CEO of RWJBH Shares the Keys to Good Leadership

Steve Adubato goes on-location at the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame to speak with Barry Ostrowsky, President & CEO of RWJBarnabas Health, about the keys to good leadership, the communication challenges young people face and the importance of providing constructive feedback.

6/22/19 #107

Excerpt:

"We are in fact thrilled to be joined by our good friend Barry Ostrowsky, who is the President and CEO of RWJBarnabas Health. We're at the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame. It benefits Junior Achievement of New Jersey. One of your own, Michellene Davis...? Indeed. ...being inducted into the Business Hall of Fame. What does that mean to you and your organization? Rightfully so. Michellene is a role model to so many people. Those of us that are in the business, and those of us that are coming up in the business, and frankly the youth of our state. To look at a woman like Michellene, who's an accomplished attorney, and is now heading up our Social Impact Division. And I think to be able to feat her and put her in the Hall of Fame recognizes that we can be leaders, we can be successful, and I hope that's the message that will get out. So we're delighted. Let's talk about this Barry. You and I talk about leadership a lot offline. For young people the biggest message you have for them, because you've... education was important to you, working hard, et cetera, et cetera, but biggest message for them if they want to be successful in any walk of life? Right. I think leadership, frankly, is relationship-based. You need education and you have to understand the topic and the subject matter. But to lead people, you have to connect with people. And frankly, the worry I have among the youth today, that the connection is typically based on some digital transmission of information. That's not a good way to lead. If you're going to lead people, you need to create a relationship with those people. A relationship that builds trust, a relationship that builds respect, and when that's the case, you will be a good leader. So I'm hoping that this phase where everybody's texting one another, that might be okay socially. But for business leadership? That's not effective. And the youth today need to know that if you're going to lead others, they need to build this personal relationship. Face-to-face? Face-to-face. And that's the challenge for a lot of them? Yes it is. I don't want to be... listen, I know there are a whole lot of young people who are very confident, interpersonal skills are solid, but a very high percentage of them have a hard time because of this? That's right. Am I making too much that? No. I don't think you are. I mean, if you're going to rely both socially and for recreation, on playing a one-sided video game or just texting, then you're going to find..."