Brian de Francesca

Chief Operating Officer

November 2007

I have been asked why I came to work in Al Ain – a place on the globe distant from my previous homes of Baltimore, Bangkok and Stockholm.  My response is: I came here to help create the greatest healthcare organization in the Middle East - and you don’t get the chance to help create greatness very often in your life. Our vision is clear, measurable and awe inspiring.  I did not come to the UAE to maintain the status quo or to only establish a high quality, caring, customer focused hospital – but to be part of “Creating the Greatest Healthcare Organization in the Middle East.”  Yes – it is worth repeating because this is our vision of what our future will be.

A Vision (ours – being one of Greatness) affects what you do (and what you don’t do); how you do it and certainly - who you hire.  Great output – requires great input; and great processes.  To be great – requires persons who can consistently perform at the highest level – as part of a team.  Prima Donnas need not apply.   Being great also requires having mutually beneficial long term relationships with great business partners. 

Achieving greatness requires monitoring and measuring our daily performance; high performers beg to be measured - slackers try to avoid it at all cost.  When an organization has a vision for greatness, people who do not truly understand and share this vision are eventually ejected from the organization the way an immune system works together to clear infection from the body. 

Greatness requires more of everything such as time, focus and energy - but gives more in return.  Greatness is not achieved by doing 1, 2 or 3 things extremely well – but by doing thousands of the right things, in the right way – every day.

Striving for greatness is not about arrogance – but commitment, vision and having a burning desire to lead a meaningful and purposeful life; to one day leave this planet having made a positive contribution.

Many people are afraid of committing to greatness – they have a fear of failure, a fear of embarrassment, a fear of being “different” from their peers - and a general fear of making mistakes.  People are afraid of stating great visions; it is much easier (and safer) to state a vision that is pretty much the same as all other organizations – that is why the mission and vision statements of so many organizations sound exactly alike – they are interchangeable and meaningless.   They are afraid to say and commit to something as awesome as “We choose to go to the moon in this decade” which was a tremendous, inspiring and realized vision.

 
When we embark on a mission of greatness – we may get resistance from our family, friends and co-workers.  They may fear our path to greatness; it will require change for everyone. Also, they may not want you to embarrass yourself if you do not achieve said greatness; and also - if you do achieve greatness – then why can’t they?  You may make them look bad, lazy, purposeless etc.    It is a sad reality that there are few persons who will cheer you on, they will want you to stay put, behave and maintain the status quo.  We must surround ourselves with persons who share our vision – and avoid the debilitating influence of the complacent naysayers. 

On our journey - we will try, make mistakes, learn, improve and try again – and continue our forward march towards greatness.  At Tawam we have already taken many positive steps towards greatness. We have improved in many areas such as patient care, safety, inventory, customer service and more.  These are the first steps of many before us.

There are several good hospitals in the Middle East – but no truly great healthcare organizations.  The citizens of the Middle East have the resources, need and deserve to have a truly great healthcare organization; the partnership between Tawam and Johns Hopkins “may” allow that to happen – but does not guarantee it.  To achieve greatness – we will have to train to that level, build great facilities, hire great people, develop and implement great processes – set great and awe inspiring goals.  And we are doing all of this – daily.   It is about planning and then the successful execution of those plans.  It is not about talk – but action; and not yesterday’s action – but today’s and tomorrows.

Striving for greatness is not about taking wild risks, betting on long-shots or simply engaging in excessive amounts valueless activity.  To strive for true greatness, you must be willing to fail without being embarrassed.  True greatness provides some “value” to humanity – such as providing a world class level of healthcare to persons who currently do not have ready access to that care.  Greatness is inspirational to our coworkers, community and families.

Why strive for greatness?  It is vital for the survival of humanity.  Evolution and adaptation are founded on reaching continually towards betterment. It is life affirming to do something first; with purpose – to provide a great value to humanity.  Look back on the past 5, 10 or 20 years of your life?  If it was written as a book – would it make an interesting read?  Have you lived your life with purpose and conviction?  Have you contributed positively to humanity in any noticeable way?  If not – the good news is that the story is not over – you are writing the story of your future every day; you can make it a great story.   What we are doing here in Abu Dhabi is something we will all be able to be proud of for the rest of our lives.  I am honored to be on this team.

Our healthcare services will be Effective (doing the right things in the right way), Efficient (doing more with less) and provide an Enjoyable experience for our patients and staff.  We will continually serve more patients, better and for less money – in a caring and compassionate manner.

You are not great when you say you are great – you are great when others say that you are; just as the medical community in the USA has continually ranked Johns Hopkins as the greatest healthcare organization in America.

Striving for greatness is not about always winning; it is about setting great and valuable goals and then continually trying to reach them, and failing, and learning – and then continually trying again. 

And regarding our competition… we will drag them up the mountain of greatness with us.  However, we will always remain the leader on the climb.  We will continually raise the level of play. Our dedication to greatness will force them to raise their game; and they certainly will, and then we will – and in the end – the citizens of the Middle East will be the beneficiaries – they will receive world class healthcare – locally.

Thank you all for your support