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Reviving the Heart of Leadership: Empowering Healthcare Executives to Lead with Compassion by James L. Decker is a clear call to those in leadership positions in healthcare that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. People working in the healthcare industry are feeling unfulfilled and depressed. They state that they do not feel the connection to the job and the connection to the patients because they are too busy just serving the system. Patients feel the same way. They are treated as numbers making their way down a conveyor belt rather than a person who needs help and compassion. Prices have gone to new highs and it would appear that they are only going to continue to rise. Something needs to change. The author makes an argument that those in power in healthcare need to stop looking down at those below them and start looking at them as people they need to serve in order to ensure the patients get what they need. A complete overhaul is required to fix the problems, and the steps laid out in this book could be at least the beginning of a map to get us there. Anyone working in healthcare, whether you are in a management and leadership position or just starting out, will benefit from these insights and ideas.
This book is a powerful call to action for healthcare leaders, and honestly, it couldn't have come at a better time. The author honest reflections make the book deeply human, and his message is clear: compassion isn't a weakness, it's a necessity. I appreciated how he challenged the authoritarian leadership model that so many hospitals still cling to. Highly recommended and deeply moving.
In Reviving the Heart of Leadership, Decker takes a revitalizing and humane-centric stance on leadership practice in a complex world. The book rejects metrics and management lingo and ultimately suggests empathy, integrity, and emotional intelligence as leadership fundamentals. Decker includes personal anecdotes, case studies, and next steps to help leaders reconnect with purpose and lead authentically in ways that ignite passion in others. Reviving the Heart of Leadership centers on the 'inner life' of a leader, with a focus on self-awareness and courage in decision-making. Decker's writing is a call to arms as much as it is a cautionary tale for leaders to reclaim the heart and soul of public leadership! Reviving the Heart of Leadership is both inspirational and actionable, and will become a go-to for anyone wanting to bring meaning and impact to their leadership in the future.
Readers’ Reflections
Empowering Healthcare Executives To Lead With Compassion
Book Overview
Written for corporate leaders in every field, Dr. James (Jim) Decker calmly offers the basics of compassion and servant leadership as a better way. Immersed in healthcare for five decades, Jim is hearing more frequent complaints from friends and neighbors about how difficult it is to navigate the healthcare maze. Everything from understanding the health insurance quagmire and watching healthcare costs continue to rise, to the impersonal feeling of just being a “number” and being shuffled through the system in assembly-line fashion. Something is wrong.
Author Profile
Dr. James L. (Jim) Decker is a retired healthcare executive with over 47 years of distinguished leadership experience. He has held senior executive positions with four different hospitals and health systems in Tennessee and concluded his career as CEO of a regional blood center.
A native of Zachary, Louisiana, he holds B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Microbiology from Louisiana State University, a Master of Science in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee, and a Doctor of Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.
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