17th Century French History Can Transform Healthcare

The healthcare industry is in desperate need of innovation, change and improvement. Dr. David Lansky is president and CEO of Pacific Business Group on Health, which aims to improve costs and access to high-quality health care. Lansky is unique in his career field because of the fact that he earned his Ph.D. in 17th century French history.

Lansky claims that 70% of his career has been from luck and the remainder has been from taking advantage of opportunities. He also says that education should be focused on helping one to better understand what he or she values. One should not rush into focusing on job or skills development.

Lansky was interested in how social institutions and their leaders can impact the lives of people and became particularly interested with 17th century France. He was able to identify parallels in how we operate today with 17th century France. For example, most people belong to specific interest groups, and then offer different rationales that work in their best interests. However, one theory Lansky has learned from health care is that relationships between individual people can overrule structural and economic forces. In other words, individual leaders matter a great deal, and people pay attention to them.

Lansky applied his political and social values to contemporary problems to the best of his abilities. Moreover, Lansky acknowledges the fact that he cannot acquire all of the skills that he is going to need in every area he is required to lead, but rather needs to surround himself by people who do have these skills.

Lansky says that he is sometimes concerned that his organization isn't innovative enough. However, he is reminded that his organization is innovative by instigating change, not necessarily by making the change. He also asserts that he does not evaluate innovative products and services based on the market today, but rather the in a larger economic, political and cultural context.

Lansky advises that anyone with the desire to lead will be most successful if they understand human psychology and behavior. One also must understand cultural, religious and social movements to know what inspires people to follow. On that note, potential leaders should learn broadly.

Summary by MedicalGroups.com

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