Page 217 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE LESSONS

something down to its most fundamental point and simply ask funda-
mental questions. It was interesting to me because most medical training
is designed to keep you from asking stupid questions.”
By going from office to office asking his “stupid question,” Ruiz learned
that the VA had a decentralized purchasing process that was far from effi-
cient. He wondered how private-sector hospitals with a sharp eye on the
bottom line bought their supplies. Ruiz researched and identified the ten
largest health care systems in the country and then called their CEOs or
other senior executives to find out about their purchasing procedures. The
hospital executives told Ruiz how they used group purchasing organizations:
contracting agencies that purchase huge quantities of supplies for health
care systems. Ruiz became convinced that the VA could save millions by
creating its own group purchasing organization. “This idea started to take
over my mind, and I got really excited about it. I went and visited VA hos-
pitals, and I visited their purchasing offices, and I talked to all these people
down in the bowels of the place about their experiences with purchasing,
about why purchasing strategies work or don’t work at the VA,” Ruiz
explained. “I found that it would be difficult to do a group buy under the
VA’s decentralized system because all the purchasing information was buried
in data. The data is there, but it’s buried. I wanted to figure out a smart way
to put all the data into a usable system, so I asked the secretary to do a large-
scale spend analysis. I prepared a presentation that showed how he could
save hundreds of millions of dollars if he were to centralize the purchasing
system for the VA. He was impressed. He encouraged me to keep working
on it, and it ultimately led to the VA doing its first large scale spend analy-
sis, the initial step toward a cost-saving centralized purchasing system.”

Sam Khichi, Chuck Larson, Alex Freidman, Jim Padilla, and George Ruiz
all learned that the most effective leaders are the ones who are willing to
leave their offices and go interact with their teams in a meaningful way.
Sure, the view from the C-suite can be exquisite, but the leaders who
sequester themselves there quickly become disconnected from their people
and in all likelihood won’t be allowed to enjoy that magnificent view for
very long. If you want to know how best to lead your organization, head
down to the lunchroom, the shop floor, or the purchasing office and ask
the “stupid questions.” Chances are good that your people will be delighted
to help you answer them.

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