In celebration of Women’s 历史 Month, the Diversity, 股本, 包容和归属委员会(DEIB)选择了两位代表女性历史的女性领导人. A year ago, Robin LaBonte, CFO, 博士和. Jennifer Cutts, CMO, 以联合首席执行官的身份领导冰球突破的医院度过大流行和历史性的领导层过渡. Recently, Dr. 杰西卡·史蒂文斯(Jessica Stevens)和凯特·福特(Kate Ford)与他们坐下来讨论各自的旅程. 以下是那次谈话的一些要点，为了篇幅和清晰度，进行了编辑.
Women in the C-suite are few and far between. 在全国范围内，只有不到15%的首席财务官是女性，在医疗保健领域，只有不到10%的首席财务官是女性. 你认为是什么因素促成了你成功地获得了这个引人注目的角色? 你建议冰球突破如何帮助其他女性获得同样的成功?
RL我觉得你总是需要一个导师或支持者，对我来说，这从高中就开始了. Math was something that I had always loved. Back then, it was not as common for women to enjoy math. 我有一位很棒的老师，他支持我，鼓励我做任何我想做的事. In college, the same thing happened. 我学的是商科专业，有一位教授对我很感兴趣. 他给了我很大的帮助，让我迈出了第一步，我的第一份职业是公共会计. 我并没有打算进入公共会计行业或成为首席财务官，这从来都不是我的目标.
一旦你到了一个地方，找到了你喜欢的东西，那也是一把钥匙. 直到我出去工作，我才真正意识到医疗保健是我真正喜欢的事情. 所以，如果你能把你喜欢的东西和你的工作结合起来，这是很重要的.
我想到的另一个因素是接受你总是觉得你的职业生活和个人生活不平衡的事实. 有时候你的职业生涯很沉重，因为你有很多事情需要完成, and sometimes your focus needs to be on your personal life. So, if you can accept that, and use that to move forward and not expect a perfect balance, I think that is critical.
Work hard and 不 let fear get in the way. Let it motivate you. 尝试的东西. Don’t be afraid to fail; we all fail. 正是这些东西帮助我走到了今天的位置. Like I said, I didn’t set out to be a CFO, but looking back, just that love of math, accounting and health care all sort of came together.
冰球突破不确定你是否意识到你可能为冰球突破的女性铺平了道路. Talk to us about women in leadership at York Hospital.
JC: 我认为冰球突破对女性领导者来说是一个非常开放的地方. 如果你环顾四周，在我之前当然有很多女性领导人. 冰球突破有女性护理主管和各种服务部门的主管.
我确实认为女性有时需要一点鼓励才能担任领导角色. 他们倾向于认为自己可能不具备所有必要的技能, 他们可能会等太久才开始展示他们所能提供的东西. So, I think it is incumbent on us as women leaders, and leaders of the hospital in general, to always have an eye out for people who have potential, and even more than mentoring, sometimes sponsor those people.
Robin had talked about math teachers that had really mentored her. 在你的生活中，有没有人对你有帮助，鼓励你走得更远，成为今天的你?
JC: 这是一个有趣的问题，因为有时候，人们觉得他们应该有一个导师. And what I have found is that’s usually not practical, and if you are waiting for that to happen, you may miss opportunities. 在我的教育生涯和我的职业生涯中，我发现你真的需要抓住机会，在他们存在的一点一滴的指导. And, oddly enough, sometimes understanding who I 不 和找到我想成为的人一样有用和有建设性.
当别人给你们提供什么东西时，你们俩有没有害怕过，不敢接受? Did you take it, or did you pass?
RL: 绝对. 当我来到冰球突破时，他们正在面试首席财务官和财务总监. 现任首席财务官找到我，对我说:“我希望你能来面试 . . . .” I did, and I had a one-year-old at the time. It was going to require us to move here, so I said, “You know what? I 不 think I’m ready to take the CFO position.”
They offered me the controller, which I took. 我这样做了两年，然后首席财务官的机会又出现了. 我确实意识到，在我生命的那个阶段，我对我的家庭责任有点紧张, a move here, and all of that. So, I opted not to take that opportunity then, and I was fortunate enough that it came up a couple of years later.”
JC: 我想说，一般来说，害怕新的机会是正常的, 所以我希望这是冰球突破对任何新角色都会有的感觉. It’s normal. It’s just part of it.
RL: 如果冰球突破能鼓励人们去理解恐惧是正常的. 如果你能利用这一点，有时它可以帮助激励你. 但同时，现在做出不正确的决定也不是坏事. It doesn’t mean it’s the end of that career goal.
我认为这在你的职业道路上很明显——没有选择CFO的职位, 但最终还是来到了这里，并最终担任了首席财务官的职位. 所以说 no actually meant saying 是的,后来.
RL: The timing was much better. It may not have worked if I had opted in initially.
你有什么特别的智慧之语给那些正在说话的年轻女性吗, “I want to break that glass ceiling. 我想成为领导者，像你们两位那样激励人们。”? What advice do you have for those young women?
RL: 如果你能找到你真正感兴趣和喜欢做的事情和这个职位之间的一致性, or the place, or whatever it is for you, I think that’s critical. I think that’s a big driver of finding that success.
Take advantage of anything that gets offered to you. Don’t be afraid because it’s something you haven’t been part of. Don’t be afraid because you 不 know anyone in the room. 只要利用好摆在你面前的任何可以帮助你实现职业目标的东西.
JC: I would totally agree. 让我震惊的是，女性在高中是非常好的学生，在班上名列前茅，在大学也表现出色. 在这个过程中，他们会因为各种各样的原因慢下来. My advice would be to pace yourself, 继续, expect that you are going to run into road blocks, and 不 be discouraged.
Visit our YouTube page to watch a short excerpt from the interview.
Co-CEOs Robin LaBonte, CFO (center left),
博士和. Jennifer Cutts, CMO (center right),
with interviewers Kate Ford (left) and
Dr. Jessica Stevens (right) from the DEIB Committee.