Leading an organization through change. Interview by Barbara J. Linney.

Robert Jamplis, MD, FACPE, has been President and CEO of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation for the past 30 years. During those years, he has led his group through many of the changes that are just occurring in other medical group practices--movement away from long hospital stays and toward large integrated health care systems. In an interview conducted late in 1994, the author asked Dr. Jamplis to describe the major changes that have taken place in his organization during his tenure and the leadership skills he used to make them happen. His comments are summarized in the following report.