Picture of Executive Director, Dr. Tara Cortes
Dear Friends,

Leadership of any organization is the foundation of its culture. With the rapidly changing healthcare environment of today's world and the confluent factors of intergenerational workforces, discrimination and inequities, and public incivility, the role of the leader is more important than ever. 

This past weekend I attended the celebration of the life of Frances Hesselbein, who recently passed away at the age of 107. Frances was one of my most cherished mentors and friends. Frances, with all of her 5-foot-2-inch stature, was a giant in the world of leadership. She led Girl Scouts of America from an almost defunct status to a membership of more than 3M young women strong. When she "retired" from the Girl Scouts organization at the age of 76, she assumed leadership of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, now known as the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum. In this role for more than three decades, she became a prolific author and advised numerous nonprofit leaders, corporate executives, and U.S. military officers. Frances was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in 1998 by President Clinton for being a pioneer for women, volunteerism, diversity, and opportunity. Celebrating her life this past weekend and speaking of her impact as a mentor to them were such dignitaries as General Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Defense in the Obama administration, and General Lloyd Austin, current U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Frances always talked about the importance of being grounded in your organization's mission. She resisted offers of money from companies wanting Girl Scouts to deliver their promotional material when they sold cookies. "Although the money would have been helpful," she wrote, "having Girl Scouts deliver promotional material for a private company had nothing to do with our mission."

"Leadership," Frances said, "is a matter of how to be, not how to do." She called for leaders "who are healers and unifiers." Instead of the usual pyramid of the corporate hierarchy, she favored a circle, facilitating cooperation rather than commands. She felt mentorship was essential for any leader and referred to it as "a leadership privilege." "To serve is to live" was her motto. 

Organizations of the future need great leaders. The character and values that leaders bring to an organization permeate the culture and impact recruitment and retention, workplace satisfaction, quality of work delivered, and customer satisfaction. 

Recognizing the importance of strong leadership in healthcare, HIGN is launching its new online Leadership Series, a collection of 6 interactive modules to enhance the skills of people in management and leadership positions across the healthcare spectrum. Please see below for more information on accessing these materials. 

Warm Regards,
Tara A. Cortes, PhD, RN, FAAN
Introducing the Leadership Series!
Growth as a leader is a continuous journey. The HIGN Leadership Series will enable people to build on their experiences and enhance their ability to use strategy and innovation to lead in a continually changing healthcare environment. As healthcare organizations face higher turnover and a limited pipeline of workers, establishing a culture that values respect, diversity, and community is more important than ever. Nursing CEs are available for each course.

Courses:


Click here to learn more.
Did You Know?
Thank You, Donors!
HIGN would like to recognize our recent donors:

Diamond
Dr. George E. Reed & Elizabeth Anne Reed

Gold
Gene P. McCullough

Silver
Pamela Cacchione
Dena J. Schulman-Green
Laurie Dodge Wilson
Martha Redeker

Your donations help further our mission!
Congratulations!

Congratulations to HIGN's Director of eLearning and Technology, Brittany Hamilton, for her recent acceptance into NYU Steinhardt's Higher Education Administration Doctoral program. In the Fall 2023 semester, she will be taking courses in this EdD program part-time, while continuing her work with HIGN full-time. Brittany has been working with HIGN for over three years and has worked in education technology for a total of 7 years. Her interests include adult learning, learning analytics, game-based learning, and equitable digital education. 
Health and Aging Policy Fellows
Call for 2023-2024 Applications

The Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program aims to create a cadre of leaders who will serve as change agents in health and aging policy to ultimately improve the health care of older adults. The year-long fellowship offers a rich and unique training and enrichment program that is focused on current policy issues, communication skills development, and professional networking opportunities to provide Fellows with the experience and skills necessary to help affect policy.

The program has a broad interdisciplinary focus, and Fellowship cohorts have included physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, food scientists, city planners, healthcare administrators, epidemiologists, economists, and lawyers from academic and practice settings, spanning career stages from newly minted PhDs to senior professors and community leaders

The one-year Fellowship runs from October 1 – September 30 and has full-time and part-time tracks. It is conducted as a hybrid program of mentoring, networking, learning and practicum experiences. The submission deadline is April 17th.

Click here to learn more and apply
HIGN Highlights


Prof. Fidel Lim published an essay What's your reason for nursing? for the American Nurse.

Prof. Tina Sadarangani was featured in an AARP article on Adult Day Centers.