Toward a Seamless CEO-Dean Relationship: Cory Shaw and Greg Postel, MD (Part II)

Every academic health system has a different organizational structure, and thus no two relationships between the system CEO and medical school dean are the same. What truly matters more than structure is the collaboration between the two dyadic leaders, say Cory Shaw, President and CEO of UC Health, and Greg Postel, MD, EVP for Health Affairs and Dean of the UC College of Medicine. In their short tenures leading UC Health and its school of medicine, they've made a concerted effort to work as a team, seamlessly and transparently, so that "one plus one equals three."

The organization "is going to thrive when we are not worried about whose name is on something or who's sitting in the chair making the decision," Shaw says. "If you're really going to be successful as a servant-oriented leader, you have to have a partner who at times is going to take the lead while you have a supporting side-car role, and vice versa."

They seek to foster this collaborative environment across their domains, and with the larger University of Cincinnati community as well. "I've worked at places where that kind of synergy didn't exist, where it was a constant tug of war between the university and health system," says Dr. Postel. "I could never figure out who benefited from that lack of cohesiveness; I think the answer is no one."

In Part II of their conversation with WittKieffer Senior Consultant Christy Pearson, the two leaders talk about their ideas of effective leadership in the context of inspiring others and moving the organization forward. This involves delegation and allowing people to "take big swings" and fail, even in an environment where resources are finite