It Is Interesting That The Most Profitable Hospice CEOs Are The Ones That Attend The Profitability Program
Why is this so?
It is not as easy a question to answer as one might think. Like most things, when something is truly considered and contemplated, multiple reasons arise. We realize that we are very limited in our understanding of life and how it works… This fact struck me after a recent Profitably Program.
Here are a few of the reasons:
- Though these CEOs are already very successful financially, they know there is more to learn. They have Humility and are open to learning or deepening their learning. Sometimes a topic is not new, but the depth of learning is increased, which is just as valuable, if not more so! The prideful and arrogant do not learn, for this position shuts off new learning. The more a CEO grows, the more Ego disintegrates as Ego is based on positionalities and Pride. These CEOs WANT to expose themselves to the very best material available.
- They are Intelligent enough to recognize Value. A great business provides great Value! An intelligent CEO wants to increase the Value of the organization. An Intelligent CEO will gravitate towards anything that will help him or her increase Value.
- These CEOs want 100% of the behavioral and performance Standards done at the organizations they lead. They recognize that this “100%” result will come directly from them as a result of their personal evolution as a CEO and CTO (Chief Teaching Officer) because ALL employees will take their behavioral and performance cues from this position. This is a deep understanding of Accountability and what it truly means to hold all employees (and self) to the vows and promises (Standards) of the organization. This Standard also includes the organization’s Profit Standard (which is NOT a goal).
- They come because it makes them “feel” good. This is the basic driver of human behavior. These CEOs feel good being highly profitable. There is no point in trying to demonize this or make it bad. All protoplasm does this as it is necessary to sustain life.
- These CEOs have Integrity. They realize that they have an obligation to not waste resources and that it is WRONG to expect a community to bail out sloppy, mis-managed organizations when there is actually more than enough from Medicare to fund a World-Class Hospice experience. The evidence to substantiate this FACT of this “more than enough from the Hospice Medicare Benefit” thinking is overwhelming and it should be self-evident to any intelligent person. All I have to do is look at the performance of many of our clients that do the Model well! It’s “Duh!” If you don’t believe this, you may want to look at the crowd you are listening to and hanging around.
Conversely, when I consider the “un-profitable” CEOs, I see complainers, whiners and excuse-makers. The comments are:
- “Your benchmarking is not accurate, Andrew!”
- “It’s all about money with you!”
- “We could make money if we wanted to, but it would hurt our quality.”
- “You don’t understand NFP and the role of the NFP!”
- “But we’re innovating…”
- “But we have Palliative Care!”
- “You’ve never run a Hospice, Andrew!” (Yea, right… I have, like 3 of them! CFO for 8 others! Come on, get real!)
To be brutally candid, if you are currently holding ANY of the ideas of the complainers, you have some personal growth to do as a CEO… Look at your motives and Integrity… Look at your level of Pride… or your level of Humility. Are you convincing your Board of Directors that “small Hospices can’t make it” when the statistical evidence indicates that a well-managed Hospice will do 21% profit no problemo!!! Are you leading your Board of Directors and staff down a path of “there is not enough funding from the Hospice Medicare Benefit to cover costs and have a 14% margin?” Don’t take your cues from the “huddled masses!” Give it a break and think a bit differently! More positively! Look at the best MANAGERS in our field of endeavor! Look at their quality and financial numbers!!!!!! There’s the proof baby!
I think that is about enough on that…
Serving from a place of Love for all ~ Andrew Reed, CEO & Chief Teaching Officer
