Chief nursing officer to chief executive officer: lessons learned.

As health care in the United States continues to evolve, more chief nursing officers are moving to the role of chief executive officer. This article describes lessons learned from a chief nursing officer who is currently serving as a chief executive officer of an academic medical center. Eight lessons are described followed by reflective questions encouraging the reader to reflect and begin to internalize the experiences of the past role of a chief nursing officer and their applicability to the potential future role of a chief executive officer. The eight lessons explored are as follows: (1) you know more than you think you know; (2) nursing is part of the picture, not the whole picture; (3) relationships matter; (4) trust your gut; (5) if you do not have the right team, change it; (6) simple is better; (7) use your accountability to the board to accomplish your goals; and (8) to serve the organization well, you must keep yourself at your personal best.