Foreword

Introducing a trailblazing icon—a visionary innovator and fellow board member who was also a brilliant driver of change and a consummate politician—is not an easy task. But Connie Curran, this book's author, navigated the world of nursing, healthcare, and executive management effortlessly: At least it appeared that way to me.

Connie worked tirelessly to advance her beloved nursing profession, pulling the healthcare industry along with her. Her mission was clear, her voice was strong, and her many talents were laser focused on a single passion: getting more nurses on boards. Connie singlehandedly led nurses from the bedside to the governing table—by example, via her books, and through hands-on mentoring.

I recall one morning sitting at the breakfast table watching CBS Sunday Morning, and there was my friend Connie on the television talking about changes in life, walking the streets of San Francisco after her years in Chicago. She was more than open to change; she invited it in because she saw its potential to advance the self.

She believed in her heart of hearts that the profession needs all the gifts its members possess if we are to transform healthcare into all that it can be. Leading change, you see, was her gift.

I first met Connie in the 1980s, when I was a corporate nurse at the pioneering for-profit healthcare company HCA (Hospital Corporation of America). Connie, representing the American Hospital Association (AHA), served as executive director at the ASNSA, a precursor to AONE. I can remember the call as if it happened yesterday. Her amazing voice came through clearly on my landline to inform me that she was coming to visit me in Nashville because HCA was the largest member of AHA. Although I had no clue who she was or why she was coming, one thing was clear: She was on her way. She was determined to show our corporate leaders the value that only an engaged nursing professional could add. One by one, HCA executives—from Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr., one of HCA's founders and the “father of the modern for-profit hospital system,” to David Williamson, then a board member of AHA—became aware of the invaluable perspective and untapped leadership that nursing could bring to bear on healthcare's transformation.

A few years later, when the Kellogg Foundation awarded a grant titled “National Commission on Nursing Implementation Project,” chairman Vivian DeBack, PhD, RN, FAAN, and I were searching for a powerful keynote speaker who could drive the introduction of change in nursing education, practice, and service. Only one name came to mind: Connie Curran.

My esteemed colleague omitted from Nurse on Board one critical fact: Decision-making at the board level is painful. She knew that truth all too well. Being on a board requires deep reflective thought that your colleagues might not see as positive and, yet, the organization's very survival depends on the board's willingness to make tough decisions.

Connie realized that no nurse is on a board to be a nurse. Rather, this responsibility centers on being able to show, against the backdrop of patient care, the knowledge the organization needs to have to be successful. I know for a fact that Connie made very difficult decisions at the board level—decisions that, while heartfelt, caused her difficulty because of their impact on the profession she loved so much. Often, these decisions came during times when an organization's very survival was in question. Through layoffs and union strikes, Connie continued to fight feverishly to keep organizations alive through valiant decision-making.

One of my colleagues told me about Connie visiting her organization to find ways to resolve organizational issues through some tough negotiations with the hospital board's leadership. Connie worked with the management team to strengthen institutional knowledge and create new standards of success. Today, that organization not only survives, it flourishes. Connie helped the board navigate through a tough set of obstacles to see the opportunities on the horizon.

As a corporate nurse, I clearly see her impact on nursing and our healthcare system. I have gained new insights from reading Connie's editorial work, especially her groundbreaking book, Claiming the Corner Office. Not only did this book encourage nurses to make their way into management and the executive suite, but it also gave them a practical road map for getting there.

In academe, she jettisoned conventional wisdom to push for better education for nurses, clearer career paths into management and beyond, and board seats for nurses ready to govern. Until Connie came on the scene, there were few, if any, nurses in the boardroom. Connie realized that patients need advocates, and nurses are spectacularly willing and able to provide that advocacy. More importantly, what had been learned at the bedside needed to be made clear to those in the boardroom. Connie championed what no one at the time recognized: that nurses on boards are a must for leadership in healthcare.

Connie achieved these groundbreaking accomplishments while maintaining deep relationships with her family and her friends. I know she especially cherished her daughter, Melissa, and grandson, Oliver, because she told me so. She drew her strength from a rich network of lifelong supporters who recognized her for all she was—an activist for change, a supremely talented collaborator and motivator, and, most important of all, a woman who cared deeply. I remain extremely proud to be able to call her my friend.

Today, as I work to advance Connie's work posthumously, I reflect on the memorial services at her alma mater, DePaul University. Connie will forever be remembered by many, but her greatest accomplishment, outside that of a personal nature, was her executive leadership in the profession of nursing. She pushed limits and dissolved boundaries in ways that only a handful of pioneers can.

 -Roy L. Simpson, DNP, RN, DPNAP, FAAN

 Vice President, Nursing, Cerner Corporation