Identify how the transformational leadership model most aligns with Ron Ventura ( Please see the below case study of Ron Ventura and definition of transformational leadership) and explain why. Support your connection of leadership model to the selected leader by identifying the traits of the leader.

Analyze the Ventura's style of leadership and explain how you can incorporate aspects of his leadership into your own professional development.

• What are the leader's strengths?
• What are at least three skills that you can learn by example (whether to emulate or avoid) to be a better leader?
• What is at least one specific way you can apply these skills to your own leadership development?

Transformational Leadership

Charisma: Provides vision and a sense of mission; instills pride; gains respect and trust.

Inspiration: Communicates high expectations; uses symbols to focus efforts; expresses important purposes in simple ways.

Intellectual: Promotes intelligence, rationality, and careful problem solving.

Individualized Consideration: Gives personal attention; treats each employee individually; coaches; advises.

Transformational leadership elevates the level of insight about the importance and value of outcomes through the growth of subordinates by encouraging followers to question their own way of doing things. Transactional leadership constitutes behavior that operates through consideration and covenants between the leader and the follower.

Ron Ventura

Throughout his twelve years as a vascular surgeon, Ventura had established an exceptional technical reputation and was looking for the next challenge. When approached by Prescott to join Mitchell in the summer of 2011, he was initially skeptical:

I wasn't sure I would fit into Mitchell Memorial. I'm not like the other surgeons here. They're academic types. I don't like the ''academic surgeon'' label. The physical challenge of being a surgeon is what really motivates me. I work hard and expect others to; and, for the patient's sake, I'm not afraid of anyone or anything in the OR.

Ventura started college at Colorado State but dropped out after a year. He decided to go back to school at the University of Arizona. After completing his undergraduate degree in physics he went on to attend the University's Medical School. On the advice of one of his professors he pursued a residency in surgery.

My father was a truck driver and I was the first in my family to go to college. Growing up I never thought I would become a surgeon, but I realized early on in medical school that I might have what it took to be good at it. I liked the fact that not everyone was cut out for it. So many residents who started in the surgery program dropped out. There was a certain thrill of victory when I got through each year. It was like I was part of some elite military unit that had survived to fight the next major battle.

Upon finishing his residency, Ventura pursued a fellowship in vascular surgery at a renowned heart hospital in Texas.

That was tough. The guy I worked for had been a surgeon in the Army for 15 years and it was command and control in the OR. He ordered me around like I was a buck private, but he taught me everything he knew and was the best vascular surgeon anyone could hope to learn from. I think that he was the hardest on me because he thought I had the most potential. He's the only person in my life I ever wanted to impress and sometimes in the OR I think about him and it makes me a better surgeon.

In the intervening years Ventura established himself at a large Midwestern hospital, but he grew frustrated because he knew the incumbent chief of vascular surgery was unlikely to retire for at least a decade. Despite his reservations about Mitchell's culture, Ron left to join Prescott as chief of vascular.

There aren't a lot of other doctors that I look at and say ''that guy can hold his own.'' But I have deep respect for Andy. He commands an audience and I thought that, in spite of any issues I might face at Mitchell, Andy would support me, because he can cut through the red tape and focus on what matters at the end of the day. I joined Mitchell Memorial with one goal in mind: to make vascular surgery the strongest division at the Cardiovascular Center. I expected everyone else to assume the same sense of urgency I had around building out the practice. I didn't have time to engineer consensus on the changes I needed to make.

Ventura's style and drive started to create problems almost immediately. Prescott learned of Ventura's issues but initially tried to defend him. Prescott argued that the surgeon just needed time to adjust to Mitchell's culture. However, when the problems continued, Prescott grew increasingly concerned. Still, he didn't feel he could take a heavy-handed approach:

Ron would come to my office and ask ''what's the problem?'' and I would say, ''Go and talk to this cardiologist or that nurse and smooth things over.'' I tried to be diplomatic and give advice in an understated way. I didn't want to confront Ron head on. No one did. I also believe that sometimes conflict can be constructive when what is best for the patient is at the heart of the debate. It's also a difficult environment that surgeons face today. Reimbursement is going down, which puts enormous financial pressures on surgeons. There are increasing regulatory requirements and surgeons have less autonomy than they used to. There's a sense of loss of control and frustration at the growing complexity of the health-care system. On top of that, vascular surgery is technically challenging and requires meticulous attention to detail. I wanted to cut Ron some slack. I had made the decision to hire Ron and I needed it to work out.

However, the recent evaluations made it impossible to avoid the concerns about Ventura's interpersonal style. One highly respected surgeon at the center described him as ''arrogant, overbearing, insecure, and sometimes flippant.''

Prescott commented:

It has taken time to build the teamwork that is now a source of pride for the hospital's staff. I won't sacrifice the integrity and transparency of our processes for the sake of building our reputation. As the leader of this center of excellence, I want to send the right signals to the other physicians. If I tell everyone that Ron just has a ''surgical personality'' or that he expects everyone else to adopt his high standards, am I in effect telling everyone that behavior doesn't count----and that we put caseload, ability to generate revenue for the hospital, and prestige ahead of how we treat each other?

Ventura suggested that Mitchell was focusing on the wrong things.

In the operating room, form doesn't matter. Substance does. There's no time for ''please'' or ''thank you.'' It's life or death. I and others need to be 100% focused all the time on the job at hand. Would the hospital rather have the surgeon who always says the ''right'' thing to everyone using exactly the ''right'' tone or someone who might be rough around the edges but gets the job done efficiently, every time, with a good outcome for the patient and the hospital and his colleagues' careers and reputations?

The Cardiovascular Center was second only to the Cancer Center at Mitchell in terms of revenue generation; and, in spite of decreasing reimbursement for cardiovascular procedures, the Cardiovascular Center's revenue had grown an impressive 22% per year since Ventura had come on board. Each patient case had associated physician and hospital charges, which resulted in revenue for the Cardio Center. Ventura generated $3.2 million annually in revenue for the hospital by virtue of the sheer number of patient cases he personally handled. For example, Ventura had seen 1,122 outpatients in a single year, the greatest number of any surgeon at the center, and his volume of high- reimbursement inpatient vascular procedures was the largest. Beyond that, the cases Ron brought in had a positive halo effect on business in other medical divisions throughout the hospital, including urology, endocrinology, neurology, and others.2Ventura tackled the toughest vascular surgical cases and physicians throughout the region increasingly referred cases involving any vascular work to the Cardiovascular Center at Mitchell because of Ventura. Some 54% of new vascular patients were now referred by non-Mitchell physicians, up from 26% just the year prior. This data showcased the power of Ventura's reputation among referring physicians and his ability to bring wholly new patient populations into the hospital, generating new and growing revenue streams for the hospital. Ventura was a ''producer.''