Cathy Jacobson, who has served as the chief executive officer of Wauwatosa-based Froedtert Health since 2012, accepted BizTimes Media’s 13th Woman Executive of the Year award on Wednesday, but not without thanking her team and delivering some valuable advice on leadership. Addressing the more than 500 attendees of BizTimes Media’s 2023 Women in Business Symposium
Cathy Jacobson, who has served as the chief executive officer of Wauwatosa-based Froedtert Healthsince 2012, accepted BizTimes Media’s 13th Woman Executive of the Year award on Wednesday, but not without thanking her team and delivering some valuable advice on leadership.
Addressing the more than 500 attendees of BizTimes Media’s 2023 Women in Business Symposium at the Brookfield Conference Center, Jacobson, who oversees a health care network with 10 hospitals, 45 health centers and clinics, and 13,000 employees, shared how she’s managed to keep growing as a leader over her 35-year career.
Here are some of her leadership pointers:
Leadership is a continuous journey
"You might reach a certain pinnacle in your life, and 'think, great, I'm done. I'm a leader. But you can always do better as a leader every single day."
Be yourself
"Draw on your background and personality traits. Recognize your strengths and Weaknesses. Those are things that are just us. Some of those things are going to make you a better leader. I, myself, am the oldest of four girls. My sisters, if they were sitting here, would say: 'bossy older sister.'"
Be open to coaching
"But there may be some inherent personality traits that you have to work against, because they can hold you back from being a good leader. … Over the years I have had executive coaching. Coaching really is something that points out areas where you can be better. You are always managing a different group of people. There may be certain things that you know can kind of trigger you – that can hold you back from being a good leader. No matter where you are in your career you can always learn how to be better."
Network
“Networking has been a huge part of my success. When I was 27 years old, I was promoted to the C-Suite. I became the chief financial officer of the second largest health plan in Chicago in the late 1980s. And one of the first things I did is start networking, either with people who did my job in a professional setting, or with fellow members of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).
"When you network with peers who are in other organizations – number one that is very gratifying because they are the only people who know your job – but you will also learn what they are doing to lead their organizations. If you ever reach the point of thinking you’re the smartest person in the room, or your organization has all the answers, that’s probably the moment you are going to stop your progress."
Join boards and associations
"Being part of a professional association is great way to practice leadership in a 'safe space.' You might organize a conference, you might lead a panel discussion, or get a chance to chair a local board. I got the opportunity to do all of that, and then I got asked to be on the national board of my association, and I ultimately got the chance to be an officer and I chaired that board for a year.
"It completely changed my perspective on leadership because it is a volunteer organization. There were people sitting on that board who had way bigger jobs than I did in the industry, and we would come together five times a year to benefit and give back to the association. I had to lead that conversation at the board level. In an association, these are people who don’t report to you. They are not in your power structure, and you have to relate to them in a completely different way.
"It taught me to be a better leader. When I would go back to my organization, I would put on my HFMA (hat) and it taught me how to interact with my team in a completely different way. You get that kind of experience from going outside your organization, and not just relying on what you learn inside your organization day-in-day-out."
Talent is paramount
"When you are a leader, you have to surround yourself with talent. Because you are not doing the job, you’re leading. We tend to rise to those first leadership positions because we are knowledge experts. I knew more. I was better at finance. Someone else might be a great clinician, great physician, so they start leading their department. And then one day they find out that they have been promoted and there are people who are doing jobs that they have no idea about, and they’re not the knowledge experts anymore.
"It is not about telling people what to do, it's about asking them what they need from you to help them do their job; about what roadblocks you can remove. It is not about being the smartest person in the room anymore, it is about making sure I can support people and help them do their job better and then get out of their way.
"When you are a CEO, you have to rely on other people. I have people who have graduate degrees in health systems management, because they know far better how to run a hospital than I do. I probably spend half my time managing talent – not just my team but making sure the entire organization has a structure that allows them to bring talent forward.
"How do you help people grow? These are ambitious executives, by the time they get to the C-Suite and are reporting to the CEO that is usually not their last stop in their career. They want to talk about their opportunity for growth. But that is what you should be doing all the time – making sure your employees are engaged and getting those opportunities."
Diverse team
"Make sure you recruit a team that is different than you, and not just (ones with) different experiences and backgrounds. They better think differently than you do. Making sure that you are not all in a loop speak all the time (is key), because then you just head down a path without understanding that there are other options out there. Make sure that you have people that have the strength to challenge you."
Don’t be the first to speak
"If you want to get ideas and truth from your team, don’t be the first person to speak. Because the minute the leader speaks it will shut down at least half of the conversation. You have to create an environment where your team feels free to speak up and push back."
See a video of Jacobson's remarks:
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