I recently had the pleasure of interviewing my longtime friend Dr. Thom Mayer for the Healthcare Plus Podcast. 

Thom, who is a crisis management expert, has an incredible career. He is the medical director for the NFL Players Association, executive vice president of leadership for LogixHealth, founder of BestPractices Inc., clinical professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University, and senior lecturing fellow at Duke University.

Thom has a new book out called Leadership Is Worthless…But Leading Is Priceless: What I Learned from 9/11, the NFL, and Ukraine.

Thom always reminds me to keep things simple. Here are a few of his insights from our interview:

1. Have a curious mind and a healthy disrespect for the status quo. See things and think, How does that work? Could it be done a different way?
2. Everyone is a leader—from people in environmental services, to the CEO, to the tech in the ED, to the chief of cardiothoracic surgery. It’s not just about formal titles. It’s about the people who motivate others to act.
3. Stop doing stupid stuff and start doing smart stuff—and it’s the “we suite,” not the C-suite, who determines what the smart stuff is. The “we suite” are the people who do the work.
4. Don’t build résumés; build relationships. When you build relationships, the résumé builds itself.
5. “Someday” is not the way to look at life. Don’t think, Someday I’ll be a leader; think, Today I’ll be a leader.
6. A boss thinks they’re the most important person in the room. A leader knows it’s their job to make everyone else in the room feel like the most important person in the room.
7. When you want to make a change in how you lead, do these three things: 1. Think about leading a radically different way. 2. Act now—don’t wait. 3. Innovate. If you don’t act within a week, it’s not likely to happen.
8. Innovation occurs at the speed of trust. It doesn’t occur at the speed of genius, intelligence, or creativity. If people don’t trust you, they’ll be afraid to fail, and they won’t try new things. Make failure your fuel.
9. It’s not about the words on the walls; it’s about the happenings in the halls. Live your mission, vision, and values.
10. Thank everyone every day. In healthcare, thank the patient, nurse, resident, tech, environmental services. You just don’t know what battle they are fighting, and your kind words can make a huge difference.
11. Good questions lead to better conversations. “What can I do to make your job/life easier?” “What should we be doing differently?” You’ll be amazed by what you hear.
12. Keep things simple. In healthcare, we tend to overcomplicate things. Simple feels doable and doesn’t overwhelm.
13. Harness the power of storytelling. Narrate to people what’s happening, whether they’re customers or patients. Information relieves anxiety. Storytelling reconnects us to the passion, the purpose, the “why” in the first place.
14. Start your day with gratitude. When you wake up, don’t immediately pick up the weapons of mass distraction (phone, computer). Sit for a moment and think about what/whom you’re grateful for and reach out and let them know.

If you’d like to listen to the podcast, it’s available here. I have learned so much from Thom. I hope you will, too.