View from the C-Suite: Michael J. Dowling, President and CEO of Northwell Health
// By Sheryl S. Jackson //
In “View from the C-Suite” we share the insights of health care leaders from across the leadership spectrum — CEOs to CFOs to CMOs and more.
This month, we hear from a health system CEO who co-authored a book that provides a different perspective on health care in the United States than we typically see in news coverage.
There are many reasons to write a book, but Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, identifies the need for an objective look at health care that takes positive achievements into account as well as challenges as his reason for co-authoring Health Care Reboot: Megatrends Energizing American Medicine.
Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health
“I was growing increasingly frustrated by dialogue that focused only on the negative aspects of health care,” says Dowling. Public conversations about health care give the impression that very little success has been made to address the issues of costs, quality, and access. This continual, pessimistic look at health care is not only inaccurate but also dangerous, he says.
“Positivity is a core ingredient of successful leadership for any organization,” says Dowling. He points to successes in health care as the result of environments that support and promote innovation and celebrate successes: “I’m not saying that health care in the U.S. doesn’t have problems and challenges to overcome, but when you step back from a focus on the negatives and look at what is happening in different organizations, you realize that we have a good story to tell.”