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 Welcome to this week in Health it where we discuss the news, information and emerging thought with leaders from across the healthcare industry. This is Bill Russell recovering healthcare, c i o, and creator of this week in Health. It a set of podcasts and videos dedicated to training the next generation of health IT leaders.

Hope you enjoy. So we're ready to go. So, uh, here from WE HIMSS Thursday. You tell us him. HIMSS Thursday. 'cause I'm, I'm in jeans. Uh, you're in jeans. Okay. And, uh, and I'm in SSS Shade red as you. That's SS shade red. Um, so, uh, so you just came from the, uh, women in Health IT networking event. It was called the Mentor Meetup.

Mentor. Mentor Meetup. Yes. How was that? It was good. It was good. There were, oh, a dozen different topics. . That, um, tabletop, you know, topics that, um, uh, facilitators like myself agreed to, uh, take on, uh, kind of a round table, uh, session, if you will. And the one that I had was breaking the glass ceiling to get to the C-suite, so, I had a group of five women who wanted to talk about that.

And, um, we covered a good hour, but So what were, do you know what some of the other tables were talking about or? Yes. Uh, I remember ethical leadership, clinical leadership, . Um, I should remember more. I've got a list in my bag, but you probably don't want me to check my check that list right now. Yeah. Um, oh, probably branding and, and social media.

So just probably a variety of topics that they came up with based on previous years and, uh, what women were interested in getting together and talking about, and learning about, and networking about. It's been interesting. Um, my production crew, my . My daughter is here and, uh, it's been interesting to see This is her first hys.

Okay. And it's been interesting to see it through her eyes. . And, you know, one of the things she pointed out is, uh, so we're at the Chime event and she goes, you know, there's uh, almost a four to five to one ratio here of women to men. And, uh, and so one of the nights we were sitting with somebody and we're having a conversation.

We just decided to talk about it. Say, you know, what's it like? And she was from the vendor side. Mm-hmm. , we said, what's it like being a vendor? She goes, she goes, even on the sales side, it's, she goes, it's even worse. It's almost like a 10 to one ratio. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . I agree. Which actually kind of surprised me that it was, that.

I'm not surprised at that, really. I'm not surprised at that. 'cause, um, uh, yeah, I think at one point, in terms of, um, CHIME members and CIOs, maybe 25% women, I'm not sure what the number has gone up to. Hopefully it's higher than that at this point. But I would say in the vendor side, in the sales side, men and I, and it's one of the things I told my, uh, ladies, when at the table I am often the only woman in the room or on the phone.

'cause I do a lot of remote and um, it's with channel partners, it's with other vendors that we're exploring and it's all a lot of men. So you want to see that change. Absolutely. and, uh, so. Big announcement. Uh, was it this week or did you announce it last week? We launched it last week. Last week. So I did the social media promotion and got it on our website last week.

So tell us a little bit about sea change. Sure. So sea change is uh, and our tagline is, develop women leaders transform leadership. And it's a service that we're offering through starbridge advisors. So we already were doing leadership coaching along with interim management and IT consulting, but this is a, um, uh, service that's focused on women in health it, um, and helping them through courses and coaching at different stages of their career.

So, um, we're starting with two courses and, uh, one of 'em is called Equipping Emerging. Um, uh, equipping Emerging Leaders for Success. And the other one is called Harnessing Your Strengths. And, um, the first one I'm gonna do and lead, it's gonna be a six month, uh, course online for up to 20 women at a time.

And, um, we've outlined the topics that I think are pertinent for women in particular early in their career in terms of developing skills and, um, we'll see how it goes. So we scheduled one for March one to. Start in April. Um, and then we are also doing a course that will be for a smaller, kind of more inter intimate group, focusing on strengths and using a tool, the strengths finder tool, to, uh, dig in deeper on, uh, the individual that'll we for in those groups online, their strengths, how they, uh, leverage those strengths and what they need to look for.

And then, you know, who knows after that that that's our starting point. We want to see how it goes. Oh yeah, absolutely. And I can tell you how the reaction's been, but go ahead. Well, how has, that's the beginning. How has the reaction been Really positive. Yeah, how really positive. So I've had these cards, you know, that describe it, and the courses that I've been handing out to people as I, uh, meet people and, and see old friends, if you will, um, this week.

And women, let's say of my generation at my stage of career and senior have taken it and gone, this is great. I've got someone in mind. Uh, this is great. It's much needed and I'd love to help you. And, uh, what I say to that, if you'd love to help me, let's see if it takes off and if we need more people to be doing this.

So that'd be great. Um, younger women, um, target audience for the first, uh, courses. Very, uh, positive response. So, and men too, men who are supportive of developing women on their teams. Um, very supportive. Well, yeah, if you're a C I O. This is a great program. I, I mean, there's a lot of great programs, but this is a great program specifically designed to help the up and come.

You can spot a person and say they have leadership capability, they have talent, and yes, you're gonna send them to, you know, chime and those other things, but this is very specific and you're gonna help them with very specific, very targeted, very targeted things. Right, right. Um, and it's, it's, I, I love the fact you're talking about strengths.

'cause one of the things we've, we've had these conversations on the show over, I mean, you and I have it as well as others. Yeah. And uh, you know, there was, there used to be this idea of, you know, trying to make it in a man's world. So you're gonna try to be like a man, right? But that's not your strengths.

Right. And, and so you're gonna help people to say, look, in leadership, collaborative leadership, and I women almost have a better strength around some of the things that are required to be a C I O today Yeah. Than men. That that skill set, and as Sarah Richardson talked about, I think on one of your shows, it's called Soft Skills.

Yeah. It's referred to soft skills. There's nothing soft about it. Though, and, and, and it's hard, it's hard to develop those skills. But yes, there's some natural tendencies, if I can say that, that I think women bring to, um, leadership roles that, that we will try to develop. But, you know, everybody's different.

Everybody has a different set of strengths and, um, try to leverage that. The, um, yeah, not to go off script a little bit here, but, okay. But the, so in the conversation we were having, um, you know, over drinks, my daughter's there and whatnot, and we were starting to talk about mentoring. Okay? And one of the things that's difficult is, and I'm sitting there going, okay, so as a c i o, as a male, c i o, Uh, former male cio, I should put the whole title there.

Um, you know, you have recovery, don't you say? Recovery usually. Recovery, yeah. Okay. But you, you have a choice to mentor. Yes. Uh, people. And there's almost a fear now of, do I mentor a woman? For, for right or wrong or for a man to mentor a woman for Yes, exactly. Why? Well, it's, it's, uh, it's really a fear around the whole Me Too movement and those kind of things of saying, because when you mentor somebody, it is a close relationship.

It's a very close relationship. Yeah. You are, uh, you're almost, you know, you're, I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go as far as say as taking responsibility for their career. But you are adopting their career. You're introducing them to your network. You are spending hours with them. You are . It's a lot of one-on-one conversation.

You're talking about, you know, thing, personal things as well. Yeah. You know, those kind of things. And so there's a fear. I mean, what would you say to, to, uh, how, how should male CIOs look at mentoring of female person within their organization? Wow. Um, I wasn't ready for that question. , I don't think they should be afraid.

And I don't think men should, men who get it, who behave appropriately right, should not be afraid. And, um, men shouldn't be afraid of the Me Too movement. Men should be supportive. Um, so

you know, if you, if, if, if you have a set of skills and experiences that say you're the right person to mentor, that. Female up and coming leader. Okay. So be it. Um, you know,

gimme an example of what you'd be afraid of. You, you, you, so you say that it could be too personal. I mean, I think in a mentoring relationship, in a coaching relationship, people, people probably filter and know when it's getting too personal. I'll ask so. Uh, people I've mentored in the past. Okay. I'll have conversations about how they dress.

Okay. How, how they show up in meetings. Okay. How they interact with certain people. Okay. I'll be like, Hey, you know what, you, there's too much touching going on. You're getting too close. I mean, we'll have those conversations because they. , they impact their career. Yep. How they're being perceived. Yep.

Alright. So if I'm having that conversation with you, you sushi from 20 years ago and, and I'm saying, Hey, you're dress, you are this, you're that. Yeah. Yeah. Is that, is that over the line? No. No. So as a boss or as a mentor? As a mentor, I don't think so. Not at all. As a boss, not at all. As a boss, um, maybe, yeah, maybe, maybe You have to be more careful in the, in the boss.

Um, employee relationship. But, but, but not as a mentor. I mean, I think you're there to give honest feedback. I have, um, I've had men mentor me, I've had women mentor me. Um, I've mentored men and women. I've coached a lot more men at this point than I have women, um, in professional coaching relationships. So, yeah, I think, um, um, I'll say it again, men who get it, men who behave well, um, appropriately and have nothing to be worried about in the past, shouldn't be worried.

Yeah. Okay. No, I understand . I I just wanted to have that conversation with you. Okay. It's, uh, you know, you're somebody I respect and this is a, a, a great avenue, and, and I, I love what you're doing. Thank you. But, but I, I have these conversations with people and I, I wonder, I wonder if, if, if these are isolated conversations or people are saying, Hey, I don't know how, The, the rules have changed a little bit in the marketplace.

I'm trying to figure it out. Yep. And I figured we might as well talk about it on the podcast. Yep. That's good. You know, um, when I talked about promoting sea change here and getting really good response, a number of people said, how do you help men be supportive? How do you help men sponsor women? So, And I've heard that enough that I think I want to go back and figure out is there something that we could do for a group of men that's interested in, you know, learning how to be more effective?

Well, because I think there might be an interest. Yeah, we could finally put David to work, get him to . We can put, David is super supportive, so we'd be a really good role model. Yeah. So I guess one of the other things I wanna say is we're starting with these, these courses and we can do individualized.

Coaching services and courses. We can also work with organizations, so if they wanna bring us in, so, so you'll do one-on-one as well? Oh, absolutely. So you do, you do group, group, there's a course for 20 group training. Okay. Right. And then there's a course that's gonna be four. Um, we've scheduled, um, two each of those now just to see how it goes, how the response is starting in March.

And then, um, you know, wide open on other kinds of individualized coaching services or group services to, um, organizations. So if you were still a C I O and you went, Sue, this is brilliant, and I've got a cohort, uh, I'd like to put through something. Let's talk about doing something for you at that organization.

You can, you can be creative that way. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you, we've also talked about that you do individual coaching. I do individual coaching now, and I will continue to Yeah. Men and women. Yeah. Yep. Great. So I gotta, I gotta get my final pitch in. You're not, you didn't ask me. How do you find out more?

How do you find out more? Sue ? Go to our website , so it's, it's starbridge advisors starbridge advisors.com, and it'll show up right on the, on the homepage there. This new, in this new service called Sea Change, just drilled down from there to see the courses, the timing, the fees, et cetera. Oh, so you, you already have all that stuff on the website?

Oh yeah. I launched it last week in time for him, it's all on the website. Got it. Yeah. And I promote it on social media and I'm really now trying to emphasize 'cause there's so much interest. Um, we want people to register for the first courses, which start in March, so I need to Oh wow. That's get you to go to the website to check the schedule that's like right around the corner.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you Sue. Always a pleasure. Thank you. All right. Always a pleasure. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. This show is a production of this week in Health It. For more great content, you can check out our website at www.thisweekinhealthit.com or the YouTube channel at. This week in health it.com/video.

Thanks for listening. That's all for now.