Mark Laffan on a diverse leadership list

The role of an NHS chief executive doesn’t lend itself readily to the sort of reductionist comparisons that can often characterise industry “power lists”. With a broad range of organisations facing their own particular challenges in a variety of health economies, imposing a one size fits all definition of what makes a good chief executive is unlikely to be a useful exercise.

‘Chief executives of providers are being called on to lead the transformation of whole health economies’

Asking the chief executive community to identify the peers that they particularly admired has produced a diverse list that underlines how varied the demands on a chief executive now are. From those leading hugely successful organisations to those doing excellent work in challenging circumstances, these individuals are leading organisations of differing shapes and sizes operating in rapidly changing conditions.

• HSJ’’s Top Chief Executives

It’s also a role that is changing rapidly. The challenges facing the service require ever greater cooperation between organisations; require working with local authorities, the independent and third sectors and other parts of the NHS. The success of a trust is increasingly dependent on its relationships with other organisations.

With strategic health authorities no longer present to play a coordinating role, chief executives of provider organisations are increasingly being called upon to play a lead role in the transformation of services across whole health economies. In order to manage the performance of a trust it’s vital to be able to influence the landscape that it operates in, and some of the chief executives we work with are now spending as much as 80 per cent of their time working outside of their organisations.

At a time when the chief executive role has arguably never been tougher, the 50 people showcased here show that the future success of the NHS will depend on nurturing a leadership community diverse enough to meet its varied and changing challenges.

Mark Laffan is head of healthcare at Penna