Ahmad Maarouf graduated from Weatherhead School of Management’s Executive MBA program in 2018 with the goal of becoming a chief medical officer (CMO).
“My five-year plan was to become a chief medical officer and I got there in three,” he says. “I did not expect that, but it was a great ride.”
Before receiving his EMBA, Maarouf was working as a physician and director of the Intensive Care Unit at Beaumont Hospital in Trenton, Michigan. After seeing how influential the hospital administration could be on the operations when it comes to patient safety and quality of care, Maarouf became interested in working in management.
“I knew I wanted to do more in the administrative side, but I needed to learn the pieces not taught to us during our medical training,” Maarouf says. These missing pieces were questions like: “How does the administration work?”; “Who are the stakeholders in an administration?”; and “What about the accounting and finance side of the operations?”
Now, as the CMO of HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood in Houston, Texas, Maarouf says going through Weatherhead’s EMBA program “undoubtedly” helped him achieve his goal and taught him lessons he uses every day.
“The impact of the management courses that I had at Weatherhead made me change my views on how the healthcare system works and it also gave me the tools and skillset to work with people in the best way,” he says. “The courses were on point in my mind.”
One of these courses taught by Associate Professor of Design & Innovation Simon Peck, is where Maarouf learned about organizational structure and how the relationship between the CEO and a board can influence the direction of an organization. “What Simon taught us was absolutely essential and phenomenal,” Maarouf says.
In a course instructed by Professor of Design & Innovation Mohan Reddy, Maarouf says he gained key marketing skills that have helped him when presenting an issue and guiding his organization towards solutions.
Among other courses, was an economics course, where Maarouf was taught about the constraints in the healthcare system, and accounting and finance courses that helped him understand the financial side of the hospital’s operations.
An important takeaway from the program for Maarouf was doing a 360 assessment in Professor of Organizational Behavior Melvin Smith’s course to receive insight on how you think about yourself, how people perceive you and how you interact with people. In turn this can aid you to create an environment that will reach your goals and help you succeed in your current role, Maarouf says.
“Just having the knowledge of if I behave one way because of my personality, people are going to perceive me in a certain way, and that is validated time and time again throughout my role as an administrator,” he says.
One of the many aspects of the program that Maarouf loved was the cohort-based learning.
“You get to kick ideas around with a bunch of people in a mix of industries that participate in the program, like healthcare, manufacturing, not for profit and others,” he says. “There's a lot of different walks of life participating, which is great because I got to see how other industries implement leadership styles in their areas and their space.”
For those entering the program, Maarouf offers advice to “immerse yourself in the program and trust that you will absolutely use the material outside of the program.”