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From the Desk of Ian Morrison

TO: The Field
FROM: Ian Morrison
RE: The 2010 Health Forum and AHA Leadership Summit July 22-24 in San Diego

This will be the best Leadership Summit yet! We have an unbelievable lineup of dynamic keynoters who will help us focus on the theme of "Hospitals Leading Health Care's Transformation." With health care reform entering the crucial implementation stage, hospitals are leading the transformation of care toward higher performance. It is a great opportunity for us all to learn how to lead in a time of high change from our stellar keynoters:

The Honorable Al Gore, former vice president, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and best-selling author, will focus on sustainability. Mr. Gore will give us a leader's insight on how thinking green is not only an environmental strategy, but also a powerful economic strategy for the 21st century. His presentation will give us a critical example of how to think about big change and combining social, political and economic dimensions of the major issues.

Our keynote panel of health care leaders—Martha Marsh, president and CEO, Stanford Hospitals and Clinics; David Tilton, president and CEO of Atlanticare; and Lowell Kruse, senior fellow, Heartland Foundation—will give us an insiders' view of how organizations survive and thrive no matter what the environment. I am honored to be moderating this panel and learning about the journey they have taken by focusing on service and quality improvement, clinical innovation and operational excellence.

Steven Levitt, the best-selling co-author of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics and University of Chicago professor of economics, is back by popular demand. His quirky and compelling analyses of sophisticated data sets will make you laugh and bring new insight about the role of information and incentives in making change in complex systems. Anyone who can weave global cooling, patriotic prostitutes and suicide bombers into a best-selling title has got to be worth listening to.

Dee Dee Myers, former White House press secretary, best-selling author and political commentator, will focus on the role of women in societal and organizational change. She draws on her wealth of experiences to identify how women's perspectives and talents can help make positive transformation a reality in organizations and society.

Newt Gingrich, founder, Center for Health Transformation, brings his sharp intelligence, keen wit and conservative perspective to an analysis of the emerging reality for health care leaders. Mr. Gingrich is a voice for change in health care and his work with cutting-edge health care organizations will provide us with critical leadership lessons.

Ken Burns, historian and filmmaker, is one of the most gifted storytellers of his generation. His award-winning documentaries help us see what is best in America and provide us with compelling examples of how leaders can make a difference in difficult times. From his historical analysis of iconic American institutions such as jazz, baseball and our national parks to his moving and compelling histories of World War II and the Civil War, he tells us how leaders, and ordinary Americans, rise to greatness.

Six educational tracks will explore a range of innovation and leadership topics to help you translate "big picture" lessons to practical change. We are back in San Diego, same time as Comic-Con 2010 (with 30,000 comic fans) so you can always duck next door and hang out with Superman and Iron Man. They will certainly be there. You have to be there, too. See you in July.

This article 1st appeared in the June 2010 issue of HHN Magazine.

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