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Scale doesn’t happen by accident.
For more than 30 years, I have helped…
For more than 30 years, I have helped…
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Matt Cook posted thisMATT-er of Fact: They Know We’re Coming Client work has me spending a lot more time in airports again. And as I stood in another security line recently, I caught myself doing what I always do: looking at the queue and mentally redesigning the operation. Because here is the thing about airport demand: They know we’re coming. A flight departing at 8:15 is not just a line on a schedule. It is a predictable demand event. Between the airlines, airports, and TSA, they know how many passengers are booked, when their flights depart, which terminals they will use, how many are connecting, and how early different types of travelers usually arrive. They also have years of historical patterns by airport, terminal, airline, day of the week, time of day, season, and holiday. Weather, callouts, equipment failures, and missed connections create variation. But the underlying demand is not a surprise. So why does the experience still feel so reactive? Why can’t that data be used to anticipate security demand, position capacity before the line forms, and tell passengers in real time: Current security wait: 11 minutes Expected wait at your arrival time: 24 minutes Recommended terminal arrival: 6:35 Alternate checkpoint available: Terminal D We have apps that can reroute us around traffic before we reach it. An airport should be able to do something similar with passenger flow. The real opportunity is not simply displaying the length of the line. It is connecting forecasted demand, available capacity, and traveler communication into one operating system. See the demand before it arrives. Move capacity to where it will be needed. Tell customers what to expect while they can still make a different decision and even tell them which security gate to select. Then adjust as conditions change. That principle applies well beyond airports. Too many organizations possess the data needed to anticipate demand but still operate as though every surge is unexpected. Customers wait, employees absorb the pressure, and leaders explain the delay after it happens. A queue is often treated as a customer-service problem. Usually, it is evidence that demand, capacity, and communication were not connected early enough. I wish someone would let me take a crack at airport flow control. Seriously, though... They know we’re coming. Board Room thinking. Break Room practicality.
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Matt Cook shared thisThis week’s edition looks at a question I think matters more as technology gets closer to the work: When technology starts helping decide where the work goes, who controls the operating system? Four developments. Four operating lessons. If that perspective is useful to you, follow the Scale That Works page. New edition each week.Matt Cook shared thisThis week’s Last Week in the Work looks at four healthcare developments that point to the same operating question: When technology starts helping decide where the work goes, who controls the operating system? This edition looks at AI inside Epic, embedded pharmacy compliance, pharmacy workflow orchestration, and why “implemented” is not the same as “working.” Authority. Control. Orchestration. Execution. That is the work behind the headlines.
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Matt Cook shared thisThis week’s edition looks at a question I think matters more as technology gets closer to the work: When technology starts helping decide where the work goes, who controls the operating system? Four developments. Four operating lessons. If that perspective is useful to you, follow the Scale That Works page. New edition each week.
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Matt Cook shared thisThis week’s edition looks at a question I keep coming back to: Is the work actually designed well enough to trust it with more automation? Four developments, one practical lens: Standardize. Integrate. Automate. Govern. Measure. If that kind of operating perspective is useful to you, follow the Scale That Works page. New edition each week.Matt Cook shared thisFour healthcare developments that show why successful automation depends on more than the technology itself. The real work is standardizing the process, connecting the systems, defining accountability, and measuring whether the outcome actually improved.
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Matt Cook shared thisSharing with my network.Matt Cook shared thisWe have an exciting new opportunity for a SVP, Finance at Ivy Health. This is a high-impact role partnering with the senior leadership, C-suite, board, and private equity sponsor. It is an exciting time here at Ivy as we continue to grow at industry leading rates and lead through a strong culture grounded in our mission, vision, and values. Please apply or share to others in your network. https://lnkd.in/gYZE7Vwt
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Matt Cook shared thisI’m building Last Week in the Work as a recurring Scale That Works publication focused on the operating lessons behind healthcare headlines. The goal is simple: Not just what happened, but why it matters and what leaders should do next. This week’s edition looks at four developments through that lens. If that kind of practical operating perspective is useful to you, follow the Scale That Works page. I’ll be publishing a new edition each week.Matt Cook shared thisAccess. Ownership. Control. Capability. From Epic and data access, to CMS and outcome-based care, to prior authorization controls, to the NHS building automation as an enterprise capability. The common question underneath all four: Can the technology actually reach the work, improve the decision, and produce a better outcome? That is where the real operating conversation begins. #HealthcareOperations #HealthcareAI #PatientAccess #BusinessProcessAutomation #ScaleThatWorks
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Matt Cook posted thisMATT-er of Fact: The workaround is often the most honest process map. Yes, start with the SOP. But then go see how the work actually gets done. Look for the shadow spreadsheet someone built because the system does not give them what they need: -The personal tracking list that keeps a process from falling apart. -The unofficial expert everyone calls because “they know how this really works.” -The back-channel approval that gets used because the formal path takes too long. -The steps people quietly add, skip, or rearrange just to get the outcome delivered. Those are not always signs of resistance. Often, they are evidence. Evidence that the documented process and the real work have drifted apart. Sometimes the workaround is smart, practical, and exactly the kind of frontline ingenuity you want. But when the workaround becomes permanent, spreads across teams, or is required just to achieve the expected result, leaders should pay attention. Because at that point, you may not have a people problem. You may have a design problem. One of the best things a leader can ask when observing an operation is: “Show me what you have to do that is not written down.” That is usually where the interesting conversation starts. The SOP tells you how the work was designed. The workaround tells you how the work has adapted. Great operators understand both. What workaround in your organization is trying to tell you something? #OperationalExcellence #Leadership
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Matt Cook shared thisMatt-er of Fact: I started Last Week in the Work because the headline is rarely the part that interests me most. I want to know what happens next. Where does the work go? Who owns the exception? What changes for the person actually doing the work? And how do we know the promise was kept? This week I looked at CVS, NABP, Relatient, and two Houston health systems through that lens using a simple framework: What. So What. What’s Next. Four developments. Four operating lessons. I’d be interested in what others see in them.Matt Cook shared thisFour healthcare developments caught my attention last week. Not because of the headlines themselves, but because of what they reveal about how work actually moves. This week: • CVS shows why a revenue-model change is also an operating-model change. • NABP shows why controls need to scale before regulation forces them to. • Relatient raises the right question about AI: did we deflect the call, or complete the work? • Houston health systems show what happens when AI is connected to an actual response loop. What. So What. What’s Next. That is this week’s Last Week in the Work. #HealthcareOperations #HealthcareAI #PharmacyOperations #PatientAccess #ScaleThatWorks
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Matt Cook shared thisMatt-er of Fact: Healthcare creates plenty of headlines. But the work behind those headlines is where outcomes are actually determined. A new technology platform. A new business model. A new operating site. A new strategic direction. The announcement is only the beginning. The questions I always come back to are: Does the workflow actually work? Who owns the exception? Where does the promise break? This week’s healthcare developments reinforced a lesson I have seen repeatedly: Technology does not fix fragmented work. It reveals whether the operating system underneath it is ready. The organizations that pull ahead will not just adopt new tools. They will design better ways of working. That is the work behind the headlines.Matt Cook shared thisFour healthcare developments from last week. Four operating lessons. The common thread: Technology does not fix fragmented work. It reveals whether the operating system underneath it is ready. 1. National University Health System (Singapore) built AI into the full pharmacy workflow. What changed: Singapore’s National University Health System implemented AI tools across medication reconciliation, prescription triage, and medication-order verification after six months of development, case review, and workflow design. So What: This is what responsible automation looks like. They did not start with the technology. They started with the work. What should be automated? What requires escalation? Where does human judgment remain essential? That boundary work is where transformation actually happens. 2. RWJBarnabas Health proved prediction is not prevention What changed: RWJBarnabas Health scaled an AI deterioration index across 11 hospitals after years of refining thresholds, routing, rapid-response workflows, training, and performance monitoring. So What: The model was not the intervention. The operating system around the model was. A prediction without an approved response design is just a more sophisticated alarm. The organizations that succeed with AI will not simply identify problems faster. They will respond better. 3. Humana’s Medicare Advantage changes show where strategy decisions land What changed: Humana announced plans to exit lower-return Medicare Advantage plans affecting approximately 600,000 members. So What: Centralized decisions create decentralized work. The decision may make strategic sense. But the operating burden will appear downstream: Patients navigating choices. Call centers answering questions. Pharmacies managing changes. Providers protecting continuity of care. Every promise has an owner, even when the original decision-maker is far away. 4. MaineHealth highlights the difference between reducing positions and redesigning work What changed: MaineHealth announced technology and analytics restructuring, including elimination of 83 positions while consolidating teams. So What: Cost reduction can be the right decision. But the critical question is: Did the work disappear, or did the owner disappear? Data quality, analytics, governance, integration, and workflow support do not stop existing because an organizational chart changed. Before reducing capacity, understand where the work goes. The larger signal The future is not about automating more nouns. It is about designing better outcomes. The organizations that pull ahead will be the ones that can answer: Who owns the promise? Where can it break? What requires human judgment? How do we know it worked? That is the work behind the headlines. #HealthcareOperations #HealthcareAI #PharmacyOperations #PatientAccess #BusinessProcessAutomation #OperatingModel #ScaleThatWorks
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Matt Cook reacted on thisMatt Cook reacted on thisTen years ago I made a huge (cannot underscore enough) move with my family personally and professionally. We moved to Chicago, a city I love from Scottsdale which I adore. Grew exponentially. Why? Because I chose to leave my comfort zone that I loved (hospitality) into the healthcare/retail sector. Was it scary? Yes. Was it the right gamble? Yes. Did it give me personal resilience? Um, more than you know. But this post is really about Brian Gartrell. He knew my innate desire as an operator to learn, and he made sure of that starting with a visit to Walgreens Windsor Wisconsin Distribution Center and allowing me to work the production line. I learned very quickly the mechanics of Supply Chain because of Brian - the upstream and downstream impacts and the correlation to our stores. Brian is highly intuitive, builds great teams, and is fun. The very best. Brian is not only an operator, but an amazing senior HR leader in the CPG/Industrial/Supply Chain realm. If you need a CHRO in this space, noone better!
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Matt Cook reacted on thisMatt Cook reacted on this𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝. Looking at these two photos, I see so much more than a little girl and the woman she became. I see a journey of learning who I am—and realizing I never needed to leave pieces of myself behind to succeed. Growing up as an Indian woman and finding my place in the corporate world came with lessons. There were moments when I wondered how much of my culture, traditions, accent, experiences, and identity belonged in the professional spaces I was entering. Over time, I learned something incredibly important: 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡. The more I embraced where I came from, the more confident I became in where I was going. That little girl in the first photo didn’t know what her future would look like. She didn’t know the careers she would build, the people she would lead, the challenges she would overcome, or the impact she would have. But she already had something she would need every step of the way: 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡. Today, I’m proud to bring all of it with me. Because success isn’t about becoming someone else. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. And I hope we create workplaces where everyone feels empowered to do exactly that. ❤️ #Leadership #Authenticity #WomenInLeadership #WomenInBusiness #DiversityAndInclusion #CareerJourney #IndianWomen #BeYourself #MondayMotivation
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Matt Cook liked thisMatt Cook liked thisNo more Excel flowsheets. No more whiteboards. We’re using our own internal production app to organize and run 113 breakout rooms across 4 different venues—all from one live platform. Our technicians can track setup progress, room status, and upcoming session times in real time, right from the palm of their hand. Less chasing information. More visibility. Better execution. #LiveEvents #EventProduction #EventTechnology #AVProduction #REVLProductions
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Matt Cook liked thisMatt Cook liked thisI'm truly excited to share something I've spent many years preparing for...The Leadership Reset is a short, sharp, new podcast launching in September 2026...where we explore the psychology behind how we lead, decide, influence, and work with other people. More details are coming in the weeks ahead as we lead up to our launch later this month!
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