In this episode of Plugged in to Public Health, Lauren sits down with University of Iowa MHA alum Jim Skogsbergh to reflect on a 43 year career in health care leadership. Jim recently retired after more than two decades as a hospital CEO and shares what he learned about leadership, mentorship, and building strong teams in health care organizations.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the student hosts, guests, and contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the University of Iowa or the College of Public Health.

Lauren Lavin:

Hello everybody, and welcome back to Plugged in to Public Health. Today’s episode features a conversation with the University of Iowa alum, Jim Skogsbergh, a 1982 graduate of the health administration program who recently retired from a 43-year career in healthcare leadership. Jim spent more than two decades as a hospital CEO and helped guide organizations through [inaudible 00:00:22] in the healthcare system, including mergers, evolving care models of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode, Jim reflects on the lessons he learned over the course of his career. We talk about building strong teams, the importance of mentorship and how early opportunities can shape a career and what students should focus on when they’re starting out in healthcare administration. Jim also shares practical advice for students choosing fellowships, finding mentors, and positioning themselves for a long-term success in the field.

I’m Lauren Lavin. [inaudible 00:01:17] Plugged in to Public Health is a student-run podcast that explores major issues in public health and people within [inaudible 00:01:17]. So let’s get plugged in to public health. Plugged in to Public Health is produced and edited by students at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. And the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the student hosts, guests, and contributors. They do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the University of Iowa or the College of Public Health.

Hello. Thank you for being here, Jim Skogsbergh. Did I say it right?

Jim Skogsbergh:

You did. Very well.

Lauren Lavin:

Okay.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

Could you introduce yourself and how you’re connected to the University of Iowa?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Sure.

Lauren Lavin:

And why you’re back?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Absolutely. Thanks for having me. So I am a 1982 graduate of the program in health administration and grew up in Cedar Rapids. So-

Lauren Lavin:

Oh, so you’re from around here?

Jim Skogsbergh:

I am, yeah. So I’m very familiar with Iowa City and the Hawkeyes. And although I did my undergraduate at Iowa State.

Lauren Lavin:

Oh.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Did my undergraduate down in Ames and then the graduate work here in Iowa City and have been connected to the university and the program ever since.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah. The alumni stay really connected to the MHA program, I feel like.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Right. Absolutely. It’s a relatively small program. At least it was when I went through.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Relatively small. And Iowa, you probably know this, is the second-oldest graduate program in health administration.

Lauren Lavin:

I did not know this.

Jim Skogsbergh:

In the country.

Lauren Lavin:

Oh my gosh.

Jim Skogsbergh:

So the University of Iowa is training “Professional administrators.” Your listeners can’t see my air quotes, but professional administrators long before other universities. The reason I bring that up is because as a result, there are University of Iowa graduates everywhere, all over the country. And one of the things that I really appreciated about this program is the opportunity to go do a, then a residency, now it’s post-grad fellowship with so many different options. And my story’s no different. So yeah, always proud to be Hawkeye.

Lauren Lavin:

Yes. So where do you work now?

Jim Skogsbergh:

So I retired from Advocate Healthcare in June of 24. So I’ve been retired about a year.

Lauren Lavin:

Do you love it?

Jim Skogsbergh:

I do. Absolutely. And people said, “Do you miss it? Do you miss it?” I have 43 years in this field. I do not miss the work. And having said that, I mean, I loved every single minute of it. But I don’t really miss the work. I miss the people, but I stay in touch with the people.

Lauren Lavin:

Right.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Routinely.

Lauren Lavin:

That can stay.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Routinely. So yeah. But I spent 10 years in South Bend, Indiana with a Iowa grad, by the way. And then I spent 10 years in Des Moines, Iowa. And then I spent, what is that? 23 years in Chicagoland.

Lauren Lavin:

Oh.

Jim Skogsbergh:

With Advocate and…

Lauren Lavin:

So you moved around?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah, a few times. I mean, this industry is one that you do make a couple of moves. I’ve probably moved less than most of my colleagues.

Lauren Lavin:

Really?

Jim Skogsbergh:

So I consider myself to be very fortunate. I was CEO for 23 years. Yeah. So.

Lauren Lavin:

Oh my gosh.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

That’s a long time. I’m sure you oversaw a lot of change in 20 years.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Unbelievable change. All very exciting, all very positive. I mean, healthcare is just a tremendous field. We’re not making widgets. We are not making widgets.

Lauren Lavin:

True.

Jim Skogsbergh:

And so a sense of purpose, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of contribution, all that, very rich experiences. So yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

And I think it’s heartening to hear that you loved your job.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Oh.

Lauren Lavin:

Because I don’t think that that’s always the case.

Jim Skogsbergh:

I mean, I loved it. Absolutely. I mean, to do work you love with people you love is really a blessing. And that’s-

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah, it doesn’t get better.

Jim Skogsbergh:

… I felt that way. No, it does not get better than that. So yeah, very, very grateful. Very lucky. Fortunate, blessed.

Lauren Lavin:

What did you think about COVID? How did you handle that towards the end of your tenure?

Jim Skogsbergh:

COVID was… It’s so funny. I got so many stories and we don’t have time for it, but I will say that we were a little bit, collectively our leadership team, a little bit of deer in the headlights. Right? It’s a little bit like, “What in the world is going on?” And then ultimately it sinks in and says, “Okay, here we are. It’s us. This is our shift and let’s go.” And it came at a unique time because we had just done a merger with another healthcare system in Wisconsin. And we sort of, I’ll say, I always say this, we went into COVID as two organizations striving to become one.

We came out of COVID as one very strong organization. So I guess my glass is always half full anyway, but you sort of make lemonade out of lemons and we came out stronger than ever. I mean, it doesn’t take much to demonstrate the value of coming together within moving equipment from Chicago to Wisconsin to Milwaukee or to move staff from Green Bay to Park Ridge. So we, I thought handled, I was very proud of the way we handled it, but it was certainly challenging. We circled the wagons and said, “Okay, let’s just decide right now, what do we want to be said of us when this is done? When this is in the rear view mirror, what do we want set of Advocate?”

And we said, or we landed, there’s a thousand, you put a thousand things up on a wall and then you pick the two or three, said, “Hey, took great care of our patients, took great care of our people and took great care of our community.” And after that, everything we did, every decision we made was sort of placed up against that and said, “Hey, does that fit? It does. Let’s go.” And we sort of let go of the balance sheet and let go of the financial statement as everybody had to and we sort of did that willingly. Didn’t lay anybody off, kept everybody fully employed. And so yeah, we came out of COVID, I think in pretty fine fashion, not that we’d want to do it again.

Lauren Lavin:

No.

Jim Skogsbergh:

My goodness.

Lauren Lavin:

No, no, no. That can stay in the past.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

That sounds like incredible vision casting that kind of brought you guys together.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. Yeah, I think so. And just had a tremendous team, incredible talented, committed people, and we did good work together. Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

Can I ask you how you think about building a team?

Jim Skogsbergh:

First of all, I always want to surround myself with people smarter than me. My friends would say that’s a low bar, and they’re probably right.

Lauren Lavin:

No.

Jim Skogsbergh:

But always, you want A players, you want A players. And I always valued people that would, I don’t know, it’s cliche, but speak truth to power kind of thing. And you got to demonstrate that you’re willing to hear that, right? Because everybody can say it, but then right away, people know whether you’re going to receive that well or not.

Lauren Lavin:

Oh, absolutely.

Jim Skogsbergh:

So you got to receive it well. I always thought two heads are better than one, three heads are better than two, surround yourself with smart people. The one thing that I really emphasize with our team is that we were a team. So when you come to our senior staff meeting, you took off your CFO hat, you took off your CMO hat, you took off your COO hat and you just put on your Advocate executive hat.

Everybody knows you’re the COO. Everybody knows you’re the CFO, right? So and we just wanted everybody to come in and think about best interest of the organization, not my little silo, but best interest of the organization. And you get people that are willing to do that and good things will happen and we had a lot of success together. Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

And we’re going to kind of transition to talking more towards students because they are big listeners of the podcast. But on that note, how do you think about when you’re building a team, expertise and tenure versus being young, I suppose?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. Well, first of all, I have a unique, I think an interesting point of view. I was given tremendous opportunities at a young age. So the age thing never was an issue with me. I didn’t care how old people were. What do you know? And how long is your runway? So there is some subjective assessment you make about runway like, “Hey, she’s really good” or “He’s really good, but I’m not sure can they go beyond.” And then “He’s really good” or “She’s really good.” And I think it’s a bright future. So you invest in those folks.

So age was never an issue because man, I got some great breaks early and my comrade in arms, my chief operating officer were together for 20 some years. He too got a break at an early age. So both of us were kind of, “I don’t care about the age. Can they do the job? Are they capable?” And then for us, for me, I should say, speak for myself, a lot of soft skill stuff, communication, how do you get along with people? Do you smile? Do you-

Lauren Lavin:

That actually makes more-

Jim Skogsbergh:

Oh.

Lauren Lavin:

… of a difference than people realize.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Oh, unbelievable. I mean-

Lauren Lavin:

Oh my gosh.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. Yeah. It’s like, can you smile? How do you handle getting knocked down? Can you get back up? You got some resiliency. And to be fair, as young people, you don’t have as much resiliency.

Lauren Lavin:

We’re learning.

Jim Skogsbergh:

But you develop it. And so we kind of looked at… I always kind of looked at those things and were you committed to the team’s success and giving away the success and accepting the blame. I wanted to see that from people and that’s kind of who I tried to surround myself with. And they’re just tremendous people. And to this day, we stay in touch and some are still working and some are retired like I am.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah. Well, students, if you’re listening, don’t sell yourself short based on that. And maybe you’ll catch a break too.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Amen.

Lauren Lavin:

So could you talk to us a little bit about your time as a student? Is there anything that you did as a student that you thought was particularly successful looking back?

Jim Skogsbergh:

So I’m going to be perfectly honest and brutally honest and at the risk of perhaps in part offending some folks. When I was going through the program, I didn’t find it particularly difficult. I didn’t find it like, “Oh my God, got to look to my right, got to look to my left and one of these three are going to not make it kind of thing.” It was, I mean, we had a ton of reading and writing to do, tons, and it was all good stuff.

But while I was going through it, it was not one of those like, “Hey, I’m at Harvard and I’m really lucky.” All right? But I got to tell you, when I got out, this was kind of amazing for me. So when I get out, we’re having a, I don’t know, I’m in my residency, we’re having a conversation about X, Y, or Z, and I’m like, “Yeah, I studied that.

Oh yeah, I read about that. Oh, yeah.” And so it all clicked. And so I actually valued the program a bit more after I got out than when you’re actually in it and going through it. And I’ve talked to a lot of people that feel the same way. The Iowa program is obviously well regarded and I know there’s rankings and stuff, but I was extremely well-prepared when I went into the field and that’s all because of the program.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

So.

Lauren Lavin:

I’m a PhD student and I’m going to my fourth year and I am looking forward to the day that I can put the knowledge to the test because I do think that that’s where you kind of see like rubber hits the road.

Jim Skogsbergh:

No question.

Lauren Lavin:

And you’re like, “This is all the stuff I’ve been preparing for.”

Jim Skogsbergh:

Right. Right. Exactly. And that day will come for you and then you’re going to say, “Wow.”

Lauren Lavin:

“I learned a lot.”

Jim Skogsbergh:

And I hope you feel like me, like, “God, I was fortunate. Really fortunate.”

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah. So what advice do you have for today’s students? That’s broad, but.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Well, yeah. I mean, if you’re talking about the students like I’m still in class, I’d say study hard. I mean, read it all. Don’t cut corners, soak it up, and then to the extent that you can, and I do believe a lot of the students do, get experience, get over to the hospital or get over to the clinic or get into the architecture, whatever you want to pursue and get some experience, get your sea legs a little bit. I did that and it was very, very helpful.

I mean, I laugh because my first summer, I worked at a hospital in Cedar Rapids and I was fortunate because the president then, the person that was running the place just said, “Just follow me around. Just follow me around.” And I did that for summer. I mean, I didn’t contribute anything. I asked a bazillion questions, everybody answered every single one and what a great experience. So I’d say, go get some experiences, and but do your work. You got to put in the work. Don’t cut any corners and then the real rubber hits the road back to your reference is when you get into your postgrad fellowship and start living in the real world, so to speak.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah. And I’m kind of struck by, start asking for those opportunities early on.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Right. Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

I mean, you’re only here for two years as an MHA student in particular, so you got to ask for those things. And oftentimes if you ask, they’ll say yes.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

People are just looking for go getters.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yep, exactly. Got to be self-starter. And yeah, I think it’s not… I don’t know, it’s not rocket science. Do the work and good things will happen.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah. So after you’re done being a student, then you have to go on and find a job.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Right.

Lauren Lavin:

What advice do you have for students looking for their first job or a fellowship place if they’re an MHA student?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Sure. So when I was going through, the program kind of selected your residency and it was required to get your degree and so on and you didn’t get your degree until you completed your residency, et cetera. And funny story, Sam Levy, who was-

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah, the reason why we’re here.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Famous here appropriately, yeah. So I was a student, you go in to see Dr. Levy and I mean, it’s intimidating. I mean, I’d never talked to Sam Levy in my… I’ve kind of avoided the guy. Right? It’s kind of like, “Ooh, go the other way,” that kind of thing. And so I go in to see him and he basically says, like I said earlier, we got Iowa graduates everywhere, “Where do you want to go?” And I said, “Minneapolis, Denver, Kansas City.” And he said, “You’re going to South Bend, Indiana.”

Lauren Lavin:

That was not on the list.

Jim Skogsbergh:

And I’m like, “What did I do? I haven’t done anything.” It’s like, “What do I do to deserve this? Where is South Bend, Indiana?” But it turns out that there was an Iowa grad there, the late Steve Omel who worked here in Iowa City at the hospital and clinics, and that’s who he connected me with and just could not have been a better situation.Now, fast-forward to your question, I would say choose your assignment, if you can, if you can choose, choose your assignment with an organization that is familiar with postgrad fellows. Okay?

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

I’m not sure you want to go there and break the mold. Like first time, “What do we do with this person? What do you do with her? What do you do with him?” You that kind of thing. I went to a place that had a residence, an administrative residents before me. It worked out great because they knew what to do with me. Right?

And I think that made a huge difference. Now I know a lot of my colleagues then, friends then, who got put in little corners, put in a closet and go do a CON thing. And that was not my experience. I was at the C-suite table just soaking it in, learning. So that’s one advice I would have.

Lauren Lavin:

That’s very practical advice. Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

About getting your job, is don’t worry about the geography. Don’t worry about the money. I’m saying that in all honesty, I’ve said this to my kids, I’ve said it to everybody that comes through. We’ve had a lot of postgrad fellows in my career, many of them from the University of Iowa and I’d say the same thing. Don’t worry about geography quite yet.

Don’t worry about money quite yet. Worry about experience. Get some experience. And that’s why volunteer for everything. “You’re working on this project, can I help you? Working on that project? Hey, I’d love to come alongside you,” that kind of thing. That’s the advice I’d give to the students, is kind of pour yourself into it a bit and good things will happen.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah. Which leads me to my next question. So you’ve got your first or second job. How do you position yourself for success? What are your dos and don’ts to excelling?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Oh, yeah. That’s a great question. And you can pull up all kinds of literature that would… The three lessons, the five lessons or whatever. Mine, I’m a kind of a simple guy and mine was work hard, work hard, do your best, make a contribution, and things will kind of come to you. Now that sounds naive a bit, like cream rises to the top or whatever. I guess that’s not always true, but it has been for me.

I really got a lot of breaks. I think because people knew I was willing to do the work and you get along with people, be pleasant and then this opportunity comes, that opportunity comes and all the career moves that I’ve made all came to me. I never sought one out. I got a phone call and I’m like, “Wow.” Go home, talk to my wife, “Hey, do we want to go back to Iowa?”I might have an opportunity.” She’s from Iowa as well.

Lauren Lavin:

Okay.

Jim Skogsbergh:

So and then 10 years later, I got a phone call about Chicago and Advocate and it’s like, “Man, am I ready for that? And yeah, let’s go.” And so that’s a long way of saying, I got a lot of breaks. I got a lot of really, really good breaks and I know that. There are people smarter than me, there are people that work harder than me, but boy, it sure came my way. So I feel fortunate, blessed, and it’s all grace. Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah. And I think that that kind of just brings to mind that we oftentimes look for maybe the little shortcuts, but it’s maybe simpler to just put in the work and show up every single day and that-

Jim Skogsbergh:

Do the work.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Absolutely. Whatever you do, do the work. Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

Absolutely.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

How has mentorship been impactful to you throughout your career?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Huge. Huge. I just think mentorship is, I was going to say everything. I was lucky because somebody took me under their wing and kind of let me go and pick me up when I fell down and dusted me off and got me back in a fight, bandaged me up, pushed me back in the fight kind of thing. And I think you want people that are willing to do that for you. And then when you… I left that scenario for another one in advancement and I hooked up with another leader, very different, but opened up himself and was willing to make time and provide guidance and so on.

By then I had a pretty substantial role. So I had a lot of people that I was responsible for, but he would provide guidance and offer some words of wisdom and that sort of thing that I was always open to. And so mentorship to me is critical, particularly for young people, but then you got to give it back. Then it’s my responsibility to give back because of all the things that I’ve been given and the opportunities that I’ve been given. And I find great joy in doing that.

Even today, I do executive coaching and I’ve got clients literally around the country and it’s just such a delight to come along. I mean, in 43 years, you hit a few potholes. Right? So if you can help somebody avoid a couple potholes or sharp turns and maybe you just scrape your side of the car and not total it, but I feel like I’m making a contribution and I know those folks are grateful. So I feel like I’m still doing some mentoring. So yeah, it’s critical. That’s how you should choose your first job is make sure you’re going to work with somebody who sort of wants you and is willing to invest in you and kind of bring you along.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

What advice do you have for students for finding mentors?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. So I know a lot of organizations have mentorship programs and I’m not saying anything negative about those, but to me they’re more, what’s the word I’m looking for? They evolve naturally.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Right? They evolve naturally.

Lauren Lavin:

There’s a vibe.

Jim Skogsbergh:

It’s not like I’ve got assigned and someone’s like, “All right, so I got Sally now at two o’clock and what am I going to do with Sally?”

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

But if they’re natural. And they don’t always have to be your boss. They just got to be someone. They don’t have to be your boss. They can be people that work in the organization or outside the organization whom you can just talk to. Say, “Hey, kind of going through something or I’m challenged by something. You got any thoughts in your own career, in your own field?” That kind of thing. So the idea of having more than one mentor I think is a healthy thing.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

Can you talk about an experience where a mentor was particularly helpful in your own career?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Gosh, yeah, hundreds of… But I’ll go back to when I was a student. Right? So I’m working for the late Steve Omel, Iowa grad, wonderful guy. I miss him very much and he was just great to me. So opportunities, “Hey, I want you to go do this.” And I’m like, “Steve, I don’t know how to do that.” He said, “You’ll be fine. Just go and-.”

Lauren Lavin:

Figure it out.

Jim Skogsbergh:

… yeah, “Figure it out,” kind of thing. So those kind of opportunities were tremendous. And then I remember I’d been there 81 to 87, about six years and he kind of pulls me in one day and we’re having a one-on-one and again, making time for that kind of thing. And he says, “What do you want to do with your career?” I said, “Steve, I kind of want to be like you. I’d like to run a hospital. But I know that I’m a vice president now. I got to work my way up to chief operating officer and I understand there’s a path and I’ve got some ways to go yet.” He said, “Oh, great.”

And a few weeks later he calls me and he said, “Hey, I want to offer you the chief operating officer role right here at Memorial in South Bend.” And I was like, “Hey, listen, last time I checked, we had a COO.” He said, “Well, yeah, but Ralph’s going to be leaving. Nobody knows that. I’ve already checked. I’ve already run this by the board. They’re very supportive. But before you say yes, know that I’m leaving. I’m taking a job in California.” And I said, “Hey, good luck to you. I’ll take the job. Thanks,” kind of thing. So you talk about getting a break.

Lauren Lavin:

Right.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Huge. I think I was 29. It’s like-

Lauren Lavin:

Incredible.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. So, so, so lucky. So yeah, you want people that are willing to go out on a limb for you. I mean, the fact that he went to board of directors and said, “Yeah, this young kind of whippersnapper kind of guy, I think he can do the job.” And I had a lot of exposure to the board, so they knew me and loved it, loved it. So yeah, he really got me jump started.

Lauren Lavin:

So did you end at South Bend as COO?

Jim Skogsbergh:

I ended as COO in 91, yeah, 10 years. I got a phone call. And it’s funny, back to do the work, I was working late and the phone at my assistant’s desk rang. I’m like, “I’ll answer it.” I pick it up, “Hey, this is Jim Scott.”

And somebody saying, “Oh gosh, I didn’t think I was going to get you. I’m so and so from a recruiting firm and I wanted to reach out because I’m on behalf of a client.” And then they described the client, didn’t name it, described it. And I said, “Are you talking about Iowa Methodist in Des Moines?” Because I’m from Cedar Rapids.

Lauren Lavin:

You’re familiar.

Jim Skogsbergh:

And she said, “Yeah, absolutely.” And I said, “Ooh, yeah, I’m interested, but I don’t think I meet all your qualifications.” And because she had ran through them and she said, “Well, what do you mean?” And I said, “Well, I am not 40 years old.” Because it was like age 40 and this experience and that experience and she said, “Ah, don’t worry about that. Come on out and have a conversation.” Anyway, that led to the opportunity to go to Des Moines. And I was attracted to that because the CEO at the time was preparing for retirement.

So the idea was, and they said this, “Hey Jim, we think we’re hiring the next CEO, but we’re not giving you the job yet. I mean, you got to earn it. Right? And you got to carry your own water.” And I said, “That’s fair enough. I appreciate it.” So I got that opportunity and he did retire and I got named and that kind of set the stage for what I consider to be just a fantastic career. Still pinch myself. Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

So how, you mentioned working late, how did you balance work and a family life?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah, first of all, my wife Diana, tremendous. I think you always strive for balance. I don’t know that you ever achieve it. If you do, it’s fleeting and then you’re back to striving for it again. So I did work late, probably two, maybe three nights a week. And frankly, that’s because if you’re going to work with medical staff, you’re either going to be there at 6:30 in the morning or you’re going to be there at 6:30 at night and obviously they decided and then I just came along.

So if they wanted to meet in the morning, boom, I was there in the morning. They wanted to meet at night, I was there at night. So two or three nights, but after that, as you advance in your career, you have a little bit more control over your schedule. And I was pretty lucky, pretty early, as I’ve mentioned to you. So I was able to kind of manage, other than the medical staff and other than the board of directors meetings, I pretty much could control my own schedule. So that’s a long way of saying, I didn’t miss very many dance recitals, I didn’t miss very many baseball games, I didn’t miss very many swim meets, but I probably missed a couple. Right?

But I was lucky because I could say, “No, I can’t do it on Tuesday. I got something else going, let’s do it on Wednesday.” And everybody said, “Okay, I guess we’ll do it on Wednesday, because Jim wants to do it on Wednesday.” So I took full advantage of that. But I think balance is something that you’re always striving for and I don’t know that you ever quite get it. But I think striving is part of the deal. Just you got to keep dial it back in and get some rest and then come back again. If you got to go hard, your energy, you got your batteries charged up and so on.

Lauren Lavin:

Absolutely.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

So today, what has been the highlight of your career?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Oh gosh, people might point to this construction project or this or that. I was very proud of the fact that at Advocate, we declared early on that we planted our flag around quality and safety. So we were first and… This might fall off my lips for 20 years, first and foremost a safe clinical enterprise. Right? It’s all about the care we give to our patients and everything else is in second place. Now, mind you, a close second place. Right? You can’t do good unless you do well financially, so we had to pay attention to that and all those things.

You got to be a great place to work or you’re not going to be able to take good care of your patients, that kind of thing. But I love the fact that we declared early, “Hey, we’re about quality and safety, and that’s what’s going to sort of float our boat and drive our engine.” So I’m very, very proud of that. We did some great things and got recognized and all that good stuff. But I think everything we did was pretty good and I think we were a great place to work. I loved that about us, cared a lot about our people.

And so yeah, I mean, just a combination of being able to, I don’t Know, make a difference, make a positive difference in people’s lives, whether you’re people that work for us or whether it’s the community and people that live and seek healthcare from us, or actually it’s patients in the bed that get the benefit. So I mean, a medical community, second to none, a first class clinical team that just did great work. So yeah, very, very fortunate to work with them.

Lauren Lavin:

I love to hear that. And it sounds like it wasn’t just one accomplishment, but it was something that spanned the duration of your time.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. We just kept, I don’t know, back again, do the work. We just kept doing what we could. We’d set goals, we’d accomplish them, we’d celebrate them, and then we’d set a higher goal. Work hard to achieve it, celebrate it, set a higher goal. The joke might be that we never celebrated very long. People would give me just a little bit of a kind of a nudge to say, “Hey, can we just savor this for a minute before we…” And it’s like, “Yeah, we need to. You’re right, we got to do that.”

Lauren Lavin:

You’re right. Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

So looking forward, while you are retired, what is it that you hope to accomplish in the next five to seven years?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. Yeah, next chapter. Right?

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

I took a program that’s called Flourishing in the Third Third. So how do you flourish and how do you bear fruit and that kind of thing? I love the executive coaching that I’m doing, coming alongside people, and I think I’ll do that for a long time. I might do a little bit more teaching, but it’s probably more facilitating.

When I did a class, after I, excuse me, after I retired, I did a class at Advocate for really kind of up and comers, middle, vice president, executive director kind of folks, and I brought in a bunch of guest speakers that I knew. So somebody in governance, people that serve on the board, somebody in finance, somebody… All that kind of stuff. And I would just kind of facilitate a conversation and then let these people ask questions and always have an opportunity to share your own experiences.

I loved that. I like that element of teaching and getting people exposed, not just hear gym stories, but here’s the people that are the experts, I mean, absolute experts. So exposing them to really expert thinking. So I’ll probably do some more of that. And it’s funny, people call and say, “Hey, do you want to do this? You want to do that?” And I’m like, “I don’t want to work that hard.” Honestly, I enjoy my retirement. Diana and I like to travel. I’ve got one grandson and a granddaughter on the way, October.

Lauren Lavin:

Congrats.

Jim Skogsbergh:

And all the kids live very, very close to us geographically. I mean, like 10 minutes close.

Lauren Lavin:

Oh, wow.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah, I mean.

Lauren Lavin:

Oh, that is-

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. It’s not like a couple hours away. They are-

Lauren Lavin:

… a huge blessing.

Jim Skogsbergh:

So it is unbelievable. So family stuff. And so a fine balance between work, which is invigorating.

Lauren Lavin:

You’ve already done that. Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Which it is. It’s invigorating and so on and so forth, but also time to just kind of relax and enjoy. That’s kind of what I think the third third is going to look like for me.

Lauren Lavin:

I think so. Where’s your next travel destination?

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. So we don’t necessarily have one picked out. We’re thinking Egypt. I’d love to go down the Nile.

Lauren Lavin:

My gosh. That’s my dream destination.

Jim Skogsbergh:

I’d love to go down the Nile. We were in Spain and Portugal last year. Yeah. We were on a cruise recently, a river cruise that took us to Normandy Beach D-Day, which is a bucket list thing, which is totally awesome. So yeah, we’ll figure it out. We winter in Florida.

Lauren Lavin:

Beautiful.

Jim Skogsbergh:

It’s so nice.

Lauren Lavin:

Where in Florida?

Jim Skogsbergh:

I’m in Naples.

Lauren Lavin:

Oh my gosh. They have the best beaches in the whole world. I went there last year for the first time.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah, it’s very nice.

Lauren Lavin:

And I could not believe it.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. It’s incredible. And I already told you I grew up here, Cedar Rapids. And I go down there and I’m like, if I don’t see another Midwest winter, I’m great with that.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

I do not mind missing the Midwest winters. And it’s very pleasant down there. And then we come up north during the summer because it’s brutal down in South Florida.

Lauren Lavin:

I believe that.

Jim Skogsbergh:

In the summer, yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

The humidity.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Oh, 99 degrees, 99% humidity. Right? So yeah, that’s kind of what we’ll end up doing and yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

It sounds like a pretty good way-

Jim Skogsbergh:

Oh, gosh.

Lauren Lavin:

… to enjoy retirement.

Jim Skogsbergh:

It’s just fantastic. Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

Yeah.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah.

Lauren Lavin:

Well, I really appreciate you taking time to chat with me today.

Jim Skogsbergh:

It’s been a pleasure.

Lauren Lavin:

Great.

Jim Skogsbergh:

Yeah. Yeah. It’s been fun and it’s great to be back on campus and yeah, it’ll be a fun day today.

Lauren Lavin:

That’s it for our episode this week. A big thank you to Jim Skogsbergh for joining us and sharing insights from more than four decades in healthcare leadership. In this conversation, Jim, reflects on the value of mentorship, the importance of surrounding yourself with talented people, and why early career experiences matter more than titles or geography. His advice to students is simple but powerful, do the work, seek out opportunities to learn and invest in relationship with mentors who are willing to help you grow.

This episode was hosted and written by Lauren Lavin and edited and produced by Lauren Lavin. You can learn more about the University of Iowa College of Public Health on Facebook. Our podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to support the podcast, please share it with friends, colleagues, or anyone interested in public health. Have a suggestion for our team? You can reach us at CPH-GradAmbassador@uiowa.edu. This episode is brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Until next week, stay healthy, stay curious and take care.