The similarities mentioned between the leaders all had common characteristics. Those included:
• Humility
• Energy
• Intuition
• Vision
• Perspective
• Passion
• Conviction
• Learning
The leaders who were interviewed were from different industries, and countries around the world. They outlined how they themselves had been tested at times in their professional careers, and also personal times within their careers. They also talked about what leadership quality they had learned from their own experiences and which ones would have the greatest impact on them.
The interview of Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the President and CEO of Nokia, spoke specifically about humility as a major key for him and in my own healthcare career, I could related. For me, it reminded me of why I went into Healthcare to begin with. To serve others quite simply. Like, Kallawvuo, humility is important for all of us. He spoke that in 1990, when he was 36 years old; he was named the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Nokia. This is a young age, even today for such a position. He mentions that he had a legal background rather than that of Accounting.
The company at the time had a financial crisis to deal with. Meeting payroll was a concern. Part of his job required him to travel to various financial institutions to secure the necessary funds, which were very well aware of the company’s dire financial conditions, and as such were cautious.
He went on to mention that during some of his trips, he felt alone in his fight to bring the struggling company back to profitability. I like the fact that he mentions that humility is just as important for an organization as its leaders if both were to succeed. He challenged the company to listen to its customer base and looked for ideas from outside of the organization. I agree with him that all of us need others and we must always continue to build and maintain relationships.
We at my company are experiencing some of this now. Our hospital was founded in 1976, and remained a stand-alone facility until October 1, 2011. At that time, with increased competition, shrinking reimbursements from payers and increasing government regulations, we sold to a larger corporation. We went from a non-for-profit, community hospital to a for-profit hospital amongst 134 others. Needless to say, the culture has definitely changed. I am the Billing Manager, in our Patient Financial Services Department. There have been so many new things that have been placed on our agenda, to make the hospital turn a profit that it often feels like I am alone just like Kallasvuo did.
We now have corporate people at the facility involved in everything, and some changes were needed, don’t get me wrong. But the arrogance and sometimes condescending ways of talking to the “old-guard”, is unnecessary. They (corporate) have made it very clear, that turning a profit is their only concern. There is a shortage of humility in the way that things are handled. An example of this, is our long time Chief Medical Officer, was let go last week. While we all know when ownership changes, upper management is the first to go. It was the e-mail that was sent to all staff. The CEO, wrote, “Effective today, Dr.&&& is no longer with our facility. We met today and I terminated his employment.”
He could have used different verbiage than that. It was to I suppose let us all know who was in charge (like we didn’t already know). So, after that we all know where we stand pretty much. But thankfully our commitment is to our patients and our community and as long as we are doing the right things ethically, legally and morally, I think we will survive this. The experiences over the last several months have allowed me to grow in my thinking and also to choose my words carefully.

Kallasvuo, et al. Moments of Truth: Global Executives Talk About the Challenges That Shaped Them as Leaders. Harvard Business Review.