Health & Medical
Dr. John C. Ruckdeschel
President and CEO, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Detroit | October 2007
"There are some things that need to be stepped back from. If it’s meant to be, it will come back to you." - Dr. John C. Ruckdeschel, CEO, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
Sometimes on your way to the top, you can become disconnected from those below you. Dr. John C. Ruckdeschel had seen
former colleagues who became leaders step away from the work that got them to the top and lose touch with the pulse of the
institution, and he didn’t want that to happen to him. So when he took over the $200 million Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer
Institute as its president and CEO, he says it was vital that he continued to see patients in order to stay in touch with the
organization and his 1,000 employees. Smart Business spoke with Ruckdeschel about how to be straightforward and how to find
out if a prospective employee is the right fit for the company.
Be honest. I do see patients, and there
are times when the brutal honesty about
what is going to happen to them with
their disease is not what they are ready
to hear. But, I never lie to them about
their disease or say everything is fine.
It’s the same thing here. If I was going
to let someone go, but we haven’t quite
figured out all the pieces of it yet, and I
was being asked about it, I would say,
‘We have a problem here. No decision
has been made yet, but here’s the problem we are dealing with,’ and then let it
roll out later as opposed to, ‘Three days
from now, we are going to fire you,’
which would not work.
It depends where we are in the
process. I would say, ‘We have a problem, and you need to tell me how we can
solve this problem.’ If they say, ‘I’ll
change and be good,’ then I have to
make a decision whether I believe that
or not. I wouldn’t say everything is off
the table. I would say, ‘I will put that in
the equation, work on it, and I’ll get back
to you.’
It’s so much easier to lie or to shave the
truth on a regular basis. I think that’s one
of the hard things about leadership.
Look deep into potential employees. I need
to look in their eyes and see if there is a
light on in the back of their eyes — the
people who are enthusiastic, who understand their business, can talk about it
and tell me how we might solve some of
the problems we’re having. It isn’t, ‘Give
me $10 million, and I’ll solve your problem.’ It’s, ‘This is how we’ve done it
where I was, and this is how I think it
applies to you.’ Then I can see a light on
and see a passion for what they do.
It’s like we are betting on horses. I look
at their trainer and look at their breeding. It depends on where they did their
training and who have been their mentors to date.
I also ask all of my key people who are
doing the interviewing to look for the
light on. Their approach is going to be somewhat different than mine. People
do tend to shine up their behavior for the
boss and think they can slack off for
someone else.
Act fast on problems. Every three months,
I go to all of our sites and give about a
10- to 15-minute discussion about where
things are, throw it open for questions
and give people gifts who ask questions.
I am out in front of everyone, every quarter telling them where we are going, the
good, bad and the ugly. The vice presidents responsible are right there. We
hear a complaint, I turn to them, and
they are on it. We don’t need a committee meeting or a memorandum and all
the other nonsense. It is direct.
When we announce something, we send out a correspondence out to all our
employees before it hits the press and
say, ‘If you have questions, ask.’
Relax. I’m very careful to separate out
my private life, and I am very careful to
preserve free time. I don’t permit dinner
meetings unless they are truly unavoidable. However, every time a candidate
comes through, I don’t go to dinner with
them.
My feeling is if it’s work-related, I’ll do
it during work hours. I’ll get up early and
have breakfast with them or have lunch
if a meal is required, but I am not going
to routine dinners all the time. I would
spend six nights a week out to dinner.
You can overanalyze, overworry and
overfret about a problem. There are
some things that need to be stepped
back from. If it’s meant to be, it will
come back to you. If you are in a stalemate in a negotiation, step back from it.
You shouldn’t be in a negotiation unless
you could give it up.
Pay attention to employees when a change
occurs. I watch their faces. If you are
experienced and watch people instead
of reading from your notes, you notice
whether people are avoiding eye contact, their body language, etc. If I get a
sense that people are uncomfortable or
the tone of the question is negative, then,
instead of giving the answer, try to get at
the cause.
You just make yourself available.
People stop me in the hall all the time
and will ask a question. Just keep talking
to people and never stop when things
are tough.
Your key people have to be on board. If
your vice president for that area is not
on board, then you either need to rethink
the plan or rethink the vice president,
and that goes down to the director level,
as well. That forces the issue.
HOW TO REACH: Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, (800)
527-6266 or www.karmanos.org
