Product Overview
| Synopsis - Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing |
In this business memoir, Dr. Levey shares with the reader lessons learned from many years of experience.
A trained internist and endocrinologist, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute while at the University of Miami, a senior vice president for one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Levey culminated his career as Vice Chancellor, Medical Sciences and Dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
During his long and illustrious career at UCLA, he rebuilt one of the world’s premier academic health centers after the devastating Northridge earthquake in 1994.
The book is titled after Dr. Levey’s favorite business admonishment, Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing. Healthcare executives should adopt the lessons in this book to take their leadership to the next level. While each chapter alone is worth the price of the book, as a former healthcare executive, I would encourage every healthcare leader to study the chapters entitled Crisis Management and Fund Raising.
The chapter on fundraising expands ones vision on the potential of what can be done and hospital foundation leaders and board members would benefit from Dr. Levey’s insight and direction. You can count on one hand the number of healthcare leaders that have had the tremendous successes in fund raising that Dr. Levey has had.
Aspiring healthcare leaders should study this book as a primer on how to lead a healthcare organization, no matter how small or large, and remember: Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing.
| Synopsis - A Gift for the Asking |
FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Dr. Gerald Levey can “Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk.” At UCLA as the former dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine and the former vice chancellor of Medical Sciences, he led a team that raised $1.75 billion for the medical sciences.
Dr. Levey shares his principles of success and how an organization can learn and apply in their community what he did at UCLA. There are only three ways to improve the bottom line of a healthcare organization: raise revenues (harder in this environment), decrease expenses (also difficult, since that is what hospitals have been doing for years), or ask a friend of the institution to donate funds. His principles lay out, step by step, how to achieve the vision and goals of the institution.
Levey’s Eight Principles of Fundraising
Principle One: You need respected people in the community introducing you to the people of influence and affluence in the community.
Principle Two: Be thoroughly prepared when soliciting a donor.
Principle Three: Ask for what you need, not what you think the person can give.
Principle Four: Be patient, keep trying, and never give up.
Principle Five: Donors to academic medical centers expect a quid pro quo for their gifts–access to the best medical care.
Principle Six: Don’t compete with the faculty.
Principle Seven: Philanthropy is a contact sport.
Principle Eight: Create a first-rate Office of Development.
Dr. Levey’s Principles can be adapted to any size organization or community. There are individuals in every community that have affluence. No matter what the size of your organization, if you have a sound fundraising plan, you can achieve great things. If your organization only raised 10 percent of what UCLA did, you would have $175 million. If you only raised 1 percent, you would have $17.5 million. What’s holding you back? Apply the lessons in this book and Go For It!
---Jerry F. Pogue
| About The Author |
Dr. Gerald S. Levey, a nationally recognized leader in both academic medicine and private sector medical affairs, was vice chancellor Medical Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine from 1994 to 2010. He is presently dean emeritus and the Lincy Foundation Distinguished Service Chair. He holds the academic rank of Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine. As vice chancellor Medical Sciences at UCLA, he oversaw a diverse medical enterprise including the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the Stewart and Lynda Resnick UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital, the Mattel Children’s Hospital, and Santa Monica/UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital.
Dr. Levey joined UCLA in September 1994, having previously served as senior vice president for Medical and Scientific Affairs at Merck & Co., one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. He has held prominent leadership positions throughout his career, including serving as chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine from 1979 to 1991. He is past president of the Association of Professors of Medicine, was a member of the Board of Governors of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and is a member of the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Levey is also a member of the medical honorary society Alpha Omega Alpha, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He received his Mastership from the American College of Physicians in 1997.
Dr. Levey is an internist and endocrinologist widely known for his research on the thyroid gland and heart. He was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator while at the University of Miami from 1971 to 1979. Dr. Levey has developed a particular interest in issues of the nation’s physician supply and the role of generalist physicians, and served as co-chair of the National Study of Internal Medicine Manpower from 1981 to 1991. He has authored or co-authored 210 scientific publications. Among his honors: He is the recipient of the UCLA Medal (the highest award given by UCLA); The Award of Extraordinary Merit, UCLA Medical Alumni Association; Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science Board Medal of Honor; The American Jewish Committee Distinguished Leadership Award; Gerald S. Levey Surgical Award, UCLA Department of Surgery; Visionary Award, UCLA Department of Neurosurgery; The Golden Apple Award, David Geffen School of Medicine Class of 2010; Barbara A. Levey, MD and Gerald S. Levey, MD Endowed Chair donated by Robert A. (Bobby) and Nina Kotick; and Gerald S. Levey, MD Endowed Chair, donated by Shirley and Ralph Shapiro.
Dan Gordon (contributor for A Gift for the Asking) is an award-winning writer and editor whose work has chronicled some of the most important trends in healthcare, biomedical research, business, and education. A graduate of UCLA, he is currently a contributing editor at UCLA Magazine and has written extensively about the societal implications of such pivotal issues as stem cell research, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and solar power. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Men’s Fitness, and Glamour magazine, as well as numerous other online and print publications. He lives with his family in Agoura Hills, CA.
| Reviews |
Written by one of this generations most successful academic leaders, this personal account extracts a host of useful principles of leadership from the firsthand ordeals he faced over many years of guiding a complex academic medical center through a myriad of foreseen and unforeseen challenges.
Jordan J. Cohen, MD - Professor of Medicine and Public Health, George Washington University - President Emeritus, Association of American Medical Colleges
His book is a "must-read" for aspiring leaders in every walk of life--from business to government. His goal was to help others achieve their dreams.
Gray Davis - 37th Governor of the State of California
Dr. Gerald Levey is one of America's great leaders. You will learn how to take your leadership to the next level.
David T. Feinberg, MD, MBA - CEO, UCLA Hospital System
Dr. Levey has written an insightful and entertaining book on leadership, and it is a must-read for all those who aspire to leadership of larger organizations.
David Geffen
I have been fortunate to observe Dr. Levey's visionary leadership of UCLA's Academic Health Center for approximately the last ten years. The book should be required reading for all those individuals in business, government, and medicine who aspire to leadership.
Robert A. Iger - President & CEO, The Walt Disney Company
The chapter devoted to fund-raising is instructive and perhaps unique in its approach. This chapter by itself is worth the price of the book. A must-read for all boards of directors, leaders, or aspiring leaders in every public and private institution.
Kirk Kerkorian - Chairman, President & CEO, Tracinda Corporation
Jerry's vision, intellect, integrity, experience, kindness, and humor shine through on every page.
Sherry Lansing - Former Chairman & CEO, Paramount Pictures - Founder of the Sherry Lansing Foundation
No one has had a closer seat over the past two decades at advancing leading-edge healthcare than Dr. Gerald Levey, and this timely book provides readers with "floor seats" to his leadership insights.
Amir Dan Rubin - President & CEO, Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Jerry Levey is known as the dean of medical school deans. During his long and illustrious term as Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences and Dean of the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, he built one of the world's premier academic health centers. I have personally benefitted from Jerry's knowledge and generosity. As a current dean, I could not help but believe that this book was written specifically to help me. However, I can easily see how leaders and aspiring leaders in academic medicine and beyond would benefit from these insights.
David Allen Brenner, MD - Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences & Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego
With the expertise of a seasoned clinician, the analysis of a dedicated researcher and the bedside manner of a compassionate physician, Jerry Levey shares his remarkable experiences, insights, and lessons learned on the path to fundraising success. A GIFT for the ASKING is a great primer for anyone looking to demystify the development process and unlock the secrets of impactful and rewarding leadership.
Rhea Turteltaub - Vice Chancellor, External Affairs, UCLA, Los Angeles, California
Dr. Levey, in A GIFT for the ASKING, underscores many fundraising techniques that are of tremendous importance to a fundraiser. It is impressive that someone appointed as the vice chancellor of Medical Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA not only learned about successful fundraising techniques, but embraced and implemented appropriate cultivation and solicitation tools, Case Statement preparation, and donor stewardship processes. His book can be used for learning as well as affirmation of doing it the right way.
Karen J. Johnson, CFRE, EdD - President, Rocky Mountain Adventist Healthcare Foundation
As executive director for Medical Sciences Development, I had an amazing opportunity to work side by side with Dr. Levey for more than eleven years and watch him, firsthand, implement his eight principles of fundraising as outlined in A GIFT for the ASKING. For those of you who aspire to be leaders in academic medicine or in development this is your opportunity to learn from one of the very best.
Dr. Levey demonstrates how an intuitive understanding of an organization’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities; the ability to connect with members of the donor community on a professional and personal level; and the leadership’s structure of a creative and compelling vision for the future, can combine to inspire unprecedented levels of philanthropic support for an organization.
Nancy Sacks - Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
| Product Details |
Title: Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing: A Leadership Guide in an Age of Change and Challenge
Author: Gerald S. Levey, MD
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Second River Healthcare
Pub. Date: August 2011
Pages: 208
Edition Number: 1st
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1-936406-08-1
Product Dimensions: 8.5" x 5.5" x .6"
AND
Title: A Gift for the Asking: Eight Principles for Successful Fundraising
Authors: Gerald S. Levey, MD, with Dan Gordon
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Second River Healthcare
Pub. Date: February 2014
Pages: 208
Edition Number: 1st
Language: English
ISBN: 9781936406289
Product Dimensions: 8.5" x 5.5" x .4"
