ABSTRACT
Katerie Chapman was fresh out of graduate school at the University of Washington and eager to channel her considerable energies into what would become one of the defining initiatives at Virginia Mason. Among her duties in the summer of 2001 was staffing a committee charged with no less than defining a future pathway for the medical center. The series of meetings, which included dozens of members of the upper echelons of management and the board, were focused on creating a Strategic Plan for Virginia Mason. Chapman was struck by how the board members-thoughtfully yet directly-challenged executives that the system at Virginia Mason was focused on patients. Senior executives were confident this was the case. Board members weren’t so sure.
