This article first appeared in the January/February 2018 issue of HealthLeaders magazine.
I have been using the same brand and model of running shoe for a decade. I originally got fitted at a local running store for the "underpronation" that happens when a middle-aged tall guy like me plods along. They worked.
I could put in a few miles without feeling like my shins were cracking.
Each year, the brand puts out a new numbered version of the shoe, ostensibly to make it more useful to more people. Now they are promoting a lighter weight, but the cushioning for my high arches is gone. The toe is too narrow. I didn't ask for the fancy printing on the uppers that does me no good. They just kept "improving," and their changes ruined the product for me.
As publishers, we can be like that.
We keep adding features, or chasing clicks, or adding content based on what we want as a business, not what you need as a healthcare leader.
When I began my first day at HealthLeaders Media more than 17 years ago, our motto was "Information to Lead." That has remained our path ever since, but we have been perhaps guilty of cluttering it up.
With this issue of HealthLeaders magazine, we create a fresh new start based on that original mission: to get you the information and ideas you need to lead a better healthcare organization.
We started the cleaning with a new design by Doug Ponte, the best art director in our business. Our pages have more white space and a new font for better readability. Our infographics are streamlined to frame just the information you need. Even the cover design gets back to grabbing you, the reader, with an idea to improve your business.
The content itself is where I'm relying on your guidance. Our vision is to refocus our efforts on the types of stories that will help your healthcare organization improve, and that will help you plan a course for a changing industry.
In each issue of the new magazine, you will find at least three Solutions stories that share practical, proven solutions to common problems facing providers.
Our cover stories, including this issue's IT Spending Guide: Place Your Bets, looks at a dynamic challenge from a strategic view, not a rehash of its complexity.
The new magazine is only the first step of an overall relaunch of the entire HealthLeaders Media brand that you will see in 2018.
Along each step, please let me know how we are doing.
Jim Molpus is the director of the HealthLeaders Exchange.