Avera Health President and CEO Jim Dover got his start in medicine as a phlebotomist and EKG technician in Idaho, thinking he wanted to be a lab scientist until a friend suggested he think about leadership. That nudge led him to pursue an M.H.A. degree, to read up on leadership, and pursue an executive path. Along the way he made sure to lean into difficult situations -- "you end up learning more from those experiences than any others," he says, speaking with Senior Partner Michelle Johnson for WittKieffer's Impactful Leaders Podcast. Difficult situations for health system CEOs include discussions around succession planning and leadership development. It's easy for organizations to "kick the can down the road," he says, since these activities involve tough conversations with current leaders about their futures. It requires organizations to take time to assess the potential of executives, help them develop individualized plans for growth, and reassure them that discussions about their futures (including potential successors) won't impact their ability to do their jobs in the here and now.

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