ST. LOUIS – “Hang in there. It’s hard work. But it is possible to transform an organization,” writes SSM Health Care President/CEO Sister Mary Jean Ryan, FSM, in her book published by ASQ Quality Press.

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New book by Sister Mary Jean Ryan, FSM Listen to an excerpt: mp3 | wma Read the introduction Purchase a copy from ASQ.org or Amazon.com

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Titled On Becoming Exceptional: SSM Health Care’s Journey to Baldrige and Beyond, the book recounts SSM’s turbulent journey toward becoming a world-class health care organization. SSM Health Care was the first health care organization to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for outstanding achievement in quality (in 2002).
 
In her book, published in 2007 by ASQ Quality Press, Sister Mary Jean shares SSM Health Care’s story and discusses the incredible persistence it took to move a large and complex health system out of its complacency and become closer to exceptional. The book combines the description of a multi-year journey that can inspire all organizations to take the improvement challenge with personal stories from Sister Mary Jean.

On Becoming Exceptional does not deliver five or ten magical steps to levitate your organization to excellence. Instead, it tells a story of mundane realities – hard work, dozens of mistakes, and extraordinary people,” writes Sister Mary Jean. “It deals with blind alleys, unpopular decisions, incremental improvements, and even a few breakthroughs. In other words, it deals with the real world of flawed organizations and human beings.”

Sister Mary Jean also describes how SSM Health Care developed its mission statement – a process that included input from nearly 3,000 employees at all levels of the organization. Sister Mary Jean writes about her belief that every employee at every level of the organization is a unique person capable of greatness.

You can buy a copy of On Becoming Exceptional: SSM Health Care’s Journey to Baldrige and Beyond from www.asq.org or at Amazon.com.