Page 53 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

34 The Disney Way

awakened the few who had yet to believe how much we are willing to sacri-
fice to get Griffin back.”
In early February, Patrick was asked to return to the hospital and
informed that the former CEO would be leaving. Charmel returned as
Griffin’s deserving leader on February 23, 1998. “There was an emotional
reception with hundreds of employees,” Patrick recalled. “When I came in
‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘round the Old Oak Tree’ was playing. There were
banners, balloons, and speeches.” What was really striking was Patrick’s
humility through all of this pomp and circumstance on his behalf.
As CEO, Patrick began a thorough investigation of the hospital’s
finances and discovered that things were worse than he thought. “The
HMO never grew to become a significant player in the market. It was los-
ing money and using depleting hospital funds. We had to get out of the
HMO business and cut our losses.”
Can one even imagine how Patrick must have felt coming back to a
hero’s welcome, and then weeks later having to lay off some of the same
employees who had stormed the boardroom on his behalf? Patrick told us, “I
had to make this type of decision about people who supported me so strongly.
That was extremely painful. We cried together.” Several laid-off employees we
interviewed told us they were later rehired when the hospital’s financial situa-
tion improved. Though none relished having been fired, they all said that they
understood what would have happened if Patrick had not reduced expenses.
Newspaper headlines might have read, “Griffin Hospital forced to close its
doors.” Better to have 100 people lose their jobs than 1,000.
Was all of this worth the effort? Today, 18 years after “Unforgettable
Thursday,” Griffin Hospital enjoys in-patient satisfaction rates of over 95
percent, and it captured the fourth highest ranking on Fortune magazine’s
2006 “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Not only is this the highest
ranking ever achieved by a hospital, but Griffin is the only hospital in the
United States to be named to the prestigious list seven times.
A leader’s job is to create an environment of mutual respect and trust.
We have yet to see any other place where the level of respect and trust
is so great that employees will put their jobs on the line and storm the
boardroom in support of their leader. That type of culture does not hap-
pen overnight. It takes hard work to create and to maintain, but Patrick
and his team have kept the focus, and the results are exceptional.