Ryan Sousa leads data innovation for Research, Hospital, and Foundation at Seattle Children’s. He is a senior leader, entrepreneur, and practitioner and brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in some of the biggest companies such as Amazon, Starbucks, Expedia, and Nokia as well as several successful startups.

Next to all the companies that Ryan has seen, he clearly noticed one key factor that drives success and innovation in companies which is empowering people! Many companies focus too much on deadlines, pressure from investors, and other things, and lose track of the main thing which is people.

To be product and not project-driven, it's crucial to share a problem instead of solutions. 

In this episode, Ryan talked about the key points a leader needs to understand to empower teams instead of micromanaging them to be successful. 

 
Table of content:

• 0:28 - Intro Ryan Sousa
• 5:20 - Paradigm shift: User centricity
• 7:38 - Evolvement of the health care industry
• 9:20 - Processes vs. company maturity
• 17:15 - Restructuring organizations with the right mindset
• 22:35 - Organizational structure to empower (product) people
• 28:30 - Establishing open & direct communication as a Leader
• 30:00 - Enabling people to be innovative
• 42:50 - Planning frameworks on steroids
• 47:55 - The value of Hackathons
• 49:00 - 3 things that Ryan would have done differently 10 years ago

Ryan's book recommendations:

• No Rules Rules
• The Art of Action
• Think Like a Rocket Scientist

Connect with Ryan:

• Email: ryan.sousa@seattlechildrens.org

 
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