ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 discusses sustainability in the context of healthcare leadership. Leadership defined through sustainability provides context for strategy, and can be an accelerator of strategy. Successful outcomes achieved through sustainability include improved community relationships, lower long-term operating costs and engaged employees. Sustainability is a mindset which many employees value and will rally behind. Engaging the principles of sustainability can help healthcare organizations reduce long-term costs, improve outcomes and nurture the environment that influences health.
Boards of trustees and community advocates are looking past the role which sustainability can play in achieving operational goals; they are pressing for healthcare to take on the mantle of leadership as a champion of sustainability, both in terms of advocacy and in terms of a model practitioner. This concept is no different from the process of establishing one’s organization as a top decile performer in safety or finance. Stakeholders want to be part of something greater than themselves and sustainability can be the platform. Asking why leaders invest in sustainability is like asking why leaders invest in brand. It is not about immediate, short-term returns. Healing patients on a sick planet is not sustainable in the long run.
