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Mission-Driven Leadership: My Journey as a Radical Capitalist
In Mission-Driven Leadership , Mark Bertolini, the long-time chairman and CEO of Aetna, the Fortune 500 health insurance company, reveals that genuine leadership is not about dollars and market share but about improving lives and communities.
Mark Bertolini didn't get to the corner office through traditional means. He grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood in Detroit. Early in his career, he was known for his bare-knuckled leadership and hard driving competitiveness that helped him to turnaround several companies. But his ambition came at a cost as he ran roughshod over his colleagues and employees, and spent time away from his family. Two events served as wakeup calls for the hard-charging Bertolini. First his son Eric was diagnosed with incurable cancer, and Bertolini found himself confronting the healthcare industry firsthand, not as an executive, but as the parent of a deathly ill child, determined to save his son's life. And miraculously, after a year in the hospital, often at death's door--Eric was twice given last rites--his son recovered. The second wakeup call was a skiing accident several years later in which Bertolini broke his neck. As his life unraveled in the face of years of chronic pain, therapy, and medication, he realized he had to reinvent himself, emotionally, spiritually, and as a leader--or go under. Mission-Driven Leadership speaks to the lessons Bertolini learned about empathy, about helping employees and Aetna's customers take better care of themselves and each other, about the need to "find the divine in me," and the importance of getting out to meet with employees and customers face-to-face in town halls to truly discover their needs and better serve them.
Mark Bertolini didn't get to the corner office through traditional means. He grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood in Detroit. Early in his career, he was known for his bare-knuckled leadership and hard driving competitiveness that helped him to turnaround several companies. But his ambition came at a cost as he ran roughshod over his colleagues and employees, and spent time away from his family. Two events served as wakeup calls for the hard-charging Bertolini. First his son Eric was diagnosed with incurable cancer, and Bertolini found himself confronting the healthcare industry firsthand, not as an executive, but as the parent of a deathly ill child, determined to save his son's life. And miraculously, after a year in the hospital, often at death's door--Eric was twice given last rites--his son recovered. The second wakeup call was a skiing accident several years later in which Bertolini broke his neck. As his life unraveled in the face of years of chronic pain, therapy, and medication, he realized he had to reinvent himself, emotionally, spiritually, and as a leader--or go under. Mission-Driven Leadership speaks to the lessons Bertolini learned about empathy, about helping employees and Aetna's customers take better care of themselves and each other, about the need to "find the divine in me," and the importance of getting out to meet with employees and customers face-to-face in town halls to truly discover their needs and better serve them.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published March 19, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 25, 2019
There's no question that former Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini has successfully forged a path weaving together both the idea of mission-driven leadership and the world of profit-driven capitalism.
There's also no question that there's much to learn from Bertolini's effort here, a mostly testimonial literary effort that honestly and vulnerably recounts Bertolini's journey from narcissistic, success-driven business leader into something less more about improving lives and communities.
However, I must confess that I didn't much enjoy reading "Mission-Driven Leadership." I never hated it. I saw value in it. I just plain didn't enjoy it.
First off, it's worth noting that Bertolini writes from a corporate leadership perspective and largely uses corporate leadership language. While there are chapters dealing with his personal life, most notably his healthcare experiences with his son, the majority of the book deals with upper corporate leadership and utilizes language and terminology not everyone will understand.
This book, in essence, is not for entry-level leaders. This book is essentially a corporate autobiography of one man's personal leadership development and how that leadership was influenced by his own life experiences. While there are certainly leadership lessons here, the model here is so clearly developed specific to Bertolini's life that it becomes more difficult to pull personal lessons from it.
Secondly, Bertolini's overall gruffness is adopted as the tone of the book. This is a factor in the book itself not being particularly enjoyable. At one point, I found myself mumbling "If I have to be like you, I don't want to be successful."
I understand why many are resonating with this book. I simply think there are lots of people going to read "Mission-Driven Leadership" expecting one thing and disappointed. Bertolini writes in a very abrupt style. I wanted more nuance, especially as his model of leadership changed and he transformed into a CEO who discovered how being a mission-driven leader and organization can ultimately lead to even greater successes. I understood how life experiences fueled it all. I just found the transition very abrupt and, at times, it seemed almost abusive to those around him (I think a key example for me was one time when an employee really let him down by not being mission-driven; ultimately failing a customer. While I get that was a failure, his "mission-driven leadership" ultimately just fired the guy. I mean, seriously. That's the best you could do?).
He also seems largely unaware of how his own privilege ultimately informed his ability to overcome many of his obstacles. While he had insights into how his knowledge of healthcare allowed him to confront the "system," he lacked awareness (or at least wrote as if he lacked awareness) of his overwhelming privilege and how that ultimately allowed him to make many of the choices he made for his son, for his family, and for himself.
It also seemed, as well, that as much as he kept preaching against being obsessed with the bottom line that he spent a lot of time talking about the bottom line. I just didn't see a whole lot that was "radical" about his capitalism. I could name any number of companies willing to be more compassionate when they can turn that into a profit.
Oh, and can we just retire the phrase "longtime CEO?" He was CEO for eight years. While that's a decent length of time for a corporate CEO, "longtime" seems a bit of a stretch.
Okay, I'll stop now.
For those living in the corporate, dog-eat-dog world, there's much to take away from "Mission-Driven Leadership" and I have zero doubt that those within corporate leadership will be better in their leadership from reading it. However, I personally found it a difficult, not particularly present book to read and I can't say that it truly informed or changed any aspect of who I am personally or professionally.
There's also no question that there's much to learn from Bertolini's effort here, a mostly testimonial literary effort that honestly and vulnerably recounts Bertolini's journey from narcissistic, success-driven business leader into something less more about improving lives and communities.
However, I must confess that I didn't much enjoy reading "Mission-Driven Leadership." I never hated it. I saw value in it. I just plain didn't enjoy it.
First off, it's worth noting that Bertolini writes from a corporate leadership perspective and largely uses corporate leadership language. While there are chapters dealing with his personal life, most notably his healthcare experiences with his son, the majority of the book deals with upper corporate leadership and utilizes language and terminology not everyone will understand.
This book, in essence, is not for entry-level leaders. This book is essentially a corporate autobiography of one man's personal leadership development and how that leadership was influenced by his own life experiences. While there are certainly leadership lessons here, the model here is so clearly developed specific to Bertolini's life that it becomes more difficult to pull personal lessons from it.
Secondly, Bertolini's overall gruffness is adopted as the tone of the book. This is a factor in the book itself not being particularly enjoyable. At one point, I found myself mumbling "If I have to be like you, I don't want to be successful."
I understand why many are resonating with this book. I simply think there are lots of people going to read "Mission-Driven Leadership" expecting one thing and disappointed. Bertolini writes in a very abrupt style. I wanted more nuance, especially as his model of leadership changed and he transformed into a CEO who discovered how being a mission-driven leader and organization can ultimately lead to even greater successes. I understood how life experiences fueled it all. I just found the transition very abrupt and, at times, it seemed almost abusive to those around him (I think a key example for me was one time when an employee really let him down by not being mission-driven; ultimately failing a customer. While I get that was a failure, his "mission-driven leadership" ultimately just fired the guy. I mean, seriously. That's the best you could do?).
He also seems largely unaware of how his own privilege ultimately informed his ability to overcome many of his obstacles. While he had insights into how his knowledge of healthcare allowed him to confront the "system," he lacked awareness (or at least wrote as if he lacked awareness) of his overwhelming privilege and how that ultimately allowed him to make many of the choices he made for his son, for his family, and for himself.
It also seemed, as well, that as much as he kept preaching against being obsessed with the bottom line that he spent a lot of time talking about the bottom line. I just didn't see a whole lot that was "radical" about his capitalism. I could name any number of companies willing to be more compassionate when they can turn that into a profit.
Oh, and can we just retire the phrase "longtime CEO?" He was CEO for eight years. While that's a decent length of time for a corporate CEO, "longtime" seems a bit of a stretch.
Okay, I'll stop now.
For those living in the corporate, dog-eat-dog world, there's much to take away from "Mission-Driven Leadership" and I have zero doubt that those within corporate leadership will be better in their leadership from reading it. However, I personally found it a difficult, not particularly present book to read and I can't say that it truly informed or changed any aspect of who I am personally or professionally.
April 29, 2019
Great, inspiring book
Credit to Mark for sharing so freely his life story. An inspiration. Easy to read in a weekend, giving you a great sense of the man.
Credit to Mark for sharing so freely his life story. An inspiration. Easy to read in a weekend, giving you a great sense of the man.
October 28, 2020
Mission Driven Leadership: My Life as a Radical Capitalist
1 Comment (Edit)
Would you like to learn from a former Fortune 50 CEO? How about one who has moved through both personal and family tragedy and still led at the highest levels? Most books by CEOs and former CEOs are more about their ego than helping their audience. Mission Driven Leadership: My Life as a Radical Capitalist doesn’t fit that mold.
Mark Bertolini is the father of a son who beat “incurable” cancer. He himself survived a terrible accident that left him with limited use of one hand and serious depression. He is also the very successful former CEO of Aetna, a health insurance company consistently in the top 50 of Fortune’s list of the largest companies.
His book is part inspiring autobiography, and part a lesson in mission driven leadership. It is also (in the final chapter) a treatise on the future of healthcare in the US, from a guy who has worked on it at the highest levels.
Read more...
1 Comment (Edit)
Would you like to learn from a former Fortune 50 CEO? How about one who has moved through both personal and family tragedy and still led at the highest levels? Most books by CEOs and former CEOs are more about their ego than helping their audience. Mission Driven Leadership: My Life as a Radical Capitalist doesn’t fit that mold.
Mark Bertolini is the father of a son who beat “incurable” cancer. He himself survived a terrible accident that left him with limited use of one hand and serious depression. He is also the very successful former CEO of Aetna, a health insurance company consistently in the top 50 of Fortune’s list of the largest companies.
His book is part inspiring autobiography, and part a lesson in mission driven leadership. It is also (in the final chapter) a treatise on the future of healthcare in the US, from a guy who has worked on it at the highest levels.
Read more...
September 16, 2020
Just finished reading "Mission Driven Leadership" by Mark Bertolini, former Aetna CEO. I totally recommend it. It's a light read, and it's not so much a leadership how-to, as it's a good story. Mark went through some life shattering experiences, and it's interesting how that influenced his work habits and life choices. He shares some interesting insider tips on Aetna, and health care industry, that are interesting to learn as an end user.
Read
December 6, 2019Direct and raw at times. Excellent.
Honest and brutal at times, but on himself. Interesting inside picture of leader struggling with doiwhat he believes is right.
Honest and brutal at times, but on himself. Interesting inside picture of leader struggling with doiwhat he believes is right.
Read
August 13, 2023A life of much
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews