The Leaders Within: Engagement, Leadership Development, and Succession Planning

A company full of potential CEOs would be one of the greatest assets an organization could ever hope to acquire. Are you ready to roll up your sleeves to make it happen?

The Leaders Within: Engagement, Leadership Development, and Succession Planning presents an integrated model for creating an organizational infrastructure in which leadership development acts as a funnel for succession planning. When they follow this guidance, readers can enhance their organization’s learning, leadership, and longevity.

The authors draw on their real-world experience in a large health system to define the three unique roles in creating a successful leadership development and succession planning program: the Visionary, who helps the organization and its employees see their future potential; the Architect, who oversees the actual implementation of the program; and the Board Advocate, who secures the governing board’s support for the process. Readers will recognize which role they personally play and gain a deeper understanding of how their organization can embed leadership development and succession planning in its DNA.

Examples and case studies gathered from over the course of a decade are used to address topics such as:

• Achieving buy-in from the board and executive team
• Identifying potential succession candidates
• Assessing candidates’ strengths and opportunities for development
• Replacing key leaders while maintaining leadership continuity

Succession planning and leadership development are two manifestations of the same core principles: a commitment to company values, a desire to foster leadership potential, and a long-term vision for the organization’s success. Readers of this book will acquire insight and learn methods for helping redefine their organizations’ next generation of leadership.

About the Author

Stephen R. Mason, LFACHE, has dedicated his professional career to the health and well-being of others. In his four decades of service in healthcare, Mr. Mason has held several management and leadership roles, most recently as CEO of BayCare Health System, one of the largest regional health systems in the country. As the leader of a company with more than 26,000 employees, he has extensive experience as a “messenger-in-chief,” using engaging language and storytelling to distill a message into its simplest form. His leadership style blends personal experience, skills such as effective communication and relationship building, and a commitment to tangible outcomes and measurable improvements. Mr. Mason’s roles prior to BayCare include chief operating officer and senior executive vice president of Texas Health Resources Inc. and president of Harris Methodist Hospitals. Now retired, he is spending his “second career” pursuing several ventures, including a role as founding partner of CSuite Solutions, which is helping health systems evolve and adapt to the changing demands of healthcare. He has a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

Kathryn G. Dies, PhD, is a clinical and sport psychologist with four decades of experience in both private practice and hospital administration. Dr. Dies, alongside her husband, Dr. Robert Dies, developed a theory in the early 1990s based on 21 Principles of Leadership in Psychotherapy Groups and provided training nationally and internationally on these principles. Subsequently, Dr. Dies drew on these principles to shape Directive Facilitation, her approach to effective leadership in working teams. Incorporating aspects of clinical and sport psychology, she bases her approach on the foundation of interpersonal relatedness and motivation for goal achievement. Working with Stephen Mason, she used her years of experience as an executive coach to develop a comprehensive succession planning program for BayCare Health System. Before joining BayCare, Dr. Dies provided psychological assessments for Dominion Hospital, a large psychiatric hospital in northern Virginia. She was then recruited to join the administrative team of Dominion to establish a cost-effective assessment program. She later served as associate administrator and vice president of clinical services. After relocating to Florida, Dr. Dies served as chief operating officer of a Pasco County–based charter psychiatric hospital before joining BayCare in 1998.

Larry Morgan is the chairman of Morgan Family Ventures, a high-growth group of companies spanning multiple industries. From humble beginnings on a farm in northeastern Missouri, Mr. Morgan worked his way to and through the University of Missouri, where he graduated with a bachelor degree in business administration. After graduating, he served in the US Army and accepted a position with the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, where he flourished until 1972. For the next 18 years, Mr. Morgan built a small, 7-store tire dealership into a 137-store chain before developing his own tire company, Tires Plus. Within ten years, he expanded his business to 603 locations in multiple states. After selling Tires Plus in 2000, he began dabbling in the automotive industry with a 50 percent interest in a dual Honda/Volkswagen dealership. To date, he has amassed 32 franchised dealerships under the Morgan Auto Group umbrella. Mr. Morgan takes an active part in his community and is past chairman of the board of directors of BayCare Health System and the Florida Automobile Dealers Association. He is the past chairman of the board for Morton Plant Mease Health Care, to which he also contributed $6 million to build the new Morgan Heart Hospital.