The Dark Side of Corporate Leadership: Integrity vs. Profit.

BEP Narrator: 00:00:02

A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know

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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Dr. Nsenga Burton: Good afternoon

and welcome to Need to Know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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I am she.

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I hope all is well in your world.

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Today we're going to talk about integrity

in the workplace and how sometimes

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practices that just because they are legal

doesn't mean that they're ethical and that

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can lead to some devastating consequences.

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Um, I You know, even unintended so before

I even start on this, I know everyone

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is caught up in enthralled with the, um,

United healthcare CEOs assassination.

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I would say it was an execution and

that the culprit has been picked up.

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Um, so this is no way, shape

or form has to do, um, wants to

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make light of what happened to,

uh, Brian Thompson is terrible.

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What happened to him and

his family, his colleagues.

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It's terrible that people are in fear

for their lives and all of the things.

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Um, and it's terrible that that happened

to him as he was just going to work.

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Right.

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Um, so having said that, um, What I'm

talking about today is related, uh, not

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to UnitedHealthcare per se, but it's

corporations in general and how, uh, you

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have to navigate these kind of spaces

and I have to change with the times.

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So, um, you know, there's another

company that I won't name, but following

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the execution of Mr Thompson, they

changed their policies on anesthesia.

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You know, how they cover it,

so they will only cover it for

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a certain number of minutes.

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And then after that, it was minutes past,

the patient would be required to pay if

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they indeed continued receiving anesthesia

and, you know, anesthesia is given

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typically when you're having some type of.

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Surgery.

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So we were a little bit shocked.

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Some people know this because

they have medical issues.

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I have medical issues.

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Thankfully, I haven't been on

anesthesia in a long time, so

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I didn't even know about this.

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But, um, you know, I was, you know, people

were shocked when they learned this.

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Um, and even though that's something

that you can legally do, that is really

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a terrible policy and it shouldn't take,

uh, because it's inhumane, it's inhumane.

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Like, you know, if you're,

you, a doctor has said that

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you need this service, right?

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A surgeon has said that I have to do this.

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The surgeon has said you need to be

put under, uh, if it goes longer than

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it's supposed to, or you run into

some kind of issue or complication,

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you, uh, you shouldn't have the burden

of having to either suffer through

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it, because we're learning, um.

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with these laws that are impacting women's

bodies that, you know, some doctors are

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really afraid of the insurance companies.

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They're afraid of the law.

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Uh, and so they're letting women bleed

out in cars and parking lots, um,

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or, you know, letting them sit for

hours and in some cases days, um, and

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either, you know, die or what have you.

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So we have to, what I think We should come

out of this case, uh, or this issue, uh,

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is that we as leaders in our professions

have to think in a humane and ethical way.

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Is it humane to deny people services

that have been prescribed by a doctor?

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Is that humane?

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You know, I mean, it

has, it happens a lot.

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And when I think about this boy,

I'm just trying to figure out,

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I mean, I know he's 26, but you

know, I'm old, so he's a boy to me.

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Um, but when I think about this young

person who didn't have enough sense

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to pack a sandwich, Right, didn't have

enough sense to pack a sandwich, didn't

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have enough sense to be in Pennsylvania

and go to Amish country where he could

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have just lived forever, and nobody

would have known he was there, except

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if there was a basketball tournament

or something happened and then he

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might be spotted, but that was like,

gonna be later in the year, summer.

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Um, but you know, in Pennsylvania, doesn't

have enough sense to go there if he's

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gonna stay in the, in the, uh, in the

country or starve his way to Canada.

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Right, the nearest crossing border

crossing, but, um, I'm trying to figure

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out and I'm looking forward to finding

out if this is indeed the person what

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it was that motivated this person to do

this to commit this heinous crime because

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those of us who have been dealing with.

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Hospitals and doctors for an inordinated

amount of time, you know, it could

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be us, it could be your parents,

it could be friends, whatever,

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know that there are many, many

challenges with the insurance agency.

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So I can't even imagine what

at twenty six he has endured

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that would make him do this.

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Relative to all the horror stories that

we hear about as full functioning adults,

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um, you know, and all the go fund me's

we see, um, that are related to people's

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medical issues because they're bankrupting

them, um, you know, and a lot of issues

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and these people who have insurance.

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So, uh, I think it's an opportunity for

us to really think about as leaders.

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What does it look like to operate

with a very specific ethos?

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And that is elevating people's humanity

to the very top, particularly when you

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are in such close proximity to it, right?

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When you have, um, the tools and

resources to either help someone live or

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to make sure that they succumb, right?

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If they don't have access

to those tools or resources.

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So what does leadership look like?

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When you have the opportunity to impact

people's lives on such a specific level.

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Right?

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And I would just want to say that we

need to know that times are changing.

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People are not going to accept and

deal with what they were accepting

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and dealing with previously.

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You're going to see this

in this next election.

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You know, there is fear that they're

going to get away with so much stuff.

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People are not going to accept what

they accepted in twenty twenty.

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All right.

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Um, you're going to see

this in your workplaces.

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You know, um, if we have another

pandemic, people are not going

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to accept what they accepted

previously, this next election, U.

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S.

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presidential election, Democrats are

not going to accept what they accept.

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Uh, Previously, it's not going to happen.

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So at some point you have to change

and you have to, uh, change with the

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times and you can either lead, be a real

leader and say, listen, we've been doing

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this long enough and no longer serves

us no longer serves our population.

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We need to change our policies or

the way we deal with this, or we need

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to have, you know, uh, uh, something

in place to deal with these types of

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issues because it is no longer serving

our, our, uh, patients or clients.

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Or you can be dragged there.

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Because of a P.

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R.

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crisis crisis communications

is what we call it.

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So a P.

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R.

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crisis where you're like, oh,

my God, this is happening.

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What are our policies?

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Oh, my goodness.

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Look at all this stuff on social

media about how terrible we are.

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Let's start to clean this up.

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That should not be the driver.

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The driver should start from the top.

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It should be with the company and

people should be made aware of

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not only what you're trying to do,

um, but with what you're What the

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measurable outcomes will be right?

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So, if we make this policy change,

we hope to save, you know, hope to

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increase the number of lives that

we save by 10 percent next year.

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Right?

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So that's also like, not only being

ethical, but also being accountable

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and really making yourself when

you have measurable outcomes.

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It makes you really think about.

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What really needs to happen in order

to create the change that you seek.

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So on need to know today It's

there's value in packing a lunch

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When you need to get somewhere quickly

and you don't have time to stop and

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go into a fast food restaurant And

then I'm like, why are you mad at

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the health care company when you eat

McDonald's, but that's another story

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So need to know is pack a lunch

that's number one number two Um

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Know your environment and where

you are at all times, right?

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And then number three to really lead

and think from a perspective of how

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do I help the most people possible?

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When you are making billions

in profits, you can afford to

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help the most people possible.

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You're not going to always get it right.

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You can't save everyone.

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But when people are going through hard

times and medical issues are hard,

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especially when you're looking at

something that can be critical or that

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is critical or could be fatal, it's hard.

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It's hard to stress on your

families or what have you.

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The last thing that people should be

having to think about is, Lord, I hope

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this surgeon finishes this surgery on time

so I don't wake up in the middle of it

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or, oh my gosh, If they don't

finish on time, I'm going to have

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this big, uh, balloon payment

waiting for me after I heal.

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So if I, if, if the surgery, if I survived

the surgery, the stress of having to

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pay this bill or having it hanging

over my head, uh, will kill me instead.

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Right?

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Um, we should not be doing that in 2024.

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We should be better than that.

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And I do believe that

we are better than that.

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I know 50 percent of us are not, but the

other 50 percent of us are, so we need the

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other 50 percent to use your influence.

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And, uh, to really ask our leaders,

particularly our leaders of multi billion

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dollar corporations, um, to do better and

to be better and to make better decisions.

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Um, you know, so that we

can avoid tragedies, further

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tragedies, uh, and just.

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Just violence that is unnecessary.

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Violence is never necessary,

but certainly in this instance.

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Um, so I just wanted

to put that out there.

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Uh, I think it's terrible again.

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Don't chop this up and pretend

like I said that it was okay.

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It's not.

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It's horrible.

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We should not be out here

assassinating, executing people.

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Period.

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Period.

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And it includes the incoming president.

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Period.

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Uh, but we also have to learn how

to treat people, um, with empathy,

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with kindness and with integrity.

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Uh, so that we can avoid, uh, these

types of instances, um, in the future.

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And that is Need to Know with Dr.

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Nsenga and tune in to A Black

Executive Perspective Podcast next

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week, where we'll have more for you.

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All right.

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Have a wonderful day.

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BEP Narrator: A Black

Executive Perspective.