
Chapter 14: MD Anderson Presidents, Values, and Teams
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Description
Dr. Leach begins this segment with the observation that John Mendelsohn and Ronald DePinho were the right leaders for their times. Dr. Mendelsohn had the courage to invest, he says, and turned MD Anderson into one of the few exceptions to the managed care rule. Now Ronald DePinho is building on John Mendelsohn’s work. He talks about “moral suasion” and the importance of communicating.
Dr. Leach then talks about MD Anderson’s values and the moral responsibility that the institution has to deliver on their promise.
At the end of this segment Dr. Leach names important members of his staff and says that the secret to success is hiring well so one can benefit from the strength created by building a team.
Identifier
LeachL_02_20121127_ C14
Publication Date
11-27-2012
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD , Oral History Interview, November 27, 2012
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Key MD Anderson Figures; Character, Values, Beliefs; Institutional Mission and Values; The MD Anderson Ethos; Portraits; Giving Recognition
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Just a couple of more questions. One of them is, you obviously worked very, very closely with Dr. Mendelsohn, and you’re establishing a close working relationship with Dr. DePinho, and I’m wondering if you could talk about those two individuals as leaders and how you would characterize them with their similarities and differences as leaders.
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
I think they were both the right person and the right leader for MD Anderson for the time that they were here. I think John—his record of growth in what was a relatively stable time where we could look at the trends and say it’s probably going to go like that—John had the courage when he came in here to invest, and frankly there were a lot of reasons to be concerned about that because managed care was still an unknown. They actually had a consultant come in who suggested laying off a number of people, a consultant from northern California where managed care really got a lot of traction. It didn’t get the same kind of traction in Texas. The other thing is MD Anderson—there are a few exceptions to the managed care rule where you can leave somebody out of the program and not be hurt. Anderson in Texas is probably one of those few exceptions. I think both of them had great visions for the time. If Ron came in when John came in, with his vision, it wouldn’t work. It would have been viewed as Buck Rogers and Star Wars stuff. The base that has been built by John propels that next—the Moon Shots—it gets you to the point where the Moon Shots are a credible strategy. It’s still very visionary and very futuristic, but it’s within the realm of reason. It’s doable—we can get there. It’s challenging, and it’s invigorating. And Ron has done this in his personal career. So I think there were two different eras that called for two different leaders, and I think the Board of Regents has done a superb job in both eras, picking the right person to get MD Anderson to the next level. When John came in, you probably couldn’t even define what we needed fifteen years later or sixteen years later as we can’t define today what the next leader at MD Anderson will need to deal with, but I think they were both the right people for their time.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Is there anything else that you would like to add about your role in institution financial health?
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
Well, it’s just—there are several hats I wear, but I think the bottom line is making sure we’re vibrant—financially vibrant. And I can’t do that alone. I need the cooperation of tons of people, and the moral suasion comes in. You’ve got to bring people along.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
You’ve used that term a number of times—moral suasion—and I haven’t heard that before. Where does it come from?
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
Well let’s Google it and see.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I was wondering if it was your own.
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
Well, I’m sure somebody used it before I did, but to me it’s descriptive of the environment where you have to build consensus, whereas I use command and control when I talk about the business world. Now there are a number of business leaders out there that have much more input and do things more in a—based on a consensus fashion, but that’s not really the norm. But they’ve done well. Well, we’ll go to the ultimate authority, Wikipedia. “Moral suasion (a phrase from the Latin words moral and suasio which denote respectively conduct or character that is right and virtuous and to present in a pleasing manner, sometimes known as jawboning), is defined in the economic sphere as the attempt to coerce private economic activity via governmental exhortation in directions not already defined or dictated by existing statute law. The moral aspect comes from the pressure for moral responsibility to operate in a way that is consistent with furthering the good of the economy.”
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So you’re kind of putting your own spin on that.
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
Well, I think it’s just relevant to here, and I would say— I’m not sure about the—if I go through and read it again, “a phrase from the Latin words moral and suasio which denote respectively conduct or character that is right and virtuous.” So I think that it’s what I’m talking about. I don’t know—and it says, “and to present in a pleasing manner.” I don’t know how pleasing my manner is. I won’t comment on that. “Sometimes known as jawboning.” Well, I would view jawboning as something else, something different. It’s defined in the economic sphere as the attempt to coerce private and economic—that doesn’t really fit. “The moral aspect comes from pressure from moral responsibility operating where there is consistent with furthering the good of the economy.” I think that’s very consistent as it pertains to MD Anderson.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Absolutely, and then also I guess that I was assuming that added on to that would be the assumption that there would be a responsibility to act in a way that was also consistent with the values and mission of the institution.
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
Well yeah, I think that is implicit if not explicit. When you talk about moral suasion, our values are well known—caring, discovery, and integrity. If we’re going to continue, we have a responsibility to deliver—I’ll use business terms to deliver a product to a world that needs it. And in some cases, we’re the only ones that can deliver it. So if we have to do certain things to enable us to do that, then I think there’s a certain moral responsibility that we do. I think the way I’m using it—it is in contrast with what I would call control and command—you know, command and control where you can do things by fiat or you can do things by moral suasion where you’re asking people to do what would become later recognized as the right thing. I don’t know when I started using the term, probably back when I was—this is probably a latent influence from them of arts in Christian education, but it’s a term I had heard before, and it’s a term, as this says, that comes from the Latin.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
It makes sense. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
I think you’ve pretty much covered it all. One of the things that I’ve been blessed with is an excellent staff. Sometimes I’m asked—well, I’m asked a couple of different questions. One is what do you do—what does an executive vice president do? And I’ve been asked that by my sons, and I tell them I go to meetings, which is largely what I do. If you follow me around, that’s what I do—I go to meetings. It’s what I do at the meetings that hopefully makes a difference. But the reason I can do these things—I can go to Austin and I can go to Washington—is I have a tremendous staff and have had for years. Dan Fontaine and I have worked together my whole career. He preceded me by about six months. Dwain Morris, I think all but four years, the first four years or maybe three to four years, of my career—he wasn’t here. I hired Ben Melson, who is now the CFO of Texas Children’s, to be the CFO when I took over responsibilities about three years in or three and a half years in to my career here. Ben brought Dwain with him, and Dwain has risen through the ranks to be the CFO now. So I’ve got very capable people. Chris (inaudible) (???) 1:24:50 basically runs my office, so I don’t have to worry. There are a lot of things I don’t have to worry about that frees my time to worry about the really important stuff or think about the more important stuff. There are so many people that I see in executive positions that don’t have that luxury. The secret to success in my mind is hiring well, hiring good people. And I could go on. I just gave you a few examples.
We’ve had some tremendous people and facilities. We’ve had huge demands upon—there’s no other healthcare institution that I know of that has built what we have. Bill Daigneau did a lot of that, and I never had to worry that much about it. Bill was a consummate professional. Spencer Moore, who we now have, worked for Bill and got a promotion to go to the University of Houston, and we were fortunate enough to hire him back to take Bill’s—he’s of the same caliber, the same ilk. Gerard Colman—he doesn’t work for me, but a lot of the things that we need to get done through the clinical side, he carries the torch. Tom Burke and Tom Buchholz—I’ve always had good partners with the executive committee level, and that’s real important because you have to have certain trust and confidence that your partner at that level is going to be there for you when you need them. So we’ve been fortunate in that regard.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So excellence at every level and in every niche.
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
Yeah, and we’ve got a strong bench. There are meetings that, if I can’t go to, I’m comfortable if Dan, Chris, or Dwain goes to them. We’re interchangeable parts in many ways, and that produces a synergy that is not always there in other organizations that I’ve worked at. So I think part of it is just the team that we’ve built. The things that we’ve talked about, I can’t do alone. The changes that we’re looking at and positioning the institution, I may the one who has more time to think about these things, but the execution belongs to others and a lot of others. I guess, you know, “It takes a village,” to quote one of our former president’s wives.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Is there anything else you would like to add at this point?
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
No, I appreciate the time. I guess this is the kind of process where I’ll get another look at it, and if there is anything that is unclear to you, feel free to call me.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay.
Leon Leach, MBA, PhD :
Okay.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Well I’m turning off the recorder at 4:34. (End of Audio Session 2)
Recommended Citation
Leach, Leon MBA, PhD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 14: MD Anderson Presidents, Values, and Teams" (2012). Interview Chapters. 1209.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1209
Conditions Governing Access
Open
