Behind the Hires: Lisa Harrison

Lisa Harrison is a senior client partner in the Physician Workforce Solution practice at Korn Ferry.

Previous careers: Hospital dietitian; Ambulatory center administrator; Vice president in hospital leadership and HR

Job description: “I help healthcare organizations solve their greatest workforce challenges. I answer a lot of client questions, such as how to grow future leaders, or how to improve their clinicians’ employee value proposition. A big part of the job is taking all the puzzle pieces we have here at Korn Ferry and deploying them.”  

Healthcare motto: “What got you here won’t get you there.”

Lisa’s plan to save healthcare: “I think that finance, HR and clinicians have an opportunity to sing from the same sheet of music. When I think about why we have so many challenges in healthcare, it’s because when we get to the root of how the organization is run, clinicians, HR and finance are not on the same page: one is looking at quality and volume, one at headcount, and one at budget numbers. They could be aligned.”

Favorite part of the job: “The more complex the problem, the more excited I get. I like complex situations.”  

Client superpower: “Building great delivery teams. I can identify really great talent and build out the team so that everyone learns, grows and complements each other.”

Hobbies: “I’m a runner—half-marathons, marathons, road running, trail running. I’m thinking about doing the Horsetooth Half Marathon next year, which is all uphill. I love hills—I love to climb and I love a challenge. I’ll tell you, though, I hate the downhill. It’s a loss of control.”  

Greatest mid-life achievement: “Learning how to swim so I could do Olympic and Half-Ironman triathlons and not die in the water. I was 42, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It did not come naturally to me. My coach would always tell me to stop running in the pool.”  

Origin story: “When I was in high school, my father had a kidney and pancreas transplant, and he worked with a dietitian for years. I was intrigued—that was my first foray into healthcare. So I became an inpatient dietitian, working with oncology, cardiology and surgery patients. I enjoyed helping people, but on the flip side, at that stage of care, many didn’t really want to make any lifestyle changes—so in my late 20s, I got my bachelor’s degree in organizational behavior, and went into hospital HR and leadership for 15 years.”  ‍

Roommates: “A 5-month-old boxer named Cooper. Cooper’s lovable, energetic and a big personality. I also have a high schooler, a college student, and a wonderful husband.”

How her years of hospital work inform her consultant work: “I understand what it’s like to be on the front line and working with care delivery teams, whether that’s nutrition services or the human resources team. I also understand what it’s like to run P&L for a healthcare system while balancing shifting priorities, and how hard it is to stay focused amid competing priorities. The day-to-day of a healthcare leader is very demanding, even more so with all of today’s uncertainty in reimbursements and technology changes. It’s complicated, and I love helping clients solve these problems.”  

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