What healthcare leaders can learn from the military, per Keck Medicine’s CEO

Keck Medicine of USC CEO Rod Hanners is profiled in Becker’s on his priorities as a leader. Read the story below:

— From Becker’s Hospital Review: While culture is often discussed in leadership conversations, it may not be fully embraced across the healthcare industry, according to Rod Hanners, CEO of Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles. Yet, he said, culture drives everything from business success to patient satisfaction.

Mr. Hanners was named CEO of the four-hospital health system in 2021 after serving in the role on an interim basis beginning in 2020. Before entering healthcare, he served in the military for a decade.

Becker’s connected with Mr. Hanners to gain insights on his priorities as a health system CEO and how his background has shaped his approach to leadership.

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Question: What was your first job? Biggest thing you learned?

Rod Hanners: My first job was serving as an officer in the U.S. Navy submarine force. I entered the military when I was 23 and served for 10 years. The biggest lesson I learned was the benefit of facilitative leadership, which means not sitting in my stateroom making unilateral decisions, but engaging with the “staff” to learn from the ground up what works and what doesn’t and implementing their ideas to make us better. I learned that officers who had a more traditional, top-down leadership style were not producing the same sustainable results. This approach led to a dramatic turnaround of my division from a “needs improvement” to a rating of “excellent” as determined by an external operational reactor safeguard examination.

Q: What is one of your lesser-known talents or leadership superpowers? 

RH: I take some pride in taking the time to stay very connected with the operations across our health system, as I feel it enables me to make better decisions for the system. This foundation also helps me translate someone’s idea into the practical aspects of what it takes to implement it. I think I am able to connect with people at all levels of the organization, from presenting to a board committee to sitting down and connecting with a valet, cafeteria worker or environmental services technician. 

Q: What is an industry outside of healthcare that you think healthcare could take notes from?

RH: I would point to the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, or any of the armed forces. The military, like healthcare, is a high-risk, high-reliability organization that requires trust and interdependency among colleagues. Keck Medicine is a very veterans-friendly health system, and we are actively recruiting veterans. Several among our staff have served in the military, including our CEO of Keck Medical Center of USC, Marty Sargeant, who served as a F-15 combat pilot in the U.S. States Air Force. The discipline, resiliency and self-sacrifice required to serve in the military is something we can all learn from and why a career in the military is easily transferable to one in healthcare.

Q: What is the most difficult choice you’ve had to make for your organization this year?

RH: Closing down maternity services at one of our community hospitals, USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, was a very difficult yet necessary decision. The department had been high performing for decades, but due to shifting community demographics leading to a decline in birth rates, the service was no longer filling a community need. We therefore needed to pivot and replace the service line with new programs that better match the needs of the community.

Q: If you could give one strategy or piece of advice to other health system CEOs, what would it be?

RH: Culture is referenced a lot in leadership conversations, such as the age-old adage that “culture eats strategy for lunch,” but I am not sure leaders fully embrace how important their culture is in attaining desired results. Yet, culture drives everything. At Keck Medicine, we promote a culture of compassion, collaboration, respect, forgiveness and continual improvement — all leading to a high-trust environment. This culture not only translates into a positive work environment but has a direct impact on business success, whether patient satisfaction, quality or fiscal performance. Our employee wellness program, Care for the Caregiver, reduces our annual insurance rates, and our middle management training program, which focuses on leading with “curiosity, generosity and grace” and is centered on Brené Brown’s “Dare to Lead” book, has led to lower turnover and high retention rates, both of which have a positive impact on the bottom line.

Read the Becker’s story online here.

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