I was sitting across a woman with years of leadership in an industry where she had to quietly battle in the beginning to obtain her leadership position. She would not say it that way, but as I listened to Kathy Krusie I saw her quiet, authentic, humble, determined battle to continually become the best leader possible.
Kathy presently is the president of the North Region of Community Health Network which is a regional health system based out of Indianapolis. This is her most recent stop of many leadership roles within healthcare. From the very beginning Mrs. Krusie wanted to affect change in the business of healthcare and has fulfilled leadership roles in hospitals of multiple sizes in Iowa, Texas, and Indiana. She has served as COO, CEO and various other leadership roles.
At the start of our conversation she revealed the path she took was not the traditional route for females desiring to enter administration. This was a male-dominated industry at the time, but she found some keys to enable her to enter leadership positions.
- Growth and Development are critical. Because she desired to affect great change, she saw a great need to continue to grow and develop to reach her full potential. This drive to grow and develop was motivated by a selfless passion to support the organization versus a drive to pursue her next promotion.
- Take Initiative. Mrs. Krusie did not wait for opportunities passively. She would look for opportunities and then ask for the responsibility. If she saw a need, even outside her comfort zone, she would approach her superiors and suggest taking the lead. At one hospital she served in a role outside of her normal skills because she saw the need, and that area improved dramatically under her leadership. She didn’t wait to be asked, but saw the challenge and asked to be given the responsibility. That is leadership.
- Mentorship. During our conversation Kathy said there were men who were willing to teach and mentor her. What caused this? Not that this should be surprising. I believe one of the reasons was her willingness to understand her bosses and their desires and she sought to support it. If she had constantly been trying to pursue her agenda my guess is these men (or any boss) would have been less likely to help her.
These were the keys to her advancing in an environment that in the beginning she was a minority in, but there were three keys to her leadership even now that she highlighted. The first you may have already picked up.
- Service. As we could see through her principles for growing and advancing she always sought to serve. Throughout our time I could sense a woman who models the attributes of what Jim Collins calls a “Level 5” leader. She has an intense desire for excellence and I could also sense her passion, but also a humility that she realizes leading well means serving others.
- Respect. This idea came out of the concept that her role is to empower the thousands of care givers she leads. Kathy demonstrates respect to the front-line workers by encouraging and allowing them to solve their own problems because they understand the problem from their vantage point better than she does. She also models this by being willing to do what she asks of them. For example, she moved out of the parking garage just like the rest of the staff were expected so patients can use it. Doing this in the frigid winter months just like her employees is a small example of both respect and humility.
- Authentic. This is the one word which Kathy would say describes her leadership philosophy. What does this mean for her as a leader? Authenticity is a match between personal and organizational values in a manner that leverages personal strengths to match the organization. Kathy summarizes authenticity this way: “stay true to yourself and your values and do not compromise to climb the ladder.”
Sometimes as leaders the climb seems overwhelming as I am sure it did for Kathy in the beginning, but she provides us with principles for overcoming obstacles and then leading well consistently. What about you? Which of these principles do you need to grow in based on where you are in your leadership journey? Are you leading with authenticity and leveraging your strengths to serve those you lead or who lead you? If not, what is one thing you can change today to lead better tomorrow? Keep climbing, leading well and let me know how I can help you in your journey.
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