By Lori Knutson RN, HNB-BC Building and leading an integrative health and medicine program within a system requires an intrapreneurial spirit. An intrapreneur is “a person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation.” But unlike an entrepreneur, an intrapreneur doesn’t own the product or service; the system or organization owns the creative ideas and end products produced by the individual(s). So why do it? ...
Read MoreBy Jeffrey Brantley, MD Leaders, as well as most of us while growing up, have been widely encouraged not to make impulsive, emotional decisions, or to take action based on incomplete information, or a limited or one-sided understanding of the situation. The intellectual foundations for this advice are familiar. They appear in well-developed bodies of knowledge associated with terms like "emotional intelligence," "social intelligence," "self-awareness," and, of course, "good parenting!" The best of such advice does not deny, condemn, or ...
Read MoreBy Ruth P. Blodgett, MBA As health systems across the nation focus on moving from volume to value to improve health and quality as well as reduce the cost of healthcare, one health system decided to adopt mindfulness for its employees as a key strategy to improve the health of its community. With an initial goal to utilize the principles of integrative health to help transform the health of our community, the Berkshire team quickly realized that we needed to start ...
Read MoreBy Adam Perlman, MD, MPH Relationships are a key component to success — and sometimes failure — not only on the job but also in one’s life. Whether it’s our relationships with our spouse, parents, siblings or our children; or our relationships at work with colleagues, those who report to us, or those to whom we may report; or simply our relationships with friends, having good relationships is what makes life worth living. It’s through our relationships that we ...
Read MoreBy Bonnie Horrigan When conceptualizing the Leadership Program for Integrative Healthcare at Duke, a group of us were brainstorming what might make a leader in an integrative clinic different from a leader in a conventional healthcare setting. We looked at the principles involved in integrative care and asked ourselves: Could what promotes health in patients also foster health in organizations? We soon decided that the very same principles applied. As we all know, one of the basic tenets of integrative healthcare is that ...
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