Joel Allison, who has been named to Modern Healthcare’s list of “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” eleven times (as of 2015), has been CEO of the Baylor Health Care System (now Baylor Scott and White Health) based in Dallas, Texas, since 2000. Prior to being promoted to CEO, Allison served for seven years as Baylor’s senior executive vice president and chief operating officer. A Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Allison’s very successful career in healthcare leadership spans over four decades.
A Missouri native, Allison grew up on a farm outside of Jefferson City, where his daily chores helped him to develop self-discipline and a strong work ethic. His first paid job was driving a hay truck in the hay field when he was eight years old for one cent a bale. Decades later, Allison still grins when he remembers stretching to reach the pedals!
An academic/athletic scholarship afforded Allison the opportunity to attend Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he played football, pursued a double major in Religion and Journalism, and met his wife, Diane. His original intention was to attend seminary and go into some form of Christian ministry, but toward the end of his senior year, he began to rethink his future. For his senior photojournalism class Allison chose to do a photo essay called “A Day in the Life of a Resident,” based on his brother-in-law’s family medicine residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Through that experience, Allison became intrigued by the environment and inner workings of a hospital.
Shortly after the photo essay, Allison accompanied his brother-in-law on a tour of a family medicine clinic in Uvalde, Texas. During the tour, which included the local hospital, he learned that the hospital administrator was a young man who had been planning to go into the ministry but instead had gone to Trinity University in San Antonio to get his masters in Healthcare Administration. A light bulb went off in Allison’s head, and when he got home he called Alton Pearson, the president of Hillcrest Baptist Hospital in Waco to ask him about what healthcare administration was like. Pearson explained how he felt it was really his ministry. After that conversation and much thought and prayer, Allison applied and was accepted to Trinity’s Healthcare Administration program. And, as Allison put it, the rest is history. “So for me it’s my ministry, it’s my calling.”
Ironically, Allison applied for and was offered a spot in the administrative residency program at the healthcare system he now leads, but he chose the residency program at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene instead. As Allison says, it was all in God’s plan. His residency at Hendrick led to a position on staff, and he rose to become the executive vice president and chief operating officer by 1979, at the age of thirty-one. Two years later he attained his first CEO position, leaving Abilene for St. Joseph, MO where he led Methodist Medical Center until 1984 when he became CEO of Northwest Texas Hospitals/Amarillo Hospital District in Amarillo, Texas.
It was during his time in Amarillo that Allison experienced a significant turning point in his family life and career. By this time he and his wife had two boys, one in elementary school and the other in middle school. Allison had been working long and hard to build his career, which inevitably took time away from his family. “I never will forget that night Diane came to me and she said, ‘Honey, I’ve taken the boys as far as I can go with them. They need more of you.’” Shortly after that conversation, Allison received an unsolicited job offer from the board of Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, which was looking for a new President and CEO. A move to a smaller organization was just what his family needed. The Allisons frequently vacationed in Port Aransas where they own a second home and the boys loved it there, so they were elated with the prospect of living there fulltime and spending more time with their dad.
Allison took the job at Driscoll and moved his family to the coast of Texas in 1987. He describes the six years they were there as some of the best years of his life. He loved the ministry at Driscoll and the impact the hospital had on so many children, and he especially loved the opportunity he had to spend quality time with his boys. Hunting, fishing and other sports on the weekends provided cherished memories he will forever share with his family.
Throughout his career Allison had stayed in touch with one of his early mentors, Boone Powell, Jr., who had been the president and CEO of Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, where Allison started out. After leaving Hendrick, Allison had been repeatedly hired as a change agent in the midst of organizational turnaround, and he had asked his mentor to come speak to the boards of each of those organizations. Boone Powell, Jr. shared with the boards his passion and vision for the future of healthcare, helping to ignite in them that same excitement and sense of purpose. Over the years, Powell, who had left Hendrick in 1980 to serve as the president and CEO of Baylor Health Care System, kept telling Allison that he would like for Allison to join him at Baylor.
In 1992 Allison received a phone call from Boone Powell, Jr., who was more insistent than ever that Allison should come to Dallas, offering him a position at Baylor as executive vice president and COO. Allison thanked him for the offer but declined, explaining that he was very happy where he was, and he had promised his eldest son that they’d stay put until he graduated from high school. Powell’s response: “Okay, we’ll just wait a year.” Once again, it was all in God’s plan, and shortly after his son’s graduation from high school, the Allison family moved one more time—this time settling in to the city they’ve now called home for over twenty years.
“The Lord has abundantly blessed me. You look back at it, and it was really all in God’s plan. I have no doubt.”
Allison’s tenure at Baylor has been challenging, but very rewarding. When asked what he considers to be his most important accomplishment(s) while at Baylor, Allison demurred, saying:
“Oh, it’s not anything I’ve done, it’s really been a team effort. It’s the Baylor team. It’s what they’ve done in their commitment to patient care, to quality. It’s nothing I’ve done. I am blessed with a great team. They’re all motivated. They’re smarter than I am. They’re bright and they care. My main thing is to stay out of the way and let them do what they do best. They have a passion for what they do and it’s a true team effort.”
In addition to attributing Baylor’s success to the passion and efforts of the team, Allison also attributes much of his personal success to the influence of his mentors. He said the best advice he ever received was from his mother; when he left for college she told him, “Always keep God first, others second, and yourself third.” He went on to name a few other mentors from over the years, including his high school football coach, Pete Adkins, his pastor back in Jefferson City, G. Nelson Duke, his advisor at Baylor University, David Cheavans, and of course Boone Powell, Jr. He also mentioned influential members of the Baylor Board of Trustees, including Dr. Bill Pinson and Dick Brooks, who have become close friends and mentors of his. Allison explained,
“I’ve been extremely blessed by these people who took an interest in me during my youth and my adult life. I am a big believer in mentoring and having a mentor. I think that one of the best things a leader can do is choose good mentors. But remember: What kind of advice you are going to get is based on whom you choose to be your advisor. So choose wisely.”
Toward the end of my fascinating interview with Allison I asked him what he hopes his legacy will be. His humble but candid reply was: “That hopefully I made a contribution to really make life better.” Having known Allison for many years, I can confidently say that he has already established that legacy, helping to make life better for countless people!