The Health Care Industry Needs to Start Taking Women Seriously
By Carolyn Buck-Luce and Julia Taylor Kennedy
What is the greatest impediment preventing Americans from getting good health care? Surprisingly, it’s not the cost of care. Instead, according to new research from the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), the fundamental issue is the health care industry’s failure to develop a nuanced understanding of, and commitment to, women as consumers and decision makers. For the full report, see the Harvard Business Review (Free registration required).
Power of the Purse: Empowering women to power health outcomes
2012 WOTY Carolyn Buck Luce and a panel of experts are set to discuss the impact of the SHEconomy on healthcare at this year's HBA Annual Conference.
By now, you've likely heard of the SHEconomy -- the phenomenon of women earning, owning, controlling and influencing trillions of dollars in the global economy. The phenomenon means that across industries and around the world, women are making more and more of the decisions about what purchases to make, about how to spend and invest their money, and about which people and organizations they want to give that money to...CLICK HERE FOR FULL INTERVIEW
Carolyn Buck Luce spoke at the Annual Meeting of the SFO chapter of the HBA on October 24th, 2013 at the HQ of Onyx Pharmaceuticals. She shared her vision for the future of the HC industry and the new competencies that leaders will need to drive the transformation that is upon us.
Key Note Speech by Carolyn Buck Luce, Woman of the Year, Healthcare Businesswomen's Association
New York, May 3 2012
Thank you Steve for that generous introduction. I have loved my two decades as a partner at E&Y. Besides the fact that the work is fascinating - - I have loved the culture which is all about celebrating the spirit of partnership. In fact, our operating model is “people first”. If we have the best people doing quality work, the consequence of that is having the best clients - - many of whom are in this room.
I extend my congratulations to HBA Honorable Mentor - - Mike Kaufman, HBA Volunteer of the Year, Nancy Larsen and all the wonderful, talented HBA Rising Stars, including E&Y’s very own Donnia Sooklal.
And of course, to my close friend and colleague Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall, the HBA 2011 WOTY who has brought so much passion, wisdom and insight to both the industry and the members of the HBA.
This room is also blessed with close colleagues from EY, trusting clients, dear friends and my beloved family members – all of whom combined make me so grateful to be alive every day.
I would also like to give a big thanks to Pharma Exec and Bill Looney who have done a thoughtful chronology of my comings and goings for the last 40 years. Given that I am two months shy of my 60th birthday that took up a lot of ink!
Today I would like to spend time not on the “doing” side of my life, but more on the being and believing part. . What do I believe and why do I believe that. How did I learn who I was to be - -and how to be a good one at it?
So much of who I am is because of who my mother is. My Mom, Minna Buck, was one of only two women in her law school class at University of Chicago in the ‘40s and went on to lead, what seemed to me, every one of President Johnson’s Great Society programs in the ‘60s in our home in upstate NY, retiring finally after almost 2 decades as a family court judge. Discussions at our dinner table were always about what was happening in the world. In fact, I remember at the ripe old age of 8, watching the Kennedy/Nixon presidential debates on television and deciding that I would be a world leader just like Kennedy. My desire and ambition to make a difference in the world, particularly on behalf of women and children, started with my Mom.
I’m so happy she is here today – and a big shout out also to my mother in law - - Bethine Church in Idaho. In fact, today is my mother’s birthday - - Mom - -please stand up and let’s give her some birthday applause!!!!!
While we are on the topic of Moms, did you know that Mother's Day, the holiday that we celebrate next week with flowers and greeting cards, was created for a very different purpose? Mother’s Day had its origins in the heart and pen of Juliet Ward Howe, the famous lyricist of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", the inspirational marching song of the Union Army during the Civil War. While an ardent supporter of the fight to end slavery and keep the country together, she was sickened by the carnage of war. In 1870, appalled by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. she declared a Mothers’ Day Proclamation for Peace and had it translated into many languages and disseminated internationally.
Let’s listen:
"arise arise .....great congress of women of all nationalities who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears… We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies... and our children shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience…In the name of womenhood and humanity…let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace.”
Two years later, in 1872, JWH went to London to attend an international peace conference but they would not let her speak because of her gender, so she hired her own hall to deliver that message.
I love this little piece of history because it speaks to the story of women’s leadership. Whether advocating for peace or justice or our families, women leaders have broken through the glass ceiling and cement walls for a purpose. A purpose worth fighting for. For me, the call of JFK to do something for your country combined with the influence of my parents’ experiences of the Depression and WW2, spurred me into a commitment to learn Russian and become a foreign service officer in the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War to help spread détente.
For what purpose? That has always been my question to myself. It turned me into a ten year planner, taking the opportunity to reinvent myself every ten years by intentionally taking on new experiences, gaining new knowledge and building networks to give me more tools to make a difference.
That is why I am here - - along with you. One hundred and fifty years later, a great congress of women, the HBA, along with many good men, from all nationalities and companies, gathered to discuss one of the great questions of the 21st century. "How to Create a Healthier World"?
And how right that we, the women, take our place at the table to help answer that question - - 80% of healthcare decisions are made by women; women are earning the majority of university and advanced degrees, the healthcare industry is dominated by women, and we are the caregivers - - for our loved ones and our communities.
We know that our healthcare system is broken. Even though our industry has created miracle drugs that sustain life, millions of people are dying from preventable diseases and billions of dollars are wasted on dysfunction, duplication and parochial thinking.
Why is this the case? It’s not because of bad intentions. In fact, many of our institutions – education, health, military, politics – no longer meet the needs of society. Maybe the meta question we should be addressing first is what type of leadership model do we need for the 21st century. Historically we have seen models of “vertical” leadership in our corporations and institutions, carved up by legal, tribal or territorial boundaries, into separate and often times competing silos. I know from talking to many of you that today’s siloed leaders are frustrated by their inability to do what is right. The questions are too big, too interconnected, too complex, and too critical for any one silo or group to answer.
Leadership for the 21st century will need to be horizontal leadership that connects the perspectives, energy and interests across the spheres of work, family, community, culture and religion. These spheres aren’t separate. They are interoperable systems that need to be honored, respected, encouraged and connected.
We in this room know this and luckily we are at an exciting tipping point for radical transformation of the healthcare industry.
I have been so blessed to have a job, a vocation really, that has allowed me to dive deeply into the challenges and opportunities facing the industry as we move from focusing on what we make to whom we serve. My team and I have written extensively in our annual reports “Progressions” on the shift from products to health outcomes and the imperative for companies to REFRAME innovation to truly put the patient in the middle.
Rarely has there been such a fabulous opportunity to create a win for individuals, companies and society, a real trifecta, if only we could make progress in changing the behavior of patients, payers, providers and companies in the system Think about it. Today 75% of health care costs stem from treating chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular, where diet, exercise, education and lifestyle management are the major drivers to bend the cost curve. Last Sunday the NYT reported that in the US alone, if we could keep the cost of Medicare and Medicaid to 1% higher than the GDP our long term deficit would reduce by 33%.
Imagine if we could really talk about a more humane approach to “end of life”. Today 60% of patients die in the ICU or an Institution, not what the majority of them would have wished for.
And for our companies? Our "behavior" is otherwise known as our ‘business model and today’s business model is all about defending the line on last year's prices. Not a sustainable model.
However – to benefit from HC transformation, the industry and its leaders need to be trusted that their business models truly have health outcomes as their core design principal. Leaders in the industry, many of whom are in this room, have the chance to work horizontally and collaboratively across company, industry and public/private boundaries to answer the scientific, ethical, economic and social issues that we confront as a society.
Which brings me back to us. The women. The “horizontal, collaborative leaders”. I came of age in the 60s when huge disruptions of social and political change were unleashed - - women’s rights, civil rights, and sexual expression. We have come a long way in the last half century - - Around the world we make up a significant percentage of the ranks of lower and middle management and are attaining critical positions of power and influence. However we are facing two paradoxes.
First, as women become ubiquitous in the halls of companies, many men of all ages and even women of the younger generation, believe that “we have solved the problem” - - but we haven’t.
Regardless of our numbers in the ranks, the progress of getting women to the top has stalled and we still make up only a minority of leadership in all public and private sectors. We are still leading from the foot of the table, not the seats of power. And we are still arguing about the business case of D&I efforts.
Secondly although more woman are in the tent- - we need you to show up and step up to leadership – fuel innovation, develop deep customer insights and reach across silos in the quest for making the world a healthier place.
I teach a course at Columbia University Graduate School for International and Public Affairs called “Women and Power”. My students come from all around the world - - committed, wonderful, passionate, smart women, wanting to change the world. However I have found that women are nervous about that word - - Power. And they are schizophrenic about the subject of ambition. Think about that for a second. How comfortable are you proclaiming your ambition to be powerful? For the term paper, the students have to declare their Purpose - - for what purpose are they on this planet? Then they have to do an inventory of their current power and plot an action plan on how they are going to increase their power and use it intentionally to make progress on their purpose. Although this is a graduate level course, part of curriculum that includes advanced economics, heavy duty policy and legal theory, year after year my students tell me that this paper was the hardest one they had to write in graduate school. Could you write that paper?
I love reading their papers. And I love teaching the course. In fact, I love mentoring young women. Many times younger women have come into my office at EY to say that they are not sure they want to become a partner. And I ask them “Tell me about the partner you don’t want to be – I probably don’t want to be that partner either”
What holds women back? There are many things - - all of which I have experienced. They have seen power exercised that doesn’t fit their image of doing the right thing. They were raised to be good girls - - and it’s difficult to wear ambition gracefully. They are afraid that they can’t “do it all” - - be a leader at work, have a family, be considered feminine and be a good mother, daughter, wife, friend.
Women are wonderful because, along with carrying half the sky, we are looking to carry the burdens and cares of so many others - - and are afraid that we will let someone that we love down.
What I have learned along the way is that you can have it all. That’s different from doing it all - - and you have to redefine what IT is. Why am I on the planet? What is my purpose? I have answered it this way for me. I am trying to learn how to be a good leader, to leave this world better for my having been in it. Leadership lessons happen everyday, everywhere. Whether being a Mom, wife, EY partner, or community board member, I am learning how to be a good one - - and the lessons are totally transferable from one venue to the next.
Three of my four beloved children are here today - - Jake, Nathan and Frank - - and my daughter Nina, who works for the Nike Foundation, is in Rwanda today training leaders for a girls empowerment program. I have learned so many lessons from them and I know they appreciate that I have worked hard to learn to be a good leader and life coach , at home and in the world for all of their benefits.
I also learned many lessons from my late husband, the reverend Forrest Church. Forrest passed away from esophageal cancer in 2009 after a long battle. But he was not battling to “beat the cancer”. This room knows better than most that there are some diseases that are not there to beat. Forrest was fighting to live everyday in a way that was worth dying for. He had many mantras that live today in my heart – one of his favorites was that the only thing that can never be taken away from you is the love you give away before you die.
I am happy to say that I have really taken that lesson to heart and am also joined here today by my fiancé, the wonderful Rob Evans.
What does having IT all mean - - it means to want what you have, do what you can and be who you are - - to learn, strive, risk, try, love and live fully- - in this short miracle we call life that is imbedded between two great mysteries of birth and death .
Which brings us back to Mother’s Day - - and JWH’s Mother’s Day proclamation
"arise arise .....great congress of women of all nationalities who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears… We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies...
We women have a great responsibility to “arise arise “ and take our positions in a type of leadership that is needed to shape a better future. As business women leaders, we are called upon to move from being about profits to being prophets - - to speak the truth, draw from our collective strength and mobilize stakeholders beyond artificial, man-made boundaries to achieve the sustainable healthy future that our great-grandchildren will thank us for.
Thank you so much for this wonderful honor to be your Woman of the Year
