Dr. Marc Harrison: Today I'm with Brad White, who works in material management at Utah Valley Hospital. Brad, please tell us a little bit about what you do, how long you've been at Intermountain, and then love to hear what's on your mind today.

Brad White: Well, I joined with Intermountain in 2006, about 11 1/2 years ago, started on the dock, kind of moved to a night position, covering the phones, gathering materials for departments at need. Went into asset recovery because it was a day position. At about that point, I got into a material specialist. At that point, I had a liaison with our cardiac unit, and our central processing. Now, I take care of a few floors. The ICUs, we have a cardiac ICU, a neuro-shock trauma ward.

Dr. Marc Harrison: Sounds like a really interesting, really varied kind of job that you have. Do you love it?

Brad White: Oh, I've been here 11 years, so that's a good sign. Intermountain has allowed me to pursue an education. I've got my economics degree without having a student loan payment.

Dr. Marc Harrison: That's fantastic.

Brad White: Was an interesting time to be in college in 2008.

Dr. Marc Harrison: I bet it was. Where did you get that degree?

Brad White: Oh, from UVU. It was fun working, taking night school while ...

Dr. Marc Harrison: I've done that. That's not easy, is it?

Brad White: It's interesting.

Ultimately my question just came in, like once again change, it's happening. We have the long term, 25 years ahead, where everything is variable, and then my question was kind of just solidified around the near to long term, the one with the hardest questions to answer, unfortunately.

Dr. Marc Harrison: Sure.

Brad White: Is what do we see the future on our non-clinical side? We have, in my case it's the support department. In my mom's case it's laboratory. I could make economic cases in both sides, whether it's outsourcing, insourcing, expanding the role. So what are your thoughts about our future on our non-clinical side and our support side?

Dr. Marc Harrison: Brad, I am extraordinarily optimistic, okay? You are a great example of how people have morphed and changed. One of the reasons I wanted to hear a little bit about your history is, you've gone through an enormous evolution, haven't you?

Brad White: Yeah.

Dr. Marc Harrison: Yep, and you've gotten yourself educated and Intermountain's been part of that, it sounds like, and glad we are, and we hope to do that for many, many other highly motivated people as the years go on. This one Intermountain approach should actually break down silos and barriers, so one of the directives that I've shared with HR is that we need to be far less rigid than we have been historically about how people's career progression goes. I'd love to see people jump between different parts of the organization that have historically been siloed, and find careers. Historically, people have ended up in one part of the organization, and their horizons have been the edge of that part of the organization, so maybe somebody works in finance or in the medical group, or in the hospitals, and their opportunities for advancement exist within that area of Intermountain, and that's cool. That's great, and that will be true. Opportunity for vertical growth in those areas, that remains absolutely 100% possible. Going forward, and actually it's happening now, I've asked our HR team, and I've asked our leaders to try and bring down any barriers that would allow people to move, say from the medical group to the hospitals, or from finance to HR, or from HR to working in the hospitals. I want people to be able to take their talents and to express their gifts across the organization, and not to be geographically constrained by regions anymore. That was one of the thoughts in taking those down, is that we make friends and relationships across the whole place. That's to everyone's benefit, because that doesn't happen without the commitment of the people who are doing the jobs all over the system, that is not a leadership thing. That is an all of us together thing.

We know that the jobs are going to be different, but there's still going to be an enormous need to take care of our state, and our state, as you know, is growing. I mean Utah County is growing like crazy, both by people having babies, but also people moving in. We're going to need a lot of really smart people, and maybe the skill set going forward is less around, "What are you technically trained to do," but more around, "Can you learn? Can you grow? Can you change? Can you lead change," than being stuck in a narrow sliver of a part of the organization.

Brad White: Oh yeah, that actually broadens the whole scope. Like I say, when I started in 2006, there was that, your first inkling of a career was, "Okay, I'll move up this way through the supply chain and then I'll get my masters, and then at some point a manager spot in supply chain will open up, and hopefully I've made enough relationships in whichever region it was." And now since the silos are kind of coming down, it's wide open.

Dr. Marc Harrison: It's a wide open playing field, and what I really love also, because I like relationships also, and am really glad you mentioned them, Brad. To a large extent, relationships developed within regions, and now I hope that as we play as a team across the enterprise, that we make friends and colleagues and great relationships all over the breadth of Intermountain, and that will open additional doors for you, I think. Does that make you feel a little bit better, because it sounds like you were a little nervous about this, maybe?

Brad White: Well, not so much nervous. Really, what we've discussed today just increases the number of possible paths to take.

Dr. Marc Harrison: Right.

Brad White: Whereas, some of these involve leaving Intermountain. Some of them involve pursuing more within Intermountain, and it just kind of increased that whole spectrum as far as my own future. Yeah, it makes for a fascinating study into the future.

Dr. Marc Harrison: It does, and actually, hopefully it will make for a really satisfying and exciting life for you and for your family. I've got to get a pitch in here, that I hope that you're going to stay within Intermountain, but if for some reason you decide to leave for a period of time, I hope you'll come back, and gain new skills, gain new talents, and then dive back in, because it isn't a one way valve, right?

I'm glad you're on the same team as I am. Thank you.

Brad White: Well thank you.

Dr. Marc Harrison: It's a pleasure.