The Epitome of a Servant Leader

If you ask Winjie Tang Miao about her path to executive leadership with Texas Health Resources, one of the largest faith-based, nonprofit health systems in the United States, she will tell you that it’s a “very simple one.” That succinct response is not braggadocio. On the contrary, it’s the modest response of a person unfazed by (or perhaps even unaware of) personal achievement. Her role as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer for a health system that cares for more patients in North Texas than any other provider, however, gives her away.

My assumption is that Miao must have excellent upper body strength since her 22-year tenure at Texas Health Resources has been a constant upward climb.

Starting at the bottom rung in 2000 as an administrative resident at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Miao, fresh out of graduate school, oversaw the development of more than $500 million in construction, as well as the growth and development of outpatient clinics and oncology services. Fast forward seven years, and she was named president of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Azle before moving on to serve as the inaugural president of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Alliance.

While I stop to catch my breath, let me mention that we are only halfway through Miao’s career to date. Over the next decade, the girl with the Midas touch from smalltown Illinois helped position the relatively young healthcare system as a leader in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States. She joined the Texas Health Resources leadership team in 2015.

photo, headshot, pic

Since Miao’s promotion to C-suite status, first as chief experience officer and then in her current role as chief operating officer, it would be easy to assume that the “C” in her title stands for “compassion” instead of “chief.” When coerced by a nosy writer (me) to talk about her professional experience for a local publication (in your hands), Miao gently guided the conversation away from herself back to the 16 counties and more than 7 million patients she serves, emphasizing the responsibility Texas Health Resources has to its region to be a trusted provider.

Sure, you would assume someone at the executive level in the field of healthcare might feel a sense of obligation to their customers, but Miao spoke in a way that suggested it is her moral imperative as a representative of Texas Health Resources to provide the people she serves with access to a lifetime of health and well-being services. In other words, Miao is a classic example of the servant leader. This description might cause her to blush, but it falls perfectly in line with her response when asked if there was a particular moment in her upbringing that shaped her as an individual and a leader.

“I had the opportunity to attend a STEM high school that brought students together from across the state of Illinois. One of the school administrators had a favorite quote he repeated often that hangs in my office today. ‘Be not simply good, be good for something.’ [Henry David Thoreau] That sentiment permeated the school and is a personal mantra of mine. It was humbling to suddenly be surrounded by such a high concentration of smart, talented, and high-achieving people who taught me so much – from how to build a webpage to what it means to be a true friend – and what an impact learning from each other can have on the world.”

Miao recalls her childhood as one being “spent in the cornfields” of Decatur, Illinois, a small industrial and agricultural town in the central part of the state. Like most kids who can’t sit still, she was involved in every activity from show choir to athletics, and “grew up wanting to be a variety of things,” eventually settling on healthcare, which suited her inquisitive nature.

“I’m a very curious individual, so I loved understanding how things worked. I also wanted to be able to combine science with compassion,” said Miao.

The Midwestern teen left the cornfields to study biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University and was somewhat disenchanted when she discovered her degree was almost entirely science focused. She missed the human interaction element. But after discovering the existence of a field devoted to making impact at scale, Miao went to public health school and received her master’s degree in hospital administration from the University of North Carolina. She joined Texas Health Resources after graduate school and never looked back. “I mean, who does that anymore?” she laughed as she realized that her time with only one organization makes her something of a unicorn by today’s standards.

While it is important to highlight Miao’s education and training because it has equipped her with specialized skills required of her position (her credentials are just plain impressive), it would be a disservice to the young executive to assume her professional success is solely the result of high academic achievement. Leadership is intuitive. There is no playbook to guide her day by day, nor is there a graduate class that prepared her for every challenge she would face; she’s had to rely heavily on instinct. She is quick to acknowledge that even a good leader is not immune from mistakes.

Her advice? Own it.

“It’s OK to make a mistake as long as you’re articulating what you’ve learned from it. None of us get to where we are without having made mistakes,” said Miao.

Experience also plays a hand in effective leadership, which she says is especially useful when you find yourself alone on a metaphorical island.  “Sometimes the right decision is not necessarily the popular decision. But making the right decision and being able to anticipate and live through the intended and unintended consequences and stick it out is really important.”

Based on Texas Health Resource’s continual rankings as one of the best places in North Texas to work, however, Miao likely never feels she must stick it out. “The culture we have and the leaders that I had the opportunity to learn from are servant leaders in every sense of the word.”

Takes one to know one.