Ed Marx, SVP, Advisory Board & CIO (GO), NYC Health & Hospitals, Chapter 2

When Ed Marx got a call a few years ago about a position in New York City, he knew right away it was a winner. Not only because of the opportunity it offered to lead an Epic implementation and provide much-needed leadership, but because he had long had his sights set on the Big Apple for personal reasons. In this interview, Marx opens up about what he loves most about his role as interim CIO, what Larry King taught him about building relationships, and the key qualities he looks for in future leaders. He also gives his thoughts on work-life balance, and why everyone should have a mentor.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* Key qualities: Having passion & being service-oriented

* “The more you invest in others, the more things get done.”

* The value of mentors — “I’m a product of the people who have bought into me.”

* Beyond HR training

* 4 pieces of advice for aspiring leaders

* His greatest career moments

* Work-life balance — “You have to carve time out.”



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Bold Statements

I need someone with passion, because passion drives energy. We do some very difficult things. We work in complex organizations. We have people’s lives at stake, and so I need someone who’s full of vigor and energy

You can’t teach talent; talent is innate. You can teach skill. If have someone with talent, I can teach them the skills. It’s really hard to teach someone to suddenly become empathetic or passionate about something in life.

The more you invest in others, the more things get done, and the better our patients are taken care of. And from a selfish point of view as a leader, it makes your job easier, because if the people around you are strong, there’s less reliance on you.

When you start seeing the fruit of that labor and it’s actually impacting quality of care, it’s actually impacting patient safety, and it’s actually saving people’s lives, there’s no greater reward to me than that.

Once I get home, I’m home. I don’t allow myself to constantly be distracted. As we know, with the ubiquity of smart devices, it’s very easy to overemphasize work over your family, and that can be very detrimental.

Gamble:  In your current role and then even in past roles too when you’re trying to fill positions or help people to advance, what are the qualities that you feel are most important?

Marx:  About the last thing I look at is technical aptitude, unless it was for my CTO or another role that required deep technical aptitude. And even then, the number one thing I look for is passion. I want someone with passion, and it could be for anything. It could be for dance. It could be for rock and roll, whatever. I need someone with passion, because passion drives energy. We do some very difficult things. We work in complex organizations. We have people’s lives at stake, and so I need someone who’s full of vigor and energy and passion.

Number two — and oftentimes these are very closely related — is service-orientation; someone sees the role is as serving others. Because if I have someone with passion and I have someone who is service-oriented, I can train them to do database administration. I can train them to become network-certified for Cisco. I can train them to become an analyst for a particular electronic health record, or an effective project manager. But if I have someone who’s the opposite where they’re really technical but have no passion or service orientation, that’s not who I’m looking for.

I look for people with passion and service. I’ve built some amazing teams over the years by focusing on those two items, because the rest comes later.