The leadership challenges of transformation

Dr. Ricardo Azziz, President of Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU) and CEO of Georgia Health Sciences Health System, has made a blog post dated February 4, 2012 regarding the consolidation of GHSU and Augusta State University.

http://azziz.georgiahealth.edu/archives/406

The decision by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia will surely test the leadership of both those at Augusta State University and Georgia Health Sciences University. Twenty-five years from now I doubt anyone will credit or fault the Regents' decision based on levels of spending for higher education in Georgia. The consolidations will be judged by whether or not campus administrators and others found synergies in new realities.

From what I can observe as a student the leaders of both insitutions are accepting the new reality as opportunity. I think Dr. Azziz' blog post sets the right tone. He and others worked very hard to implement the institutional name change of GHSU to emphasize the mission of the historic institution. Now he is accepting the leadership challenge of adapting his vision to the new opportunity. The entire field of higher education in the United States is in transition and the need for adaptive leadership is everywhere. I appreciate Dr. Azziz for his leadership and his willingness to share his concerns and hopes through his blog and by other means. This is not just about the metropolitan Augusta area. The implications of this particular decision by the Regents regard the entire state of Georgia and beyond because of the scope of medical education and patient services provided by Georgia Health Sciences University and Georgia Health Sciences Health System.

The value of connections

Tim Berners-Lee changed the world, recently. He is credited by Time Magazine and others as the inventer of the World Wide Web. His vision and passion are evident in the TED presentation shown below. His vision is not limited to an innovative way for electronic devices to be connected. His vision extends to the connectivity of minds and the many possible transformations of the world. It often takes years for the knowledge produced by medical research to become applied in actual patient care. We are a society obsessed with the possession, protection and ownership of data, information and knowledge. It is a rare person who puts contribution before self enrichment. The coming revolutions in healthcare will largely be based upon the values of people like Tim Berners-Lee.