Sharky Thomas

The average tenure of a CEO of the top 3,000 publicly traded companies was around seven years in 2020, according to data compiled and analyzed by the Conference Board.

It’s been trending down, which jibes with the quickening pace of how businesses experience and respond to ups and downs.

Consultants at the global management firm Spencer Stuart identified five distinct stages of CEO tenure, starting with the honeymoon period in the first year. The second year they labeled the sophomore slump, followed by the recovery period in years three through five. The complacency trap sets in around year six. But the CEOs studied by the firm who made it past year 10 enter the final stage: “the golden years.”

“CEOs who survive the complacency trap typically go on to experience some of their best value-creating years,” the Spencer Stuart consultants wrote in an article published in the Harvard Business Review in 2019. “Their long-term commitment and ability to reinvent themselves and the company are coming to fruition.”

Some of the leaders they interviewed said that a longer tenure allowed them to see the fruits of long-ago investments finally pay off.

“The key differentiator for later success is how much the new CEO learns versus merely operates,” they wrote.

In that spirit, the Post-Gazette asked a handful of the region’s longest-tenured CEOs to write letters to themselves as junior executives.

Doug Muetzel has led the behavioral health agency now known as Wesley Family Services, which has multiple locations throughout the region, for 27 years. But he started out in sales and marketing for consumer and other products. Getting into social services was a sharp curve in his career trajectory, but one he promised his younger self would be validated — “not because it is easier, but because it will stretch you beyond what you think you can absorb.”

He wrote that the challenges of those the agency serves will, at times, feel “incomprehensible” and will “bring you to your knees.”

That’s good, he said.

“Remember to anchor yourself through our mission,” Mr. Muetzel wrote.

He advised himself to “dream big, for no matter how powerful the raging storms of funding, regulation, and troubling challenges of more and more families, the anchor of mission will lead to the transformation of literally over 100,000 lives.”

Norm Mitry, CEO of Heritage Valley Health System in Beaver, McKees Rocks and Sewickley since 2001, made a list of reminders for himself as a new CEO, which he capped with: “Make your parents and family proud.”

Included in the bullet points were:

• Don’t ask anyone to do anything that you wouldn’t do yourself.
• Never say “NO” to new opportunities and challenges.
• Follow the facts and the data.
• Be a collaborator and convener of individuals and organizations.
• Always be open to meet with anyone about anything.

Mr. Mitry thought back to the teachings of the Sisters of Mercy at Pittsburgh Mercy Health System: “As health care becomes more ‘high-tech,’ never forget that health care is a ‘high-touch’ business.”

For Christopher Donahue, president and CEO of Downtown-based investment manager Federated Hermes Inc. for 23 years, some of the most impactful business developments came over the past few years, he wrote, as he oversaw the acquisition of London-based Hermes Fund Managers Limited.

He called it a “reverse transformational” acquisition, where Federated, a 67-year-old company, was infused with the London-based firm’s approach to responsible investing.

All the CEOs mentioned relationships — not products or financials — as the highest-valued assets of a company and the key to their longevity.

It might seem that the restaurant industry is about food, Jeff Broadhurst, CEO of Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, wrote in his letter.

“In actually, it’s a business of people,” he wrote. “You generate experiences. … This focus will keep your path straight through any storm — recessions, global pandemics, shifts in consumer preferences, or innovations in technology.”

Mr. Broadhurst, who has been CEO for 26 years, told his younger self to stay focused on his “true north: People.”

“In this business, sometimes you’ll miss the mark,” he wrote. “Sometimes you’ll fail. If you do, be sure to fail fast, learn a lesson, and move on!”

Mr. Broadhurst, whose first job was as a line cook at the Eat’n Park restaurant in Bethel Park, borrowed from the company’s iconic cookie for his last bit of advice: “keep on smiling.”

In the first year of the pilot program, the nonprofits – including Cornerstone Care Community Health Centers and Mon Valley Initiative – can earn value-based reimbursement.

“Providers and the health system regularly rely on community organizations to help provide social care because caring for the whole person is central to improving health outcomes, reducing health disparities, and ultimately freeing people to be their best,” said Nebeyou Abebe, senior vice president of social determinants of health with Highmark Health.

Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people live, work, learn and play that can impact up to 80% of an individual’s health outcomes before the health care system can intervene, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Studies indicate that connecting people to social care can reduce health expenditures by thousands of dollars each year, which is significant for those individuals, employers and taxpayers.

“This initiative will help us to collectively test and learn how to build an effective and resilient social care network, and then scale the model to other communities,” said Tony Farah, MD, EVP and chief medical and clinical transformation officer at Highmark Health.

In May 2021, the Richard King Mellon Foundation awarded Highmark Health a $5 million grant to help develop digital health solutions to promoting a person’s whole health – physical, mental and social. A portion of that grant supported Highmark’s effort to design the program, engage community benefit organizations, and build the data infrastructure to measure the program’s impact. Next year, Highmark Health plans to add 20 additional nonprofits to the program.

Individuals facing social needs can visit https://ahn.findhelp.com/ to find free or reduced-cost services in their community. The site connects individuals to thousands of local organizations and programs to access food, housing, transportation, utility assistance, medical care, job training and more.

Other nonprofits participating in the pilot include Action-Housing Inc.; Adagio Health Inc.; Allegheny Valley Association of Churches; Crisis Center North Inc.; Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank; Holy Family Institute; Jewish Family and Community Services; Just Harvest; Pittsburgh Community Services Inc.; Pittsburgh Financial Empowerment Center; Rebuilding Together; Society of St. Vincent de Paul Central Council of Pittsburgh; South Hills Interfaith Movement; Traveler’s Aid Society of Pittsburgh; Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Inc.; Wesley Family Services; Westmoreland Community Action; and Westmoreland County Food Bank, Inc.