tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32053362.post3056935138102146169..comments2024-03-26T00:25:34.026-04:00Comments on Not Running a Hospital: Civic DutiesPaul Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17065446378970179507noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32053362.post-53374354053526459992007-11-07T14:27:00.000-05:002007-11-07T14:27:00.000-05:00Paul,Are you familiar with the Hospital Youth Ment...Paul,<BR/><BR/>Are you familiar with the Hospital Youth Mentoring Network Partnership? It connected about 15 major hospitals in information sharing aimed at building programs that mentor kids to careers. <BR/><BR/>I'm in Chicago, but am looking for hospital leaders who view their civic leadership, and their own encouragement of volunteerism, as a strategy to reduce the costs of poverty at inner city hospitals, in addition to a strategy that created future workers, while developing the skills of current workers.<BR/><BR/>Here's a pdf that illustrates the role hospitals might take: http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/Partner/CC/Presentations/Hospitals_TQM/hospitals.pdf<BR/><BR/>The key part of this strategy is that a hospital is not the operator of these programs, but the catalyst so other businesses provide volunteers, dollars, leaders etc in programs around the hospital. <BR/><BR/>If this interests you, I hope you'll write about this in your blog and connect with me on my http://tutormentor.blogspot.com blogTutor Mentor Connectionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02140800580077672326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32053362.post-63853058133567469712007-02-04T22:48:00.000-05:002007-02-04T22:48:00.000-05:00Dear Pesha,
I understand your point, but I disagr...Dear Pesha,<br /><br />I understand your point, but I disagree. Serving on corporate boards, especially as an outside director, is indeed a public service. Maybe it is different from volunteering for a citizen's advisory committee or the like, but it is important nonethless to help those private corporations remember the public service aspects of what they do.<br /><br />Plus, if heads of non-profits are indeed expected to exercise leadership in the business community, they can't do it only from outside the board rooms.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32053362.post-45761625198930429542007-02-04T19:59:00.000-05:002007-02-04T19:59:00.000-05:00Uh, er, serving as "director of Fiduciary Trust Co...Uh, er, serving as "director of Fiduciary Trust Company" is public service? Correct me if I'm wrong but I've got a friend on this board and, according to him, it ain't anything even in the same universe as public service. Dear, dear Paul, methinks you should edit this one out to avoid appearing ridika-lus.<br /><br />Otherwise, smooches to all our hard working public servants on their/your good works.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32053362.post-34571855328665673372007-02-03T07:07:00.000-05:002007-02-03T07:07:00.000-05:00Thanks. First things first. I was trying to be fu...Thanks. First things first. I was trying to be funny with my comment. I guess that didn't work! Of course I welcome comments. (Actually, some younger people who read that comment told me that they laughed out loud. I don't know your age, but maybe it is a generational thing...)<br /><br />Second, I don't know about my colleagues, but when I sit on a paid corporate board (or, for that matter, when I collect honoraria at any speaking event), I turn over all my fees to the hospital. After all, I already get paid for a full-time job. So, I do it because it is a window on the world in another field, because it keeps my perspective fresh for my full-time job, and because I can help influence public and corporate policy for a major company in another sector.<br /><br />But to your main point, you choose to think about other topics as "more pressing issues." Whether they are or not, we are all engaged in public education, workforce development, and affordable housing in many ways. We are participants in a variety of public policy issues every day.<br /><br />But I don't buy your premise. As a sample, on "my" boards we deal with issues like enabling the expansion of mass transit in Boston to give people in all neighborhoods greater access to jobs; designing and running an electricity transmission system that will ensure system reliablity and energy efficiency in the entire New England region; bringing arts entertainment and education programs to the inner city; and, yes, helping MIT figure out how to stimulate and help young people from all types of socio-economic backgrounds participate in the future of science and technology in the world.<br /><br />Finally, you seem to think that Newton's issues are less important than those of other towns. That is a pretty elitist thing to say. Please don't assume that a city that happens to have a high average income doesn't have the full set of problems that you see in less affluent places. Or that there are not many poor families in this town who depend on a vibrant education system to give their kids a chance to get ahead.<br /><br />So, while I believe you did not intend to, I think that you do indeed denigrate the civic work we do.<br /><br />Maybe Ian Bowles has time to comment among his many curren tasks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32053362.post-82429137448351868812007-02-03T05:33:00.000-05:002007-02-03T05:33:00.000-05:00Paul, The issue you raise about civic engagement i...Paul, The issue you raise about civic engagement is an important one, and it's clear that many hospital CEOs are engaged in a range of worthwhile activities. So, while I hate to rain on your butt-kissing and self congratulations, you've not yet convinced me that hospitals CEOs are engaged in the type of strategic engagement about the most pressing community issues that Bowles and others are calling for in their pieces. There is a direct institutional interest for hospital CEOs to get involved in health care-related activities like COBTH, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and even health reform. There is usually personal financial gain from being on boards of for-profit companies like Citizen's Bank and Fiduciary Trust (e.g., perks like payments to attend meetings and committee meetings and maybe even stock options, to supplement those CEO salaries you asked about last week). I know lots of CEO types live in Newton, but the town/city probably doesn't need the free advice of high-powered CEOs as much as many other places. (Ditto for the MIT board...although I know you are a distinguished alum) Where's the broad leadership on public education, workforce development, affordable housing? What's the hospitals' role in trying to help make a coherent whole out of so many diffuse and diverse individual institutional efforts on pressing public policy issues? I think that's the kind of innovative and inspired civic leadership that Bowles, Johnston and Pierce are seeking. Might be there but it's not apparent from your listing of board activities...<br /><br />I don't mean to denigrate any of the civic work that any of the hospital CEOs are doing. But the tone of this posting was just too provoking....Not that you seem to want any responses--not too inviting of engagement when you write: "If you choose to read it and then want to complain, it is your own problem."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com