Marty Bonick is about as well-known a name as you’ll find when it comes to the National – and Nashville – healthcare scene. Bonick is President and CEO of Ardent Health, which operates 30 hospitals and more than 280 care sites across mid-sized urban markets nationwide, while employing over 24,000 team members.
In this conversation, Bonick and Anne Hancock Toomey talk about his time growing up on Chicago’s South Side with a construction-worker father and nurse mother, his shift from pre-med to healthcare administration, and learning the industry through an administrative fellowship at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa. He describes mentors who shaped his patient-first approach, early leadership lessons from serving frozen yogurt and prepping pizzas, and being thrust into a first CEO role at 32.
He also recounts the moment when, watching the movie Twister on VHS, he got a call asking if he’d be interested in moving to Oklahoma. Yes, really.
Episode Highlights
-
2:13 From Chicago to Healthcare
-
4:40 Handy Skills and First Jobs
-
7:07 Mentors and Work Ethic
-
9:52 Hillcrest Fellowship to COO
-
13:04 Becoming CEO at 32
-
16:41 Three Leadership Rules
-
18:47 Starting Over in Louisville
-
22:25 Measuring What Matters
-
26:26 Taking The Career Fork
-
30:45 Fired
-
34:20 Traits of Great Leaders
-
36:41 Lightning Round
Looking for more? Subscribe to The Backstory on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News
"*" indicates required fields
