Chair's Corner

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing holiday season. I spent most of my time on the wards at Parnassus, something I’ve done for decades and always enjoy.

Dear colleagues:   We are saddened to let you know that Joseph “Joe” LaDou, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at UCSF, died on November 10th after a brief illness. He was 85 years old.   

The practice of surveying employees regarding their job satisfaction began in the 1920s, during a period sometimes called the Second Industrial Revolution. These employee attitude surveys became far more popular during World War II, when organizations in all sectors of the economy – ranging from manufacturing companies to the U.S. Army – sought to improve both morale and performance, and quickly realized, as the saying goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Dear Colleagues:

One key responsibility of leaders is to manage scarce resources in a manner that allows the organization to best fulfill its mission. While the resource that usually leaps to mind is dollars, it turns out that managing physical space can be every bit as important, and sometimes even more challenging.