Ochsner CEO: Listening, Not Speed, Made Me a Better Leader

Healthcare leaders are trained to move fast: diagnose, decide, act. In an essay for Becker's Hospital Review, Ochsner Health CEO Pete November argues those instincts, while valuable, can become a liability at the top of a large organization. His counterintuitive lesson is that the best path forward often starts with slowing down, staying curious, and asking better questions.

The practical shift is real. When leaders default to solving every problem themselves, they cut off the frontline insight that surfaces root causes, and they train teams to bring problems rather than solutions. November's framing suggests that listening builds trust, sharpens decisions, and helps executives avoid acting on incomplete information in high-stakes moments.

The message lands as health systems navigate workforce burnout, thin margins, and rapid technology change. Ochsner is one of the largest nonprofit systems in the Gulf South, so how its CEO sets cultural tone matters. The takeaway for operators: leadership effectiveness is measured less by how quickly you respond and more by how well you understand before you act.