What an MBA taught America’s top doctor

There was no long-term career plan, says Vivek Murthy, the 21st Surgeon General of the United States. “I had never put a dot on a timeline 20 years later and said, ‘This is where I want to be. I will work in this direction.

Dr Murthy tried to map out a career plan when he was young, he recalls, but found it didn’t work for him. “Life kept unfolding and it took me down different paths.”

These paths have led to a multitude of roles. Dr. Murthy is a physician, non-profit co-founder, business school graduate, entrepreneur and author. Now, as Surgeon General, her mission is to promote good health by sharing tips and resources with the public. As Vice Admiral of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, he also commands more than 6,000 public health workers.

This is not Dr. Murthy’s first term as “the nation’s doctor.” In 2014, he was appointed the 19th Surgeon General by then US President Barack Obama, becoming the first person of Indian descent to assume the role.

He faced a tough nomination, in part because of his view that gun violence is a public health issue – a stance that angered pro-gun lobby group the National Rifle Association. Nor has he been shy about vigorous debate once in power: in 2015, for example, he published a pro-vaccine campaign during an outbreak of measles cases in the United States.

His original term was cut short in 2017 when the Trump administration removed him from office – a move criticized by some as politicizing the role. It was not until the spring of 2021 that he returned to office under the Biden government.

Born in Huddersfield, Northern England, but raised in Miami, Florida, Dr. Murthy’s career began with a chance encounter. His father had met a philanthropist who was looking to support good causes and encouraged his son to come up with an idea. With this, Dr. Murthy and his sister Dr. Rashmi Murthy co-founded Visions Worldwide, a non-profit organization that developed HIV and AIDS education programs in India.

“It changed my life because it started my journey in public health,” he says. “He [also] helped me recognize that I was an entrepreneur at heart, which means that I enjoy finding challenges that, if solved, can improve people’s lives on a large scale.

Despite this early entrepreneurial bent – ​​he also helped found Swasthya, an organization that trained young women to become community health workers in the southern Indian state of Karnataka – he never had no intention of studying for an MBA. He was at Yale School of Medicine when the university developed a joint MBA/MD program with its School of Management, and in 2001 he enrolled.

Dr. Murthy knew he “really loved creating a vision, building an organization and bringing people together to make that vision a reality”. But the experience also showed him that he had a lot to learn about “how to build effective organizations,” he says. “And that’s why I went to business school.”

I enjoy finding challenges that, if solved, can improve people’s lives on a large scale

He acquired concrete skills there: the courses in organizational behavior in particular had a “profound impact” on his work. It helped him understand “how to create a culture in an organization that truly supports your mission and results.” He learned about the “different facets” of workplace culture: good communication and leadership, and creating an environment where people can come to work and “be appreciated for who they are.”

He then applied these principles when founding the health advocacy group Doctors for America and TrialNetworks, a software technology company that aimed to improve communication and collaboration in clinical trials. “In both cases, shaping the organizations culture was central to how I approached the job, and that was partly because of the organizational behavior class.”

Dr. Murthy also uses his knowledge of organizational behavior as a surgeon general – both to build his team and to inform policy. The class opened their eyes to the larger issue that many people work in places where they don’t feel valued, and this “impacts the individual and the organization”. He credits his recent work — publishing a framework that supports workplace mental health and wellbeing — in part to those classes at Yale.

Business school also gave him new perspectives he hadn’t found in healthcare. He met people who had “experienced the world very differently from me” and learned to see change as an opportunity. In healthcare, change is viewed with caution — rightly so, because you wouldn’t want your surgeon experimenting with new techniques while you’re in the operating room, he notes.

“In business school, however, I came to see change as a profound opportunity to reimagine what the world might look like and make it that way,” he says. “I remember when I came back to the hospital after my time in business school, I felt like I was looking at the world through new glasses and seeing the opportunities much more clearly all around me.”

But, as he saw the world in a new light, as a leader, he began to look within. The MBA made him more introspective, he says, prompting him to reflect on his leadership style and realize that this kind of analysis needs to be part of the way he operates.

“It really helped me understand how important it is to set aside time for personal reflection,” he says. “And to have a council of people around you who can help you see more clearly what you’re doing, especially when you have [blinkers] on or when you have blind spots to manage.

The importance of how he communicates as a leader was also highlighted. He realized how powerful words can be – whether spoken or not – and how they affect motivation. “I became much more attentive to how I communicated with people in my organization and how I handled conflict,” he says.

Indeed, some of the aspects he most regrets as a leader have to do with the way he handled conflict when creating Visions. “These are times when I realized that being right isn’t enough,” he says. “What matters is how you communicate your point of view, how you keep the team together and how you stay open-minded and continue to learn from people who have points of view. different from yours.”

I came to see change as an opportunity to reimagine what the world might look like

In retrospect, Dr. Murthy can see his career narrative – even though there was and still is no plan. “I’m excited about the opportunity to improve people’s lives on a large scale,” he says. “I’m also excited about the potential to help people feel empowered, to do more for themselves and their families.”

That means he doesn’t need to plan for the next five, 10 or 15 years, he says, but just to make sure the role he’s playing in feels fulfilling and making the best possible contribution. . “If I do this – and make sure I have time to reflect and think, to have conversations with people who continue to teach me – I have confidence that the next step on this path will be will unfold.”