South Florida is an interesting place to be a professional caregiver. College students and working folks go there to vacation. Others go there to retire. Everyone hopes that if they need to be hospitalized, the care will be as kind as the climate.

             As a young boy growing up in Florida Pat Taylor wanted to be
an astronaut. An excellent student, he progressed through high school rapidly
approaching his dream.

             The next
step in his journey was the Air Force Academy. He secured the necessary
appointment from a U.S. Senator.

             All that
was left was a routine physical.

             Days after
the physical exam, he received a surprising note. He had failed the rigorous
physical test not because of a major problem but because of an orthopedic issue so minor he didn’t know he had it.

            Millions of
us have scoliosis. It doesn’t get in the way of our regular lives. But if you
want to get into the Air Force Academy it’s an automatic dis-qualifier.

             His dreams
of becoming an astronaut dashed, Pat wondered what to do next. During one of
his summers at Notre Dame, he got a position as a hospital orderly. He loved
it.

             Duke
Medical School came next followed by successful residencies at two more
prestigious training programs.

             “I was
drawn to work in emergency medicine,” Dr. Taylor told me. “One reason may have
been that I noticed that I was calm and clear-headed in the midst of chaos.”

             In his
years of practice, Pat learned he was also good at business. In the course of
winning his Masters, he discovered something else. He needed to practice his
skills in team settings.

             “Doctors
don’t receive much training for leadership in teams,” Pat shared. “As a doctor,
everyone looks to you to make the call.”

             As he had
in other areas, Dr. Taylor developed his leadership team skills so well that he
became President and CEO of Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale. There, he
has been working hard at developing a culture of loving care among the three
thousand employees and physicians on staff.

             “Attention
to matters of the soul is crucial in a non-profit Catholic hospital,” Pat says.
“That’s very important to me. It’s at the core of my being.”

             How does a
leader integrate a compassionate soul with the rigorous demands of leadership
in a hospital setting?

             Dr. Taylor
offers a fascinating metaphor based on his fluency in Spanish. “When I was first
learning another language, I would hear the Spanish sentence and translate it
into the English I already knew. After awhile, I didn’t need to take that step.
Speaking Spanish became natural.”

             This is how
he believes tough-minded caregivers can learn compassion. When they first
practice it, they have to translate it through the language of competence they
already know. After regular use, the practice of compassion with competence
becomes natural.

             Moving from
his young-boy dreams to be an astronaut to his adult career practicing his
calling as a physician-CEO, Dr. Patrick Taylor has become a successful example to all.
Every day and night, he strives to live his calling to be a loving leader. 

-Erie Chapman