The Butterfly Effect of Leadership: Cory Shaw and Greg Postel, MD (Part I)

Early in both their leadership careers, Cory Shaw and Greg Postel, MD, came to the realization that their decisions and actions had impacts far beyond their immediate intention. As Shaw puts it, "How I say something, where I say something, when I say it, are going to have unintended consequences." Both understood that this came with great risk but also great opportunity, that small, intentional decisions can have far-reaching positive outcomes – a butterfly effect. They now apply this thinking to UC Health to imagine the impact they can have on the more than 13,000 faculty and staff, and the influence the organization can have on the greater Cincinnati community and beyond.

Shaw, President and CEO of UC Health, and Dr. Postel, EVP for Health Affairs and Dean of the UC College of Medicine, are helping to create an ambitious vision for the system that includes making the metro area one of the healthiest in the U.S. They aim to achieve this through growth as well as partnerships with other local health systems and providers.

In Part I of their conversation with WittKieffer Senior Consultant Christy Pearson, the two executives reflect upon their respective leadership journeys and the opportunities ahead – in a competitive market and intensely challenging environment. Dr. Postel explores the difficulty of incorporating artificial intelligence into the medical school curriculum in an era when students are more technologically savvy than their instructors. "The pace of change of technology in medicine has never been more brisk," he says, meaning the way medicine is practiced will be dramatically different in just a few short years. The current financial and regulatory climate is more complex than ever, Shaw explains. Nonetheless, they both realize how the decisions they make now can have widespread and lasting impacts.

In Part II of their conversation with Pearson, they dive into what makes their CEO-dean relationship work.