Health execs: Advice I would give my younger self

Advice I would give
my younger self

Looking back on your career, what advice do you wish you had starting out? Here’s what our editorial advisory board said.

"Play the long game."


- Don Hall, principal of DeltaSigma LLC

"Play the long game. It’s so easy to get upset and derailed by the littlest issues."

"Be patient and work hard every single day."

- Daniel J. Hilferty, president and chief executive officer, Independence Blue Cross

"Be patient and work hard every single day. Also, read as much as you can and listen when ‘experts’ speak!’”

"Pursue, much earlier on, a Master of Business degree to complement your clinical and administrative skillset in managed care pharmacy practice."

- David Calabrese, vice president and chief pharmacy officer, OptumRx

“Pursue, much earlier on, a Master of Business degree to complement your clinical and administrative skillset in managed care pharmacy practice. Without it, I have had to struggle at times with purely ‘hands-on’ experience in learning and mastering business skills that could have made my work and my career growth that much easier and more expedited.”

"Make more of an effort to become tech savvy."

- Douglas Chaet, senior vice president, contracting and provider networks, Independence Blue Cross

“Make more of an effort to become tech savvy. While business acumen will always be important, it’s the tech ‘solutions’ that are driving much of today’s healthcare delivery transformation.”

"Embrace the lack of knowledge and competence you have in certain areas..."

- Kevin Ronneberg, MD, vice president and associate medical director of health initiatives, HealthPartners

“Embrace the lack of knowledge and competence you have in certain areas; view those areas as a rich opportunity for learning and developing relationships. One of my biggest fears early on in my career involved being exposed as not having competence or knowledge, even in situations where there was no reason to expect I should have it. It would be great to go back and tell myself to be authentic with others by sharing that I don’t understand or have knowledge, while engaging them for their opinions and knowledge sharing. This ability to be open and honest is the one common thread in all of my successful endeavors.”

"Medicine is a harsh mistress-make time for your family and your personal health."

- Joel Brill, MD, medical director for Predictive Health, LLC

“Medicine is a harsh mistress-make time for your family and your personal health. Attending to your own personal and emotional health will help you to be a better professional to improve the health of the patients, communities, and people you serve.”