Edward Marx, CIO of Texas Health Resources, has been a strong proponent of health IT leaders "stepping up their game" to take more active leadership roles in their organizations. He outlines some of his tactics for developing IT leaders in an interview with Computerworld.
"I believe in leadership development so badly that I'm willing to invest," he said.
Those investments include an internal leadership academiy for eight students each year and visits to organizations in other industries to exchange ideas. He's done this with Kimberly-Clark, RadioShack, Pier 1 and 7-Eleven.
"And I push people hard to present," Marx (pictured right), who is also a member of the FierceHealthIT Advisory Board, added. "We do a lot of presentations around the country. It improves our brand, it helps our employees and there's nothing like being asked to teach to really solidify it in you as a leader."
In an interview with FierceHealthIT last year, Russell Branzell, CEO of Colorado Health Medical Group in Fort Collins and the CEO of CHIME, shared similar ideas about how leadership differs for healthcare CIOs than other members of the C-suite. It involves pairing process improvement with technology adoption, he said.
"Core competencies have changed--so little of it is technology orientation. It really is about providing a vision and a strategy, not just for technology but for the adoption and the outcomes of the technology," he said.
To learn more:
- read the interview