Susannah Meadows
Susannah Meadows currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and twin sons. She is a healthcare leader who has struggled to find a solution to a healthcare problem. Additionally, she is the epitome of power, hope, determination, and persistence. Meadows discovered that cures for diseases could be found outside conventional medicine. Her research was motivated by the condition of her son. Her child was diagnosed with a debilitating autoimmune condition that conventional medicine was unable to cure. According to her, many people faced with similar conditions accept their fate instead of fighting to beat them (Heather, 2017).
Meadows faced contextual challenges on the use of conventional medicine to try treating her son. There was no change. She had to contend with a sick son. Meadows faced professional challenges as she had to continue with her journalism career despite having a sick patient. Also, she had to start writing her book to tell her story yet her son had not fully recovered. She overcame the challenges through a combination of desperation and circumstance pushed her to persistently find a solution to the problem. She explored treatments such as diet and supplements, and ultimately found a solution. She asserts, “If you have exhausted the answers that traditional medicine has, that’s not the end of the world” (Weeks, 2018). She means that instead of being disillusioned because of the lack of a conventional solution, one should venture into unconventional solution and in doing so they may find solutions. Her groundbreaking was when she ventured in a journey in search of a cure, which prompted her to consider alternatives outside of conventional medicine. She was able to face demand on healthcare leaders in regards to rapidity of change as there was need to change medical procedures to include both conventional and unconventional methods of treatment.
Demands on health organization leaders can be rapidity of change, workforce shortages, rise of free-agent mentality, diversity in the workplace, new organizational structures, turbulent business environments, or leader’s energy capacity
Her leadership style is motivation because she talks about hope and persistence. She greatly inspires people to develop capacities and faith to handle daunting medical challenges. Her stories are about courage. Her parting shot is “keep trying and take heart”. She has written a book, The Other Side of Impossible, which covers stories of people faced with medical challenges who refused to give up and let their conditions ravage them. The people turned desperation into determination.
References
Heather Tesoriero. (2017). “A child’s suffering drives a mother to seek untested treatments.” NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/05/02/526436381/a-childs-suffering-drives-a-mother-to-seek-untested-treatments. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
Weeks Larry. (2018). “Not impossible: Susannah Meadows on medicine, mindset and motivation.” Larry Weeks. http://www.larryweeks.com/not-impossible-susannah-meadows-medicine-mindset-motivation/. Retrieved March 28, 2018.