Epidemic Leadership

Introduction xiii
 
Part One Understanding Epidemics 1
 
1 My No Good, Very Bad Night in the Emergency Department 3
 
Friday Night in the Emergency Department 3
 
August 15, 2003, Billings, Montana 3
 
The Problem That Won't Go Away 8
 
Sleep-Deprived Insight 11
 
Notes 13
 
2 The Good Epidemic--Really? 15
 
Good People, Bad Disease 15
 
The Epidemic Inevitable 17
 
Negative to Positive 23
 
Epidemics Spread Exponentially 24
 
Epidemics Tap Local Resources 25
 
Epidemics Are Adaptive: They Flourish Against Resistance and Surprise 26
 
Epidemics Organize Themselves 26
 
Epidemics Have "Distributed Intelligence" 27
 
Epidemics Flower in Instability and Disruption 27
 
Epidemics Offer a Vaccine Against Narcissism (Unless They're Traffickers of It) 28
 
Seeking the Good Disease 29
 
Notes 30
 
3 Swarming Simplicity 33 How Do They Do It? 33
 
The Challenge of Complexity 36
 
It's Not Just Complicated 37
 
The Power of Simplicity 40
 
The Miracle of Self-Organization 40
 
Popping Up When We Least Expect It 41
 
Is Complexity a New "Thing"? 42
 
What Does Leading Look Like in Complexity? 43
 
Biology's Answer to Leading: PLV 46
 
How Are Epidemics and Leaders Doing in Complexity? 48
 
How Leaders Do in Complexity 49
 
Epidemics Invite a New Framework 50
 
Key Questions for Leaders 51
 
The Math Problem Leaders Face 52
 
Notes 54
 
4 Something from Nothing 57
 
In the Shade of the Mango Tree 57
 
March, 2018, Masese Town, Jinja District, Uganda 57
 
Miracle Parts 60
 
How Do They Do It? 60
 
Part 1: The Pathogen 61
 
Part 2: Infection 63
 
Part 3: Contagion 65
 
From Simple Parts to Organizing Principles 67
 
Epidemics Require "Originating Conditions"

LARRY MCEVOY is an emergency physician, executive, entrepreneur, and innovator. He is the founder of Epidemic Leadership, where he focuses on the executive work of creating organizations of exponential performance, adaptivity, and vigor. From 2008 to 2012, McEvoy served as the CEO of Memorial Health System in Colorado Springs, CO. He completed his training in emergency medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center and graduated from Stanford Medical School. When he is not working with leaders to create positive epidemics, he can be found, or difficult to find, roaming the wild lands of his Montana homeland.