On October 3rd, Health 2.0 EDU will be co-hosting an innovative three-day executive education course on digital health with UC Berkeley. In preparation, Senior Director of Academic Programs, Robin Friedlander, interviews professor Jennifer Chatman, the Cortese Distinguished Professor of Management at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, on what it takes to be a leader in health care today:

RF: Why is organizational leadership so important in developing the new health care landscape?

JC: Organizations cannot be effective without effective leadership. Achieving collective goals requires that leaders ensure that people are prioritizing things similarly.

RF: Your courses at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business focus on organizational and high performance cultures. Can you briefly explain what these are and how they develop?

JC: Culture is a leadership tool and, as such, has three criteria: first, the most effective cultures are strategically relevant; they foster the behaviors that will make it more likely that the organization will achieve its strategic aspirations. Second, the culture is strong; people agree, and care intensely, about upholding cultural norms. And third, the culture is adaptable over time.

RF: How do you expect your course on October 3rd with Health 2.0 EDU to differ from your management courses at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business?

JC: [The course] is meant for working executives in the health care field; real issues, real problems will be discussed based on participants’ experiences.

RF: Do you have a take home message for the health technology executives attending your upcoming UC Berkeley course with Health 2.0 EDU?

JC: That culture is deliberate, not something that simply happens to an organization.

Registration for the executive course ends September 1, 2013. The full agenda is available here.