Innovation Leader. Mid-Careerist. Happy Mother’s Day Emily Fry!! || EP. 159

[00:00:00] It's definitely tiring, but it is the best job. And I was really anxious about where I was at in my career.

[00:00:08] Very excited, very passionate about my work. I actually cried when I said to my boss,

[00:00:13] I'm pregnant because I was like, I don't want you to think that this will stunt my work, my progress.

[00:00:18] And it wasn't that I was crying out of excitement, it was out of nervousness.

[00:00:22] Yeah.

[00:00:22] And they were like, what? Why are you like, this is an amazing thing for your life.

[00:00:28] And I think it really, it showed me that you can do it all to your point. There's not like an

[00:00:35] equal balance. You can never give 100% on everything every single time.

[00:00:40] Right.

[00:00:40] But I found this really, this piece of the fact that I can continue to grow my career

[00:00:46] and I can also balance being a great mom. And that came through the community that I've built

[00:00:53] around me to support me in my career and help watch my child when I need him,

[00:00:58] when I'm out at events like this. So I just have really found that if you want to do it,

[00:01:04] if you're passionate about what you do and you also know that you want to be a mom,

[00:01:09] it is possible. And you'll never find 100, it's going to be hard. You will not find a

[00:01:13] balance, but you will find just overall peace and excitement in every aspect.

[00:01:19] This is inspiring women and we're at the WBL annual summit. I'm speaking with Emily Frey,

[00:01:30] and she is the vice president of innovation operations at Geisinger. And I'm really excited

[00:01:36] to be talking to you, Emily. This is your first WBL summit. So I want to talk to you about that,

[00:01:40] but I really want to talk about innovation. I mean, what a time in healthcare where

[00:01:44] innovation is everywhere, but thank you for being on inspiring women.

[00:01:48] Thank you very much. I'm excited to be here.

[00:01:50] All right. Well, we were having a lot of fun conversation about sort of as a young mother

[00:01:54] and what it means to be a leader, being a young mother before we get there. And you started out

[00:02:00] in physical therapy, sort of like in the clinical realm as an assistant there,

[00:02:04] then you went on doing policy and then you moved on to healthcare administration

[00:02:09] and now innovation operations. So give us a little bit of that trajectory. What's the

[00:02:14] through line of all of those different things?

[00:02:16] There isn't. And I think in anybody that's in a role like this doesn't have just a straight

[00:02:23] path to getting there and you have to have real diverse experience to be able to be well

[00:02:29] rounded in this work. So, you know, I did start in like the front office working with

[00:02:35] patients and that I loved the impact direct to patients and then working my way through

[00:02:41] on grants and the policy space and understanding more of a macro impact and as well as administration.

[00:02:48] I think it just gave me different viewpoints and also allowed me when I took on the role

[00:02:53] in innovation to really feel like I didn't have to be the subject matter expert to everything

[00:02:58] I was doing in innovation, but I needed to be able to enable and understand what people are

[00:03:04] doing. So as I've built this career path of very different things, as I've jumped through,

[00:03:10] I've been just very comfortable in change, as well as the unknown, not being the smartest one in

[00:03:18] the room and understanding every facet of a process. And I think that's what led me

[00:03:23] to innovation. And I think how I am able to thrive in it. Well, let's talk about

[00:03:28] innovation. I mean, that's a big word and it's used a lot in healthcare. So how do you think

[00:03:33] about innovation? Yeah. So innovation is really doing something fundamentally different.

[00:03:38] And I think the other part of that is solving a problem with quantifiable outcomes. So,

[00:03:44] one, innovation can be any flavor. It doesn't matter big or small. There's incremental

[00:03:50] innovation, which makes big change down the road if you chip away at a big problem. But then

[00:03:55] there's also those big bang innovations. But at the end of the day, whatever you're doing,

[00:04:00] you have to measure it. You have to make sure it's impactful because there is so much to do

[00:04:05] in healthcare and where do you prioritize is more important. And then you can really make some big

[00:04:11] impact. So where are some things that you're working on that you're excited about that you

[00:04:16] think really are going to make a difference in a quantifiable way? Yeah, I think our movement

[00:04:21] to care at home and evolving that work, really people being comfortable with their illnesses

[00:04:28] and managing them from their home is one piece that I'm really excited about. We think about

[00:04:34] the technology, but also the way we can redesign our care models to allow you to manage that

[00:04:41] illness at home with your family, with your friends in an environment where you're comfortable

[00:04:47] away from all the beeping and the noise and the interruptions that the hospital brings. And

[00:04:52] so I think that's one area that is just ripe for innovation. And you also just,

[00:04:57] you know, I've read about you, Emily, I've listened to some of your talks,

[00:05:02] and you talk about sort of like that consumer experience, so that patient experience and really

[00:05:07] looking at things through their lens. So how is it impacting them? I mean, the care at home

[00:05:14] makes a lot of sense to me that, you know, because hospitals are noisy, they're not fun

[00:05:18] places. Nobody wants to be there. Yeah. I mean, beyond healthcare, anything you do

[00:05:23] should be from a consumer lens when you're building something for an industry or a problem.

[00:05:29] Because if you don't, I mean, time and time again, we see it fail, or the clunkiness of whatever

[00:05:35] you're building. So first and foremost, you have to take the consumer or consumers, right? A lot

[00:05:41] of what we're building touches you as an individual patient. It may touch you as a

[00:05:46] health plan member. It touches me as a caregiver. It touches somebody as a provider

[00:05:52] lens. So you have to be able to build those consumer journeys from all angles,

[00:05:56] but do it in a way that's also rapid, which is a lot of an ad, right? Do it quickly,

[00:06:00] but do it from a broad perspective. So it's an art. There's human experience. Design is a big

[00:06:07] principle to the work we do. But it's critical to being able to develop something that's

[00:06:13] meaningful. Yeah. And then talk about the measurement piece, because in terms of

[00:06:17] quantifiable results, what are you looking for? Because a lot of times, with all of this

[00:06:23] great new technology, all of these things that are out there, people are taking credit

[00:06:29] for various things. So it's like, did you really have an impact on that? How do you click into

[00:06:35] where to measure and what is a truly good outcome because of innovation versus actually

[00:06:40] something else? Right. Well, I think it depends one on what you're measuring,

[00:06:45] because we look at things from the back office side. We look at things that do touch patients.

[00:06:50] So again, who is your consumer? It really defines how you're measuring success.

[00:06:57] We look at hours saved. How do we give back to the individual and create an ease of access

[00:07:03] and use along the innovation that we're implementing? We take into account clinical

[00:07:08] outcomes, right? I talk about care at home and how we build out new care models. Well,

[00:07:13] the clinical effectiveness is first and foremost that we're making measurable movement into the

[00:07:19] care model we're building. So the flavor of outcomes measurement is really defined by the

[00:07:25] project. Okay. Okay. Okay, Emily, I want to circle a little bit back to you. Okay? So you are

[00:07:31] clearly a passionate leader and you're kind of on a really great leadership trajectory in terms

[00:07:35] of your career, which is really awesome to see. So first of all, when did leadership

[00:07:40] become important to you? Clearly having passion for healthcare, having passion for measurable

[00:07:45] outcomes. We're hearing that in this, like I wasn't always the smartest person in the room.

[00:07:49] Don't really believe that, but anyway, you said it. And so when did leadership become

[00:07:54] an important part of what you wanted to be and are doing? Yeah. I don't know that I...

[00:07:59] So I inherently owned projects or did things where I was maybe not a direct owner or a

[00:08:06] responsible party having a reporting structure, right? Like having people report to me. And I

[00:08:11] think that work, it was inherent in... Some of those skills are inherent. I think when people

[00:08:17] started reporting to me, I really understood that I needed to work on my leadership skills

[00:08:24] and how do I coach individuals? And I am a middle careerist, right? I have the varying

[00:08:31] degrees of individuals I'm work with in their age and their culture and appreciating... I've

[00:08:37] always appreciated people's cultures. That was never an impact, but then having people

[00:08:42] reporting to me that were different ages and different backgrounds, understanding and

[00:08:48] appreciating that was so important to really make me... Have you had people report to you

[00:08:52] that are older than you? Yes. And how does that work? It works great. I think you have

[00:08:57] to appreciate once again the wisdom and the work that they've done in the past and how it

[00:09:02] really impacts the job that they're doing. And while you respect the wisdom that they have,

[00:09:09] also be able to provide concise and clear direction around the work that you're doing.

[00:09:16] So I want to make sure that my employees are able to feel like they can provide feedback

[00:09:22] into the project's direction and provide their own flavor of how they would go forward

[00:09:27] with something, but creating a standardized process though that allows us to measure

[00:09:32] and manage the project as well as the individual contributor's performance appropriately.

[00:09:37] Yeah. Emily, I want to go back a little bit. So again, you're on this leadership

[00:09:42] trajectory. You've been managing people for a while. If we could just go back to when you

[00:09:48] first started managing people, that's always a big step in a career. Who did you look to

[00:09:56] to help you sort of do a good job at that? I mean, did you have mentors? Did you have coaches?

[00:10:01] How did that work for you? Yeah. Anybody that will say this, it's not anything new, but

[00:10:09] it is so important to build that foundation of different mentors across your career.

[00:10:16] So that's varying degrees of age, of cultural backgrounds, and of roles. Those disciplines

[00:10:23] allowed me to lean into my master's program teachers. The colleagues that I built, and I

[00:10:30] call them colleagues now because I really feel in friendships that I was able to call up an

[00:10:37] unbiased somebody that's not a part of the organization or my team can really give me

[00:10:42] feedback and an approach or a problem that I'm trying to solve. So I built that throughout

[00:10:48] graduate degree with some folks, Maureen Jones. I'll give her a shout out. And then through my

[00:10:54] career, your boss should also be in a way a mentor and you should have that trust and

[00:11:00] build that confidence to lean into them for advice. And I was able to do that with a

[00:11:05] number of my mentors and bosses in the past. And so leaning into them and feeling like I

[00:11:11] have a relationship to trust and build my leadership within anything that I'm doing, as

[00:11:17] well as with managing people was really important to me. So Karen Murphy was a huge impact for my

[00:11:24] career, as well as just my personal growth as a leader. Being kind first, smart second, because

[00:11:31] you will never be the smartest person in the room every single time. You may be a subject matter

[00:11:36] expert in certain circumstances, but there are times where you need to first have empathy

[00:11:41] and understand the person's background, what's happening in their life that may cause them to

[00:11:46] react or be responsive the way they are. It's so great that you're calling out the people who

[00:11:51] were mentors to you and gave you great advice and how you are bringing that advice and

[00:11:55] bringing it forward. Emily, I also wanted to ask you about being that middle careerist as

[00:12:01] you called it. You're also a young mother. You were talking earlier about your son James,

[00:12:05] 13 months old. That's always a big deal and so much fun to have a young family. How has that

[00:12:13] impacted your leadership style or how has that impacted how you manage your career?

[00:12:19] I don't want to talk about work-life balance because as we were talking about,

[00:12:21] it's hard to balance all those things. It hasn't changed you being a leader,

[00:12:25] but how has it changed how you approach work? I'm going to jump back quick because Sajeev

[00:12:29] Thomas will text me if I don't give him a call out. I think it's important to highlight

[00:12:33] not just women are your mentors, men are also your mentors. Sajeev was a huge mentor of

[00:12:38] mine as well and just different backgrounds, different genders also are important to have a

[00:12:45] well-rounded group of mentors. To your question around being a new mom, the best job I've ever

[00:12:52] had, and I know it's cliche to say but it truly is. It's definitely tiring, but it is

[00:12:57] the best job. I was really anxious about where I was at in my career. Very excited,

[00:13:04] very passionate about my work. I actually cried when I said to my boss, I'm pregnant because I

[00:13:09] was like, I don't want you to think that this will stunt my work, my progress. It wasn't that

[00:13:14] I was crying out of excitement, it was out of nervousness. They were like, why are you,

[00:13:20] this is an amazing thing for your life. I think it really showed me that you can do

[00:13:28] it all to your point. There's not like an equal balance. You can never give 100%

[00:13:33] on everything every single time, but I found this piece of the fact that I can continue

[00:13:40] to grow my career and I can also balance being a great mom. That came through the community

[00:13:47] that I've built around me to support me in my career and help watch my child when I need

[00:13:53] him when I'm out at events like this. I just have really found that if you want to do it,

[00:13:59] if you're passionate about what you do and you also know that you want to be a mom,

[00:14:04] it is possible. You'll never find 100, it's going to be hard. You will not find a balance,

[00:14:09] but you will find just overall peace and excitement in every aspect.

[00:14:15] Well, that is just awesome, Emily. One thing I will also say, and you probably

[00:14:20] already know this, is the number of other women or family members who are looking to have families,

[00:14:26] they're probably looking to you and seeing how you're keeping it all together.

[00:14:30] Congratulations on that. Let's talk about WVL. We're here at the annual conference. This is

[00:14:35] your first one, so welcome, welcome. WVL is a professional network of executive level women

[00:14:42] in healthcare. Why did you join? What are you looking forward to here?

[00:14:47] Back to creating that network of mentors and growing and diversifying what I am able to do.

[00:14:54] WVL looked and is, now that I'm at the summit and can say through a couple months of being

[00:14:59] a part of it, a network of really strong, powerful women who have experiences either very

[00:15:07] similar or beyond what I have. I'm hoping to tap into that network to really learn and grow.

[00:15:14] I think that there are so many different experiences you run into in life and not

[00:15:19] one person is going to be the person you can come to every single time.

[00:15:25] This network has given me, just beyond the traditional conferences too, I go to conferences

[00:15:32] that really are wonderful but centralized around different types of themes and this being really

[00:15:38] about empowering women stuck out to me. It's great to have you here as part of

[00:15:44] this important network and I'll look forward to learning from you.

[00:15:48] Emily, as we close out on inspiring women, I always love to ask senior leaders like yourself

[00:15:54] advice that you might give other younger women who are coming along in their careers. Maybe

[00:15:59] something that worked for you that might still work today or maybe that didn't work for you

[00:16:04] that you learned from that helped you along the way.

[00:16:11] Everybody is going to have imposter syndrome at a time in their career and feeling confident

[00:16:16] in your gut as well as your background to drive and how you lead or how you're working a

[00:16:23] project or running a department is just hold that confidence and hold that confidence through

[00:16:30] tapping into leaders that you know and trust to be able to benchmark and ask questions too.

[00:16:36] The other thing I would say is continue to invest in yourself through making sure that you

[00:16:43] are maintaining happiness. You're never in a position where you have to be 100% happy every

[00:16:50] time but if you run into a point where in your career or in your life you're a little

[00:16:56] less happy than maybe you're at the 50% mark, you should be 80% happy all the time. If you run into

[00:17:01] that 50% mark for a month, a year, then make some changes. It is on you. Take that personal

[00:17:07] accountability to make those changes. I firmly believe in personal accountability and investing

[00:17:11] in yourself. That is amazing. That is really great advice. You're obviously taking it. I've

[00:17:16] been speaking with Emily Frye on this inspiring women conversation. Emily, thank you so much.

[00:17:21] Thank you. This has been an episode of inspiring women with Laurie McGrath.

[00:17:26] Please subscribe, rate and review. We are produced by Kate Cruz at Executive Podcast Solutions.

[00:17:32] More episodes can be found on inspiringwomen.show. I am Laurie McGrath and thank you for listening.