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CIO Unplugged 5/28/15

May 28, 2015 Ed Marx 11 Comments

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are mine personally and are not necessarily representative of current or former employers.

Time for Me to Fly

Speculation swirls as to the reasons for my departure from my Texas employer on April 20, 2015. It is really simple and drama free. The organization I served was awesome. The most amazing place I have ever worked. Loved it. What I can share with you is my resignation speech below.


I called you all here this morning to share something important with you in person. Most of you know what happened to me in January on my ascent of Aconcagua. I had every intent of summiting that beautiful and rugged peak, but it was not to be. I had to abandon my climb, although my team would successfully summit 10 days later.

In the same way, I won’t make our summit climb with you. But I know you will be fine without me. You are trained, you are equipped, and you know the path. The climb was never about me. It was about all of us fulfilling our calling here. You will climb to the top without me and continue to save lives.

It was exactly seven years, six months, and one day ago. I drove with my family down from Cleveland through Kentucky and Louisiana. And there it was — the vast flatlands known as east Texas. As we crossed the state line, a Ford 350 pulling a flatbed trailer carrying 20 head of cattle pulled in front of us in our yuppie Lexus.

My daughter was spinning the radio dial looking for travel music, but every station was playing Nascar or college football. Suddenly we were hit by a dust storm. No wait, that wasn’t a dust storm! We were being pelted by cow dung that exploded on the asphalt highway into shit shrapnel penetrating the wax of our freshly washed veneer. Welcome to Texas!

I showed up here not sure what I was getting myself into. Tumbleweeds? F150s? Country music? Cowshit? WTH!

I knew it would not be forever and I am thankful for the precious time I had to serve with you. My last day will be April 20. Seven years, six months and 20 days. Five years and 20 days longer than some of you thought I would last, or at least hoped for.

I am not leaving for another opportunity too good to be true. I am not unhappy here — quite the contrary. I am not looking for more time with my family. I am not trying to fulfill a promise made.

A leader knows when it is time to move on. Give others a chance to fulfill their leadership calling.

I am giving myself some time for reflection.

We have an amazing leadership team and you are part of it. I am so proud of all of you. I brag about you all the time. You are the envy of many.

My only frustration in leaving now is you don’t know how good you are. How good you have become. Those of you who have been to the CHIME CIO Boot Camp know what I am talking about.

What have we done together? What storms have we weathered? What challenges did we overcome? What have we innovated? How much did we grow? How much impact did we have? It is overwhelming to think about.

Trust me, I have focused on this the past 30 days. Sigh. When I think about us, I think about all our “one anothers.” You know, as in, “We served one another,” or, “We upheld the promise with one another.”

  • We labored with one another.
  • We danced with one another.
  • We did obstacle courses with one another.
  • We hopped on 3 a.m. severity one calls with one another.
  • We drank with one another.
  • We stayed up 24+ hours with one another.
  • We cheered and experienced joy with one another.
  • We engaged with one another.
  • We elevated with one another.
  • We excelled with one another.
  • We passed out with one another.
  • We cared for one another.
  • We rounded at every hospital with one another.
  • We got tattoos with one another.
  • We played soccer with one another.
  • We played volleyball with one another.
  • We played softball with one another.
  • We took grief from clinicians with one another.
  • We sang carols with one another.
  • We debated with one another.
  • We challenged one another.
  • We loved one another.
  • We broke bread with one another.
  • We listened to Ralph’s SEAL Team stories with one another.
  • We made meals for one another.
  • We took care of each other’s families with one another.
  • We read books with one another.
  • We supported go-lives with one another.
  • We did karaoke with one another.
  • We did way more than IT for our customers with one another.
  • We survived audits with one another.
  • We bared emotions with one another.
  • We rebounded with one another.
  • We were mesmerized by Ferdie’s chants with one another
  • We broke silly rules with one another.
  • We cried with one another.
  • We survived (name removed) with one another.
  • We endured Dale Carnegie with one another.
  • We discovered and learned with one another.
  • We worked from home with one another.
  • We climbed mountains with one another.
  • We preserved through RIFs with one another.
  • We celebrated weddings with one another.
  • We had all our expense reports rejected with one another.
  • We climbed ropes with one another.
  • We played jokes on one another.
  • We achieved the highest levels of physician satisfaction with one another.
  • We prayed with one another.
  • We laughed with one another.
  • We enabled the dignity of death with one another.
  • We won Davies with one another.
  • We visited many bedsides with one another.
  • We worked out with one another.
  • We held hands with one another.
  • We consistently achieved world-class customer satisfaction with one another.
  • We attended Leadercast with one another.
  • We lovingly tolerated security with one another.
  • We bar crawled with one another.
  • We improved business outcomes with one another.
  • We were with the family of Stacy with one another.
  • We were with the family of Dale with one another.
  • We were with the family of Fred with one another.
  • We were with the family of Renee with one another.
  • We were with the family of Carole with one another.
  • We spent time in my home with one another.
  • We received way too many texts from Jim with one another.
  • We yammered with one another.
  • We created TEDx with one another.
  • We suffered through ITSM classes with one another.
  • We improved clinical quality with one another.
  • We improve patient safety with one another.
  • But most of all, but most of all, we saved lives with one another!

@#%$@ I watched so many of you blossom into amazing leaders that enabled these one anothers!

The future is awesome. The summit is in your sights. You have what it takes. You are leaders, you got this! You will become stronger without me But be assured. I will be watching you. You better not @$#%!@ up!

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know what I am doing. I have it all planned out. Plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

I have tried to live my life embracing the following verses. I fall short, but share it with you nevertheless. It is aspirational. I pray this for you.

I Corinthians 9:24-27: “You have all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You are after one that is gold eternally.

I don’t know about you, but I am running hard for the finish line. I am giving it every thing that I got. No sloppy living for me. I am staying alert and in top condition. I am not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it, and then missing out myself.

I will miss you. #@!&&^% I will always love you. You have no idea the depth of the pride and love I have for each of you.

We will always be about…one another…and saving lives. That’s our legacy.


I then went one by one to every VP, director, and manager and laid hands on them and spoke to their soul. I knew my people. I asked God to give me the words to encourage each one. I gave each one a specific word.

And when the last person left the room. I wept.

Today I have the privilege to serve the people of the world’s greatest city working in public health. Through an arrangement with The Advisory Board Group/Clinovations, I am part of the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation IT leadership team. I could not be happier. Perhaps a future post I will get into more details.

And yes, I still have my eye on my Texas colleagues.

Ed encourages your interaction by clicking the comments link below. You can also connect with Ed directly on LinkedIn and Facebook and follow him on Twitter.



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Currently there are "11 comments" on this Article:

  1. Maybe one day Ed will write a tell-all book about what went down at THR after the Ebola episode and the firestorm surrounding Epic and everything else.

  2. Career opportunities happen all the time and this appears to be one of those moments. Sometimes there really isn’t a smoking gun, even though human nature wishes there to be one…..basically life happens….to us all. Kudos, Ed. Onward…..

  3. Interesting that you use scripture and profanity in the same article (out of the same mouth).

    Touching that you would speak specific words to your team! That is powerful and important to do with your staff and loved ones.

    Congrats on the new position! Hope you are able to change lots of lives!

  4. Poor guy had to survive the cow-crap in Tx, but now has to deal with the bureau-craptic mountains in NYCHH!
    Good luck Ed, you’ll need it.

  5. Let’s go easy on the ‘saving lives’ stuff. A bit self-aggrandizing and melodramatic for my tastes.

  6. Classic case of what happens when you concentrate on your brand, rather than concentration on job productivity. Everybody likes Brother Ed for good reasons. I wonder what he accomplished at THR besides staff engagement?

  7. Thanks Ed, you are an inspiration, a servant leader and generally a remarkable person. Best of luck in your new role.

  8. Ed, whatever measure of success your IT department had was in-spite of you, not because of you. The senior execs finally figured that out.







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