Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2017 - 29

5 MINUTES WITH... / VITALS

EVENTS
SAVE THE DATE: ANNUAL
LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
Registration for the
2017 Annual Leadership
Conference and Meeting of
the Membership, Nov. 6-8,
opens in early August. Join
your children's hospital
leadership peers for sessions
on topics like care delivery
and payment models;
organizational effectiveness;
and strategy and innovation.

DON'T MISS THESE
OTHER SPEAKERS
Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D.,
professor of Economics
at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
and a public health policy
expert, will provide a health
care economic update on
understanding of the changes
in health care, and what you
need to know going forward.
Gruber was an architect of
Massachusetts health care
reform and the ACA.
David Robertson is a
professor at Wharton School
and author of The Power
of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk,
High-Reward Approach to
Innovation. He will outline
how a low-risk, high-reward
strategy gives companies a
competitive advantage.

Learn more and register for the
Annual Leadership Conference
at childrenshospitals.org/
leadership17.

Greg McKeown
Feeling busy but not productive? At the 2017 Annual
Leadership Conference, this growth and leadership
expert will help you examine what's really important.

reg McKeown will deliver the closing session at CHA's 2017 Annual
Leadership Conference and Meeting of the
Membership in New Orleans, November
6-8. He is the author of Essentialism: The
Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Here, he takes
us through what is important.
What is essentialism? It's an antidote to
arguably the biggest problem of our time,
which is the undisciplined pursuit of more.
Essentialism is for anyone who feels busy
but not productive; who feels stretched too
thin at work or at home; and who feels their
day gets hijacked by other people's agendas
and expectations. That's the problem, and
you can't really understand Essentialism
unless you understand the problem. Nonessentialism is the disease, and essentialism is the cure.
Why is it difficult for us to focus on the
essential? It's the "paradox of success."
People focus on a few things because they
really matter, such as their education or
building their career. When they achieve
these things and become successful, they
are insufficiently aware of how massively
that increases the opportunities that
come their way. They don't recognize this
because that's exactly what they wanted.
That's why they were focused in the first
place-they wanted great opportunities
and great things, but they are insufficiently
prepared for that ultimate success.
How can essentialism benefit people who
work in the health care industry? A time
will come when the current approaches
to the medical profession-the intensity,
high stress and overwork-will be viewed
as counterproductive. We are killing ourselves trying to heal other people. If you're

healthier and rested, your decision-making
skills are improved. You should have the
time to step back and say, "Why are we
approaching medicine this way? Maybe
there's a preventive approach that would
give us 10 times better outcomes." But you
can't think about that if you're exhausted,
mentally crushed and constantly going.
I got an email from the wife of a surgeon.
She told me her husband got a rash on the
back of his hand, which started to make it
impossible to do the work he had spent his
life preparing to do. Someone had given
them a copy of Essentialism, and they both
read it. After discussing the book, it became
apparent to them that the stress was too
much, and his body was manifesting it.
So he and his wife made an entire
strategy change. They removed a massive
amount of things from his plate and
figured out what was absolutely essential
for him to focus on. A complete healing
took place, and now he's better. His wife
told me, "I don't think you changed his
life, I think you saved his life." Now he
can focus on saving other people's lives.
-Megan McDonnell Busenbark

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL S TODAY Summer 2017

http://www.childrenshospitals.org/leadership17 http://www.childrenshospitals.org/leadership17

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Children's Hospitals Today - Summer 2017