Walking into Jud Knox’s office it is immediately apparent he is a leader doing something extraordinary. First of all, he works at a standing desk. Why? He says he moves a lot and is readily available. Secondly, his primary and core leadership value is loving kindness. And he’s completely transparent about it. Curious yet?
Though the door is closed for our chat, he responds to the knock that comes at one point, and says the door is open most of the time. “I spend 12 hours a day really with other people. It’s about the conversations, exchange of ideas, the listening to complaints, and concerns; it’s about the joys. My day is with other folks.”
Jud is the CEO of York Hospital, the small and well renowned health organization at the center of a small village in southern Maine where I have recently moved. I am interested in speaking with Jud because of the nature of our work as a values-based consultancy, and because I am a customer of his doctors whose offices reveal posters and other expressions of the hospital’s primary value: loving-kindness. To Jud, this means practicing the values of compassion and trust in all the organization’s relationships with patients, patient families, doctors and staff, and the greater community, as well as at all levels and in all departments.
In the weeks between our two interviews, Jud has had to make a difficult decision to keep his non-profit afloat while he continues to practice trust. To him, trust is never laying off employees, ever. For over 30 years, he has kept his word. “Because laying people off completely breaks the trust between employer and employee,” he says. For Jud, this practice is the most fundamental expression of trust he as a leader can offer.
Jud realized something would have to change in the organization when he noticed a drop in income at the hospital as well as the tone of the media towards health care providers. He immediately began communicating with staff. “Without dialogue, no change is successful. Since it was my moment of saying,’ OK I believe I understand the organization has to change,’ I need to start communicating that to the staff directly.”
To the chagrin of some, and upset of others, this round of financial stress has meant a temporary end to all ‘time earned’ for employees and pay cuts for doctors. At the beginning of the summer, this means many will go on vacation as they had planned without getting paid.
Click here for Part 2.