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Are You Edgy Enough?

by AmyK Hutchens, Featured Contributor

WHAT does it take to lead a $6.2 billion dollar health organization with 3,000 physicians, 40,000 caregivers and rank in the top 3 among healthcare systems in the U.S.? You might be surprised to learn that the answer is the opposite of what we’ve been told great leaders do.WarningCliffEdgesAttractLeaders1-520x422

Founded in 1921, and now with more than 5.1 million patient visits per year, the Cleveland Clinic is considered a premier institution for advancing healthcare, pioneering research and modeling what it means to serve communities both local and global.

Recently, we had the privilege of hearing their Executive Learning Officer, Dr. Jim Dunn (he has three doctorate degrees as a fun fyi), share Cleveland Clinic’s leadership development practices and during his talk he posed a provocative and intriguing question:

Do you live on the edge of your knowledge or in the center of it?

Most people answer, “I live in the center of it.”  And these responses make perfect sense on the surface.  Malcolm Gladwell promotes 10,000 hours, Marcus Buckingham wants you to know your strengths, and Stephen Covey wants you to develop some terrific habits. What these leadership theories and models share is a foundation of centeredness. Know who you are, get grounded, and operate from there.

However, Dr. Dunn shared that pioneering leaders like Cleveland Clinic’s CEO, Dr. Cosgrove, go to the edge to lead.  Dr. Cosgrove got his 10,000 hours plus.  (He performed more than 22,000 operations.) He knows his many strengths and developed many good habits. (The years since Dr. Cosgrove’s appointment as CEO in 2004 have been the most successful in Cleveland Clinic’s history.) But Dr. Cosgrove doesn’t operate command and control from the center of his knowledge and experience. Instead, he leads from the edge of it. He’s curious, is driven to learn and know more, gains energy by this quest for creativity and innovation (he filed 30 patents for medical and clinical products used in surgical environments), and encourages others to be challenged by ambiguity instead of living in fear of it.

Leading from the edge, embracing the unknown, building unlikely relationships and being excited by these explorations into unfamiliar, sometimes even chaotic territories leads to surprising and very successful outcomes.  In 2008, Cleveland Clinic became the first healthcare provider to sign the United Nations Global Compact, focusing on human rights, labor standards and environmental stewardship. In 2011, they donated over $550M to community endeavors, in 2012 they were named an ENERGY partner of the year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and they continue to be ranked number one for their heart surgery program since 1995. And if that’s not enough, they’re even on the edge of their name, with Cleveland Clinic offices now under construction in Abu Dhabi.

In the September/October issue of MIT Technology Review, they honored 35 innovators under the age of 35 as well as 7 over the age of 70. From programming languages to micro-fluid chips to neural networks to robotics, what they all share is an unquenchable thirst for what they will learn tomorrow.

To lead from the edge requires courage, a passion for seeking out the mysterious, a willingness to lean forward and faith in letting go of what you do know in order to reach for the unknown.

5 Questions to Move You Closer to the Edge

  1. How might your organization encourage more mystery-seeking behaviors that challenge the status-quo?
  2. What is your organization pretending to know?
  3. How might greater knowledge and understanding in these areas better support your initiatives?
  4. What are you missing?
  5. What might result from the most disruptive change you can imagine?

Editor’s Note: This Article was originally featured on AmyK International and has been republished with permission.


AmyK Hutchens
AmyK Hutchenshttp://www.amyk.com/blog/
A former executive of a billion-dollar global consumer products company and awarded the Vistage UK, International Speaker of the Year, AmyK is a dynamic, energetic catalyst for driving businesses forward faster. With 100+ presentations per year, AmyK travels the globe sharing with executives, influencers and go-getters HOW to confidently & competently navigate their toughest conversations without saying something they regret, giving their power away or damaging their relationships. With humor, insight and experience she engages and inspires audiences to master the The Power of Profitable Conversations. Learn more about AmyK at www.amyk.com. Follow AmyK on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter at @AmyKHutchens.

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3 CONVERSATIONS

  1. First I have to say that it’s because of Dr.Jim Dunn’s solid expertise and years of experience that has allowed him to file 30 patents. With his foundation though, the remarkable thing is that he continues to explore, create, and go beyond the what-is to the unfamiliar what-if to make a huge difference in the world of medicine. His good, better, best is the reality found by skating on the edge of achievement and never being completely satisfied with success.

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