My Life in the VA: Lessons in Leadership

My Life in the VA: Lessons in Leadership provides the unique perspective of a VA insider, a career Federal employee who rose from a GS-5, Accountant Trainee, to the highest levels of the senior executive service. The author, having served thirty-seven years in the VA, still follows the news in healthcare and about the VA with intense interest. Having transferred thirteen times as well as having served in the VA Central Office in Washington on three different occasions, his exposure to the inner working of health care delivery as well as the political adminstration in the executive branch has embued him with a extensive knowledge of health care and the bureaucracy. The Veterans Healthcare Administration is at the critical juncture of healthcare, Federal government, education of health care professionals and health care information technology. The VHA's highly acclaimed automated medical record is just one of the critical enterprises that the author discusses. The story describes the transformation of the VA healthcare under the leadership of Dr. Kenneth Kizer. The book also describes interactions with VA cabinet secretaries and offers an insider's view on those efforts that required leadership. He offers numerous anecdotes, sometimes amusing and sometimes sad, of the characters encountered along the way. The book provides advice and guidance gleaned from experience and sometimes personally painful experiences. Case studies, a seriously neglected educational tool in the VA and no doubt elsewhere, strive to educate and inform the reader about the hard work of the health care leader. The author is passional about the need for health care reform and performance improvement. Lastly, the book reflects the author's love for the VA's mission, its patients, employees, volunteers and accomplishments.