Britt Berrett, Ph.D, FACHE is the former president of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas and executive vice president of Texas Health Resources.
He is an Executive Coach with MEDI and has more than 25 years of experience as a hospital president and CEO. His background includes leadership in faith-based, investor-owned and academic/teaching hospitals ranging from small to large. He brings strengths in building physician stakeholder relationships, organizational excellence, and driving clinical operations to achieve business results.
Dr. Berrett holds a Ph.D. from the School of Economics, Policy and Political Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. His dissertation, “Leadership Theory in Strategic Planning in Hospitals,” reflects his passion for advancing the business side of hospital operations to further advance the mission to improve patients’ lives. He received a Master of Science degree in health administration from Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Brigham Young University. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and has served as a Regent for six years.
In 2013, Dr. Berrett co-authored a New York Times Best Selling book on leadership in healthcare entitled, “Patients Come Second – Leading Change by Changing How You Lead.”
Currently, Dr. Berrett is the program director and clinical faculty of Health Care Management at the University of Texas at Dallas in the Jindal School of Management. He lectures nationally and internationally and is a featured speaker at industry and professional events.
I believe that real transformation requires real awareness. The subconscious is always in the driver’s seat. My coaching focuses on putting the conscious, or thinking brain, in the front seat with a hand on the wheel. My work is thus about creating new actions developed intentionally and practiced in real time with lots of reflection, combined with uncovering subconscious fears or mental models, and reframing or rerouting so when the subconscious is driving alone (under stress, etc.) the actions remain in alignment.
Creating capacity. I excel at supporting my clients in truly seeing how their hidden (unconscious) fears are preventing them from reaching their own goals, and that doing more isn’t the answer. Many of my clients tell me they feel like they work less but accomplish more after working with me.
I enjoy working with people who love uncovering the “WHY” of situations, including themselves. This requires getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, and being truly honest with themselves.
A client comes to mind—someone who was at a high level role structurally, but very niched in their contribution to the organization. Seeing an affiliation on the horizon, they wondered about their role. They self-identified as a perfectionist, an over-preparer, and someone who was highly regarded and relied on.
Through our work they realized their fear of failure was preventing them from truly succeeding. Their team wasn’t developing, others in the organization only knew them for their niche, and though highly regarded now, they needed to have more capacity in order to grow with the organization.
During/after our work together, they were promoted to a broader corporate role, their teams felt supported and valued, they did less and thought more, and had more time outside of work for things they loved!
That I incorporate mindfulness, ask the questions that others won’t, and believe great leaders prioritize self-care.
My background in healthcare finance, physician organizations, hospital administration and working with and on boards provides a very broad perspective that I believe serves my clients very well. Being a female in all of these roles, often working in male-dominated rooms, is interesting, but not the differentiator. My post-corporate work, including coach training and mindfulness work (yoga, meditation, retreats, etc.) is unique. Even though I don’t always talk about it with clients, it is who I am.
That coaching is intended to fix something that’s broken. I love seeing clients realize that the change they make might be very small or subtle, but the impact is huge!
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