Warren Buffett said, “there are two sides to every coin…price and value. Price is what you pay, and value is what you get.”

In today’s healthcare system, there is a broad range in both price and value, and unfortunately, traditional health plans do not effectively support members consistently using high-quality, affordable providers and facilities.

On the value side of the coin, there are several reputable quality measures that consistently demonstrate wide variability in safety scores, infection rates, and overall health outcomes – even between two hospitals within the same system! And the statistics on unnecessary care, overuse of testing, and misdiagnosis are staggering.

Last week, we heard the story of a chicken and a pig, and learned about the first of two leadership qualities that mark bacon-level commitment.

Today we’re going to learn about the second quality of bacon-level commitment: Sacrifice.

The story is told of a pig and a chicken journeying together. The chicken grew hungry and recommended they stop to make some bacon and eggs. The pig replied that while it sounded like a great idea, there was a fundamental flaw in his plan. He went on to explain to his feathered friend that to make bacon and eggs, a chicken simply needs to be involved, but for a pig, it requires total commitment!

Is your leadership more aligned with a chicken or with a pig? That is, are you merely involved or are you totally committed?

In this thriving economy, savvy leaders are preparing themselves to capitalize on Merger and Acquisition (M&A) opportunities to supplement organic growth. According to a recent study from Deloitte, “Corporations and private equity firms foresee an acceleration of M&A activity in 2018—both in the number of deals and the size of those transactions.”