Unconventional Leadership: What Henry Ford and Detroit Taught Me about Reinvention and Diversity

What does it take to lead the successful turnaround of four consecutive organizations? What does it take to run a $5 billion business in Detroit as the city struggles to emerge from municipal bankruptcy and its worst ongoing crisis ever? What does it take to be a female CEO who has come up against discrimination and personal attack? It takes Unconventional Leadership, a style of leadership based on confronting reality and leading headlong through adversity. In this inspiring story, innovative LGBT leader Nancy Schlichting, the CEO of Henry Ford Health System, reveals her unique strategies that drive success: maintaining a focus on people, creating a culture of innovation and reinvention, and embracing diversity as a key strategy for growth.

The book describes a leadership paradigm that will motivate, inspire, and drive new thinking in today's disruptive business environment where traditional modes of managing are no longer working. In Unconventional Leadership, Schlichting weaves together three themes that explain how she has become one of the most powerful individuals in healthcare today: (1) deftly conquering the immense challenges within the healthcare industry itself—consolidation, new models of delivery and financing, increasing government regulation and oversight, changing customer expectations, and pressures on cost and quality (2) the exciting and panoramic backdrop of Henry Ford and Detroit—Ford’s legacy of invention and innovation combined with ongoing attempts to restore and renew a city in deep decline; and (3) forging a career path and excelling as an LGBT and female CEO in a world typically dominated by men.

An abiding fan of the underdog, Schlichting reveals, above all else, the sheer grit and determination required to lead through adversity and create a successful legacy of leadership.