The BYU Marriott School of Business held its annual Healthcare Industry Network Conference during the fall 2022 semester. The conference focused on transformational leadership in the healthcare field with an underlying message of learning from the master healer, Jesus Christ.
“From premed to nursing, from public health to business, we can create new and innovative ideas while following Christ,” says Britt Berrett, managing director of the Healthcare Leadership Collaborative (HLC), the on-campus group that organized the conference.
The Healthcare Industry Network Conference was a two-day event at the Utah Valley Convention Center. Seven speakers discussed a range of topics, including “Interdisciplinary Considerations for Chronic Diseases” and “The Culture of Christ: Leading with Competence and Compassion.”
During his keynote lecture, Dow Wilson, former CEO of Varian Medical Systems, spoke on thinking differently within healthcare. “In healthcare we often get stuck in constructs that are comfortable,” Berrett says. “Now, we need to embrace the idea that we need innovation. There is no better place than BYU to incubate new ideas.”
In addition to incubating innovation, the conference promoted the importance of diversity in the healthcare field. The speakers came from different backgrounds and perspectives within healthcare, and more than half of the attendees came from outside Utah. “We wanted to introduce students to speakers who may not think or look like them,” Berrett shares.
Berrett, who was a hospital president for 25 years before transitioning to academia, has been pivotal in BYU Marriott's involvement with healthcare leadership. He contributed greatly to the creation of both the new healthcare leadership minor, designed to help students understand the basics of healthcare administration, and the HLC and its subsequent annual conferences.
The conference also focused specifically on transformational leadership in the healthcare business. “I’m hoping to help the students here realize that transformational leadership is just Christlike leadership,” Berrett says. A main part of his objective is to aid members of the healthcare community, from presidents to paramedics, in loving the patients they work with. “We bless more lives when we share, elevate, and collaborate with each other,” Berrett explains.
Berrett explains that Jesus did not just talk to a small sector, He talked with everyone. Berrett wants both his students and those who attended the conference to consider what more they can do to progress in their fields and their faith. Berrett asks, “How can you develop Christlike attributes? Can you love the people you’re working for and working with? Can you provide solutions and ideas that are forward thinking?” He hopes that the conference left the attendees inspired and motivated to continue striving toward Christlike leadership as they care for others both inside and outside of the patient room.
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Writer: Liesel Allen