Confident Leaders Can Ask Risky Questions

The "Openers" column in the business pages of the March 29 New York Times carried an interview with CEO of Amgen, Kevin Sharer by Adam Bryant. In Feedback in Heaping Helpings Mr. Sharer reflected on his earliest experiences as a leader in the military and in the corporate world as well as a number of practical and humbling tips regarding his leadership style which can benefit health care leaders and which are well worth the five or ten minutes it takes to read them.

When was asked what he did on his first day as CEO at Amgen, Sharer's response was that he posed several questions to the senior staff - potentially risky questions I have infrequently seen asked by newly placed physician or executive health care leaders:

• What 3 things would you like to change?
• What 3 things would you want to make sure we keep?
• What is it that you would like me to do?
• What is it you are afraid I am going to do?
• Finally, is there anything else you want to talk about?

Sharer then spoke with the top 150 people in the company one at a time for one hour each, asking each of them the questions. He listened, took notes, and synthesized all the responses. He then sent the synthesis to the 150 along with his responses and his list of priorities for the company. He said people were candid and it gave him a chance to quickly get to know the key people in the organization.

This is the action of a confident, open-minded person who believes he has plenty to learn from those below him in rank, a key quality in any effective leader. In his own words:"... leadership is not about charisma and it's not about style. It's something about authenticity. It's something about integrity. It's something about willingness to take risks. It's something about the ability to make others feel part of a larger thing."

That larger thing for health care leaders is the dream of getting people on board with the mission of health care system improvement? Can we learn something from Sharer's approach?