Even when it meant taking a lesser position, Mitch Wasden gambled on a career move that would keep him on a challenging path.
About 10 years ago, Wasden and his mentor, Dr. Patrick Quinlan, were managing satellite clinics for Lovelace Health Systems in New Mexico. Quinlan had just accepted an offer from Ochsner Medical Center to serve as medical director.
Wasden was contemplating a similar move even though it didn’t seem like a logical one. But, after visiting Ochsner, he says he felt the change right in his gut.
“When I looked at the remaining management left behind, I realized I couldn’t learn as much from them and decided to move,” he says.
Wasden came to Ochsner as director of Primary Care Clinics, which had less responsibility and territory. “At the end of the day, I knew working with someone I trusted and could learn from was more important than obsessing about where I was on some organizational chart.”
Mentors are important to Wasden, who believes few people work for organizations. “Instead, we work for people in organizations. When most people leave an organization, they often are leaving the people in it because they don’t feel like they fit anymore. If you like who you work with and feel professionally and personally developed, then your work has greater meaning.”
The experience taught him the importance of taking what he calls “the long view” in planning his career—and it has paid off.
“I’ve grown every year with challenging assignments,” Wasden says. “My current boss challenges my thinking and isn’t afraid to coach me in my development.”
In January, Wasden was named CEO of Ochsner Medical Center Baton Rouge. He is a doctoral candidate in leadership studies at George Washington University and received the university’s 2008 Ralph Stone Award for “selfless development of others.” And now he aspires to run a larger, multihospital health system.
“When I think back, there is no question I made the right decision,” he says. “Ochsner has grown and become more successful because of the people it attracted, and this isn’t true of my former organization.”
Age: 39
What is Baton Rouge’s biggest strength in the quest to attract young professionals?
“The things that seem to attract young professionals we hire are, first, family ties to the area; second, cosmopolitan city; third, nice place to raise family; four, university town; and five, collegial medical community.”
Click here for the complete list of 2008's Forty Under 40 winners.
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