Leadership isn't all kumbaya. The truth is, real leadership, the kind that moves the needle on something as daunting as closing the health gap, is risky. It requires disrupting the status quo, disappointing your own people, and absorbing the discomfort that comes with change. But as this episode makes clear, the cost of avoiding that risk is even higher.

In this episode, hosts Ed O'Malley and Susan Kang are joined by returning guest Kenny Wilk to unpack why exercising leadership is inherently risky, what it looks like in practice and why the reward on the other side is worth it.

Highlights

• While many individuals placed in leadership roles believe they’re exercising leadership, it’s actually exceedingly rare.
• Leadership is risky because it’s about disruption, and how it requires disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb.
• The risk-reward mismatch in health equity: the 30,000 Kansans with the most influence must take risk to benefit the people with the least, such as the ALICE population (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed).
• The remarkable turnaround of the University of Kansas Health System, from one of the worst-rated hospitals in the nation (below the 5th percentile in patient satisfaction) to consistently above the 90th percentile.
• Kenny's personal framework for staying motivated to lead on issues that don't directly benefit him: gratitude, paying it forward and finding deep satisfaction in others' success.
• The "Salad Week" story from the 2002 Kansas legislative budget crisis. A vivid example of leaders forcing uncomfortable conversations their own caucus didn't want to have.
• The Kansas Capitol restoration decision: why Kenny and Senate counterpart Steve Morris refused to defund it even in a financial crisis and why it paid off.
• Examples of risk in what Kansans experience every day, but could deliver a great payoff.
• How embracing the opportunity to challenge one another with different ideas can introduce new ways of thinking.

Chapters

1:19 – Review, Preview and Big Picture

2:57 – Introducing Chapter 10: [Leadership] is Risky

5:33 – How Leadership Involves Disruption and Loss

7:50 – Leadership Requires Disappointing Your Own People

9:33 – KHF Strategy as an Example

12:21 – Risk vs. Reward in Health Equity

14:31 – Kenny on the risks and transformation of the Kansas Health System

16:14 – From Worst to Best: Culture Shift

19:05 – Metrics and Momentum Wins

21:07 – The Risky Turnaround Story

23:08 – Pay It Forward Mindset

26:19 – Hallmark Promotion Risk

27:58 – Post-9/11 Budget Crisis

30:14 – Salad Week Disruption

32:55 – Capitol Restoration Resolve

34:50 – Everyday Risk Examples

37:10 – Acceptance and Pushback

39:01 – Make Leadership Ubiquitous

40:10 – Resources and Final Challenge

42:45 – Closing and Next Chapter

Resources

• Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) — kansasleadershipcenter.org
• Proud but Never Satisfied — book about the transformation of the University of Kansas Health System - https://www.kansashealthsystem.com/proud-but-never-satisfied
• University of Kansas Health System — kansashealthsystem.com

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

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