Apr 3, 2019
Today, your host Ellen Gardner, Communications and Marketing at HIROC, speaks with Rob MacIsaac, President and CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences.
Rob MacIsaac followed his father’s advice to become a professional, but after a couple of years as a lawyer, he realized he was drawn to public service. Without being a subject matter expert in any of the diverse roles he’s had – at Mohawk College, at Metrolinx, as mayor of the City of Burlington – Rob has developed a leadership philosophy built on humble inquiry and bringing people together around a vision. He is now CEO of one of Hamilton’s biggest employers, Hamilton Health Sciences, a city onto itself comprised of 7 hospitals, a cancer centre, an urgent care centre, and over 11,000 employees. For someone who loves change and rushes toward big projects, Hamilton Health Sciences is a perfect fit – the hospital is in the early stages of a massive 20-year transformation plan called Our Healthy Future.
Key Takeaways:
[1:02] How Rob stays connected to staff across the organization
[1:28] How ‘Teach Rob Your Job’ became a successful technique for meeting frontline workers
[5:35] Rob has had to develop a contribution around leadership for every role he’s held
[6:30] A key influencer in Rob’s life has been Clay Christensen, author of How will you measure your life?
[7:10] The philosophy that has guided Rob’s career
[8:45] Why Rob moved from Mohawk College to Hamilton Health Sciences
[13:30] How Our Healthy Future is part of a larger strategy for the hospital, focussed on four directions
[14:55] How healthcare can benefit from ideas taken from other sectors
[16:32] How a series of public consultations helped shape Our Healthy Future
[20:29] Why Rob is attracted to big transformation projects
[20:41] His principle motivation - we all have a chance to leave our community a little better than the way we found it
[21:20] The three responsibilities a chief executive always has to keep in mind
[25:43] Why looking at the city of Hamilton today – prosperous and still gritty – makes Rob smile
Mentioned in this Episode:
Daniel Kahneman – Thinking Fast and Slow
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