LEADERSHIP 45
GO YOUR OWN WAY
with the more ‘mainstream’ culture of the university. “Th at’s where a lot of the motivation came from,” confi rms Ream, “in terms of looking at the people and realizing that you need to have a place where you can pull people together and comprehend that everybody has something to give. Find out what their passion is and get them ‘headed’. These days, you fi nd people’s passions and get them channeled and directed with the help of literature and training, but back in those days I was discovering this out without any help.”
From past to present Indeed, ‘these days’ have seen Ream foster an understanding of the dynamics of both leading a team and nurturing one. The fi rst to admit that he is far from a technologist – so doesn’t pretend to be – Ream has found his feet in identifying and bringing in the right people to encourage a more collaborative culture. “My job is to fi nd very good people in defi ned categories who like what they do. I bring them in and then spend my time getting them to play together in the sandbox. Help them understand what the general mission is and how they play together for the delivery of a result they couldn’t achieve on their own. The job is there to be all you can be in that context, which is all I enjoy doing.” It comes as no surprise then that Ream sees himself as more of a facilitator than anything else. “In many ways, that’s all I can be,” he says. “I can’t do their jobs, so my real assignment is to get them to work together to see their individual possibilities and to understand why it’s important to have respect for one another.” His rather humorous sandbox analogy speaks volumes about his approach to leading a team and the importance of having different players in the game – a leadership principle that has served him well over the years.
“My job is to find very good people in defined categories who like what they do” “I try to not hire people who are just like me. I found out early it was hard not to do that, because you like yourself, you like your style. It’s just so comfortable; it’s who you are. But somewhere along the line I figured that out. You need to learn not to be afraid of hiring people who are a little unsettling to you, whose personalities are at the opposite end to where you are is important.” Which is most probably how he ended up walking into the world of healthcare in the first place – the second turning point after his presidency-on-a-whim at university – with help from one of his wife’s friends a couple of years after commencing work with Citibank. “He was the President of the Greater Cleveland Hospital Association,” chuckles a nostalgic Ream. “We spoke for a bit until he said, ‘If you’re so smart, why don’t you come help us? Be a CFO. You’re in finances. You know that.” I interviewed with a couple of local CEOs and one of them offered me a job to take a 400-bed hospital. They weren’t automated in anything and said: ‘You can go to Wharton and get your MBA and work for Citibank. You can do this with your eyes shut.’ Well, he didn’t know – and neither did I – but it’s one of those things you look back at and think, ‘There’s no way in the world they should have hired me.’ But I came and led them through fi nding our fi rst vendor and getting the place automated on some level. Otherwise, it was just Burroughs machines downstairs and everything was manual.”
TOM REAM.indd 45
10/11/2010 15:50