Healthcare executive leadership has gone global. As a result, more and more opportunities are available to individuals whose career planning efforts have prepared them for the extraordinary challenges and long-term rewards that an international assignment offers. However, expectations are high when it comes to placing executive leadership positions in the health care sector in a foreign market, and a prospective executive must be fully prepared to meet those challenges head-on.
“Well done is better than well said!” is a quote from Tom Brady (and Ben Franklin) of the New England Patriots and sums up the mindset of global investors and global operators as they recruit people to lead foreign or multinational business entities. In other words, a successful track record that delivers superior financial and operating results will help you achieve your international leadership goals far better than mere words and potential. This is why comprehensive personal career planning pays off in the long run.
We recently helped sponsor the “2007 Healthcare Strategic Investment Forum.” This was an invitation-only, one-day conference that brought together members of the Harvard Business School and the Argyle Executive Forum, plus 150 senior operating executives from public and private healthcare firms, private equity and hedge funds. Selected, Outstanding Research Fellows, and Key Senior Advisory Members. And, as a result of these discussions, I now find myself thinking about ways emerging healthcare executives can better prepare themselves to achieve their global career planning ambitions.
I should mention that over the course of this one-day event, healthcare leaders shared their focus and innovative approaches to booming global markets, the financially distressed domestic market, and global demographic trends that will either crush economies or empower companies to solve complex problems. . Speakers at the event included representatives from Apax Partners, GE Healthcare, GE Healthcare Financial Services, Bain Capital, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, The Blackstone Group, CCMP Capital Advisors, Merrill Lynch, GTCR Golder Rauner, Ropes & Gray LLP, Bank of America and Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
All speakers were extremely candid and informative. However, these are just two examples of the wide range of global focus topics that were discussed:
Buddy Gumina, Partner, US Healthcare – Apax, discussed coverage, consumerism, and convergence in relation to managed care, health care services, provider transparency, interactive technology, preventive medicine, and pharmaceutical outsourcing. Apax has a thirty-year history as a global private equity firm with a strong presence in healthcare.
Joe Hogan, Chairman and CEO of GE Healthcare, said the company’s growth foundation and focus of its $17 billion global business is to continue to drive innovation and world-class dominance in IT and diagnostics. The breadth of opportunity for GE Healthcare is enormous as a result of the explosion of second and third world markets, where infrastructure and utilization are the focus for the design and development of large-scale digital hospitals.
Other speakers focused on current strategies that healthcare investors and operators are pursuing as providers, payers, investors, patients and technology converge. And, through this convergence, I am fortunate to play an active role in finding the outstanding healthcare executive leadership talent that international healthcare organizations will need to achieve their aggressive business objectives.
As a result of my ongoing involvement in the field of healthcare leadership, I have three career planning tips that aspiring international executives should adopt as they strive to develop the knowledge and skills to lead a global healthcare business.
- Use coaches and mentors. Tiger Woods has used various coaches over the years to help improve his game. Similarly, he should identify two or three high-level people who are interested in playing an active role in his executive leadership development. Whether as coaches or mentors, these people can provide you with invaluable insight and comprehensive career planning guidance. In addition, he can select his own informal mentors by observing executive healthcare leaders who are currently succeeding in the roles he is striving to achieve. He studies his successes and his mistakes. Completing more than 225 retained searches in the health care industry, those who achieved the most corporate success aggressively pursued mentoring relationships throughout their careers.
- Be seen and be known. Financial investors and traders who are deploying tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in new capital are constantly looking to hedge their bets by hiring experienced, well-referenced and well-known executives. Show a keen interest in your industry, the fundamentals of your business, and its opportunities and obstacles to delivering stellar results and developing relationships with influencers. Through your efforts and success, you will find interest from those within your industry to invite you to speak, present, or join an industry panel on key topics and trends. The value of your business success can lead to exceptional personal contacts, which in turn can significantly enhance future business opportunities. Your business acumen and success can lead you to the door of a global executive leadership opportunity in healthcare. Having strong relationships with the industry may be what really opens that door and gets you in.
- Do your best work today. Without a doubt, ambition is required for the level of success you desire. However, focusing too soon on your next opportunity can cause you to lose sight of your current business goals and responsibilities. This can negatively affect your trajectory. Outstanding performance is recognized and should always be your primary goal.
Establishing yourself as the winning executive for a global healthcare executive leadership opportunity requires strong foundational skills, a track record of success, strong relationships, in-depth industry knowledge and much more. Global career planning presents new opportunities. Therefore, keep striving for your professional growth and remember: “Well done is better than well said.”
