David Gibson, FACHE, FAHRMM, PMP       

Commander/CEO, Carl R. Darnall, Army Medical Center

Joined AHRMM in 2003

Colonel David Gibson is the consummate student. Even though he has ascended to the upper echelons of the military and is the CEO of a medical center, he’s constantly studying, seeking knowledge and information. He’s a voracious reader, and is always engaging in conversations with other professionals, taking classes, asking questions, pursuing advanced degrees…in short, he’s always learning! Indeed, David believes each of us have to commit to being a lifelong learner. “If you don’t, you find you get left behind.”

Even though David holds four Masters degrees (in Public Administration, Real Estate Construction Management, Business Administration and Finance, and National Security and Resource Strategy) and highly values “book knowledge,” it could be said that he equally values emotional intelligence; the ability to read people well and handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. “Every day most of us have to cull through thousands of pieces of information and process complex data sets, but it is important to remember that behind every data set…are people.”

And people are at the core of what David enjoys most about his job as commander of the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center (CRDAMC), a 157-bed hospital with a level III certified trauma center and level II Neonatal ICU. The hospital is supplemented by 12 outlying clinics, 22 specialty clinics, 7 dental clinics, the Red River Army Depot, Occupational Health Clinic, Blood Donor Center, Medical Soldier Readiness Processing Center, and a Warrior Transition Unit. David leads a team of nearly 4,000 military, civilian, and contracted personnel and manages a 360 million dollar annual operating budget to maintain, restore, and improve the health of over 100,000 Active Duty military, family members, and retirees. The Medical Center promotes medical readiness of III Corps soldiers which includes over 36,000 soldiers amongst division and brigade-sized units. David also serves as the Director of Health Services for the Fort Hood Army installation. That’s a lot of responsibility impacting a lot of people, so it’s comforting to know that the person at the top is at heart, a people person. “In life it’s not always IQ, but EQ that is important – you can do right thing, but how you do it can make you succeed or fail. If it’s not productive or kind, it’s not helping your best resource, which is people.”

To understand the relationship between IQ and EQ, as well as the balance of textbook learning to developing emotional capacity is to understand the underpinnings of David Gibson’s belief system and leadership style. He has every one of his employees go through a 2-day face-to-face training put on by the Arbinger Institute. The training is designed to help people become aware of their own mindset and discover the implications and impact of an inward mindset on their work. “It’s an excellent course with lots of lessons and visuals through which we learn to see the world through the eyes of another.” He also likes the fact that everyone is learning together; providing them with a common language to address challenges. “It seems counterintuitive for me to say this as the head of a medical center, but I tell them the patients actually come second, because their care starts with us, with our team.” David stops by every training session at some point so his employees can see his personal commitment to program and to having an “outward mindset”.

David’s been in his current role as CEO since July of 2017, but he’s served in a variety of command and staff positions supporting all aspects of healthcare since 1992. At a macro level, he finds great satisfaction in leading people in the accomplishment of improving health and saving lives. On a day-to-day basis, one of the things he likes best about his job is helping people understand how what they do is related to the overall strategy of the organization. “One of things I like to do is engage people directly and show them how they fit in to a high-level context. I’ll take what someone does in their everyday job and translate it into a high-level strategic objective – help them connect the dots – and show them ‘this is the impact of your team, your service line, etc.’ I find fulfillment in helping team members determine and understand the value equation as a provider or department chief.”

Ultimately, it is their collective responsibility to ensure a medically ready force and a ready medical force to deploy at a moment’s notice. In support of global contingency missions. At the medical center this means improving the readiness of the military force through better health, better care, while managing costs to improve readiness--that means taking a CQO – Cost, Quality, Outcomes – approach to their work. 

As a CEO, David must find elegant solutions to complex problems where stakeholders have different interests, and requirements often exceed available resources. “A large part of my role is addressing challenges where problems or friction exists amongst stakeholders.” As a result, he often looks upon his role as Mediator in Chief. “I think that as a colonel and CEO many people in the American republic believe that I’m constantly issuing orders and things just happen. In truth, leadership is about influence. I spend a lot of time influencing stakeholders that are beyond my formal lines of authority! At the end of day it’s about bringing people together to address challenges and solve problems.”

As a mediator, David has learned that there are different variations on “consensus.” “In most instances it is not merely a case of who’s right and who’s wrong; there are different gradations of right. You must learn to select from options…consensus may mean simply that everyone is consulted. As a leader, I believe it’s important, when possible, to hear everyone. All of us smarter than any one of us.” He enjoyed reading and was influenced by James Surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds, the basic premise of which is that large groups of people are collectively smarter than even individual experts when it comes to problem solving. David contends we are much better at response and solution when we are leveraging our diversity. 

All that said, he’s quick to point out that we often have to make decisions that may have dire consequences without the luxury of consulting others at a moment’s notice. “In a perfect world, we’d have time to study and analyze every problem and many experts can weigh in on the decision. Albert Einstein once said, “If I had one hour to save the world, I’d spend 55 minutes studying the problem and 5 minutes on the solution.” Unfortunately, we don’t always have time to prepare, and lives may hang in the balance. That’s why I want people empowered to make decisions at the lowest level. Then I want transparency. If they have trouble executing – they can bring in another authority with the resources or experience to solve the problem.”

David has been connected with AHRMM since around 2003 when he learned about the association through a colleague. He joined to learn more about the industry, follow trends, and see how people in logistics (military supply chain) could benefit. Not surprisingly, David quickly attained the credentials for the field, including the CMRP and AHRMM’s Fellow designation. He later went on to chair AHRMM’s Fellow Committee. Having been a member for many years, he’s found great value in his membership in AHRMM. “AHRMM provides a forum for professionals to engage other professionals who are facing similar issues and challenges, while also providing opportunities to teach, coach and mentor.”

Of its online resources, David appreciates AHRMM’s case studies, white papers, and leading practices.  However, after serving many years on active duty, he is also looking forward to leveraging the career resource center when he transitions out of the military. The annual conference is his preferred AHRMM venue for supply chain education, primarily due to the networking opportunities he’s found there. “At the AHRMM conference I develop and deepen relationships, engage other professionals, and learn how others resolved pressing problems, etc. You don’t know where or when an opportunity may present itself. A simple conversation that starts in an elevator or over lunch may lead to a partnership opportunity.” When asked to distill membership in AHRMM to 10 words or less, David says, “Connecting people to better understand opportunities and the future.”