Rx Calls for Two Leaders

It is helpful to distinguish between leadership and management. Leadership involves vision, strategic direction and handling of the organization's external interfaces. It requires change and adaptation. Management has to do with imposing order, efficiency and getting the day-to-day business done. Leadership is future-oriented; management is present-oriented.

Endless debates have raged over leaders vs. managers. Are they different? Is one better that the other? These debates miss the mark. The point is, both are critical to an organization's sustained success.

Federal Hospital has been fortunate. Dr. Ackerbein is a rare individual with both leadership and management skills. While an organization needing both sets of skills, they needn't reside within one person. It appears likely that between Ross and Madsen, the requisite potential exists to guide the hospital. Madsen should be optimistic. He and Ross have their colleagues' respect. They can be a powerful team, but they must work cooperatively and take advantage of their complementary abilities.

While Ackerbein probably wishes he had started his succession planning earlier, he has at least been grooming Ross. He has sent her to international conferences and to an executive development seminar. Ross appears to be a quick study. She is interested in management and planning processes. She clearly understands her limitations (a mark of wisdom) and she asks excellent questions (possibly one of the most important skills a CEO can possess). Ross showed initiative in calling the Health Agency administrator. She clearly has Ackerbein's endorsement and has at least initial support from the Health Agency administrator. But she needs to move quickly to reassure the administrator that the hospital is in good hands.

Ross needs Madsen's knowledge of budgeting and administration. She should recognize that her success depends on his active cooperation. Ross needs to meet with senior staff to clarify her role as acting director and to develop a consensus on the hospital's direction. Then she should meet with the agency administrator to convey her management philosophy and her vision of the hospital's direction. She also should schedule a budget meeting with the administrator, at which Madsen should play a significant, but not dominant, role.

Ross needs further executive development immediately. She should attend one of the residential executive development programs offered by some of our better universities such as Harvard, Carnegie Mellon or the University of Virginia.

It won't be easy, but the basis for success is there.

Robert A. Persell is a graduate of the Navy nuclear power program, serving on destroyers and cruisers. He directed the Navy's graduate electronics and communications programs at the Naval Postgraduate School. He was an organization development consultant and concluded his career in 1977 as director of training and development at NASA.