University of Pennsylvania Health System Chief Executive Officer Ralph Muller joined about 20 undergraduates, an alumnus and a prospective Penn student for lunch yesterday in the Fels Center of Government building.
The event, which was organized by the University's Robert A. Fox Leadership Program, is one of six informal gatherings of students and campus leaders planned for this spring.
Muller's remarks touched on such topics as his personal background, his philosophy of leadership and the current issues facing the Health System. He emphasized the roles of both random opportunity and aggressive response to good luck in shaping his career path.
"I planned early to be a teacher," Muller said, but he discovered in graduate school that he lacked the temperament to be an academic.
Instead, Muller found himself managing the budget of the Massachusetts government before he was 30 years old as state budget director. He went on to serve as budget director of the University of Chicago and, five years later, as both president and CEO of the University of Chicago Health System.
"I didn't know how an operating room worked," he said, adding that his success came because he knew finance and how to build consensus.
Muller managed UCHS for 17 years before becoming CEO of Penn's Health System 10 months ago.
He outlined several principles of leadership that have guided him in his career and peppered his presentation with personal anecdotes. Among his suggestions was a call for students to improve and maintain their writing skills.
"If you can write clearly, that will get you through a lot of life," Muller said.
Muller also invited attendees of the Leadership Lunch to seize opportunities for leadership and to emphasize the skills that they have. He discussed how an active lifestyle -- including, for him, an over-35 weekly basketball group he organized at Penn -- creates balance and relieves stress.
Muller also briefly addressed concerns about rising medical malpractice costs in Philadelphia and other urban centers, as well as the national shortage of nurses.
"In my opinion, it's not a good system if there's such variation [in medical malpractice damages] within 30 or 40 miles," Muller said.
However, he stressed that a number of proposed solutions, such as putting a cap on allowable damages, are impossible in the short term. Muller explained that he believes in systematic and pragmatic managerial thinking.
On the subject of the nursing shortage, he speculated that there will be further salary increases for nurses in coming years.
Associate Director of Fox Leadership Chuck Brutsche was pleased with Muller's comments.
"I thought he was really honest in expressing his experiences," Brutsche said. He also praised Muller for his interest in lifelong learning and writing.
College junior and Fox Leadership member Justin Lubell was similarly impressed with Muller.
"He seems to manage people as expertly as he does hospital budgets," Lubell said.
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