Operational Excellence

October 16, 2012

Kaiser Permanente President and COO Bernard Tyson Featured on Leadership Blog, ‘Let Go and Lead’

Kaiser Permanente President and COO Bernard Tyson is featured in the leadership blog “Let Go & Lead,” where he discusses his ideas concerning leadership strategies and transformation in the 21st century with Maril MacDonald, CEO of consulting company, Gagen MacDonald.

Subtitled “Conversations in Leadership for the 21st Century, the “Let Go and Lead” series — now in its second year — has featured such people as Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, and author Mitch Albom, who wrote the bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie.

The Tyson post is divided into 11 segments, including such topics as “Unleashing Leadership at all Levels,” “On Empowering Employees Closest to the People You Serve,” “On Authentic Communication and Feedback” and “On the Labor Management Partnership.” Each segment comes with a downloadable guide that includes talking points, group exercises and other materials.

“Bernard has passion in his heart that lights a fire in those around him,” says the introduction to the Tyson blog posts. “It’s the kind of passion that emanates from a person who’s doing the work he’s truly meant to do.”

Tyson explains in the interview that at Kaiser Permanente, the commitment to affordability and providing the highest quality care possible is based on a “belief system” that reflects the thinking of founder Henry J. Kaiser, whose mother died when he was young. “There was a belief,” says Tyson, “… that maybe she didn’t get all the care that she should have gotten, principally because she was poor. It’s part of the character of our organization… (to) believe that health care should be affordable and accessible to everyone.”

View the entire blog post at the “Let Go and Lead” website.