and then.
Then it's your job to takeaction on that.
Yeah, I really love that.
(31:52):
You know, Chris, you've givensome amazing insights and, you know,
I think some of the key thingsthat I want the listeners to really
understand.
You know, there's a lot ofthings that we've covered here, but
really understanding the factthat for that to be truly unstoppable
and to have the rise, knowwhat your goal is, speak to the people.
You know, be, be able to askquestions and search out people to.
(32:13):
Whether they're mentors orpeople that are in a position that
you really would like to haveor that you admire.
Be active in, in learning andlistening and, and be coachable.
Yeah.
And keep raising the bar.
You know, once you reach acertain point, there's really no
endpoint in this.
(32:34):
Right.
You're constantly evolving andpushing yourself.
And so, you know, once you'vereached, whether it's the position
or you've completed theproject or the initiative, it's,
you know, where's my nextopportunity and what am I going to
need to do to become better?
Whether it's as a person or asa leader or both.
And so I think you have tokeep pushing yourself whether the.
(32:55):
And again, I said it earlier,organizations, I think, have a responsibility
to invest and support their people.
But it's sort of likeparenting a kid in my mind.
Like, it's so easy to blamethe school, but at the end of the
day, the kid's with you for,you know, much more time than they
are at school.
And so that comes down to youinvesting in your child's development,
(33:16):
just like.
Like you investing in your own development.
Yeah, that's so true.
And actually, somebody hadsaid to me, if you take your.
The.
The number is 10 of yourincome or is.
Should go to personaldevelopment or development for yourself.
Yeah, that's, you know, it'sa, it's a.
It's a number that sticks inmy brain.
So, you know.
Yeah, I've never, I've neverHeard that I'd have to do the math
(33:38):
on the investments.
But yeah, if you put a, if youcan quantify the time that you spend
and reading, reflecting,having conversations, that's probably
pretty accurate.
Is, you've kind of, you've gotto carve some portion of it out to
make sure you're, you're self investing.
Yeah.
So, Chris, I'm going to askyou a question you may or may not
want to answer.
What's next for you?
(33:59):
I don't know.
I'm, you know, I'm reallythrilled where I am.
We've, we've got a lot ofwork, as you know.
You, you mentioned it at the beginning.
We just, we just finished our10 year strategy.
It's pretty hard to do a threeyear strategy and look that far out
into the future.
Ten years is, is, you know,ambitious, I would say.
But we're pretty clear on whatwe think we need to do to achieve
(34:22):
our mission and serve our community.
And I'm enjoying the role thatI'm playing in it.
I think that we still havelots of things that we can improve
on.
We have lots of things that wecan create and develop.
And I'll tell you, I've neverworked with a better leadership team,
both at the organization levelwith our leader, Dr. Brian Erling,
and also at the hospital level.
(34:45):
I'm incredibly proud of thework we've done over the last three
years from our financialrecovery, coming out of the pandemic
like most organizations, to,you know, fairly quickly being able
to say, now it's time to lookforward and say, what do we need
to do to grow with ourcommunity and for our community?
And there's, there's nineyears and four months left of work
in that strategy to go.
(35:06):
That's it.
That's many years of greatwork to be done and great leadership.
So, so, Chris, thank you listeners.
Here's what I want you to do.
I want you to connect withChris on LinkedIn.
If you have the DEs desire tobe a CEO or to have unstoppable success,
I am sure that Chris would behappy to give you some extra insight
(35:27):
as well.
And please do me the favor ofhitting subscribe and sharing this
episode with your friends,your colleagues and your business
associates.
Because the more people thatcan learn these great tips and insights,
the better we all become asleaders and as people.
So thank you, Chris for beinga great guest and thank you listeners.
This is unstoppable success.
(35:48):
I'm your host, JacquelineStrominger, and keep being unstoppable.
Hello, everybody, and welcometo another amazing episode of Unstoppable
Success, the podcast.
We hear from amazing leaders,humans and professionals and how
they have risen to success andhad that unstoppable success.
And today I have another greathuman with me, and that is Chris
Nicholas.
And let me tell you a littlebit about Chris.
(01:02):
He actually is the chiefexecutive officer of Renown Regional
Medical center, which he inReno is one of, well, the only hospital
you actually ever want to go to.
But he has had a great rise,starting off in Texas and rising
up through administration,executive directorship to again now
being the CEO of the RegionalMedical Center.
(01:26):
He has had a great rise andhe's got great tips, shares of wisdom
on how he has risen to thisposition in such a short amount of
time.
So welcome, Chris.
Thanks, Jacqueline.
And to the comment about thehospital, we're proud of what we
do here, but I do think wehave other good, good providers in
our community and around ourcommunity as well.
(01:46):
But we're definitely proud ofthe work we do at Renown.
Well, you know, I am a littlepartial, but, you know, for those
of you that don't know, myhusband is actually a physician at
the hospital.
But it is like mostcommunities, there are great medical
providers at all the differentlocations, but we are partial to
Renown.
(02:06):
So, Chris, you know, as Ishared, you started in Texas.
You actually have got a littlebit back and forth from Texas to
Nevada, but you're now the CEOof the hospital.
And it has not been like many,many, many, many years, like 20 years.
It's been a short amount of time.
(02:28):
So can you share a little bitabout your rise to CEO?
Yeah, absolutely.
I'll give you a little bit ofbackground, but I'll attribute it
to two simple things, which isa little bit of dumb luck and timing.
But going back, I reallydidn't intentionally go into healthcare
originally.
I went to law school and onday three realized that that wasn't
(02:51):
the path in life for me andcalled my then girlfriend of two
weeks and now wonderful wifeDenise of 15 years, actually as of
two days from now.
Happy anniversary.
Thank you.
And.
And told her I was going todrop out of law school and she said
okay.
And thank goodness she wasthere because I don't know that I
would have made that movewithout that kind of support.
And funny enough, I called herback two weeks later and told her
(03:13):
I was going to be a golf pro.
And she told me no, said Iwasn't good enough.
And thank goodness again thatshe was there because she was very
Much right.
And very likely right.
So.
But then I obviously found myway into health care.
I decided to go get an mha.
Still not for the typicalreasons that people get into healthcare.
Most of the people inhealthcare have this calling from
(03:35):
a pretty early point in life,whether it's because of a life event
or they just are naturallycalled to the profession and the
science.
But I got into it because itused to be seemingly a recession
proof industry, a father whowas a financial advisor.
And so it made a lot of sense.
The Affordable Care act washappening and the government was
pretty focused on changing healthcare.
And so it seemed like a goodfield to go into because I didn't
(03:59):
have that typical path in.
I really struggled to find a job.
I was seemingly overqualifiedgetting an MHA to take an entry level
position in a hospital, but Iwas seemingly under qualified to
lead people because I had notled anybody before.
And so I found myself in thisgray area.
I ultimately found my way intowhat they call post acute care or
(04:21):
skilled nursing facilityleadership, which I thought would
be a one year stop and then Iwould just catapult my way into being
the CEO of a hospital andended up spending six years in the
work.
I generally loved what I did.
I got the opportunity to carefor some of the most vulnerable population
and probably one of the mostchallenging areas of healthcare.
(04:42):
And it taught me some truevalues around how to operate and
lead in the healthcare space.
It really forced me because ofno layers to learn how to engage
with patients, how to engagewith clinicians and really how to
navigate challenges across theboard, whether it be in the rev cycle
or the human resources orobviously the clinical aspects of
(05:03):
things.
And then what brought me intoRenown was a couple of years later
you mentioned I had moved backand forth.
I had kind of seemingly toldmy wife we were going to move from
Texas to Reno.
Was really drawn bysnowboarding and a little bit naive
and novice in marriage.
And so I said we're moving toReno and apparently you should ask.
(05:27):
And so we ultimately moved.
She's always again been awonderful support system.
And then a couple of months,couple of years into that, sorry,
we, I got the itch to moveback to Texas.
Things didn't materialize as Ithought they would here.
And we did so in about eight months.
And she looked across thetable and said, I'm moving back to
Reno.
You can come if you want.
And that's when Renown called.
(05:48):
And I don't think that there'ssuch a thing as coincidence.
I think everything Happens fora reason.
And I started in our inpatientrehab hospital and that's where I
realized I was always calledto healthcare.
I just didn't know it.
It took a exceptional not forprofit healthcare organization like
Renown to make me realize theimpact that you can have leading
in healthcare andparticipating in healthcare in a
(06:10):
community like Reno.
And then the rest is kind of history.
In Renown.
I've just a little bit of it,like I said, has been kind of right
place, right time and timingand luck and I've had the opportunity
to progress through the organization.
I've had a lot of support indoing that.
But you know, if you attributeit to a couple of things like how
(06:33):
do you go from running askilled nursing facility to I GUESS
it's maybe nine years nowlater, 10 years later, having the
privilege of being the CEO ofthe largest hospital in the region.
Outside of the luck andtiming, it's self investment.
I actually gave this advice toa healthcare MHA student a couple
(06:54):
of months ago.
He met with me and Irecommended some books for him.
And then when we came backtogether about six months later,
I asked if he read them and hesaid no, he didn't have time.
My next question was how manysocial media apps do you have and
how long do you spend on them?
He proceeded to tell me about30 minutes a day and I said 30 minutes
on each app and that's two ortwo and a half hours a day.
(07:14):
And I just simply said, youknow, if you want to be different,
you have to behave differentand so pick up the books and read
them there.
There's a reason that thatthere's a recommendation for them.
I think the other is often newleaders especially, or just people
in general really think aboutthe organization as their sole source
of development.
And while I think that it isthe organization's responsibility
(07:35):
to develop people, I alsothink that that that doesn't take
you as far as you want to go.
If you're that passionate,you've got to invest in your own
sel.
Good organizations will havedevelopment for leaders and for the
team members, but you can gomuch further if you take the time
to invest yourself.
The other is just being asponge, right?
(07:56):
Aggressive learning, pickingup anything that I could.
I already kind of touched onit, but obsessive reading is how
I would categorize it and thenfinding my way into rooms and next
to people that were doing thethings that I wanted to do.
Ed Mylett has a great quotethat most learning is caught, not
taught.
(08:16):
And I think that that's really true.
Observing and listening, youcan pick up a tremendous amount of
skills and expertise just from that.
And then I'd say lastly is,well, maybe two more things.
Seeking mentorship.
It's pretty surprising howavailable people that have had high
levels of success will makethemselves to people that are eager
(08:40):
and hungry to learn and grow.
And LinkedIn has been a great resource.
I picked up several mentorsalong the way, both through that
avenue as well as others.
And the last one is being coachable.
You know, it's sometimesharder the higher you get that you
have to control that ego alittle bit.
But I think being open tofeedback and seeking that feedback
(09:00):
aggressively and then doingsomething with that feedback is critically
important.
Yeah, I love that.
Well, you said a couple ofthings I want to kind of go back
to.
So you went in to that first,you know, facility, you know, and
you were thinking, you know,one year.
You were thinking one year,and then off to a CEO.
(09:22):
Yeah, of course, right.
23, 24 years old.
Of course.
So this is gonna sound like a.
You know, what made youdecide, like, so then, right.
I mean, obviously you saythere's six years, but.
But what made you decide thatyou wanted to be a CEO, and then
(09:42):
was there something that madeyou, in that six years, realize you
had to learn?
I think it's a lifelonglearning experience, but, yes, what
made me want to be a CEO, Ithink initially, going into the mha,
(10:03):
that's just kind of thenatural mindset of a lot of people,
is that's kind of theprogression that you see yourself
getting to at some point.
But the reality is, I think itbecame more real as I was leading
that first facility, and justthe impact that I could have on the
people that I led, the people that.
That they led, and the peoplethat they cared for.
(10:25):
And so I said this to leadersoften, especially clinicians.
Clinicians always struggle tomake that leap into the.
You know, sometimes the fullleadership or just the leadership
role in general.
We talk to a nurse, andthey'll say, you know, I just.
I really love caring for mypatients and making sure they get
great care.
And I said, well, you canmultiply that by 100 or 500.
(10:45):
If you really focus on, youknow, leading your teams in the right
ways and empowering andsupporting your teams to care for
patients.
You can.
You can have that effect, butat a much more magnified proportion.
Yeah, that's.
That's.
You know, it's.
It's.
You know, it's the impact andthe duplication of, like, or the,
the mass.
People that you can actuallyaffect is.
(11:07):
Is great in that leadershiprole, more so than just obviously
the one on one.
So, you know, the.
And I think this is somethingthat is.
Is somewhat harder for a lotmore people than they actually realize,
but which is, you know, youeven said, you know, it's great where
(11:31):
you can actually, you know,whether it's leadership knowledge,
a lot of times it's caught,not taught.
And that takes listening.
And so how do you as a leaderreally bring that out to people?
Because so many people, youwalk into the room and they're so
(11:51):
used to like, oh, I've got toraise my hand, I got to raise my
hand or I got to speak.
And, and they, they don't knowhow to use these two things next
to their, you know, on theside of their head, which are their
ears.
Yeah.
I think I have two sayings.
One is, I think commonly knownand the other comes from an executive
coach that I recently had.
The first one is, is you havetwo eyes and two ears and one mouth
(12:12):
for a reason.
Right.
Is you should be observing andlistening more than you should be
talking.
And great leaders do that.
My most recent coachingventure, which had some of the most
profound impacts on my life,he said good leaders know how to
ask the right questions andthen shut up and the people will
help get to the right answers.
(12:33):
And a lot of times it's notthe answer that you would have come
up with as the leader.
And so I think it's a skill Icontinue to work on and I think many
leaders try to focus on isusually when you're in executive
leadership rooms, everybody'stechnically smart and technically
good at their job, but it'sthose what we call interpersonal
(12:55):
skills that.
And listening is one of those.
How do you become kind of afanatical listener is critically
important.
And I think by doing that, youreally empower your teams too.
If you're the first to speakas the CEO, it's pretty likely that
people are going to run withthat idea or that thought as opposed
to generating their ownoriginal thoughts.
Or they may know exactly whatto do, but they may decide not to
(13:17):
say it.
So I think you sometimes haveto get out of your own way.
And a lot of times, like mycoach said, ask the right questions
and then just be quiet.
Right.
So would you say that, youknow, I mean, I, I find that the
active, active listening is somuch harder and then also being able
(13:39):
to ask the question and thenas we say chip, clip it or zip it.
Yeah.
You know, there's actually asimple thing you can do to these
days to help with listening.
I think we are a distracted society.
Right.
It's.
And how often do you sit inmeetings and see phones and computers
and iPads and all of those things.
(14:00):
Right.
And.
And trust me, I'm guilty of it.
Like anybody you have that thedopamine hit almost right.
And you want to solve theproblem quickly and that little device
in your hand gives you theability to do it.
But, but oftentimes you thesubstance and the context and the
importance of the discussion.
And so, you know, evencreating rules around meetings can
(14:23):
be valuable with your teams tosay, hey, we're committed to this
next hour of time to, youknow, discuss whatever the topic
is we're here to discuss.
And let's, let's put thephones down and be present with each
other and make sure that we'regiving this our full attention because
it probably deserves it giventhat we brought this group of people
into the room.
Yeah.
So how do you go.
How.
As a CEO, I mean, you know, bycreating that meeting structure.
(14:46):
And a lot of times people say,like meeting paralysis.
How do you avoid that?
Yeah, I think it starts firstwith kind of rules to engagement.
And so depending on themeeting, if it's kind of your routine
executive leadership meeting,call it each week.
(15:06):
You know, having a clearagenda is really important.
That's done in advance.
I think any meeting shouldreally have an agenda.
How often do we, especiallythese days, we get on virtual meetings
and you've got 10 peoplesitting there and you can kind of,
you can kind of add up howmuch the meeting costs for the hour.
And, and there's no agenda.
It just somebody tries to kickit off.
And there's not a lot of structure.
(15:27):
So I think a little bit ofrules of engagement, a clear agenda.
I think content in advance,like pre reads are really important.
So this is something our teamhas been working on is, is that if
you have a topic that you'regoing to be presenting content on
that it's in there 24 hours in advance.
And then everybody else'sresponsibility is to look at it and
(15:47):
do the pre read so that you're.
You're informed coming intothe room.
And then we really try topractice two things kind of throughout
the meeting.
And really at the end is.
Is making sure that we do thenext agenda while we're sitting there
so that the people that havethat responsibility to bring something
into the next encounter knowit and are on the hook for it.
(16:08):
And then secondly, Is, youknow, really making sure that we
understand what did we talkabout today, what decisions did we
make and what should peopleknow that aren't in this room that
we need to communicate to them?
So that helps create clarityand alignment from the team.
We all heard the same thing,we all agreed to this and this is
what we're going to communicate.
So there's some consistencycoming out of it.
(16:29):
You know, I really like that,being able to create the agenda and
create that consistency.
And it kind of brings me backup to the question of accountability
and where people are, youknow, today were one of the topics
that, you know, I've beenactually listening to a book, I tend
to listen to a lot of books asI walk my dog.
(16:49):
And you know, as leaders, youknow, one thing that has been said
in like the past, like when Iwas in the corporate world, it was
like, you know, you had yourjob, you did your, you know, you
came in, you had the blinderson, right?
And people didn't necessarilyknow what your, what your life was
outside side of work or thatyou were not supposed to even think
(17:12):
about your life outside ofwork while you were sitting at work.
So how do you now like, youknow, with all the different tools
and things that are out thereas a leader, you know, maybe bring
into that emotionalintelligence into leadership and,
and creating thoseaccountabilities without creating,
(17:35):
I guess the, you know, I guessthe, the negative.
Any negativity in the likewater cooler talk.
Maybe try to answer the question.
I'm not sure I fullyunderstand it, but I'll take a stab.
I, I think first what you'rekind of hitting on is a separation
(17:56):
of your personal life and yourwork life.
And I, I don't actually thinkthat that exists.
And, and I'll give you a great example.
So at Renown Regional Medicalcenter, We have roughly 3,500 or
so employees all in.
And that's a lot of people totalk to.
And how do you do that in aneffective way that's meaningful?
And I was fortunate to have amentor that did similar work to me
(18:20):
in a similar sized hospital.
And he pushed me pretty hardto do what we call employee forums.
And so 3 times a year for a 2week period, I do 28 forums that
are 30 minutes long kind ofmorning, noon and night.
And we get about 3,000 of ouremployees that show up to those three
times a year.
It's a powerful way to connectwith people, to share where we're
(18:42):
going, what we're focused on,how we're Performing and frankly,
where we need to focusdifferently and the other one, and
there's always an ask in it.
There's always first say,here's what we're going to do as
leadership and as theorganization, but here's what we
need from you as a frontlineteam member.
Simplest example is, you know,if we're dealing with, you know,
infection rates and thingslike that, it's like we need you
(19:03):
to wash your hands.
Right.
It sounds simple, but beingable to say that to 3,000 people
is.
Is impactful.
And so in those forums, Ibring myself into them.
I bring my family into them.
My wife's not always ecstaticabout the pictures that I might use
to share the family.
She always looks great, and Ialways remind her that I'm standing
next to her so she'll lookeven better.
(19:24):
But, you know, sharing storiesabout your family and humanizing
yourself and being vulnerableI think is a critically important
skill these days.
You know, people want to knowthat the organization they work for
has the right mission and thatthey can connect to it.
And they want to know that theperson that's leading that or the
people that are leading that are.
That they're people and thatthey care about the not only success
(19:46):
of the organization and itsmission, but of them and that they're
there to support them.
And another great saying froma recent executive coach was that
people will only be asvulnerable up to the level, but not
beyond that, that you are withthem and you.
You gain an incredible levelof trust and confidence by just sharing
with people a little bit ofinsight about yourself.
(20:06):
I don't know if that answeredyour question, but.
Yeah, no, it does.
And the part about, you know,it's like.
Because one thing that peopleused to say is that sometimes when
people are too personal, itactually ends up breeding that some
negativity comes into it.
So there's almost like, don'tbe personal because it'll help curb
negativity.
But not necessarily.
Yeah, I don't.
I don't know.
I think.
(20:27):
I think being a full.
Being your full self at workhas tremendous value.
I mean, you.
You have to be careful, butyou also should be a consistent person
in my mind, inside and outsideof work.
Yeah, no, that's actuallyreally true.
So, you know, as, you know,with, I guess, things that are happening
(20:49):
today in the world and, youknow, I've heard different.
Different.
Some people say there's morelayers, some people say there's less
layers.
So as the.
As a CEO of the hospital, howdo you deal with you know, creating
the team.
And is it, is it better tohave a lean team or is it layers?
Like, what if, like, how doyou help those, you know, the organization?
(21:15):
Yeah, you take me back to aclass in, in undergrad organizational
theory that I was justthought, thought it was going to
be the worst class in the world.
It ended up being an amazing class.
And some of the, some of theteachings in that were about org
structure and, and we're allconstantly evolving our work structures
to find the right balance andthe right numbers.
(21:37):
I think that there's somepretty clear indications of how many
direct reports a leader caneffectively lead and have.
And so I think that's a foundation.
It's kind of a directional ora guidepost to use.
And then it's just, you know,a little bit of art, I guess.
There's, there's some scienceto it from a foundational perspective
and then a little bit of art.
(21:58):
But, you know, what we focuson is, yeah, one, can the person
effectively lead the group ofpeople that they have just by pure
numbers and then reallysetting some clear operational priorities.
We created, created a system,we call it leader alignment.
And it's about taking thepriorities, the strategic priorities
of the organization and of thehospital and cascading those down
(22:20):
through leaders and makingsure that they clearly understand
how their work, that they do,connects to the strategic and operational
priorities of the organization.
And then you gotta give themthe authority and the autonomy to
actually do that.
And then you actually have to.
One thing that I think I'vebeen labeled with is being protective
of their time and reallytrying to make sure that we don't
(22:42):
throw too much into the top ofthe funnel and that the right stuff
comes out of the bottom, thatthe right work and, and the good
work gets done first and always.
And then lastly is give themthe support, the tools, the training
to actually do the work thatwe're asking them to do.
Yeah, that's.
Yeah, it, yeah, it's having ateam and, and having people actually,
(23:04):
you know, seeing where peopletake the work is really important.
I want to, I do want to goback to something that you said,
you know, again, on your, onyour way up and in part of your success,
you know, it's.
It's something that I think alot of people forget about, and that
is using resources and askingfor, either asking for mentorship
(23:29):
or asking or being inquisitive.
So is there something that,you know, somebody who's a rising
leader or somebody who'slooking for that success?
You know, how do how do you,how would you share or tell somebody,
like to be able to just go outand ask?
(23:52):
Because some people are afraid.
That's probably a hard one forme to answer because I don't know
that I've ever been labeled as shy.
Right.
So, yeah, I mean, I think asa, you know, if you have a goal and
you have a position you wantto be in, what better way to learn
how to get to that place thanfrom the people that are doing it
(24:13):
today?
And I like, I think I sort oftouched on it.
People that have excelled to acertain point, they, they feel a
responsibility, I think, and,and actually I think find a tremendous
amount of joy in helping kindof pay it forward and pass that on.
It's not even like an owed debt.
I think it's actuallymeaningful and I think reinforcing
(24:34):
to them to be able to coach.
And then often times thementor learns more from the mentor
mentee relationship than thementee does.
Right.
When you try to teachsomething, you recognize some of
the opportunities you have inand of yourself to learn from it.
And so I think you just haveto have the courage to reach out.
I tell you, there's aprominent author pretty well known
(24:57):
in healthcare and as I wastrying to, to make the decision of
actually accepting this job,there was some unique challenges
with it kind of coming in the door.
I reached out to him onLinkedIn and didn't expect much,
but I tell you, I think thesame day he responded and said, here's
my cell phone, let's jump on a call.
And it was 30 or 40 minutes ofsome of the probably best advice
(25:21):
I've ever gotten in my career.
And it was all because I waswilling to just send a message.
I think today you have thepeople that are trying to come up
in leadership have more accessto some of the thought leaders and
the people doing the work thanyou ever have before.
LinkedIn is, like I said, anincredibly powerful tool for professionals
if used in the right ways.
(25:42):
Yeah, you know, I absolutelylove that.
And I think listeners asyou're, you know, I think that's
actually one of the biggestthings is, is being able to have
that courage to be able to askpeople do like to share and know
like if you have a goal andwhere you want to go look for people
or companies that you admireor, and have like values that align
(26:06):
with what you like.
Yeah.
And I think internally in yourown organization, you know, oftentimes
people aren't trying toexclude people.
And so sometimes just theopportunity to ask you Know, could
I join that meeting?
I'd really like to learn aboutwhat you guys are talking about.
I think more often than notpeople are going to be willing to
accommodate that.
They, you know, they wanttheir leaders and their people to
(26:29):
learn and be interested in growth.
And you know, I think oneimportant thing, we recently went
to do a search for a keyposition on our leadership team and
a couple of internalcandidates applied and just saying
thank you for the interestbecause when people internally are
saying, I want to do more andI want to commit more of my, my time
(26:49):
potentially and obviously mylife to the, to you and the team
and the organization, it means something.
People don't step up unlessthings are going well in the organization
from their perspective.
So yeah, you've just got tohave the courage to ask.
And I think that all theavenues are there both internally
and externally today, probablymore than they ever were.
And I, I'd also say thatorganizations, I think are more focused
(27:10):
on internal talent developmentkind of post pandemic in the healthcare
space than they have been previously.
Yeah, you know, and you, andyou, you shared, you know, that something
else that I think is reallyimportant for, you know, is to be
coachable.
Yeah.
And so, so tell us a littlebit about that because I think that
(27:32):
people, some, I think peoplethink that they're all coachable,
but they're not.
Yeah, yeah.
It goes back to the listeningthing a little bit.
Right.
First and foremost, you haveto be willing to hold up a mirror
or have somebody else hold upa mirror.
And oftentimes when thathappens, like in professional coaching
situations or informalcoaching situations, is that mirror
(27:56):
doesn't often show what youwant it to show when you're really
objective about it.
And so, yeah, I think that youhave to constantly challenge yourself
to say, where could I havebeen better?
Where can I be better?
And then what do I need to beable to do that?
And you know, the higher youclimb, the harder it is to get people
to be honest with you and giveyou feedback whether they're above
(28:19):
you or, or next to you orbelow you in the org structure.
And so I think you have tocreate that, that personality and
that Persona that you want itand that you're actually going to
receive it.
Well, the worst thing that youcan do is ask somebody for feedback.
They give it to you and thenyou dispute it almost immediately.
Right.
You just, you killed the whole purpose.
(28:41):
So I think it's showing peoplenot only that you want it, but that
you'll actually take actionfrom it.
Again, not to reference it too much.
But the most recent coachingexperience, one of the people who
had to give me feedback was my wife.
And I would say it was direct,it was honest, it was pretty accurate,
and it was hard to hear, But Itook action on it.
(29:01):
And because I took action onit, things are different in that
part of our relationship.
And so it's meaningful if youseek it out and if you actually do
something with it.
Yeah, you just said something,too, that it's hard to hear, Right?
Like, that is, you know, Ithink that is actually one of the
(29:27):
things that, you know, canmake a person, you know, when they
hear something is how do younot be negative about it?
It's.
And being reflective ofyourself and being able to look inward
and being able to be open tohearing something that's negative
and so.
(29:47):
Or maybe not as positive.
How much do you think whenpeople do that, whether it's yourself
or like, as you said, it'smade a difference.
How much do you think itreally does make a difference for
somebody when they are open to hearing?
Oh, I think that when yourecognize where you are in whatever
(30:08):
is being assessed and thefeedback being given on it, it allows
you to see things from acompletely different perspective.
There's this grid.
I'm going to get this wrong,but it's like the things that you
know about yourself thatothers don't know, and the things
that.
That others know about youthat you don't know about yourself.
I think that.
(30:28):
And there's four quadrants to it.
I'm giving you two of them.
But, you know, thatperspective of people looking from
the outside in, they see youfrom an entirely different place.
It can be really powerful.
So I think if you are open tohearing the feedback and you actually
want to do something with it,you have to want to do something
(30:49):
with it.
And likely when you're askingfor feedback, you actually sometimes
have to push people to giveyou the negative.
They'll tell you, you know,you're really great at this, or you
do a good job at that.
And you sometimes have to saythank you.
And then can you tell me whereI could be better?
Where can I be a better leaderfor you?
Where can I be a better leaderfor the organization?
(31:10):
What can I do?
From an interpersonalperspective is another one I touched
on that a little while ago is,you know, at a certain point, everybody
in the room is pretty smartand technically good at their job.
Then it comes down to what Icall blind spots or interpersonal
behaviors.
And where, where are some ofthose Gaps.
And, you know, there's asimple way to do it in my mind, which
is, you know, sit down withthe person and say, you know, I'm
(31:31):
really looking for somefeedback on this topic.
Where would you rate me on a 1to 10 scale?
And, and once they rate you,well, what would it take me to be
a 10?
So not only are you askingthem to tell you where they think
you are, but you're askingthem what would help me progress
to a different place from yourperspective, from an outsider's perspective,
and then.
Then it's your job to takeaction on that.
Yeah, I really love that.
(31:52):
You know, Chris, you've givensome amazing insights and, you know,
I think some of the key thingsthat I want the listeners to really
understand.
You know, there's a lot ofthings that we've covered here, but
really understanding the factthat for that to be truly unstoppable
and to have the rise, knowwhat your goal is, speak to the people.
You know, be, be able to askquestions and search out people to.
(32:13):
Whether they're mentors orpeople that are in a position that
you really would like to haveor that you admire.
Be active in, in learning andlistening and, and be coachable.
Yeah.
And keep raising the bar.
You know, once you reach acertain point, there's really no
endpoint in this.
(32:34):
Right.
You're constantly evolving andpushing yourself.
And so, you know, once you'vereached, whether it's the position
or you've completed theproject or the initiative, it's,
you know, where's my nextopportunity and what am I going to
need to do to become better?
Whether it's as a person or asa leader or both.
And so I think you have tokeep pushing yourself whether the.
(32:55):
And again, I said it earlier,organizations, I think, have a responsibility
to invest and support their people.
But it's sort of likeparenting a kid in my mind.
Like, it's so easy to blamethe school, but at the end of the
day, the kid's with you for,you know, much more time than they
are at school.
And so that comes down to youinvesting in your child's development,
(33:16):
just like.
Like you investing in your own development.
Yeah, that's so true.
And actually, somebody hadsaid to me, if you take your.
The.
The number is 10 of yourincome or is.
Should go to personaldevelopment or development for yourself.
Yeah, that's, you know, it'sa, it's a.
It's a number that sticks inmy brain.
So, you know.
Yeah, I've never, I've neverHeard that I'd have to do the math
(33:38):
on the investments.
But yeah, if you put a, if youcan quantify the time that you spend
and reading, reflecting,having conversations, that's probably
pretty accurate.
Is, you've kind of, you've gotto carve some portion of it out to
make sure you're, you're self investing.
Yeah.
So, Chris, I'm going to askyou a question you may or may not
want to answer.
What's next for you?
(33:59):
I don't know.
I'm, you know, I'm reallythrilled where I am.
We've, we've got a lot ofwork, as you know.
You, you mentioned it at the beginning.
We just, we just finished our10 year strategy.
It's pretty hard to do a threeyear strategy and look that far out
into the future.
Ten years is, is, you know,ambitious, I would say.
But we're pretty clear on whatwe think we need to do to achieve
(34:22):
our mission and serve our community.
And I'm enjoying the role thatI'm playing in it.
I think that we still havelots of things that we can improve
on.
We have lots of things that wecan create and develop.
And I'll tell you, I've neverworked with a better leadership team,
both at the organization levelwith our leader, Dr. Brian Erling,
and also at the hospital level.
(34:45):
I'm incredibly proud of thework we've done over the last three
years from our financialrecovery, coming out of the pandemic
like most organizations, to,you know, fairly quickly being able
to say, now it's time to lookforward and say, what do we need
to do to grow with ourcommunity and for our community?
And there's, there's nineyears and four months left of work
in that strategy to go.
(35:06):
That's it.
That's many years of greatwork to be done and great leadership.
So, so, Chris, thank you listeners.
Here's what I want you to do.
I want you to connect withChris on LinkedIn.
If you have the DEs desire tobe a CEO or to have unstoppable success,
I am sure that Chris would behappy to give you some extra insight
(35:27):
as well.
And please do me the favor ofhitting subscribe and sharing this
episode with your friends,your colleagues and your business
associates.
Because the more people thatcan learn these great tips and insights,
the better we all become asleaders and as people.
So thank you, Chris for beinga great guest and thank you listeners.
This is unstoppable success.
(35:48):
I'm your host, JacquelineStrominger, and keep being unstoppable.
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