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No state has fallen further than Kansas in America’s Health Rankings. We used to be 8th in 1991.
Why did we slip so far down in the rankings? The answer might surprise you; it’s based on a leadership challenge.
At the Kansas Health Foundation, our bold vision is to make Kansas the healthiest state in the nation and to do so, this movement must be powered by Kansans in positions of authority and influence to shift Health outcomes.
Starting with the launch of the 2025 publication, Leading Health, written by President and CEO of the Kansas Health Foundation, Ed O’Malley, this podcast aims to break down key concepts of this leadership challenge and actionable ways that we can work together to make a real impact on Health in Kansas.
In each episode, Ed O’Malley, and Senior Advisor at Kansas Health Foundation, Susan Kang, will highlight a chapter in the book and discuss with Kansans who are actively engaged in expanding our definition of Health.
Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.
Bonus02
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[00:00:00]
Ed O'Malley: Welcome back to the Leading Health podcast, where we dive into this book- ... Leading Health: How You and 30,000 Kansans Help Communities Thrive.
Susan, today is a bit of a [00:01:00] bridge episode. Today we're bridging from part two of the book to part three of the book. It's a little bonus episode to kind of help make that transition, and we're gonna have a good conversation setting up part three.
Recap Parts One and Two
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Ed O'Malley: Now, real quick, background. Part one was all about the health reality in Kansas.
Susan Kang: Mm-hmm.
Ed O'Malley: The fact that no state has fallen further in the health rankings than Kansas. Part one also described what do we mean about the 30,000? Who are they in Kansas? By now, most of our listeners probably remember they are the 30,000 Kansans in key roles of civic authority, elected officials, school principals, community-minded business people, pastors, and so on and so forth.
So part one described that. Part two said, surprise, it's not a health challenge that we've fallen so far in the health rankings. It's a leadership challenge.
Susan Kang: Right.
Ed O'Malley: And here's [00:02:00] why. And now we're into part three. So Susan, how do you frame up what part three is all about?
Why Mindsets Not Solutions
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Susan Kang: Well, I love the nine mindsets that are identified in the book.
And these are mindsets that members of the 30,000 need to keep in mind as they approach closing the health gap. And again, health- the health gap, meaning capital H, Health everything that is necessary for us to thrive, not just healthcare.
Ed O'Malley: The choice of having part three be about mindsets was very intentional.
So it could've been about other things. It could've been like, here are the... So we have the nine mindsets we believe the 30,000 need to hold. It could've been, here are the nine solutions.
Susan Kang: Right.
Ed O'Malley: But we think that would've been a bad idea. The reason we chose mindsets is because we believe the [00:03:00] challenge of improving in the health rankings, of going from our low point of 31st all the way to 1st, is a challenge that is so complex, we can't actually boil it down to, here are the nine things we have to do, and, and to just tell people what they are.
We instead need to create a culture in the state of how we go about working on health. And the 30,000 people in authority roles have a key influence on the culture of their organization and the culture of their communities. So that's what we're getting at. These mindsets need to be held by the 30,000 because when they hold these mindsets, they'll create a culture that is conducive for problem-solving, a culture that will find the right strategies, the right solutions to help us climb those health rankings.
Adaptive Challenge and ALICE
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Susan Kang: Well, Ed, to the extent that we are talking [00:04:00] about health, capital H health, as a leadership challenge, we understand that it's also an adaptive challenge.
And again, given the fact that it's an adaptive challenge, the challenge to close the health gap, to help our people who are in the ALICE population do better, get to a space, ALICE population meaning asset limited, income constrained, employed population, right? That's, that's how we start out this book is around the ALICE population.
And if we're making progress to close that health gap, there's no way we can come up with nine solutions, right? It has to be the mindsets because this is an adaptive challenge, and we're asking people who are, you know, in the members of the 30,000 to try on some of these mindsets, understand a little bit about them, try them on, experiment with them, to make progress on closing the health gap.
Conditions for Community Solutions
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Ed O'Malley: Hey, I, I think what we're also getting at here is, hey, members of the 30,000, you don't have to do everything.
Susan Kang: Right.
Ed O'Malley: In fact, what we know from [00:05:00] research is the people in the communities facing the greatest health disparities often know best what's needed for progress. They often know what would create more health in their neighborhood, in their family-
in their community. So the solutions actually, it's often not useful for the solutions to be generated from the 30,000.
Susan Kang: Mm-hmm.
Ed O'Malley: The 30,000 have to create the conditions that allow the solutions to be generated. And one of the ways you create, or nine of the ways you create the conditions for that type of culture where solutions emerge, is to hold these mindsets.
And, you know, they, they, on one hand, they're not, you know, revolutionary, but yet they're also not common. You know? So mindsets like working upstream, mindsets like working systemically, [00:06:00] understanding the role that race and racism plays in the health gap, in the health challenges facing our state today. You know, a really wonky mindset about valuing process and structure.
Like, what do we mean by that? Well, you're gonna have to listen to that e- episode coming up. But anyway, I c- I could go on, but there are nine of these mindsets, and what we're really saying is, "Hey, members of the 30,000, you don't have to do everything, but your part of the challenge, your part of helping Kansas climb the health rankings is critical, and the way we're summing up your part- is saying hold these mindsets.
Hold these mindsets in your work, in public and civic life, and you are gonna do your part. It's a big idea that we're trying to get across, but hopefully it doesn't feel too heavy.
Susan Kang: Yeah I hope it doesn't feel too heavy. I think, I, I don't think that people are gonna think that, especially as they, you know, read through the book.
I think, I mean, I have some favorites but-
Ed O'Malley: Give us your number one [00:07:00] favorite. Like-
and, and don't try to fully explain it 'cause the episodes are all to come.
Susan Kang: Right, I know. So- So okay, so wait.
Mindsets in Practice
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Susan Kang: Before I get there, I, I also wanna say that there are people out there who are members of the 30,000 who are already succeeding and who excel at doing, at keeping some of these mindsets.
Ed O'Malley: Yeah, yeah. You bet.
Susan Kang: You know? So, so the work isn't about adapting, you know, nine new mindsets. It's about be making a little bit more, just a little bit more marginal progress on things that they're already doing well. Some people might be working upstream really well. Right?
Ed O'Malley: Maybe, maybe-
Susan Kang: Which is awesome
Ed O'Malley: somebody nails eight out of nine of these. Okay, that's great. Well, what's the ninth one you might need to shore up a little bit?
Susan Kang: Exactly. Exactly.
And depending on your situation and the circumstance, and the problem or the issue you're working on, some mindsets might, I think, come to the fore more than others.
And obviously, we, we think that these mindsets also work in tandem with one another. And I think that they can be... So, like, working upstream and working systemically, for instance, they go hand in hand. It's really nice to be [00:08:00] able to, you know, to occupy both of those mindsets to help make progress on the health challenges.
So I think for me-
Ed O'Malley: Yeah, get to your
favorite. What's your favorite?
Susan Kang: Okay.
Creating Collaboration
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Susan Kang: So my, so my favorite is creating collaboration.
Ed O'Malley: Yeah
Susan Kang: ... I think that that, that mindset, you know, came out of your listening tour or the KHF's listen. This is before I, you know, came on board, and I so wish I were I had been part of that 'cause I think it would've been fascinating to be to be there, to listen to the people talk about some of their concerns.
So I think creating collaboration, I mean, we can't do this alone. We cannot become number one in the nation without having other people helping us. Right?
Ed O'Malley: A- a- and on
one hand, that might sound obvious to people, but hey, just wait for the episode or dive into the chapter now. You'll see what we're getting at.
We're, we're saying we have to go beyond valuing collaboration To using our authority to, to literally create it, to [00:09:00] make it happen.
Susan Kang: Yep.
Ed O'Malley: There's a distinction there. That's what we're getting at. So yeah, it's, it's a great mindset. I, I, I like all of the mindsets equally, Susan. I, I can't claim to have a favorite, you know?
Oh. Like, I, like, I love all my kids equally.
Susan Kang: What are you, a parent or something?
Ed O'Malley: Yes, I know. I know.
Susan Kang: Yeah, no.
Symptoms Diagnosis Prescription
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Ed O'Malley: But one of the ways we talk about the mindse- as the very beginning of this part of the book, we say that part one of the book described the symptoms. Part two gave the diagnosis. Okay, so part one described the symptoms.
Kansas used to be one of the healthiest states, now it's not. Here's what life is like in Kansas as a state ranked in the bottom half of the health rankings. Part two gave the diagnosis. Surprise, the diagnosis is it's not a health issue, it's a leadership issue. Part three is giving the prescription.
It's in essence saying, "At least for the 30,000, here's the prescription for what we need from you." I hope listeners will enjoy us exploring these chapters. We'll have our guests back with us who have joined us throughout the [00:10:00] series so far. We'll have one for each of these conversations, will be a great set of conversations to land these nine mindsets, and if we can just hold these a little more, we believe we can create the right kind of culture to get more progress.
Wrap Up and Next Episode
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Ed O'Malley: All right, so that's our little bonus episode. We'll be back to talk about the first mindset, which is working upstream.
That'll come in the next episode. Till then, be well.
[00:11:00]