Intro: ​The following SHSMD Podcast is a production of DoctorPodcasting.com.

Bill Klaproth (Host): On this edition of the shish med podcast, how do you go from marketing pro to CEO? Well, we're going to tell you as we talk with Michele Kidd Sutton and hear about her inspiring journey from being a dedicated SHSMD member to the chair of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Michele is also the CEO of North Oaks Health System in Louisiana.

So, you want to know what it takes to climb the ladder? Well, keep listening. Michele is going to drop the knowledge on you and offer invaluable insights into career progression and leadership development. It's a really cool story. You're going to like it. Let's get to it right now.

This is the SHSMD Podcast, rapid insights for healthcare Strategy professionals in planning, business development, marketing communications, and public relations. I'm your host, Bill Klaproth. In this episode, we talk with Michele Kidd Sutton, FACHE, and the Chair of the American College of Healthcare Executives. She is also The CEO of North Oaks Health System in Hammond, Louisiana. Michele, welcome.

Michele K. Sutton: Thank you, Bill. I'm thrilled to be here today with you all.

Host: My gosh, thank you. You have a lot of jobs. I mean, next, you're going to tell me you also volunteer at the local food kitchen and are a crossing guard monitor in front of the elementary school or something.

Michele K. Sutton: Did you read my resume?

Host: I did. I did, so I cheated. But you're amazing. You wear so many hats, and that's exactly why we wanted to talk to you. What an inspiring story for a lot of people. So, Michele, can you share a little bit of your story and tell us about your journey from being a SHSMD member to becoming the ACHE chair?

Michele K. Sutton: So when I started my career at North Oaks almost four decades ago, I was coming out of banking. And so when I transitioned to healthcare, I sought out an organization that would professionally help me develop because I was the marketing officer here at North Oaks and part of the executive team.

And SHSMD was recommended to me by the Louisiana Hospital Association Society for Healthcare Marketing, and they recommended that I join. And so, I did. And immediately, I found What I call my people. We all spoke the same language. I went to the conferences and they helped me transition my marketing skills, thinking from banking into healthcare. And we all share one common thing in marketing, and that is the ability to communicate and tell stories. And so, belonging to this phenomenal organization really honed my skills in healthcare communication. It taught me the latest trends and techniques because, over time, we went from relationship marketing to physician marketing to physician bonding. You know, I've watched it over the decades change. And every step along the way, SHSMD was there for me. I made it a point every year to go to the conferences. I never missed one. And always found the content valuable, and I really liked hearing success stories from my peers across the country, where they were doing some cutting-edge marketing, advertising, maybe direct sales, and really took their techniques that I heard and then brought them home to Hammond, Louisiana, which is just outside of New Orleans.

Host: What a great story, Michele. Thank you for sharing that with us. I like how you say, I found my people.

Michele K. Sutton: I did because, you know, marketers are a little bit different.

Host: No, absolutely. And I agree with that. And SHSMD is a great place to network and meet people and grow your skills as you say. So, let me ask you this question, how has your experiences within SHSMD influenced your leadership style and approach as a CEO today?

Michele K. Sutton: How it's helped me and I think made me a better CEO is that I know how to build relationships and how to cultivate relationships. And I don't know if I would have been able to do that as successfully as I have had it not been for SHSMD. Because they really worked with me in all of the different workshops, the conferences I attended. And so, being a CEO, you have to be relatable. You need to be approachable. And I think if you are the chief marketing officer, if you are a marketing director, we're known for being the people person. We're the ones who tell the story. We're the chief storyteller. And I think that's what has given me an advantage as a CEO.

Because I can represent North Oaks, I can be the chief storyteller. I know how to craft the message for maximum impact. I know what an inverted pyramid is. I can look at a press release and know whether or not it's going to hit the mark. I know when we're buying another business or buying another hospital. I know what those new employees would want to know and what things my team need to do in order to position the acquisition in the best light, how to frame it. And so, I truly believe having a background in marketing has given me some advantages that I might not have had, had I come up the traditional route through an MHA instead of an MBA.

And when I first started here, as a marketing officer, I was part of the executive team. And I would go to the board meetings. I was the administrator on call. So, I got exposed to operations, and I just loved it. And I thought I could utilize my skill set to continually product differentiate us from our competitors. I could utilize my skill set to set us apart, because I was looking through things through a marketing lens, not necessarily through an operational lens.

And over the years, taking that operational lens, I had to start taking that more and more because as I grew with this facility, I got more departments because I was a young leader. I was eager. I wanted to learn. And so, every time my CEO would say, "Who wants this department? Who wants to oversee this acquisition?" I would raise my hand and say, "I'll do it." And I think when you know how to write business plans, when you know how to draft strategic plans, when you can facilitate strategic planning processes, those are all things that then transcend into the boardroom, they transcend into a CEO role. Because now, you're partnering with that marketing executive to do the strategic plan. You're partnering with that board. But at the foundation is relationships. And it's about investing in people.

Host: It always is. You never go wrong when you invest in people. So, your experiences as a marketing professional, certainly, as you said, taught you and your experiences within SHSMD, taught you how to build and cultivate relationships. And as you said, you're able to communicate and tell a story.

You also said as things came up, you were always raising your hand. "I'll do it. I'll take that on. I'll take that on." Is that how you transitioned from being a communications expert in marketing to executive leadership, ultimately becoming a CEO? Is that how you made that transition?

Michele K. Sutton: It absolutely is. And I'll tell you how long ago it happened, was back in 2005, we had a hurricane called Katrina. And we were hit pretty hard here because we were the first stop off the interstate as people were evacuating from New Orleans. And unfortunately, our COO was sick and he could not report to work. And our CEO turned and looked for someone to help to assist to step up during that time of crisis and, once again, I raised my hand and said, "I want to help. Tell me What you need and I'm there." And so, partnering with other members of the executive team at the time, I was able to stand out into assist because I had strong relationships with all the departments within the hospital. And because as a marketing executive normally has strong ties to the community, which I did, I was able to reach out to get help for our facility to get the resources we needed to weather that hurricane.

And after that hurricane, I was like, "I want to do operations. I want to affect change." And as luck would have it, our COO stepped down shortly thereafter the hurricane to take another position within our facility. And I was offered the job in January of 2006 to be the Chief Operating Officer.

Host: You raised your hand again?

Michele K. Sutton: I raised my hand again. And I think sometimes as marketing people, we're used to volunteering for events in the community, being part of the Chamber of Commerce, being part of the Rotary Club, being part of Kiwanis Club. We're always raising our hand because we know when we go out into the community, we're representing our organization, and a CEO does that too.

As CEO, I raised my hand to be that resource for our community. When COVID happened, I made sure that North Oaks was the subject matter expert in our community. I partnered with parish government. I partnered with the school system, partnered with the Chambers of Commerce in our parish to give information. And I made sure that it was timely, relevant, and it would be written with the greatest impact, looking at it through my own marketing lens. And once you're a marketer, it never gets out of your blood. Because our job is to communicate, to build lifelong relationships.

And I think one of the best things our members in SHSMD could do for themselves is to commit to being a lifelong learner. And that's how I made the transition to ACHE, because that is a core value of the American College of Healthcare Executives, is to be a lifelong learner. We take continuing education hours every year because it helps us to be our best selves. As you know, healthcare is a very fluid industry, always changing, which is why I love it. It's never static. It's always got surprises. So when you commit to learning, then you're always staying ahead of those changes, of the innovations, or you're right in step with it. And taking a leadership role enables me to make our hospital, and I am the largest independent hospital service district in the state of Louisiana. And so, I'm not part of a big system, but what my competitive advantage is, is the relationships that I've developed, that I'm able to take information from the best minds across this country, the best practices and then bring it here and operationalize it.

Host: Yeah. Back to the relationships again. Well, Michele, you said, one of the keys is you've been a lifelong learner, and to aspire to bigger and better things, people need to be lifelong learners. Are there other key skills and knowledge and perspective that you can share with us for someone who might aspire to do the same thing you have done and turn a communication role into a CEO role? What other key skills and knowledge would someone need?

Michele K. Sutton: I think the first one is strong relationship skills. You need strong communication skills. You need to lead by example. You need to be approachable, commit to that lifelong learning. But also, you always have to be humble and remember where you came from and remember the people who helped you along the way because nobody ever, in my opinion, becomes CEO without a lot of mentors, coaches, and sponsors along the way.

And I think it's important that as we celebrate those people who've helped us along the way, we remember to give back. I think a good CEO gives back and mentors, sponsors, and coaches others. It's part of our job to prepare the future, do succession planning for those that follow in our footsteps.

And I'll never forget when I was at the bank, I was asked to answer the switchboard at lunch for a relief. And I thought to myself, I have an MBA and I'm answering a switchboard every day for lunch. And I said, "Okay, there's got to be a lesson in here for me. So, let me just do it." But it gave me an opportunity as I answered those calls to talk to customers, to see what they liked about our services. I would always ask, "Is there anything we could do differently to improve your service?" And then, I was able to take that back to my leadership team and say, "Let me tell you what our customer said." So, I used it as an opportunity for many focus groups. But little did I know when I came to the hospital as the marketing officer that one of the first departments I would raise my hand for would be the switchboard. And they had the exact same setup. So I immediately had street credibility when I could walk into our switchboard and pick up the phone at the console and transfer a call because I knew how it operated. It wasn't for the faint of heart. And I used that example with others to say do whatever is asked of you. Look at it as a gift, not as a burden, not as "Oh, one more thing." Look at it as, "Oh, one more thing that I can put in my toolkit that maybe later I can leverage or utilize it to my advantage."

And that's just one small example. But I think some people nowadays they see a job description and they think, "Okay, well, this is what I'm committed to doing and that's all." I don't think you can be successful in healthcare marketing or healthcare leadership or make that transition to the C-suite unless you come in with the mindset of I will do whatever it takes and there's nothing beneath me. And I will be in the trenches with the team when they need me the most.

And I think many times people forget that, and those of us who don't, stand out. And I think that's how you can move from a marketing exec to a C-suite executive to that CEO role if that's what you choose to do, by holding up your hand. It can't be about money, because I can tell you many times when I held up my hand, there was no more money. But I saw it as an opportunity that I was going to learn on their nickel. And they didn't expect me to be perfect, because they were giving me this new opportunity, so I could learn and grow. And maybe, if I moved to a different organization, I now had more tools in my tool kit that would make me more marketable to the industry and to stand out.

Host: I think that's a great point, Michele. If you want to stand out, as you said earlier, do anything that is asked of you, don't look at it as a burden, look at it as a gift. So, if you want to stand out, and as you put it again, add another tool to the toolkit, that's a great way to do that.

And some of the other things you said there, I really like you said, you know, make sure you're building relationships, you're communicating, leading by example, make sure that you're approachable. That's so important. Be humble and remember people along the way. So, that's really good advice for all of us, Michele. So, thank you for sharing that.

If I could ask you to put your CEO hat on now and kind of look into your crystal ball in front of you, do you see the future of healthcare strategy and how that is going to evolve? As you said earlier, it's always changing in healthcare. But where do you see us going from here? How is healthcare strategy going to evolve and how should we as healthcare marketing professionals prepare for that?

Michele K. Sutton: One of the best things about healthcare is, it's not going away. It's one of the industries that we will always need. So, I love it from a stability standpoint. And where I think from a strategy standpoint is, we are now in the digital age, and people are looking for more immediate access, and they want knowledge on demand. So, I think from a strategy, strategic planning standpoint, we have to figure out how to meet people where they are, and how can we do it quickly and efficiently, but still a sense of heart. Because with the advent of AI, many times you're seeing organizations use bots to answer questions or AI to make phone calls, do reminders. I think the challenge to us as healthcare leaders is how do we do that with a heart? Because healthcare is a very emotional service. Because people are coming to us when they're at their most vulnerable point. Let's face it, people don't come to hospitals or physicians' offices with one exception unless something has gone wrong. The one exception is birth. That's something they're choosing, they're excited about the opportunity to bring a little one into the world. But other than that, when people come to us, something has gone wrong in their life. And it's a gift that they're letting us into their lives at that most vulnerable point.

So, I think our challenge is, how do we keep that human connection when we're using more artificial intelligence, when we're doing more digital marketing, when we're doing things that maybe aren't as touchy feely as they used to be? So, I think we still have to have a balance of relationship, personal selling, going out to the civic clubs, what I call the roast beef circuits I used to laugh about years ago because I always serve roast beef at lunch when I would speak to the Kiwanis Club, the JCs, the Rotary Clubs, the church organizations, the Chambers of Commerce. I think you have to maintain that as part of your promotional mix moving forward as you're developing those strategic plans so that we can be nimble, we can be flexible, but we also have to find a way that, when people want information, they have access to it on demand with a heart.

Host: I love that. And bring the roast beef.

Michele K. Sutton: And bring the roast beef.

Host: I love that, Michele. So, I mean, you said some really great stuff there. So, for healthcare marketers today, you being a CEO of a hospital, you certainly are involved in this and have your finger on the pulse of current marketing strategies, but you talked about make sure you're having immediate access. People want knowledge on demand, meet people where they are. And I love your talk about heart. I think that's so good and having that sense of empathy when dealing with patients. So really good thoughts, Michele. Thank you so much for that.

So before we wrap up though, I understand, and you told us earlier you went to all the SHSMD conferences, tell us about what happened in San Diego over 9/11. Apparently, you have a story surrounding that.

Michele K. Sutton: I sure do. It's definitely one for the books. So, as I said earlier, I always went to the SHSMD conferences. And this year, because I knew that I was looking to really get more into operations, because I had started taking on more departments, I had moved into a new role as Chief Community Resources Officer and I hired my first marketing director. So, I took her with me to the SHSMD conference because I wanted her to be indoctrinated and to see all the great sessions and learn from leaders. So, we flew to San Diego for that conference. And it was her first flight, I'll never forget. And so, she and I were talking and really excited about the opportunity. And then, I turned on the news and I saw the first plane crash. I was like, surely, I'm seeing something I'm not seeing. And so then, I saw the next one. And so, I called her in her room. And then, we heard an overhead announcement about going down to the ballroom. So, we got dressed and we went down to the big ballroom where the general sessions were and we were held there. And the leaders were giving us updates as to what was going on. And we would have to stay in the hotel, preferably in this room, in the ballroom all together until we got it all clear that it was safe to go back up to our room.

And I'll never forget my CEO called and he said, "How can I get you money? Do you have enough money? I don't know how long you're going to be there." You know, "Are you okay? And I was like, "Yeah, I said, I have money. We're good." I said, "I have my ATM card if I need money." He said, "Well, I don't know if banks are going to be open." You know, he said, "So I'm trying to figure out how to make sure you're fine." And I'm like, "I'm good."

And as luck would have it during that time, my husband was moving our youngest son to UC Davis in California. And so, he happened to be on the west coast moving him. And so, I called and woke him up and said, "Turn on the news." And then, we tried to find planes and no planes were flying. We looked for rental cars, no rental cars to get home. So, my husband said, "Well, after I finished moving him in, I'll drive to San Diego." And then, we'll drive back across country to get home. And that's what happened.

And I'll never forget, but it's when marketers are at their best, that leadership team at SHSMD had to show up, they had to pivot, they ensured I always felt safe, I felt communicated with. I felt like they cared about me and wanted to make sure, you know, they made arrangements for the hotel to let us stay longer than we had anticipated until we could get a safe way home from the conference.

And I think, as healthcare CEOs, that's what we do. Just like at that conference, we show up for our people. We keep them informed. We are the calm in a storm. We lead by example. And I just feel very blessed for that opportunity because it taught me not to sweat the small stuff. And sometimes you just have to laugh. You know, we stayed at some really interesting hotels driving back across country. And my marketing director, she said, "Thank God for y'all." And we talked about coming through, I think it was Arizona or New Mexico, watching tumbleweeds blow through-- something I'd never seen before-- through these deserts that we drove back through.

But even with that, what stayed with me the most were those skills about overcommunicating and what they teach you in public relations that SHSMD emphasizes, and that is always tell it all and tell it fast. When there's an emergency, when there's a time of crisis, don't try to massage the message, don't say, "No comment" or you don't know. Tell them everything you know as soon as you know it to instill that confidence.

And I think as healthcare CEOs, that's what we do. We show up for our people, we walk around, we tell them what's going on, we tell them the good and we tell them the bad. Because that's what people trust. And to me, at the root of all healthcare is trust. Because you're entrusting your life in somebody's hand. And it doesn't matter what you do in healthcare, every person matters, every voice, every person makes a difference.

So, having a strong marketing background that emphasizes listening as well as talking, listening to my staff, watching body language to me, which is part of communication, and being able to answer those unasked questions. And you can't do that if you lead from your office, you have to lead from the field.

Host: Really good stuff, Michele. Tell it all, tell it fast, and make sure you're overcommunicating. Really interesting things. And you also said things like 9/11 and having to go through that and other things certainly teach you how to be calm in the middle of a storm, which can help you later on in life. And for of us who are around during 9/11, I know that we all have similar kinds of stories, remembering that day and what happened. And good for us never to forget that day.

Michele, thank you so much for your time. This has really been informative. It's been great talking with you. And congrats on being named the Chair of ACHE. Really good stuff. And thank you so much again.

Michele K. Sutton: Thank you. It's my pleasure, Bill.

Host: Yeah, once again, that is Michele Kidd Sutton. And remember to save the date for SHSMD Connections 2025. It's in Dallas this year. It's October 12th through the 14th, 2025. And I hope to see you there. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And please hit the subscribe or follow button to get every episode. And to access our full podcast library for other topics of interest to you, make sure you just go to SHSMD.org/podcasts. This has been a production of Doctorpodcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See you!