Editor's note: On Jan. 3, I had the chance to shadow Steve Edwards as he took over as CEO, a role he calls his dream job. Here’s an inside look at his first day -- Randy Berger
CEO Steve Edwards is in a hallway meeting in Executive Administration when I arrive to shadow him for his first day on Jan. 3. He’s standing in an office doorway, talking with chief hospital officer Dr. John Duff. Almost as soon as I spot him, he’s on the move, headed down the hall and discussing an issue with vice president Brian Williams.
Even if you don’t work directly with Edwards, you probably know from seeing him walking through the halls at CoxHealth that his natural state is one of purposeful motion. This morning is no exception as I catch up with him on his way to the conference room, where the weekly Core Group meeting is about to begin.
“Are you ready? The day’s already half over,” Edwards says with a grin.
As the members of the Core Group take their places, he prepares to lead the first meeting of his tenure as president and CEO of CoxHealth. It’s the first step in a decades-long dream come true for Edwards. His desire to lead the system grew from a seed planted when he was a child, walking the halls of Cox North with his father, longtime administrator and CEO Charlie Edwards. Over the years, the younger Edwards nurtured that desire with a mix of determination and careful planning. Today he begins putting the full force of his dream into action.
Soon after he was named to the position last fall, Edwards likened the feeling to what a bull rider must feel atop a bucking beast in the chute in the final seconds before its release. As the clock ticked the last few months, Edwards used the time to meet with leaders and employees. He asked questions and got feedback. He laid out a 10-point pledge to employees here in Connection. He’s prepared everyone for a ride that will involve change, adaptation and evolution.
By the end of the day, it would become apparent that the dawn of his leadership illustrates the way Edwards approaches his work and his life. His pace is fast and his energy level is high. But underneath all of this action lies a detailed plan that is rooted in core values: being true to family and yourself, giving your all and serving your community.
8:30 a.m.
Members of the Core Group, a team of high-level CoxHealth leaders that focuses on overall strategy for the organization, follow a new set of “rules of engagement” handed out before the meeting – rules that call for a fast pace and active participation. Edwards says one of his immediate goals is less talk and more accountability in meetings. He prefers to keep things focused, find specific issues to be solved and then designate people to solve them.
The topics this day include access to Cox services and finding a way to standardize how CoxHealth measures “access” throughout the enterprise. The group also discusses progress toward Magnet status and the new Discharge Hospitality Center.
As the meeting nears its end, Edwards reminds everyone of what he expects from them. He needs their feedback, their support and a willingness to put in extra effort. There will be no shortage of challenges in CoxHealth’s immediate future, but he makes it clear he intends for CoxHealth to be second to none.
10:20 a.m.
Edwards is back at his desk in the corner office on the fifth floor of Hulston Cancer Center. The décor is still a work in progress, with one wall dominated by a Robert E. Smith painting and a framed certificate signed by president Woodrow Wilson when Edwards’ grandfather became a U.S. Postmaster. Edwards’ computer monitor is flanked by two notable birds: a bald eagle cast in bronze on the left, and Scrooge McDuck, animated advocate of “working smarter, not harder,” on the right.
After checking a few emails, Edwards calls a local florist to order flowers for his wife, Jennifer.
“I can’t do this job without her. I rely on her to do a lot of the things a typical dad would do. I try to make up for it on the weekends, but she makes it possible.”
Balancing work and family is one of Edwards’ top priorities. He’s passionate about both – it’s tough to leave his wife and kids in the morning and it’s tough to leave work at night when there’s always more to do.
That’s why his typical morning starts early.
When he said the day was half over at 8, he was only kidding a little. Today, he has gone through his usual morning routine, which has him up at 5, perusing the New York Times and Wall Street Journal websites. This morning, he also added a fresh coat of paint to his son’s Pinewood Derby race car, an ongoing father-son project.
By 6:30 a.m., he was getting in a workout at The Meyer Center, where he ran about five miles and lifted weights. By 7:45, he was headed to the office – “There’s not a lot of primping for me; the hair doesn’t take long.”
He had taken a few moments to draft a note to donor Ken Meyer, thanking him for his support of the facility. Edwards was struck by how busy the fitness center is and he wanted to let Mr. Meyer know how his generosity is benefiting the community. Edwards appreciates the power local leaders have to improve health and he’s glad to be among them.
“It’s rare to be a CEO of a large organization in the town where you grew up. You have to pinch yourself to believe that you’re in a position to influence not just the organization but the community.”
10:30 a.m.
Edwards checks in with executive assistant Vickie Nelson, who has a few memos for him to review. Stopping by Nelson’s desk is a regular feature of the day since she manages the calendar and organizes tasks. The phrase “I’ll ask Vickie” is one of the day’s most uttered.
Back in the hall, there’s a question about the food for a noon board meeting. Edwards makes a single, simple request: Make sure it’s healthy.
En route to ask a question of Dr. Ken Powell, we walk with executive assistant Damaris Crow. There is a brief discussion about staff evaluations. As you can tell by now, the hallway walk-and-talk meeting is a key part of how things get done in Edwards’ day.
Edwards says the need to move quickly and use time wisely is simply a matter of adjusting to our rapidly changing business. The piece of advice he’s heard most in preparing to become CEO is “pace yourself.” He knows everyone who tells him that means well, but every life we touch is important and he’s not interested in moving slowly when the stakes are so high.
“For every patient we see, if there’s something we could be doing better, we need to do it – now,” he says. “We see 100,000 people a year in the ER. If we wait a month to improve something, we’ve affected 10,000 people.”
He says giving his all in his daily work is the least he can do.
“Think about how many kids’ games or holidays a nurse may have missed to do the work of patient care.
“To give anything less than everything you have is disrespectful to the people who have given so much to our organization.”
11 a.m.
Edwards begins preparing for his first speech to Systemwide Orientation that afternoon. After getting some input from orientation educator Joe Woodring, Edwards admits that he may wing it a bit, at least in the first week. He then turns his attention to email. In the inbox is:
• an email from Marketing & Planning VP Pat Walsh on the upcoming community perception study
• a joint commission fee invoice
• an email from a banker wanting to discuss ways to reduce an interest rate
• a note from his mom that reads: “Does it feel good sitting and working in your new office? I’m sure it must, have a great day.”
Noon
This Tuesday is one of only two or three days a month when Edwards has no lunch meeting scheduled, so we head to the cafeteria. As we’re eating, Edwards tells me about the shadowing he’s done in various departments during the last few months. It’s a chance to meet with the people who make CoxHealth function and see how their work is done. He says it’s eye-opening to see the organization from different viewpoints.
There’s a meeting scheduled for 1 p.m., and Edwards builds omelets right up until the last minute. He makes conversation with diners, but keeps an eye on the clock.
1 p.m.
We arrive back in Executive Administration for a quickly assembled meeting with Dr. Duff, Charity Elmer, Brian Williams and Jake McWay. The team has gathered to address an issue raised by a partner health care organization. During the next 40 minutes the team engages in a high-level debate. This decision-making process is at the heart of executive leadership, but those of us who don’t appear on an organizational chart rarely see it in action. While the content of the meeting is confidential, the team discusses possible options and weighs what each would mean for CoxHealth.
By 1:45, decisions are made, tasks are delegated and Edwards heads downstairs to meet with this week’s new employees. Edwards takes his spot in front of the group of 35 new hires and begins to talk about what it means to be a part of the CoxHealth family. He may be winging it by his standards, but it’s clear Edwards can deliver this sort of speech at a moment’s notice.
“We’re serving humanity, not doing factory work or merely treating broken bones,” he tells the group. “If you’re working on a hospital floor and you’re saying ‘there’s a gallbladder here’ or a ‘broken leg over there,’ you’ve already lost your perspective. These are not cases, they are people.”
He talks about the focus on safety and the responsibility we all have to make sure our processes are safe. He talks about what change means for the health system. In a time of rapid change, he says, it’s important to remember that the call to serve others is at the core of what we do.
“I want you to write down today why you came here and tuck it away,” Edwards tells the group. “You can pull it out next year, or in five years, and look at it to remind you of what brought you to CoxHealth.”
3 p.m.
After orientation, Edwards heads into a meeting with vice president Rod Schaffer for Schaffer’s annual evaluation. That 3 o’clock meeting is the final one on Edwards’ schedule. By 4:15, he’s back at his desk checking email. Since it’s the first official workday of the new year, today’s schedule is lighter than most. The end of the day offers a few rare moments of stillness, which we use to talk about the path that brought him to his new role.
He admits that when he was younger he briefly considered pursuing another field, one that would set him apart from the health care family in which he grew up. He pursued a liberal arts education, studying political science, philosophy and communication at Drury College. But by the time he graduated, his goal was clear: “I wanted to get the best experience and take it back to my hometown hospital to make it the best in the country.”
He went straight from undergraduate work to graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis. There, he was a young student among accomplished professionals, including attorneys and a neurosurgeon, who were pursuing a second degree. His classmates were extraordinarily bright, but many had a better handle on business, science and math than they did on the mission of health care that came so naturally to Edwards.
He was struck by the way topics like business ethics were taught in isolation, as though business consisted of constant work with numbers and spreadsheets punctuated by ethical decisions once or twice a year.
“Everything is an ethical decision,” Edwards says. “From putting together your own way of life that you can enjoy living to every resource you allocate in a business, it’s all ethical decisions.”
The ethical obligations that are a part of health care are obvious daily in a community like Springfield. At any given time, there are a dozen people Edwards knows personally who are our patients, which lends extra weight to the pursuit of excellence.
“I want to celebrate the successes, but you can’t ignore the fact that any time we fall short, there is a life affected,” he says. “People in the hospital are vulnerable. We are born here and we die here. What happens here is sacred and we need to be respectful of that. In a small town, you have very dear connections with people. Those connections are rewarding and they inspire your determination to do something right.”
5:12 p.m.
Brian Williams drops by the office to see if Edwards can discuss strategic planning with him and Scott Rogers. By 5:45, Edwards is headed back to his office to wrap up a few emails with the goal of being home by 7. That’s later than normal, but the kids are at tutoring this evening, which means he’s not missing time with them.
Edwards says keeping family at the center of his life is key to doing good work. Growing up, he read biographies from his father’s collection about business titans like Conrad Hilton and Colonel Harland Sanders. Those books focused on business, but they also contained lessons about work-life balance.
“Those people did great things. But if you read between the lines, you see they didn’t have the best family life.”
Edwards took that lesson to heart when making his career plans. Balance is now a guiding principle: He’s committed to his work, but he makes time for family, for rest and for exercise. And he says he likes to begin any project with the end in mind.
“I like to plan big things and let the spontaneous things exist between those events. Let me show you something,” he says, beginning to look through the neatly stacked items on his bookshelf. He pulls out a thick diploma cover that holds a certificate from his residency at Baylor Health Care. Tucked behind the certificate is a sheet of typing paper that’s beginning to yellow around the edges.
On it is a spreadsheet Edwards made in 1990. Mapped horizontally across the page are career and personal goals, each tied to a rough time frame. Finishing school, serving on local and state boards, owning a home, starting a family – all these goals are here, making his comment about liking to plan things appear to be an understatement. Right there, at age 45, is: “become CEO of CoxHealth.”
Edwards says that’s not the kind of thing you say out loud at age 22, but that goal and the others on the page have kept him focused on the ongoing task of becoming not just a leader, but the kind of person he wants to be.
“People may want to be the best accountant or architect that there is, but it’s not the profession that’s important,” he says. “It’s most important to be the best person you can be.
“Everybody is different with their own strengths and weaknesses, but there is brilliance in every one of us. There are tons of unique opportunities; you just have to put the right person in the right place so they can prosper. If you asked me about my ideal job, this beats shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s the best job you could ever dream of. It’s an incredible sense of responsibility; you don’t want to let anyone down.”
The challenges ahead are great and Edwards frequently reminds us to be open to change and growth that will make us stronger. He holds himself to that same standard, knowing that while meeting those challenges will keep him moving constantly, he remains in the right place.
“You have to ask, ‘Does your job make you a better person?’ You should take a job that makes you become the best person you can be. The right job makes you better.”
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