Mitali Paul

I attribute my success to the fire in my belly and following my gut instinct. Early on, a mentor told me 'there's a fire in your belly, don't ever let it die, and follow your gut. It'll take you places.' Twenty years later, I still remember that, and that drive is just as much today as it was 20 years ago. I'm constantly looking to what can I do more, what can I do next, and constantly reaching out for something else. I've always been strongly guided by my personal moral compass and my gut instinct, and it hasn't really proved me wrong so far. Even when I come to crossroads professionally or personally and have advisors, friends, and family with advice, at the end of the day, I know what's best for me. Being able to have that strong sense and that confidence in making decisions for myself, even if it means going against some of my best advisors, has been key. Maybe I'll stumble, maybe I'll fail, but at the end of the day, it's my decision. I remember when I worked with a career coach and told him I wanted to be a hospital CEO within 3-5 years, he looked at me like I had no idea what I was talking about. But within 3 years, I was a CEO at age 35. I didn't have a plan, it was just a dream, a hope, and it happened.

The best career advice I ever received was from one of my first mentors in the U.S. In one of our meetings, she said, 'There's a fire in your belly, don't ever let it die, and follow your gut. It'll take you places.' Twenty years later, I still remember that advice. Being able to listen to your gut is so important because lots of times you come to crossroads, professionally or personally, and you have advisors, people, friends, and family that have advice for you. But at the end of the day, you know what's best for you, and being able to have that strong sense and that confidence in making that decision for yourself, even if it means going against some of your best advisors, is critical. At the end of the day, being able to see that to fruition, maybe you'll stumble, maybe you'll fail, but at the end of the day, it's your decision. I have always strongly been guided by my personal moral compass and my gut instinct, and it hasn't really proved me wrong so far.

Dream big and don't second-guess yourself. As women, we second-guess ourselves so much, whether it's imposter syndrome or different things, and we don't necessarily dream big. When I was in a director-level position and worked with a career coach, he asked me what my 3-5 year goals were, and I said I want to be a hospital CEO. He looked at me and said he wasn't asking about long-term goals, he was asking about short-term goals. He looked at me like I had no idea what I was talking about. But guess what? Within 3 years, I was selected for the CEO development program, and I got my first CEO position at age 35. I didn't have a plan, it was just a dream, a hope, and it happened. It's important to have that sense of belonging and representation. When I got my first CEO role at 35 in a health system with 110 hospitals across the country, I was the only Indian woman CEO in the entire company. That was very validating, but when I looked around, I didn't see anyone that looked like me or had my background. For me, being able to inspire other people and have them look at me and go 'if she can do that, I can do that' is what it's all about. Don't let anyone make you taper your dreams.

AI is really disrupting the healthcare industry right now, and it presents both tremendous opportunities and challenges. I was tired of hearing about it and not understanding what people were talking about, so I went to school and learned about it through Harvard Medical School so I could talk intelligently in a room. There are a lot of benefits to AI. For example, the ability of AI to scan through hundreds of patient charts and provide a summary of what's been going on with the patient for the past 100 visits can happen in seconds or a few minutes, versus if a human had to go over the previous 100 visits and records, that would take hours or days. When you think about those things, it's just amazing and fascinating. However, you have to have guardrails and human intervention. If information gets into the wrong hands, people's information could get compromised, or we could get heavily dependent upon AI's decision-making without human intervention and find out we're making critical decisions based on wrong information because whatever was fed into the system or the AI algorithm was incorrect in the first place. As long as you're aware of what the downsides are and are building in those checks and balances, it's amazing. I'm super excited about what we're doing with it.

Creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels happy and valued is one of my core values. I've always been a big advocate and try to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels happy coming into work. This is my happy place, so I try to make it a happy place for everyone else on my team that comes into work every day. Healthcare's tough, so we just have to be able to recognize and appreciate our employees. Every year, one week in April, I pamper and recognize our employees for all the hard work that they put in all year long. We do things like ice cream, Pictionary and cookies, breakfast tacos, pet therapy, just to show appreciation. I'm also passionate about giving back and developing future leaders. I love being able to play a small role in developing future leaders for healthcare through my teaching and mentoring. I'm passionate about women in leadership and consistently try to support other women, especially students or early careers. Being able to inspire other people is really what it's about for me. I want people to look at me and go 'if she can do that, I can do that' and have that sense of belonging and representation. I've always been strongly guided by my personal moral compass and gut instinct in making decisions.