Journal of Sacred Work

It is a story reported here before and raised again to highlight a crucial truth: We hide many of our best gifts from ourselves. Jesus, in his universal role as a prophet and leader, advised not to "hide" our light.* When leaders spotlight gifts hidden in others it can sunrise success.

   In the mid-1980s Ohio's largest hospital needed a blue ribbon leadership team. A CEO is like a football coach or orchestra conductor – not just recruiting talent but helping players shine.

  The light coming through that mid'-'80s time-window revealed multiple leaders-in-hiding that would take top spots in American healthcare. "Hiding" here, meant that none of them had top leadership experience in health care. 

   Mark Evans was working for a retail department store chain. Hiring him as Senior Vice President for Human Resources was one of my best decisions. Tracy Wimberly, R.N., was a first line public health nurse in Toledo when I noticed her. She became our Senior Vice President for Patient Care. Jeff Kaplan, who was a top assistant to a university president when I recruited him to help lead Riverside Methodist Hospital. 

  These three had one more thing in common: Profound talent beyond what they recognized in themselves. That had also been true of our Senior V.P. Steve Garlock when I hired him from the Faultless Rubber Division of Abbott Labs. He did not appreciate how good he was until he helped us become so strong that by 1994 Riverside was among America's top ten hospitals and the flagship of the burgeoning U.S. Health system (now OhioHealth.) 

  I get too much credit for Riverside, OhioHealth's and Baptist Hospital's booming successes. Part of what I did was simply recognize that each star could shine more brightly if I could help them trust their talents and practice them. 

   A leader's job is not simply to hire. It is to develop a culture that nurtures the best talents in everyone! We are all stronger than we think we are. But often takes someone else to recognize our hidden gifts. 

   When that happens, Love triumphs. 

-Erie Chapman 

*Neither do men [sic] light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” (Matthew 5:15)