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Capstone Speaker: Kent Thiry, CEO of DaVita
Kent Thiry has transformed DaVita from a once struggling and near bankrupt company into the leading dialysis services center in the country, winning countless awards and accolades. Recognizing that innovation is particularly challenging in the services sector for numerous reasons, including but not limited to, constrained R&D, fragmented delivery, and lack of transparency, Thiry provided an entertaining Capstone session that focused on the firm’s investment in new ways of working and it’s unique approach to leadership.
Throughout the session, Thiry highlighted three quotes that summarize his approach to decision-making: “This isn’t a dress rehearsal, this is your life”, “Begin with the end in mind”, and “Be the change that you want to see in the world”.
Thiry discussed the clinical innovation, leadership and intentionality, and creative facilitation of a mission- and values-driven culture that have driven DaVita’s success. Within clinical innovation, DaVita has focused on developing cutting-edge diabetes-related services across the continuum of care. This includes pre-dialysis treatment and development of credibility with CMS through a CMS CKO demo. Thiry emphasized that it took many millions of dollars and significant time to build this credibility, noting that DaVita had to carry out the study that CMS wanted before they could focus on the endpoints that they felt were more important. He also mentioned DaVita’s leading kidney care website, which has dramatically added to the clinical value of the dialysis services – it is among the most-visited sites on diabetes issues. It also includes DaVita clinical quality measures in which all facilities evaluate their performance against others and improvement over time. Thiry also emphasized practicality – the DaVita diet helper offers practical recipes for diabetics and tracks nutritional intake, and he believes it is one of the most tangible benefits the firm gives to the public. He also discussed development of Lifetime Vascular Access facilities, the world’s first renal pharmacies, end of life focused care, and a system-wide EMR.
DaVita is also known for its passionate, creative culture as the staff continuously develops ways to create a value-laden environment and to remind people of the mission. Thiry discussed the importance of sending cultural messages about mission in tough times (during the turnaround) and building credibility going forward. He also emphasized giving real managerial focus to leadership and values tracking, contrasting the fact that most companies pay quarterly attention to financial and operational metrics but annual attention (at best) to leadership and values tracking.
He gave specific examples, such as the fact that all employees are members of the “DaVita Village” and, therefore, responsible to this community. Likewise, all staff reviews contain concrete evaluation along mission and values metrics. The brand and mission are consistently reinforced through DaVita songs, cheers, and dances at staff meetings, and numerous awards and profit sharing mechanisms are employed that embody DaVita’s mission and values.
This session was a refreshing and enlightening discussion regarding how Fortune 500 companies can do well while also doing good.
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