Possibility Unleashed: Lessons in Health System Change
Dr Marc Harrison's Possibility Unleashed is a physician executive's account of leading change at scale. Its lessons travel well beyond the system where they were learned.
Harrison is a physician, a former health system chief executive, an Ironman triathlete and a two-time cancer survivor. He writes with the urgency of someone who has been a patient as well as a leader. His book is built around a simple claim: a health organisation can be financially strong, a good place to work and a force for good in its community at the same time, if its leaders are willing to act differently.
The lessons that stayed with me
Walk in others' shoes. Leaders who have been patients, or who spend real time with patients and staff, make different decisions.
Bring in an outsider's perspective. Healthcare often solves problems the way it always has. People from other industries see options insiders miss.
Look in the mirror. Change starts with the leader's own behaviour.
Fix what isn't broken yet. The best time to change is while you are still successful, not after decline sets in.
Unlock the genius at the bedside. The best ideas for improving care usually come from the people delivering it.
Make "frenemies". Harrison describes working with competitors to create a not-for-profit generic drug company to address shortages and prices. Some problems are too big for any one organisation.
Go upstream. Address the causes of ill health in the community, not only its consequences in the hospital.
Stand up for what's right. Leaders are judged by what they do when the right choice is the harder one.
Why it matters in the Gulf
Health systems across the region are being restructured, privatised and expanded at speed. Leaders are being asked to deliver better outcomes, financial sustainability and national health goals at once. Harrison's book is a reminder that these goals need not conflict, and that partnership, front-line insight and prevention are as important as new buildings.
Questions for leadership teams
- When did we last change something that was working, before it stopped working?
- Which of our improvement ideas this year came from the front line?
- Which problem could we solve only by partnering with a competitor?
Transformation in healthcare is less about grand plans than about leaders willing to see differently and act sooner.
Dr Fatih Mehmet Gul is a physician and healthcare executive who has built, commissioned and led hospitals across the Gulf and Türkiye. He is an Honorary Professor at UCL Global Business School for Health, author of Connected Care, and host of The Chief Healthcare Officer podcast.
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