Hi, Michelle. Hey, how are you? It's good to see you. It's so.
Great. Sorry, I.
Picked up freezing cold day. No, no, no. Listen, it's a part of where we are.
Yes, yes. I know. Look at, this is Stevie in the background. I love, love,
love that. Yes. I'm.
So excited for our conversation.
Me, me too. Yeah, absolutely. Music Hall, Detroit. Yes. Best time of the year,
right on the cusp of the holidays. Love it. Yes. What.
What's your favorite.
Memory? So.
I'm gonna tell you that I am.
So excited that The Nutcracker is here.
I've seen it a million times, a million different places,
but it's gonna be so special. Oh, here.
At the music hall. Let's go in. All right.
Michelle Johnson Tidjani.
Thank you so much.
For being here.
Oh, I'm delighted.
You're our executive Vice President, general counsel that's right.
For Henry Ford Health. Yep. Um, it's kind of a, a a broad question,
but tell us how you got here. Oh,
how'd you end up in this position that you're in and in this place and time?
Um,
I went to law school not that long ago and decided I wanted to make a difference
in the world. Mm-hmm. , and I'd say I fell into healthcare.
I started, uh, practicing representing physicians in hospitals,
and I started as a litigator. Um, I love, uh, advocacy. Mm-hmm. ,
and I love, uh,
representing the interest of people that I believe and who want to do the right
thing. So that's what I started doing. Mm-hmm. , um,
I litigated for about four years in private practice, but, um,
there's something about the opportunity to get ahead of issues,
which appealed to me. Really,
my space and place has been around growing organizations. Um,
core to that has been understanding the business of those companies and helping
those organizations try to drive that.
And so I went back to the Cleveland Clinic for about six years and, um,
had a wonderful time until one day, one day. And there was this opportunity,
, uh, to come back to the city of Detroit, which I never expected.
I mean, this is home for me. I am a Detroiter through and through,
grew up on the east side of the city. Uh, but there was an opportunity, uh,
that someone cheer with me, uh, to be the general counsel at Henry Ford.
And I thought, really, could this be ? Um,
and so at the Cleveland Clinic, I had a number two position.
I wanted to have the number one position mm-hmm. ,
and this was that opportunity to do that. So,
had an opportunity to come out here, had a great conversation. Well,
lots of different conversations. Uh,
but that final conversation was with Wright Lassiter , and I thought,
this is it. This is absolutely where I want to be.
This organization is the kind of place I want to practice.
The people that I met along the way were the kind of people that I wanted to do
business with. Mm-hmm. . And so the move from Cleveland to Detroit,
uh, was easy.
Oh, well, we're so glad you're here.
Oh, what a great venue.
Yeah. I'm excited to just, it's,
it's so rare that you get to be here with nobody here.
I know. I know. It feels like sort of.
A very.
Special, they're very gracious to a lot of come here we are.
Yeah.
This is, this is incredible.
Yeah.
If you weren't standing right here, I would indeed run right on stage, ,
because that's, that's.
Just what I would do.
Michelle Johnson Tidjani live.
At music hall.
Right now. Right now, mic's and.
All.
I feel like it's incredible there. Yeah. I'll, it is. And honestly,
when you think of Detroit, and its beautiful art deco, I mean, oh my God.
Just, this is quintessential.
Detroit. Yes, it is.
Look at the architecture. If you stand back and do nothing else,
there's nothing on stage. There's no one here.
Look at the architectural beauty that this is. Wow. Ah, this speaks volumes.
I know. It's beautiful.
Your career, uh, you know, started in one place,
but really has been the bulk in.
Healthcare. Right? It always, always.
Mm-hmm. . Are there any lessons that you've learned along the way,
uh, that really stick out to you?
People come to healthcare lots of different ways, but, you know,
healthcare outcomes, the experiences that people have with healthcare,
a a bit of that is what happens in the inpatient setting,
but so much of how people navigate healthcare happens outside of the healthcare
system. Mm-hmm. . And so,
one of the things that's super important for me is to understand the entirety
of that experience. Understand that if you don't have a job,
then you don't have healthcare insurance.
And so your interaction with the healthcare system is gonna be different.
Mm-hmm. , if you don't have a place to live,
then the notion that you should follow up with your appointments or fill your
prescription, that your perspective on that is gonna be different. I, I know.
I just feel strongly about the complexity of healthcare,
because oftentimes people will describe patients as non-compliant. Well,
I didn't have breakfast and I didn't have a way to get here, so, um,
am I not compliant or, I haven't done the things that you said,
but you're not appreciating the whole story. I,
I think healthcare in some respects,
is just a microcosm of just the human experience. Right.
You meet people at a particular place and time,
but the entirety of that person is,
is so much more than how you experience them in 30 minutes. Right.
It's how I woke up. It's whether I had heat that night,
it's whether I had a meal in the morning. It's just, it's, it's,
it's whether my, my parents were there. It's all of those things. Mm-hmm.
, um, that, that's, that's what healthcare has been for me.
Detroit we're so lucky. Like you mentioned, to have music Hall, opera House.
Mm-hmm. , uh, Fisher Theater. Mm-hmm. , I mean.
You, all of your fingertips. Yes. And it's still very affordable theater. Yep.
And the city. Mm-hmm. . Um, it's accessible and it's affordable.
Do you ever think about Henry Ford Health also being kind of part of that
tapestry?
Oh, absolutely. At a time when so many people abandoned the city,
Henry Ford made a commitment to, to stay mm-hmm.
and continue to serve. I mean, that's another, you know,
that's another proud moment. Yeah. I love that we are still here, um,
doing what I would just characterize as God's work mm-hmm. , right.
Caring for people, caring for patients, caring for members. I mean,
this is home for us. Yeah. Um, I would,
I I say that about our downtown location. I mean,
we obviously have lots and lots of locations across the community,
but particularly, uh, in the city of Detroit, this is home. Yeah.
It's where we belong, so it's nice to be here.
Yeah. We're, it's, it's a, a privilege to be part of that story. It.
Is. Yeah. It is. It absolutely is. Yeah.
Beautiful. From your perspective,
where do you see the future of healthcare going?
Well, I think healthcare is filled with opportunity. Um,
the industry is moving from inpatient to outpatient,
so how are we gonna be there for our patients?
We're moving into a digital world where people are accessing healthcare
differently. Mm-hmm. ,
how are we gonna meet the needs of our patient using our digital footprint and,
and connecting with them a little bit differently.
How do we make it easier for patients to interface with our system?
Thinking about ways to make it as affordable as possible for those who are
insured. And what about those who are underinsured or don't have access to care?
Um, I see the future of healthcare as meeting people where they are.
And I think there's both a, it's the right thing to do,
but there's also a business imperative around doing that. Mm-hmm. ,
it's costly inequity. Healthcare inequity is a costly proposition.
Having people access through access us through eds,
it's costly for consumers. Yeah. And guess what? It's not the best healthcare.
So figuring out this sort of conundrum of meeting people where they are with low
cost or appropriately priced, uh,
resources and giving them the kind of interfaces that create ease in terms of
accessing healthcare, I think is, um, the way of the future.
What are you most proud of at Henry Ford Health?
The people. Yeah. I, you know,
one of the things that I love about Henry Ford is how much people love Henry
Ford Health. Mm-hmm. . Um, I used to say, uh, you know,
you interview people as you, you know, as you, as you hire people,
as people come throughout the organization. I used to say it's the culture,
but that's kind of a cap out. Really what it is. It's, it's the people. Um,
it's, it's, it's how much people are committed to this organization.
When I first started,
I had three people on my team who'd been with this organization 40 years or
more. Wow. So what that does is, um, it, it creates,
I think, opportunities for storytelling. I always ask them, so why do you stay?
Yeah.
And the reason they stay is because they love what we are and love what we have
meant to them. Most people have a personal connection mm-hmm. , uh,
to the organization.
And I think when you have people who are as committed as so many of our
employees are, you have a more powerful opportunity to make a difference.
Cuz when people believe, um, in the story of our organization, um, I think it,
it allows people to support the direction of the organization in a very
different way. Mm-hmm. . And so, I, I, what, what,
what I love about this place is, is really the people.
Love that answer. Um, this is a women in leadership series. Yep.
So I would be remiss if I didn't ask mm-hmm. , um,
what you would tell, um, a young woman in our organization,
or a woman who's rounding out her career in our organization. Yeah. Um,
just anything about your journey that you've learned that you would love to
impart, uh, on, on young mentees mm-hmm. , um, what would you say?
Well, that's a good question. Uh, so here's something, uh, that,
that I feel really strongly about.
If you're a young woman and you elect a partner, that's a choice, right?
So if you elect a partner and, and bring somebody along life journey,
the most important career decision you will make is who that is.
And I think that's true because I think as you navigate throughout your career,
you have children, you, um, decide to move from place to place,
or even grow in an organization. Careers are not always a straight path.
And so one of the things that's super, super important is a support system.
Mm-hmm. . And that partnership ought to be, um,
your go-to in terms of support. And so how will you partner?
How will you be supported? How will you navigate? Who's dropping off? Who? Um,
I oftentimes tell young women, allow, allow your partner to really be a partner.
Let's not judge the hair. Doesn't look like what you might have done .
The outfit might not coordinate the way that you might have done it,
but support that, that partnership has just been everything.
It's been everything for me. Yeah. Um, really grateful, uh, to my husband and,
um, what he's meant for me, uh, in terms of just a backbone, a reality check,
a mirror. Yeah. Uh, along the way. So that would be my career advice.
Be thoughtful. That's about that partnership.
Decision.
Michelle Johnson Tidjani, our executive Vice president and General counsel.
Thank you so much for.
Sharing your time with.
Me. No, thanks for the opportunity. This has really.
Been a treat. Thank you so much, .
I know this is my confident walk. I don't have a confident walk.
I'm just gonna trip every time. Walk. Have My feet are hurting.
My feet are hurting. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun dun. Yeah. Mm-hmm. ,
I'm the investigator. You're the prosecutor. So confident. Oh my gosh.