EXECUTIVE CORNER: Why?
Richard Keck, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
As I was packing for a business trip recently my children asked in unison why I was leaving for another [their emphasis] business trip. While I wasn’t able to offer a good or satisfying answer to their question, the look in their eyes made me think long and hard about their question as I hustled from meeting to meeting.
A conversation with an old friend reminded me of a TED talk I’d heard and the book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek.
Sinek offers a thesis that is straightforward, and compelling: companies need to, at a thoughtful level, articulate why they exist. For an organization, this could be translated into identifying the cause, the purpose or even the core belief. This translation stands in stark contrast to a market share, a valuation or even the compensation objectives typically used to describe companies today. Those metrics should, in Sinek’s view, emerge as a result of a powerful why or values statement.
So, kids, here is a summary of Aventura and why I, and my colleagues, are so focused on making Aventura a success.
Aventura is dedicated to improving healthcare by helping clinicians use technology more efficiently. We believe that doctors and nurses need information to provide the highest quality care possible to their patients. In hospitals, the care team has to share information continuously, and computers help them do this. But only when the computer information is easy to access and easy to update. And, it turns out that this seemingly simple task, is not so simple at all. Yet, Aventura has developed a patented solution to address this problem; and we have customers using it.
In fact, we believe that Aventura’s solution is as important to caregivers as dimmed lights are to a romantic candlelight dinner. That is a big statement. And yet our users tell us that every hospital can benefit from our solution. So, we tolerate nights away from our families to spread the word. It is worth it because we need great hospital care, and Aventura can help.
