Mission-Driven Leadership by Mark Bertolini

Author:Mark Bertolini
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2019-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

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What we care about is also expressed in much more positive ways—our charitable contributions through the Aetna Foundation, for example, or the 400,000 volunteer hours from our employees each year. Tolerance and respect are highly prized as well, and I’ve been uniquely engaged on this front since 2006, when as president of Aetna I was made executive sponsor of diversity.

It was an odd position for a middle-aged white guy, but that was the point. Ron Williams wanted to challenge me. (Ron himself was Aetna’s first African American CEO.) In my new role, I met with Aetna’s various employee resource groups, including one that represented gay and lesbian employees, called ANGLE.

I asked them who their executive sponsor was.

They said they didn’t have one.

I asked why not.

They said that all the other executives were afraid that they’d be accused of being gay.

Because I grew up poor and because our family was never accepted in elite circles, I always had an affinity for the underdog or anyone else who felt like an outcast. I’m sure people in my community held biases, but that didn’t influence me or the people I hung out with. We just accepted others for who they were and didn’t think that much about it, and I’ve lived my whole life that way.

I wasn’t going to sit idly by after hearing that Aetna’s gay and lesbian employees had been effectively stranded, so I told them that I would be their executive sponsor. This started rumors that I was gay or led some secret double life. One person even stopped me in the hall and said, “I didn’t know you were gay.” I found no reason to dignify such comments with a denial, and I didn’t particularly care what other people thought of me. Besides, I was more interested in doing something positive.

I suggested to ANGLE that it needed a mission. Instead of representing the interests of gay and lesbian employees, it should help Aetna reach gay and lesbian customers. We worked with the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association so that our provider directory now identifies LGBT-aware physicians. We sponsored programs in the gay community related to alcohol abuse and domestic violence. I wasn’t on a crusade. I just wanted to help make positive change. Word of our efforts spread, and one day I got a call from a representative of Martina Navratilova, who said that Out & Equal Workplace Advocates wanted to give me an award for being the health care leader of the year.

“Wow, great,” I said. “Do I get to have dinner with Martina?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Then I’ll be there!”

At the awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., I sat at a table with Chance Mitchell and Justin Nelson, the two founders of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The Affordable Care Act was steamrolling toward a vote, and I asked Chance and Justin what they thought about it.

They said they hadn’t really studied it and didn’t know what impact it could have on those they represented.

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