The door of opportunity and connecting with others is how Harry Greenspun landed his most recent position of Senior Advisor of healthcare transformation and technology at Deloitte. In his former position as Chief Medical Officer at Dell, one of the largest providers of health IT services worldwide, Greenspun spends his time speaking and writing about improving health care through IT.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree at Harvard University and a medical degree at the University of Maryland, Greenspun started his medical career as a cardiac anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins. This is where he discovered his niche for information technology in health care and what led him to become chief medical officer for both Northrop Grumman Corporation and Dell.
Besides his education, Greenspun’s use of social media and other connection tools have been a driving force to kicking off his success. Whether it’s exchanging names or having a conversation, he has been presented many opportunities where he has met individuals who helped his career.
“Early in my career, being introduced to influential people gave me a chance to serve on important committees, speak on panels, and overall elevate my visibility. Over time, having a very broad network has allowed me to help people under almost any circumstance.”
Because Greenspun was helped in the past, he is now giving back by assisting others in networking and solving problems within healthcare. Greenspun has also helped write the best-selling book, “Reengineering Healthcare: A Manifesto for Radically Rethinking Health Care Delivery.”
Whether he is sailing with his three sons or working in the office, Greenspun’s personality in and out of the workplace is equal. “It’s easier to be essentially the same person in public as you are in private, otherwise you start to feel schizophrenic,” said Greenspun. “So many people try to maintain a particular public image which really isn’t them, and that’s unsustainable.”
Advice he gives to others about health IT is to have a broad perspective and to look globally. He asks others to listen, think creatively and look broadly in order to understand healthcare,- just as he has done.
