Page 46 - May-June-July Life In Naples Magazine
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LEADERSHIP
LESSONS
FROM LEGENDARY MARINE GENERAL
JAMES
MATTIS
by Allen Weiss, MD, MBA, FACP, FACR inactivity. Obtaining accurate, timely, actionable data—and then
transparently sharing with everyone involved—are steps which
LPresident and CEO, NCH Healthcare System must be taken early on if we want to be successful. The old head-
earning from others helps us improve personally and in-the-sand approach doesn’t solve anything. (It just exposes the
helps our communities and everyone within live longer, backside and postures for failure.)
happier, and healthier lives.
A good friend shared an article entitled “17 Brilliant “I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I
Insights from Legendary Marine General James Mattis,” cannot even spell the word.” Talk about optimism! General Mattis
which motivated and inspired me to examine how we impressed on his troops that failure should not be an option.
as a community serve others. What you think will happen, can happen, is a thought I have
General Mattis retired from the Marine Corps as the 11th carried and shared with family, friends and colleagues. If you
Commander of the Central Command in Tampa, Florida, in think you can, your chances for success increase exponentially.
2013 after four decades of service. He has been compared to a Attitude matters and has a profound effect on those around you.
modern-day Patton in terms of personality and charisma. He is We live in a wonderful community with great assets. Staying
admired not only by Marines and the other military branches, positive keeps us on a virtuous path with positive feedback.
but also by business and government leaders across the nation.
Many of his quotes are so applicable to today’s rapidly “In this age, I don’t care how tactically or operationally brilliant
changing times where we sometimes get mired in minutia. you are, if you cannot create harmony on the battlefield based on trust
“ You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. across service lines, across coalition and national lines, and across
If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad.” How civilian/military lines, you need to go home, because your leadership
true, particularly as we as a nation look at the unsustainable is obsolete. We have got to have officers who can create harmony across
healthcare costs coupled with the growing rates of obesity and
46 Life in Naples | May • June • July 2015
