Prof. David Hayes: administrators must have in-depth understanding of the hospital and be fair, open-minded and transparent as leader

Prof. David Hayes (Figure 1) was the Chair of Cardiovascular Diseases at Mayo Clinic for more than 8 years and now he is medical director of Mayo Clinic Provider Relations, which includes the Mayo Clinic Care Network with the mission to establish collaborative and clinically meaningful relationships with high-quality providers to benefit patients, accelerate innovation and increase value in health care (1). It was not originally his goal to be a physician administrator, but when offered the opportunity, Prof. Hayes felt it was critical to identify successful physician leaders within the organization and learn from them.