To the editor,
A poorly performing or a highly successful organization is always the direct outcome of the quality of the senior most management. Those at the top usually fall into either of two categories: either the senior person is a boss or they are a leader. The characteristics of a boss includes blaming others for an organization’s poor performance, is usually short sighted, usually focuses on extreme cost reductions to save the day (yet in reality, one can’t save one’s way out of problems ) and bosses react to challenges rather than anticipate them.
Leaders on the other hand, are inclusive managers, anticipate bumps in the road to manage through them, don’t blame others for mistakes and attract top notch direct reports who want to work for them, all combining for successful results.
Staffs always prefer to work for a leader, not a boss. A leader can see around the corners in front of them. A boss does not.
Larry Simon is a boss, not a leader. His relentless squeeze on expenses, simply as one example, has had a direct correlation to Witherell’s poor performance. It’s easy to take a knife to expenses but instead of cutting any unnecessary excess, he cut deeply into the muscle of the organization, as the saying goes, sending the organization into a downward spiral.
By contrast, Witherell , under the leadership of Board Chair David Ormsby, was a top notch five-star rated organization….one that physicians consistently recommended and families confidently used. Not now.
Witherell can reverse its downward spiral not by outsourcing its functions to third parties but starting by replacing Larry Simon with a leader who can rebuild the organization. It would take time, requiring patience. But patience is a form of action.
Sincerely,
Barrett Burns
