Michael Gentry on Leadership, Balance and Risk
In this episode, Michael Gentry, CEO of Kettering Health, shares lessons on leadership, maintaining balance, supporting colleagues through challenges, and making thoughtful decisions around risk and opportunity.
- There's a small circle of people who truly
- understand what it takes to lead a health
- system right now. The decisions are enormous.
- The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
- of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
- That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
- And it's why the most effective c suite
- leaders are deliberate about where they go to
- pressure test their thinking.
- Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
- brings together more than 1,500
- executive level attendees
- and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
- around growth, financial sustainability,
- workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
- have easy answers.
- Join us November second through the fifth in
- Chicago.
- For the agenda and event details,
- visit beckershospitalreview.com
- and click on the events tab in the
- upper right.
- Welcome to this episode of Leadership Unscripted, a
- Becker's health care podcast. I'm Chris Sosa, your
- host, and I'm joined to be joined today
- by Mike Gentry. He, of course, is CEO
- of Kettering Health in Ohio.
- Mike, thank you for joining us today.
- Chris, good to spend some time with you
- this afternoon.
- Fantastic. I'm looking forward to learning all about
- your health care journey and what you wanna
- share with your peers.
- But before we get into that, could you
- introduce yourself a little more fully and and
- give us a little bit more about Kettering
- Health in particular?
- Sure. Kettering Health, about eight hospitals here. We're
- about
- centered in Dayton and maybe a 60 mile
- radius around Dayton in, Southwest Ohio
- and, about 15,000 team members. And it's really
- a wonderful organization.
- Started
- in the nineteen sixties. And so just great
- group of people here trying to work together
- and take care of folks in Southwest Ohio.
- Wonderful. Well, as I said at the top,
- we just wanna get into your health care
- journey now that you've been doing this for
- a while and talk about, you know, the
- things that are important to you as far
- as the decisions you're making and how you
- help people every day. So where we wanna
- start? Simply, what is something that you've learned
- outside of health care that you've applied to
- your career?
- My first three
- positions
- after college were all in manufacturing.
- And so I sort of slid into health
- care,
- somewhat unexpectedly.
- But I think in those roles, in a
- couple of those roles, maybe two things stand
- out. One
- is observing people that do really well with
- repetition.
- And so, you know, one of those roles,
- was more assembly
- line like
- and and
- becoming aware that some individuals
- really want
- things done the same way
- and over and over again.
- And recognizing that was not me,
- but some people had extraordinary talent and ability
- to to handle that type of work.
- And that just stood out because I realized
- I needed variety at work, and I didn't
- want the same thing all the time.
- And then, secondly,
- the way
- the way different managers
- interacted with,
- team members.
- Some some people had, you know, sort of
- a command and control
- model.
- Others were very relational, kind of some in
- the middle. And I saw all three styles
- or, you know, more than three, really, but
- multiple styles work.
- And, and just was able to observe that
- things really only go off the rails
- when people believe you stop caring about them.
- But there's a great deal of latitude
- for how to be successful in management with
- a lot of different styles
- provided the folks that we work with believe
- that they care about us
- and and are interested in our welfare. And
- so I think those were the two significant
- walkaways before I got to health
- care. That makes a lot of sense, Mike.
- So as far as the repetition
- aspect is concerned, where do you find that
- particularly useful in your job right now? Even
- I know you said it's not you necessarily,
- but is there something where you think, you
- know what? Yeah. It is good to do
- this the same thing pretty much every day.
- Oh, it's attention to detail. That is not
- my strength, but it is so important,
- tremendously important,
- and especially related to safety practices.
- And so remembering how individuals that would do
- the same thing in a repetitive manner, and
- they had multiple steps. And, you know, whether
- they're, you know, in a manufacturing environment, there
- are sequential steps to take, and you want
- the product to come out be exactly the
- same every time,
- and you apply that to sort of our
- safety thoughts and processes,
- there's a great parallel there. And so something
- that I came to realize was so important,
- I didn't necessarily excel at it. But just
- because you don't naturally have the talent in
- something doesn't mean it's not really important or,
- you know, valuable.
- Certainly. Certainly. Thank you for expounding on that.
- So Mike, my next question for you is,
- you know, as a CEO or any leader
- of any organization, really, you gotta keep yourself
- healthy. You gotta do that physically, emotionally, mentally,
- all those aspects.
- How does that process work for you? How
- does it look for you?
- Well, your question has a bias that I
- do it. So I
- Fair enough. I appreciate
- I appreciate those positive spin on the question.
- Years ago, I heard someone speaking and it
- was it was an individual that I respected.
- I didn't know them well, but I respected,
- you know, somebody that, you know, was in
- in the health care field, ran a health
- system.
- And
- the individual said, you know, you're not gonna
- be in balance all the time.
- You need to be cautious of being out
- of balance for a prolonged
- period of time.
- I think that really helped me because I
- thought, okay. I've got a routine,
- and I can't always stick to that routine,
- or I choose not to stick to it
- for a variety of reasons because sometimes
- sticking to the re routine is more stressful
- than bouncing out of it.
- And maybe that goes to a little bit
- of my desire for variability in life. But
- in general, to recognize
- there are some things that we can do
- to take care of ourselves, you know, and
- and the most obvious is sleep,
- diet, exercise.
- And then the other one that's maybe less
- obvious that we're all more aware of now
- are relationships.
- And so I think, you know, you can
- quarter in your mind, think about bar graphs,
- and think where are you in each of
- those categories,
- and get a sense of how you're doing.
- And then be aware,
- am I in
- a drought
- of being out of balance? Has this gone
- on for more than a week or two
- weeks?
- I was just talking to a colleague,
- a few days ago, and he said I've
- been redlined for eight months.
- And I thought, okay. Yeah. I'm gonna call
- him up later and kinda check-in on the
- guy. But,
- and so to me, having a sense of
- balance
- over time
- is the way that I try and approach
- being healthy.
- That's a very interesting perspective. Like, yeah, I
- had not heard that's
- that part about how
- sometimes staying in your routine
- is harder
- is a harder aspect of it. Yeah. That's
- that's how did you come to learn that?
- I mean, I know you mentioned that you
- you, you know, you had someone
- mention that to you, but how did you
- come to learn and apply that to your
- own life?
- When I was younger, I had a boss
- that complimented me for keeping multiple balls in
- the air. And I remember he told me
- that, I thought, I actually wasn't doing that
- very well, but he thought I was. And
- I didn't I didn't
- I didn't debate him and say, no. Actually,
- you're wrong. You know?
- But it caused me to realize
- the importance
- of sequencing my work
- and in my time and attention and sequencing
- and prioritizing in a way that match the
- expectations and needs of the organization.
- And I thought if I can do that
- and sort of stay in front
- of,
- you know, the quadrant that people have in
- their minds that are it's urgent and important,
- and then important, but not urgent, and then
- not important urgent. That, you know, that little
- quadrant.
- And I thought I need to make sure
- that I don't live
- in
- the important and urgent, or not important and
- urgent category. And so just like those earlier
- bar graphs in my head I talked about
- for balance, I think about that with my
- time.
- And I think, what do I need to
- do
- this week so that two, three, four, five
- weeks from now,
- I stay out of that urgent mode? Because
- most of the time, you can see difficulty
- coming at you. Not always, but most of
- the time you can.
- Got it.
- Mike, you mentioned, also,
- your friend who unfortunately has been redlining for
- for eight months now.
- It's always important to
- find time to reach out to your colleagues
- and and make sure they're doing okay.
- Along those lines, you're gonna have tough days
- yourself.
- Right? There's and they're unavoidable. Right? So
- when those days happen,
- how are you looking to move forward? Who
- do you turn to? What do you do?
- I used to call my dad. I was
- blessed. I had a great dad. He used
- to call my dad. He's passed away.
- And so I would say I went through
- a period of time where I just looked
- at the mirror, didn't call anybody.
- And then over time,
- got better at talking to colleagues at work,
- you know, because you don't want to be
- somebody that is that has an appearance of
- being fragile because,
- you know, that's just not terribly helpful for
- you or for anybody else. On the flip
- side,
- you can frame up questions that are not
- about your needs,
- but you can frame up a question that's
- more objective and almost third party
- to say, in this situation,
- in this dynamic, what are some thoughts? How
- would you approach it?
- And and so that way, it doesn't attract
- attention to yourself,
- but you can hear input from others. And
- so I think
- either I either I pause and think, okay,
- I'll just figure this out myself, or I
- try and think,
- who are the people with the personality types
- that I work with that have natural skills
- in this area? And then I usually go
- by and, you know, talk to them and
- run some questions by them. But I but
- rarely do they tell them it's my concern.
- Now maybe, you know, that's that's probably some
- other issue, I'm sure. But I just I
- have a hesitancy.
- You you don't want to burden people with
- your concerns, but they can help you without
- it being personal.
- Yeah. I appreciate you sharing that, Mike. It's
- that's a definitely
- a a little bit different way that I've
- heard some CEOs and not that everyone's the
- same. They're certainly not. Yeah. Yeah. But but
- yeah. I mean, certainly, that is something that
- you find helpful, and and I'm glad certainly
- that your colleagues are able to help you
- through whatever
- it is you're dealing with that day. I'm
- sure they're happy to help you do it
- as well. But yeah. I mean so let's
- flip that for a second there. So when
- a colleague comes to you with any sort
- of issue, right,
- how do you find it best to go
- about helping them?
- I start generally just like I would for
- myself. I start with context
- and and really to to context in two
- areas. One,
- to understand the magnitude of the concern that
- the individual has
- and why, if it's a significant if it's
- a DEFCON for a moment,
- why?
- You know? So just objectively, what's causing the
- level of concern? And so,
- I think that's extremely helpful because and then,
- you know, to be pretty open and find
- out, are are you looking for any counselor,
- or do you just want me to basically
- remind you I'm your friend and support you?
- Yeah. Because sometimes people just wanna vent or
- be heard.
- Right. So just to check-in and just say,
- hey, man. Let me just listen. If you
- want some feedback, I'll I'll offer some, but,
- otherwise, I'll just, you know, do my best
- to be a great listener. And then depending
- upon the answers you get there,
- you know, then I, you know, potentially bring
- in some more context and and use and
- start with a macro view and say, we're
- wildly blessed. We live in America. We got
- enough food.
- You know? Our country
- has friendly neighbors to the North and South.
- We've got oceans on the East and West.
- I mean, we're not Ukraine surrounded by potentially
- challenged environments. And so at a baseline, just
- sort of but, of course, depending on what
- somebody's talking about, it may be health related,
- which, you know, doesn't matter what country you're
- in. That's a rough situation.
- So I I look for
- magnitude of the moment as the individual's feeling
- it, and then whether or not bringing another
- context is helpful.
- Got it.
- So, Mike, we've learned quite a bit about
- you so far. We're gonna continue learning a
- little bit more about you. And you mentioned,
- off the top, near the top, how repetition,
- not necessarily, you know, your thing. But
- I do wanna know, is there something
- else that you've learned about yourself from working
- in health care?
- I think that I've, over time and
- this was an early impression, but it stayed
- with me over time. I really
- appreciate
- what physicians
- go through
- from an educational
- and, residency standpoint
- in getting, you know, up close and personal.
- I probably I don't know if I'm capable
- of doing it. I definitely don't think I'm
- willing.
- And so I have just a great appreciation
- for what physicians
- are willing to do so they can be
- a benefit and blessing to others and to
- the communities and, you know, help people in
- very difficult situations. So
- I think
- health care centric,
- you know, you start with a sense of
- gratitude. And then I would say,
- in general, for people that we would put
- under the,
- quotes of caregivers,
- just in general,
- We're wildly blessed in our society that
- most of the time when we're treating individuals,
- it's a judgment free zone. I mean, a
- lot of the people that come to emergency
- departments have made some really poor choices,
- You know? And if you're objective about it
- and you spend any time in emergency department,
- it's
- a often, it's a collection of really bad
- choices.
- And yet, that's not how people are treated.
- They're treated in the moment in terms of
- what can we do to elevate you and
- restore you to the extent possible.
- And so the mindset
- that caregivers have in every every organization I've
- worked and and Kettering, I would double down
- on that because
- I'd never lived this far north before. There's
- something about the Midwest. The people here in
- the Midwest are just really
- they're they're down to Earth. They're real.
- It's just they're great they're great folks here
- in the Midwest, and and I'd say specifically
- at Kettering. So my appreciation
- for individuals caring for people that they don't
- know
- and circumstances
- that are
- not ideal,
- I have great,
- admiration for our team members.
- Thank you for pointing that out. Mike, I
- I don't know that it can be pointed
- out enough that's that objectivity that you just
- highlighted
- and how important that is to care. Right?
- And I'm glad that that's something that shines
- at Kettering and and other places that you
- worked. Mike, last question for you. So
- when you become an a CEO
- or a leader in any organization, really, you
- you're gonna have to take risks at some
- point or another. Right?
- What is one that has paid off for
- you?
- Well, I'd start by saying is I haven't
- taken enough risk. Okay. I'm naturally a little
- risk adverse.
- I've got three sons.
- The oldest one probably is a moderate risk
- taker.
- The middle one is closest to me, pretty
- slow, and the youngest
- would would take any risk available to him.
- So
- I don't think I have a great answer
- to your question, other than I'm able to
- look back and think about potential
- opportunities
- that may have panned out had I been
- willing to take more risk.
- And so in today's environment, I've tried to
- modify myself to say,
- invest more time in getting to know more
- people.
- Not that that's a risky thing to do,
- but it's an allocation of scarce time,
- and your your willingness to get to know
- more people presents more opportunities.
- And then you can evaluate, you know, the
- risk associated with, you know, taking actions once
- you have more opportunities in front of you.
- But sort of by nature, I'm not a
- bet the farm type person.
- I would probably bet, you know, one or
- two of the rooms of the farmhouse, but
- not the whole farm.
- Alright. Well, like, that that's a wonderful awareness
- on your part. We appreciate, you breaking that
- down for us and and your candor, certainly.
- Mike, this has been a terrific conversation. You
- know, I can't wait to share with our
- audience.
- Thank you again for taking the time to
- sit down with us today, and we look
- forward to the next time our pass goes.
- Chris, you've been very kind. Thanks so much
- for the time today.