Brimeyer LLC - The Column

You Lead as You Live

Published April 2025

It’s been 2.5 years since my last “column.” Today they’re called blogs, but I have a newspaper background.

One of the wonderful things about being self-employed is that retirement can be a dimmer switch. As I started to dim the lights on Brimeyer LLC three years ago, one of the first things to go was my monthly column. Why market when you want fewer clients? That doesn’t mean I stopped having “that would make a great column” ideas. I was able to resist the temptation … until now.

About a week ago I made a rare visit to LinkedIn to track down a long-lost colleague. I no longer scroll the newsfeed on my phone or LinkedIn, my lone social media site (Try it! In my case I ended up with a 24-hour, 35-minute day!). So, it was just dumb luck – or an effective LinkedIn algorithm – that the top story targeted for me was an announcement that Mary Greeley Medical Center (MGMC) President & CEO Brian Dieter was recently named as the winner of the Harry S. Hertz Leadership Award by the Malcolm Baldrige Foundation.

The official press release reads, “The Hertz Leadership Award recognizes role-model leaders that challenge, encourage, and empower others to achieve performance excellence," said Faber. The award is being presented this year to Brian R. Dieter, President and CEO for the 2019 Baldrige Award winning Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, Iowa. "Brian has long been committed to servant leadership through the application of the Baldrige Framework in everyday operations at Mary Greeley Medical Center. The impact Baldrige has had on the lives and health of Iowans continues to serve as an inspiration to others.”

There are several first-hand, on-the-job observations I could expound on as examples of why Brian is worthy of the Hertz Leadership Award:

His keen insight into the status of the organization and vision as we developed a strategy for improvement on the back of a napkin over oatmeal at The Café … what we would later refer to as “The Napkin Breakfast.”
His thoughtfulness as he led the entire MGMC leadership team in singing “Happy Birthday” to me following our first day of working together, which also happened to be my 50th birthday. This simple gesture welcomed me onto the team, a relationship that was mutually valued for the next 14 years.
His creativity in crafting short but powerful mantras to capture the essence of Lean and its importance to MGMC. My personal favorite was “Do less with less.” (I may have shared that with other clients.)
His commitment to kicking off our early Rapid Improvement Events with encouraging words for the sometimes-hesitant team members and a tie-back to the organization’s purpose. His message was always on-target without any coaching from me.
His ability to guide a large organization to a goal as MGMC became the first Iowa organization to win the Baldrige National Quality Award in 2019. That’s the first Iowa organization of any type, not just hospital!

While these observations are noteworthy, the interaction with Brian that I will remember the longest didn’t occur within the walls of Mary Greeley or even involve business.

About six or seven years ago, my wife Janet and I took our severely disabled granddaughter for a stroll through Moore Memorial Park on a beautiful Saturday morning. Emmie, who celebrated her 10th birthday yesterday, is non-verbal and will never so much as crawl. In short, Emmie falls into the category of people that many people choose not to see.

On that Saturday morning several years ago, we met Brian and his wife Jennifer who were also enjoying the park. After exchanging pleasantries, Brian got down to Emmie’s eye level and began to talk to her in age-appropriate language, not baby talk. He was undeterred by her inability to reward him with a response. (Over the years, and with the help of dedicated therapists, special education teachers, and eye-gaze technology, we’ve learned that she is intelligent with a wonderful, quirky sense of humor.) In short, he treated her as an individual.

I've never shared that story during my many subsequent encounters with Mary Greeley employees, because I never would have been able to complete it. I’m absolutely convinced that you cannot practice servant leadership if empathy is not part of who you are at your core.

At a time when we don’t have to look far to see horrendous examples of people in charge, it’s important to recognize true leaders like Brian.

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If you found this helpful, I think you'll enjoy my new book Working Great! Lean Leadership Lessons for Guiding Your Organization to Excellence. Click on the link below for more info.

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You Lead as You Live

If you found this helpful, I think you'll enjoy my new book Working Great! Lean Leadership Lessons for Guiding Your Organization to Excellence. Click on the link below for more info.