It's been three weeks since the "go-live" of Supply Chain Sherpas.  I spent the first week in Santa Monica at a Rich Litvin Coaching Intensive program.  Then flew directly to the IDN Summit in Orlando for an extraordinary week with the healthcare supply chain industry.  This week started with a trip to Atlanta to spend time with John Pritchard of Shared Moving Media before heading to my home office in Colorado for a few much-needed days to catch up on messages and inquiries. 

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1.  Talent is Becoming a Top Priority
At the IDN Summit board dinner, John Kelly asked each attendee to highlight what they are most looking forward to in the healthcare supply chain (or in the world more broadly).  The hottest theme...leaders from suppliers and providers were excited about the interest and focus on talent and leadership development. 


2.  Coaching is Powerful
As a practicing coach, I've often witnessed the wonderful professional breakthroughs of my clients. Over these last three weeks, I've also witnessed a concentration of life-changing personal breakthroughs.  I’m beginning to fully appreciate the cumulative power of our limiting thoughts, beliefs and behaviors.  I will forever cherish the emails and letters I've received these last three weeks.  I’m filled with gratitude for the wonderful coaches supporting my own development too.  
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3.  Our Next Generation of Leaders will Positively Change our World
Next generation leaders (generally from the millennial generation) have been reaching out to me at an unexpectedly high rate.  These extraordinary individuals are wired for meaningful purpose, willing to explore diverse experiences, hopeful, curious, optimistic, eager to learn, collaborative and connected.  They think BIG and are aspirational about what's possible.  I've left every single conversation inspired and I'm committed to helping to prepare our next generation, emerging leaders and motivated incumbent leaders for the healthcare of tomorrow.  


4.  Healthcare Suppliers Feel Discouraged
Suppliers continue to transition from feature-selling to a solutions approach.  They consistently voiced concern about their inability to get meaningful solutions to the point of use.  They are discouraged by the bottleneck that has become the healthcare supply chain.  Frustration is often confused with deep underlying discouragement with the lack of progress.  Our suppliers are very intentionally trying.   
 

5.  Supply Chain Leaders Feel Undervalued
CFO's continue to escalate price savings expectations of supply chain functions.  Supply Chain leaders know there is more potential to deliver all forms of value.  M&A distraction is real.  Resources are constrained.  Expectations continue to increase and are often unrealistic, despite the very real cost issues in healthcare.  It's a formula for feeling undervalued, misunderstood, underappreciated and often overwhelmed.  Will Supply Chain leaders lean into courage and ask for help and support?

Spring 2018 is an especially meaningful time for me as I invite three wonderful new chapters in my life.  As winter gives way to the spectacular renewal of life all around us, I am welcoming growth opportunities on both the professional and personal fronts.

Professionally, I am intentionally choosing courage over comfort as I leave the safety net of corporate leadership roles, where I have invested over 20 years of my professional life. I joined the healthcare industry a decade ago after losing both of my parents, four months apart from each other, in two different healthcare systems.  Since that time, I've been inspired to elevate the collective capabilities of the supply chain so we can directly improve affordability, quality, compassion, service levels throughout entire healthcare industry.  Leading Intermountain Healthcare's supply chain transformation and helping Pensiamo serve its commercialization mission have been incredibly rewarding experiences.  I'm filled with gratitude for the opportunity to have interacted with so many extraordinary individuals. 

Today, I'm officially announcing the formation and startup of a company called Supply Chain Sherpas.  Supply Chain Sherpas helps provider and supplier organizations unlock the transformative potential of the healthcare supply chain.  Solutions include executive coaching, education services and advisory services.  I've been humbled by level the industry support and related momentum.  Supply Chain Sherpas has contracted clients across all three pillars of the business and I'm a bit surprised to be already focusing efforts on how to scale the business.  

I passionately believe in the force multiplier effect of investing all of my professional time helping inspired leaders to pursue their dreams, providing talent development resources to the motivated and helping organizations accelerate their plans.  Too many brilliant supplier solutions are prevented from reaching the point of care/use because of the increasingly-frustrating bottleneck that has become the healthcare supply chain.  For providers, the potential to elevate talent, improve strategic relevance and to liberate meaningful solutions is extraordinary.

Personally, I'm grateful for an unexpected and welcomed breakthrough with my health.  For 15 years, I suffered from a progressively-worsening, intractable migraine condition.  Two years ago, a nutrition change dramatically improved this condition.  After living with such a debilitating condition (and with the associated limiting beliefs that often accompany a degenerative illness), it took me the better part of 18 months to embrace the possibilities of an independent future.  I now honor my deep-rooted entrepreneurial spirit and embrace the present and future with excitement. 

Finally, Christine and I are celebrating a meaningful 20-year anniversary of starting our lives together and moving to Colorado in 1998.  We are happy to be back "home" in Colorado after wonderful chapters in the Carolinas and in Utah.  We are enjoying high quality time together and with close friends as we hike, bike, motorcycle and ski throughout the beautiful rocky mountains. 

Wishing you the renewing gifts of Spring.  Let's make the time to connect with each other over these next few months.