Chapter 06: A Role in a Global Institution

Chapter 06: A Role in a Global Institution

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Description

In this segment, Dr. Leach explains that his work at MD Anderson has been meaningful because the institution has an impact on people globally. He mentions the Dr. Ronald DePinho’s Moon Shots Program will take the institution’s mission “to a new level.” He then lists the opportunities that the institution has afforded him.

Identifier

LeachL_01_20121115_ C06

Publication Date

11-5-2012

City

Houston, Texas

Topics Covered

The Interview Subject's Story - View on Career and Accomplishments; This is MD Anderson; Institutional Mission and Values; The MD Anderson Brand, Reputation; Career and Accomplishments; Character, Values, Beliefs, Talents

Transcript

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

I want to pick up a question that I neglected to ask you earlier which was, after all the conversations that you had with people when you first came here to interview, why did you decide to take the position? What did you feel MD Anderson offered you?

Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :

It gets back to staring at fifty and giving back. It gave me—I mean, MD Anderson affects people globally, what we do here, the science and translational research, and I guess in the early years I felt that financial thing. In the later years, it’s been more of the return on that investment, if you will, the giving back. But it was probably really that. I felt great things, and I still believe this. I believe this. I think there is a whole other level that we can take MD Anderson to with the Moon Shots, but it’s a neat thing to be part of. Starting a company and building it up and selling it, that’s neat too, but I did that a couple times. What’s surprising about Anderson is when you look through my resume, you’ll see two or three years, two or three years, two or three years, even though in the greater context Prudential was twenty-five years, but it was about a dozen two- to three-year jobs. Here it’s not so much. I’ve always ultimately had the responsibility for the financial performance, and except for three years—the first three years—I had all the business infrastructure, if you will. But it’s very fulfilling. The other dreams I have to chase don’t really have to do with business accomplishments. They have to do with a boat or a ranch, other things. That was probably one of my best decisions, if not the best. Well, I’ll have to be careful saying that around my wife. (laughs) The second-best decision.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

I’m curious too, taking on a position like the one here at MD Anderson. It was using your skills at such a different scale. The putting together of pieces seemed as though it was taking place at a different scale, maybe in a more complicated context, and with much higher stakes in terms of developing an institution that was going to make the kind of impact on patient care that MD Anderson had already and could do if given the right jolts of money to research and patient care and prevention and education. It seems like a very exciting opportunity, and I’m also wondering in terms of your personal vision when you came here. You were in conversation with the faculty and with John Mendelsohn about what he saw, but what did you want to accomplish here? Did you have goals for the institution?

Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :

The first part of that question, the answer is yes. It’s a huge scale. I had national level jobs before with Prudential, but this is huge, impactful. It was probably high risk. There was a company that I worked with out in California that people were taking bets on how many months it would be until I came back, because they didn’t see me fitting in to academic medical centers. I had a friend of mine who was on the board of—I forget which company it was now. Cornerstone, the physician practice management company. He ran Hopkins. He took me to lunch and kind of forewarned me about all the politics and everything. It’s a different world. But I didn’t really focus on that. I think things happen for a reason and that there is a master plan for your life, if you will, and if you choose to dwell on the negative, those prophecies probably become self-fulfilling. It’s rare that I have all the answers on any given day when I come in here. Events occur, and okay, so what do we do now? The other thing is I enjoy working in healthcare, and I enjoy the aspect of giving back, and I enjoy the fact that I’m not a surgeon. I don’t have somebody’s life in my hands. If something doesn’t work out just so, we can probably fix it and get it there. There is a reason why I’m a PhD and not an MD. I don’t want that kind of responsibility. We have great faculty, world-class people, and I don’t have the temperament for what they do. I have total respect for what they do. It’s admirable, but that’s not what God gave me. I understand numbers, and I understand the business and how you position a business, the generalist thing.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

It’s creating the framework in which other highly skilled people can do what they do.

Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :

That a good way of putting it is creating the framework, and that’s a lot of what I looked at on the dissertation is, how do you create that framework? I think there is a multi-faceted response there. So many things go into creating that, and I guess during my career, I had a lot of good things happen that positioned me for that. But I can’t say—what I talk about in the paper, I talk about strategic repositioning, and I’d be lying to you if I sat here and said, “Oh, yeah. When I came out of high school I was—” I mean, in fact, if somebody was to tell me, “When you’re sixty-four, you’re going to be the chief business officer at the world’s greatest cancer center, and you’re going to have a Longhorn ranch in central Texas,” I’d say, “No, no, no. You’ve got the wrong Leon Leach. This is the little boy who grew up on the Delaware Bay.” If you’d told me how to build it, I might have believed you there, but other than that—

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

I don’t think people do set out—most people I don’t think have that prize they’ve got their eye on. Often it kind of evolves.

Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :

I think some of our doctors, actually, they’ve always wanted to be doctors. Oftentimes I think they come from a family of doctors. I always loved boating and wanted to have a boat. I didn’t really want to make a living off of that.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

I saw that. That was a hard life.

Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :

That was a pretty tough life. It would be nice to have one just to play on.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Well, shall we stop for today and then revisit some more specifics next time? Leon Leach, MBA, PhD I’m good. I’ll see you next week some time.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

I think it’s Thursday, actually.

Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :

Oh, that’s right because we had to—

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Yeah, we had to reschedule. I’m turning off the recorder at 29 minutes after 3:00.

(End of Audio Session 1)

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Chapter 06: A Role in a Global Institution

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