ONE ON ONE | Rodney Jones Hospital administrator is driven with a vision

Why are you in the health-care field?
The main reason is I truly, sincerely enjoy helping people. And, when you get into a situation where you are helping people who have some type of physical challenge, it makes it even more compelling.
Who most influenced your life?
My parents. Basically, they were hard working people. Neither one was fortunate enough to get a college education, but they instilled in me the value of being a motivator and the value of being able to have pride in yourself and what you do. That started very young in life, and I still hold on to those things now. My mother, Althea, passed away three years ago, and she is still sorely missed. I see my dad, Robert, at least once a week, or we talk once a week.
What makes you laugh?
A good healthy joke. The Steelers' beating the Browns makes me chuckle for weeks.
What are your hobbies?
I played football, basketball and ran track in high school, and I'm still really big into sports. I like snow skiing, and I play basketball and tennis with friends. I took up golf during the last year. It has been a very humbling experience, but I am committed to learning this game. I intend to spend more time at it.
What upsets you?
Things that don't go the way they should go when all the efforts are in place, that bothers me a lot. But, I don't get too high on accomplishments or too low on failure.
Are you a driven person?
I am extremely driven. I need to be able to utilize all of my skills to at least 100 percent. It drives me to make sure that I'm functioning either socially, personally or professionally at 100 percent
What are your skills?
Basically, I'm a people person. My strongest skill is, I believe, vision. I can step back ... and look at the big picture. I pride myself on being able to come up with creative, probably unique ways to accomplish things that have already been done, or new challenges that are out there. That's the fun part of the job. To go in and follow a script, to me is boring. I think if you're supposed to be a leader, you're supposed to be able to step outside of the common place and come up with creative ways to make things better, ... and even have fun doing it.
What is your management style?
I believe in consensus management. I don't believe in top-down management at all. Some people say bottom up, but I believe it starts in the middle. I was there and I know that it is the toughest job because you have to deal with the people in the trenches and the people in the penthouse. So, I focus on the people in the middle. Once I can get them to understand and to believe, then it filters over to what they do.
I spend 40 percent of my time in the hallways. I meet at least 10 patients a week. I go into their rooms and tell them I'm from administration and I just came up to find out how they are doing.
Where do you see health care going in the future?
I see health care moving toward insurance reform, with the focus on the Medicare population. We're living longer, and we're going to need more health care. And we need for people to be able to afford that, so I think the reform will go more toward the elderly. For instance, we get people in this building, and if they don't have health care, as important as quality is, if I can't get the proper reimbursement I can't keep the doors open.
What was your favorite family vacation as a child?
My best vacation ever was our first family trip when I was 12 years old. We drove to Selma (my father's home town) and Daytona Beach, Fla. (my mother's home town). That was when I met the family.
What do you do to relax?
I belong to the National Brotherhood of Skiers, an African-American group with about 14,000 members and 75-80 clubs around country. We get together at least once a year and 3,000-4,000 of us merge on ski resorts in Colorado, Utah and Europe. ... You get a chance to network. I've been doing this since 1985. It's really nice.
What gives you the most pride?
My children. My 26-year old son, Rodney Blaine Jones III is in his last year of law school at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, and my 21-year-old daughter, Zuwana Taikiya Jones, is a senior communications major at Norfolk State University in Virginia. I am divorced. I was a single parent. That's why I am most proud of them. I raised them.