Women Of The C-Suite: Shannan Epps of Brightwork Health IT On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

An Interview With Ming Zhao

Being a great leader takes empathy, strategic thinking and drive. Without empathy, it’s nearly impossible to connect with your teams, customers and partners in meaningful ways. If you aren’t strategic, you’ll miss opportunities and lose out to the competition more often than you’ll win. And without drive, you’ll never be able to push through the hard times and grow.

As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite,” we had the pleasure of interviewing Brightwork Health IT President & CEO Shannan Epps.

Shannan Epps is the President & CEO of Brightwork Health IT. Female-founded and led, Brightwork Health IT comprises a dynamic team of thought leaders and subject-matter experts who have successfully managed some of the healthcare industry’s most complex IT implementations. By aligning deep domain expertise with a robust partner ecosystem, Brightwork helps clients achieve exceptional results. Since 2017, the firm has worked to future-proof some of the world’s most innovative and influential healthcare organizations.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

My first job in IT was as a coder for missile defense systems in the early 1990’s, which is an interesting starting point for someone who now works in health IT. I specialized in Unix, Linux and Beowulf clusters, which run a Unix-like operating system. I was young and it was an amazing experience.

When I was 27, my son was born. Then at 29, I had my daughter. Becoming a mom took me out of the workforce for a few years, but as my children got older, I decided it was time to go back to work. That’s when I landed my first job in health IT.

I went to work for Physician Micro Systems, where I worked on electronic data interchange (EDI), which is the concept of businesses electronically communicating information that was traditionally shared on paper. The company had a product called Practice Partner, one of the earliest electronic health record (EHR) systems on the market. The company’s president, Dr. Andrew Ury, had a son who battled diabetes, and he believed EHR was the key to solving chronic illness. That resonated with me because my father had died from AIDS in 1986, so I could relate to Dr. Ury’s mission.

It was then that I decided to dedicate my career to health IT, working with systems that have the potential to improve people’s lives.

A few years later, I went to work for Providence Health, where I managed Epic electronic health records, and Epic has been the foundation of my career ever since.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Navigating Brightwork and our clients through the pandemic has been the most interesting highlight of my career. As a fledgling startup working in an industry that COVID completely upended, there were a lot of sleepless nights. But the adversity we faced forced me to look at our business in an entirely different way. We retooled our operations and mindset, and we’re now stronger, more productive and more innovative. And the market has responded well to what we offer.

A close second to that was when we launched Brightwork. The first contract I negotiated was a $2 million project for a very important healthcare organization. This was the make it or break it moment for Brightwork. The CFO on the client-side was a brilliant woman and an incredibly strong negotiator. By contrast, I was at a disadvantage because I’m a nurturer by default. I could negotiate for others, no problem. But for some reason, negotiating for myself was extremely stressful. So I went to see a therapist for coaching on how to negotiate the contract. It was extremely transformative and enabled me to take my role as a business leader to new heights.

For a lot of women, finding that place of power and confidence is difficult. Whether by nature or nurture, many of us have been programmed to believe that a strong woman is a negative thing. It’s not. And the best way to overcome that is with a good coach or therapist. It’s made all the difference for me.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When we first started Brightwork, we were fairly naive. We hired friends and some family of friends. For example, one of our first employees was a friend’s daughter who was barely out of high school. She seemed motivated and ambitious, but soon her inexperience began to show.

The first indication that things were headed south was when she brought a stinky fish tank into the office. Don’t get me wrong: living in Seattle, I love fish and the serenity of the water. But this fish tank looked and smelled like it had been languishing in a fraternity house for the past decade. It was horrible.

On top of that, she got Phished — not just once, but multiple times! On one occasion, she received a text in which “I” instructed her to buy thousands of dollars’ worth of Best Buy gift cards, scratch off the codes and then send “me” the numbers. We chalked it up to inexperience and gave her a crash course on fraud. But that didn’t stop her from being duped a few more times.

All told, we lost $5,000 in a few short days, which was a big chunk of our cash flow in those early days. Needless to say, IT wasn’t the industry for her.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Paul Anderson, our VP of IT at Brightwork, is an amazing individual. He’s played an invaluable role in the success of our business. He was CIO at Providence Health for many years and is a noted expert in the field. And before he officially joined our team, he donated countless hours of mentorship and guidance to help us get started.

Having someone like Paul as a champion for your business is rare. So if you find someone who believes in you and your business and wants to help, let them.

As you know, the United States is facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?

Beyond the fact that giving people equal opportunity to thrive is the right thing to do, it makes good business sense. Access to different opinions, experiences and perspectives is critical for business success. Without them, organizations are likely to become tunnel-visioned, sedentary and out of touch. The moment that happens, failure is close at hand.

That’s especially true of healthcare. If healthcare personnel aren’t as diverse as the patients themselves, it greatly increases the risk that certain populations will be overlooked and underserved. For example, there are not enough women of color or people of color working in health IT — and a big reason for this is a lack of diversity in the talent pool.

Healthcare is a people industry and, as such, employees need to be representative of the population at large. We need to empower people from underserved, underrepresented communities with the skills they need to enjoy a career in health IT, or any other field of their choosing.

As a business, Brightwork is a Women’s Business Enterprise and we are also LGBTQ certified. We participate in the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), which advocates for diversity in the technology sector. We’re also active in several other organizations and initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion.

As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.

There is a lot of history that needs to be undone for us to have a more inclusive, representative and equitable society. We have to transform systems, social constructs, ideologies, laws, beliefs and other barriers that have been built up over hundreds (actually thousands) of years. And that is no small task. But where I would like to focus is on healthcare.

We need to improve access to healthcare in marginalized communities. Things like social status, gender, racial background and income, unfortunately, play a big role in the quality of care that people receive. For example, members of marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ+ community have experienced discrimination in certain healthcare settings. Not only are these experiences incredibly dehumanizing, they are also dangerous. Health equity is an important topic and we need to invest more time, money and effort in improving it.

One way to fix the problem is to go beyond simply creating laws that forbid discrimination. Let’s face it, even with laws, discrimination will continue to exist. It’s nice to have more protection, but laws won’t completely fix the problem. What will fix the problem is if more people from historically marginalized communities have opportunities to join the healthcare workforce and serve in leadership positions. The more blended and balanced we become, the more equal we will become.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

As the CEO of a small company, the buck stops with me. I have an awesome team, but at the end of the day, I’m the one accountable for the business’s success, as well as people’s jobs and careers.

Lives are at stake with what we do. If we break a system or lose data, that can be the difference between the right treatment and the wrong treatment. It’s a much higher level of accountability and responsibility than some people anticipate. The weight of the CEO’s role is heavy.

When it’s just a job, you can quit and move on. If I quit or lose business, I’m not the only person who’s affected.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive? Can you explain what you mean?

The biggest myth is that the CEO gets to tell people what to do — that because it’s your vision, you get to make the decisions. In reality, you have to lobby people and position things constantly. On a good day, you’re lucky if half the things you want to happen actually happen.

At Brightwork, we make it a point to hire the best and the brightest. That means we have strong leaders and subject matter experts who challenge me at times and bring different perspectives to our work. And for that, I’m grateful. I’ve learned that the minute you start getting everything you want as CEO, your organization is in trouble. Either people are scared of you, which isn’t good, or you’ve hired the wrong people.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

Women aren’t taken as seriously as their male counterparts. It’s part of our early social conditioning: women are there to nurture, look good and take care of the family. Because of this conditioning, we also don’t have the freedom to make mistakes once we ascend to a leadership position. Any mistake is a reason to look down on you. So there is a lot of pressure. And it’s not just men that put this pressure on women executives. Other women are sometimes complicit. For this reason, there’s an unwritten rule that women leaders can never let their guards down.

Also, women executives have fewer opportunities for advancement. Men with strong personalities are viewed as tough, shrewd businesspeople. Women with strong personalities are often regarded as “difficult”. A woman executive has to wear a very strong, protective shell in order to succeed.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

When I first envisioned myself as a CEO, I thought that all of my work would involve high-level strategic consultations. But the reality is that I’m in the weeds of everyday stuff much more often than I thought I’d be. As the CEO of a small business, you get to wear more hats, not fewer. Sowing the seeds takes a lot of work.

Is everyone cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

Being a great leader takes empathy, strategic thinking and drive. Without empathy, it’s nearly impossible to connect with your teams, customers and partners in meaningful ways. If you aren’t strategic, you’ll miss opportunities and lose out to the competition more often than you’ll win. And without drive, you’ll never be able to push through the hard times and grow.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

The five things I wish someone would have given me fair warning about include:

1). How hard it is to keep a business funded. Without funding, it’s extremely hard to scale and grow a new business. Although it seems as if businesses are constantly getting fresh funds, there are ten times as many that aren’t. It’s not easy, and there are countless hoops to jump through.

2). Cashflow will take over your life. I’m constantly looking at our cash flow. Do we have enough to survive a downturn? Can we really afford to fly business class? Will paying down that credit card mean I’ll overshoot my burn rate for the quarter?

3). How hard it is to fire people. Even if you’ve done it at other jobs, it’s twice as hard when it’s your business. It’s personal, and it makes you feel as though you’ve failed.

4). Why hiring friends isn’t always a good idea. Again, I refer to the friend’s daughter we hired — the fish lover who got Phished.

5). You’ll be on an emotional rollercoaster. It’s like having children — the greatest joy followed by the greatest fear. It’s a whirlwind, so my advice is to hold on tight.

In your role as a powerful woman and leader, how much of an emphasis do you place on your appearance? Do you see beauty as something that is superficial, or is it something that has inherent value for a leader in a public context? Can you explain what you mean?

Beauty truly comes in all forms. In the health IT world, it’s better to have a beautiful brain. Yes, you should have a clean, professional appearance. But looks are rarely what gets you the job in our world. And that’s honestly how it should be in most other industries.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

As I mentioned earlier, we need more diversity in healthcare and health IT. And part of the solution is education. I would love to see S.T.E.A.M. education programs in every school in America. Every child should have real access to a good education and career development.

Unfortunately, we are failing far too many children, many of whom don’t have even their basic needs taken care of. How can they imagine a positive future when they’re struggling each day just to survive the present? For example, one source estimates that 25% of families with children in Louisiana struggle with hunger, and Arkansas is a close second at 23%. This is unacceptable, especially when 30% to 40% of America’s food supply goes to waste.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Michelle Obama would be my Number One pick. She’s overcome a great deal of adversity and has shown nothing but grace throughout it all. I would love to pick her brain about how she dealt with it.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!