Advancing Your Career: Advice For Women Executives

The three female healthcare executives featured in the November/December issue of Healthcare Executive shared their advice for women on advancing in their careers. 

Marna P. Borgstrom, FACHE, CEO, Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale New Haven Health, New Haven, Conn. 
You have to be clear at each step in your career about why you’re there and what you’re seeking to accomplish, and make sure that you do what you say you’re going to do. Gender diversity isn’t going to get you there if you don’t have a track record of performance. 

As you perform and become more noticed in the organization, identify a mentor-preceptor or two. People like to help other people. It should be someone you connect with for a variety of reasons and who cares about the things that matter to you. 

Leadership is ultimately about finding the right people. That’s one of the hardest things for women leaders. Women grow up as doers. And when you become the CEO, you don’t really “do” a whole lot. It’s about conducting that group of people so that they sound like a decent orchestra rather than a group of good individual performers. As CEO, your role is talent scout, listener and cheerleader.

Josie Abboud, FACHE, President and CEO, Methodist Hospital and Methodist Women’s Hospital, Omaha, Neb.
Don't wait to be asked. You have to seek it. When I say seek it, I mean talk to your supervisor and let him or her know that you’re interested in being involved in other committees or in leading a project that interests you, even if it’s a project that’s not in your area but that you know about in another division. Make sure you communicate that you want to be considered; that’s how you begin to find more opportunities to demonstrate your abilities and skills. As I mentor women both internally and externally, I advise them to let it be known that they’re interested in doing more than the job for which they’ve been hired. You have to have the confidence to put yourself out there.

Donna Padilla, Managing Partner and Healthcare Practice Leader, WittKieffer, Chicago
Be very intentional about what you want to do and also be open to surprises. Be open to a sideways move and an upward move and another sideways move. Be crystal clear about what’s important to you as a person and what’s important to you professionally. Create support spaces that help you to think and talk through your professional journey, so you don’t unintentionally limit yourself. You need a club of people who will tell you the unvarnished truth, who can say ‘you’re ready, stop waiting, you should take that job,’ even if you have self-doubt. 

Susan Birk is a freelance writer based in Chicago.