Northwell CEO Michael Dowling says risk is key to innovation

Michael Dowling has had a long and winding road to get to the top office at Northwell Health, based in New Hyde Park, N.Y. He immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in 1968 at 17 after spending several summers in New York on a student visa. During those early years, he mostly worked as a laborer, often clocking in 120-hour workweeks to pay for his college tuition and support his family overseas. After graduating with a masters in social policy from Fordham University, he taught there for four years, until he received a phone call that would lead him to make his riskiest move yet.

WHAT WAS YOUR RISKIEST MOVE? When I got a call from the office of the newly elected governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, asking if I would join the state government and take on a position.

WHY WAS THAT RISKY? I was doing well at Fordham, teaching public welfare and health issues. I had not been involved in government. The job was in Albany, 150 miles away. I didn’t even have a car. I didn’t even know how to get there. When you go into government, if it doesn’t work out, you’re out of luck. I had never met the governor. I remember saying to myself, “What do they see in me? What have I done?” But that’s what innovation is all about, people taking risk. I had a big interview down in the World Trade Center. I walked in thinking, “Well, this is not going to go anywhere.” They probably thought the same thing, but I had kissed the Blarney stone so it went well.

WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME? I spent 12 years in government. I eventually became in charge of all health and human services for the state of New York. We did a lot of good work. We created very innovative programs that became national models. There were a lot of great things done in children’s health and on welfare reform. All of those things were, to some extent, copied by the federal government.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO EXECUTIVES IN SIMILAR POSITIONS? My view is when the door opens—and I tell staff this all the time—jump through it. Just because you don’t know what might happen doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow. Don’t be risk-averse. Some people overanalyze. They get a sheet of paper, and they put down the pros and the cons and back and forth. If you have confidence in yourself, go with your gut. People become catatonic by excessive analysis.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE? I like to coach. I like to involve lots of people. I like to reach out and get ideas from various people, not necessarily just people in the organization with titles. I am very people-focused. I spend an extraordinary amount of time with employees at the front lines, as well as across the organization. I like to be transformative. I’m always thinking about how it is we can do something different. I’m always looking five, six years out, 10 years out. I make a distinction between management and leadership. I like to see myself more on the leadership scale, which is the ability of trying to figure out how to see the future, and then trying to figure out how to navigate it.

Learn more from Michael Dowling's leadership and his influence on the industry. Join him at Modern Healthcare's Leadership Symposium, March 31-April 1, 2020 in Scottsdale, AZ. To request to attend, visit: https://modernhealthcare.wixsite.com/leadership