athenista spotlight: Meet Amy Pooser
A devoted organic farmer and major U2 fan, she almost escaped to California to study Buddhism. Now she is the official keeper of athenahealth's organizational culture. Meet Amy Pooser, athenahealth's Vice President of People and Process.
athenaPulse: Tell us about your position at athenahealth.
Amy Pooser: It's very unique. "People and Process" encompasses the areas of HR, Training and Knowledge Management, and Facilities. I also function as Jonathan Bush's Chief of Staff. The unifying theme is the employee experience - making sure that athenahealth's culture continues to be one of our strategic assets.
aP: What do you do in a typical day at work?
AP: There is no typical day! Frequently my schedule starts out one way but will change completely. I like to get in early - around 6 am - because it's the only time I have to work on deliverables. Meetings start around 7:30 or 8:00 and I usually meet straight through until 6:00pm. I spend a lot of time supporting other departments, so I have regular status updates with senior management and other staff. I also meet with project groups - for example, now I'm working on planning the Company Retreat.
aP: What are the 3 most important things businesses should know about organizational culture?
AP: First, your culture is your company's greatest competitive advantage. You have your facilities, technology, services - competitors can copy these, but they cannot duplicate your underlying assumptions and values. Studies have documented a positive connection between shareholder returns and strong company culture. Second, leaders play an important role in your culture and have a responsibility to inspire employees and be a role model. Third, corporate culture is everyone's - no one "owns" it. It's shared by everyone and all employees should understand how they create and support the company's culture.
aP: Tell us something about yourself that none of us may know about.
AP: I'm such an open person, everybody knows everything about me! The thing that people are most surprised about is that I live on an organic farm two hours away from athenahealth. We have pigs, goats, sheep, turkeys, ducks, chickens... we collect eggs, milk our goats and make goat cheese... it's pretty different from athenahealth.
aP: If someone gave you a million dollars, how would you spend it?
AP: Probably doing practical things like putting money away for my kids. But, I might also use it to start a non-profit or do something else to improve the world. One of my favorite children's books, Miss Rumphius, is about a little girl, Alice, who tells her grandfather that she wants to grow up and move far away and then return to her birthplace and live by the sea. The grandfather says she has to do one more thing: she has to do something to make the world more beautiful. I want to do that, I'm just not sure (yet) what that will look like.
aP: How did you end up with athenahealth?
AP: After college, I was a paralegal, trying to figure out if I wanted to go to law school or pursue a career in academia. athenahealth was one of our clients. I actually incorporated athenahealth. I had decided not to pursue a legal career, but to enter a PhD program in Buddhist Studies in California. Just before I left, Jonathan Bush took me out to lunch and browbeat me for entering the program and moving to California. Eventually he and Todd Park and Carl Byers convinced me to stay and take a job with athenahealth, which we agreed would make more of an impact on the world.
aP: Your favorite "athenahealth moment?"
AP: There are so many. But on September 11, 2001, we had lots of athenistas traveling around the country as we usually do. Carl Byers and other senior leaders spent the day tracking down every single employee to make sure they were OK. He even found an employee celebrating her anniversary on the Cape and made sure she was fine. Then he sent an email to the company saying that everyone had been located. That made an impression on me.
aP: Best vacation you ever took?
AP: Going to visit my best friend last year. She lives in Norway and one night we got tickets to the U2 concert. We have been fans since time immemorial. And we sat in the front row!
