Habitual Excellence — 45: Revisiting an Interview of Paul O’Neill, Sr. From 2011

Show notes: https://www.valuecapturellc.com/HE45

Free eBook: “A Playbook for Habitual Excellence”: http://valuecapturellc.com/playbook

Welcome to Episode #45 ofHabitual Excellence, presented by Value Capture.

Today’s episode is a bit different than our usual interviews and conversations. Today, we are republishing an interview that Mark Graban did in 2011 with the late Paul O’Neill Sr., the former non-executive chair for our firm. he was, of course, so much more than that, (CEO of Alcoa, United States Treasure Secretary, and more), as you’ll hear in this interview that originally appeared as Episode 124 of his Lean Blog Interviews podcast.

In summary, Mr. O’Neill talked about:

  • Leadership mindsets required for dramatic workplace safety and patient safety improvement, including a near 100% reduction in hospital-acquired infections at Pittsburgh’s Allegheny General Hospital
  • Why the United States has accomplished “practically nothing” nationally since the famed 1999 Institute of Medicine report “To Err Is Human”
  • Why society’s most lacking skill is “leadership”
  • Alternative ways of compensating patients who are harmed by the healthcare system while ensuring real improvements are made by learning from each problem
  • Why leaders in Washington D.C., at the time, should have shifted from “financial engineering” to visiting ThedaCare to learn about “the real way” we should improve health care.

You can also find a full transcript below on this page.

Please check out our free eBooks about the work and wisdom of Mr. O’Neill.