Ingram's November 2022

Kim Dixon’s pull to health care—nursing, specifically—has origins often found within that profession. It usually starts in one’s youth, with havingwitnessed the care delivered for a relative; inDixon’s case, it was a chronically ill grandmother. It’s often accompanied by a childhood environment where community service is prized, as it was within her small-town Missouri family of five. And it’s routinely yoked to lessons about leadership. “My parents definitely helped me with those broad values that guide me in my life and work today,” says the assistant chief nursing officer for The University of Kansas Health System. “From as early as I can remember, my dad served our community in so many ways, and much of the time, my mom was right there with him volunteering time as well. They were always focused on making the community a better place for families to raise children. He was such Kim Dixon , Assistant Chief Nursing Officer for Ambulatory THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS HEALTH SYSTEM a servant leader to his community, and seeing that through my years growing up has definitely helped form me into the leader I am today.” After earning her nursing degree at what is now Truman State, she took her first nursing job on a medical telemetry floor, usually at the bedside of cardiac patients. Her area of specialization shifted when she came to TUKH, where she learned the challenges of patients with spinal issues as she mastered the skill of setting up ambulatory clinics in hospital outpatient settings. Leadership roles, she says, have allowed her to extend her reach across patient groups, teaching other nurses “to provide that full scope of care that nurses can offer. You get pulled in for problem-solving sometimes, and while there’s no direct care, or very little, my ability to impact patients comes through my contact with nurses.” She’s had years to observe the rise of women into leadership ranks within health-care settings and notes

that while men tend to track into CEO/COO type roles, women are more likely to fill chief nursing or HR roles. And she thinks there’s a reason for that. Within health care broadly, “HR tends to attract people who are service-orien ted; the same with CNO. Those roles really are about the people and

the patients we care for. In some places, those who get into COO and CEO tend to be more about the financial side, which often has more appeal to men. One thing I love about KU, regardless of position, everyone here is so people- and patient focused. That’s what drew me here 14 years ago.” CEO Bob Page and President Tammy Peterman, she says, “are all about the quality of service. If you focus there first, financial success will follow.”

Leah FitzGerald , KC Managing Partner CBRE Growing up in a household with a family business teaches you some things about hard work, discipline, and focus. Growing up in a household with two family businesses teaches a few other things, not all of which might be considered positives. “Both my parents owned their own businesses and, because of that, never really unplugged or stepped away,” FitzGerald recalls. “The downside is that it can disrupt your work-life balance—something I’m consciously trying to improve.” And yet here she is, having worked her way to the role of office managing partner for the global commercial-realty firm CBRE. That, in part, can be traced back to those same family dynamics in her youth. “My family also had a lot of unique traditions, which I’m proud of and have passed on to my own children,” FitzGerald says. Simple family activities like

corporate side of the business—“good de sign is not just about creative solutions but also necessitates an understanding of prac- tical constructability and a keen awareness for the use of appropriate materials,” she says. “My time spent working as a general contractor taught me how to apply

decorating gingerbread houses or making candy canes by hand are traditions that, she says, “have instilled in me the satisfaction that comes from excellence, attention to detail, and creativity. I believe that life and work should be fun, and traditions and creative ideas should be celebrated and treasured.” Two random events helped shape her career even before she understood what being an architect entailed. One was her father’s introducing her to the concept of investing in equities. The other was choosing Disney as a stock-picker. “That led to my pursuit of architecture and my first job out of college in Florida, working as an Imagineer for the Disney Development Co.,” she says. “During my time at Disney, I had the opportunity to move to Italy for a project. Living in Europe gave me an appreciation for different cultures, new ideas, and perspectives”—an appreciation that continues to influence her leadership. FitzGerald also has the distinction of being a licensed general contractor, which has given her insights into real-estate development and the

realistic solutions to highly creative ideas.” The same held true before CBRE, at VanTrust Real Estate. There, she came to understand “the financial realities of ROI and the importance of supply and demand.” To be an effective leader, she says, “I think clear communication is essential. … I firmly believe that the root of most disagreements or failures stems from ineffective communication. When you have a misalignment of the goals or a lack of clear understanding of the purpose, it leads to inaccurate results.”

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November 2022

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