Key Takeaways
- Embrace non-linear career trajectories and setbacks as opportunities to develop resilience and empathetic leadership capabilities.
- Accelerate professional growth by seeking diverse experiences and demonstrating geographic flexibility early in your career.
- Cultivate authentic 'lateral networking' across all organizational levels to break down hierarchical barriers and foster trust.
- Shift from a hands-on operational focus to an executive mindset by prioritizing team empowerment and delegating based on cultural fit.
Why Flexibility, Networking, and Purpose-Driven Leadership Matter More Than Ever in Healthcare
Healthcare leadership is evolving at a pace rarely seen before. As hospitals contend with shifting patient demands, workforce shortages, and the unrelenting pressure to innovate, the need for adaptable, people-focused leaders has never been more urgent. At the heart of this transformation stands Antwan Williams, MSHA—Chief Operating Officer of Orlando Health Lake Mary Hospital and co-founder of the Advancement League. Williams’s career arc, from aspiring civil engineer to C-suite hospital executive and summit organizer, offers a playbook for executives who want to lead with agility, build lasting relationships, and generate real-world impact in and beyond their organizations.
In this exclusive interview for the American Journal of Healthcare Strategy, Williams reveals what propelled his rapid rise, the unique philosophies behind his leadership, and why he believes the future of healthcare is being built by those willing to “make change in order to implement change.” For current and aspiring leaders, Williams’s story delivers actionable insight on networking, culture, and the value of being purpose-driven—even when the path ahead is anything but predictable.
How Antwan Williams “Failed Into” Healthcare—and Why That Makes Him a Better Leader
Why did Antwan Williams choose healthcare administration, and how has his unconventional journey shaped his leadership? Williams’s route wasn’t straightforward. In fact, he describes it with candor: “I failed into healthcare. I was an aspiring civil engineer, had dreams of building roadways… and I met a guy by the name of Calculus 3, and Calculus 3 kicked my behind, escorted me to the College of Business.” Rather than being deterred, Williams pivoted: he embraced mentorship, earned his MSHA from the University of Central Florida, and launched a career marked by continuous learning and resilience.
Lessons for Today’s Healthcare Leaders
Williams’s story underscores several vital truths for professionals considering or advancing in healthcare leadership:
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Failure is often a launchpad: Williams’s open admission of his early academic setbacks is a reminder that nonlinear career trajectories often create the most versatile and empathetic leaders.
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Mentorship matters: Williams credits mentors who “sparked an interest in healthcare” and encouraged him to pursue opportunities he wouldn’t have considered otherwise.
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Adaptability fuels growth: “From engineer to now hospital operator—and a lot of failure in between.” That willingness to embrace change is a recurring theme throughout Williams’s career.
His journey highlights that a willingness to pivot, seek guidance, and learn from setbacks is invaluable—not just for personal success but for the organizations and teams you lead.
The Fast Track: How to Reach the C-Suite Without 30 Years of Experience
What’s unique about Williams’s rise to COO in under a decade, and what can others learn from his trajectory? Williams’s rapid advancement is unusual in a field where most C-suite leaders have decades of experience. His answer is direct: “It’s been a willingness to learn, a willingness to travel far for those learnings… For me, it’s been that diversity in thought and that willingness to travel to get it.”
Williams’s Key Career Accelerators
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Geographic and Intellectual Flexibility: Williams accepted early roles far from his comfort zone, working in Central Pennsylvania and later Detroit. “Not many people are willing to travel for experience to work with great people, and that was a life-changing experience for me.”
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Deliberate Network-Building: Instead of chasing titles, Williams focused on collaborating with high-caliber peers and learning from every rung on the ladder.
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Taking Calculated Risks: “Everyone’s situation’s different, but for me, it’s been that diversity in thought and that willingness to travel to get it and do.” This mindset enabled him to seize opportunities others might have overlooked.
Takeaway: Younger leaders shouldn’t assume senior roles are out of reach. With intentional learning, adaptability, and a broad professional network, rapid advancement is not just possible—it’s becoming more common in U.S. healthcare.
Beyond the Resume: Why Lateral Networking Is a Secret Weapon for Healthcare Leaders
What is “lateral networking,” and why does Williams believe it’s critical for career development? Williams and his co-founder Alex Massger intentionally designed the Advancement League’s Young Health Leader Summit to strip away hierarchical barriers. “We purposely cap it at between 150 and 200 people. It just makes for a different level of collaboration, different conversations, and different connections.”
How the Advancement League Reinvents Networking
Williams describes the power of lateral networking:
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“Our marketing slogan was that we’re going to scrap name badges… folks essentially write their name and their organization and skip the part about the title because we wanted to force that interaction to where folks care about each other as humans.”
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This format levels the playing field, ensuring that “the manager of HR is just as exciting to me as somebody who’s the chief HR officer.”
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The result: authentic connections that lead to real career growth—sometimes immediately, but more often as “solid investments” that pay off years down the road.
Why Lateral Networking Works:
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Builds trust across career stages
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Increases exposure to fresh perspectives
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Creates a culture of support rather than competition
Direct advice: Williams urges leaders to “not take for granted the folks that are in the audience and the folks that you are in class with or in cohort with.” The people around you today may become pivotal to your career tomorrow.
Balancing Hospital Operations and National Impact: Managing Competing Demands as COO
How does a hospital COO find time for innovation and external impact while managing daily operations? Williams is candid about the challenge: “Transparency for the folks watching—I mean, how many times did we have to reschedule this meeting? Probably approaching two hands.” Managing the opening of a new hospital, supporting staff, and leading the Advancement League means long days and constant recalibration.
Keys to Managing Competing Priorities
Williams’s approach includes:
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Relentless Flexibility: “You make time when you can and remain flexible and keep good people around you.”
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People First: Williams actively seeks out “normal people… folks that say hello and value you as a human,” prioritizing soft skills and cultural fit over technical expertise alone.
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Work-Life Reality Check: Hospital leadership is demanding—“It’s late into the evening right now. I’m sure I’m going to get a text from my wife like, ‘Hey, where are you? The girls are ready to eat.’”—but Williams emphasizes that staying mission-driven and surrounding yourself with supportive people makes the juggle possible.
Actionable insight: Hospital executives should prioritize their networks and embrace “purpose-driven work” to maintain both professional impact and personal wellbeing.
Building Culture and Trust: Lessons from the Leap to the C-Suite
What’s the biggest shift when moving from mid-level operations to executive leadership? Williams pinpoints the evolution: “Each role requires a new level of trust, a new level of seeking out individuals that are inspired by the work… so each role you kind of pull yourself out of it just a little bit.”
The C-Suite Shift: From Doer to Enabler
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Trust Over Control: As you rise, the job becomes less about personal execution and more about enabling others. Williams says, “You’ve got to put trust in others or it’s not sustainable… it’s just been another layer of trust for the folks that you work with and taking more time to select those folks.”
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Intentional Team Building: Culture is created by design, not accident. Williams recommends investing time in hiring for values alignment and soft skills, which in turn, builds a culture where innovation and collaboration thrive.
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Sustainable Impact: Williams notes that focusing on immediate results is tempting, but sustainable impact comes from “trusting others” and building systems that outlast any single leader.
Best practice: Executive leaders should embrace the discomfort of relinquishing control, focusing instead on empowering teams and sustaining culture beyond their direct influence.
Why Purpose and Perspective Drive Sustainable Success
What keeps Williams motivated to continue leading both a hospital and a national leadership organization? The answer is simple and profound: “It’s Purpose Driven… it’s the testimonials when you host a summit… and you see the impact that it has on the participants: ‘Wow, this is why I joined healthcare.’”
What Sets the Advancement League Apart
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Deliberate Intimacy: Capped attendance and high-touch experiences encourage deep, meaningful networking—an antidote to the anonymity of mega-conferences.
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Embedded Community Impact: Every summit includes a 24-hour Community Impact Challenge, connecting professional development with real-world service.
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Ongoing Inspiration: Testimonials and participant stories aren’t just motivators—they’re proof of impact. “It’s been a cup filler for me outside of the hospital operator world and keeps me sharp and aware of trends, ideas, perspectives outside of the walls of the hospital.”
Practical takeaway: Sustained success comes from aligning personal mission with organizational purpose. Leaders should seek “cup-filling” roles or projects outside their day jobs to stay energized and innovative.
Actionable Advice: How to Know When to Seek New Opportunities—and How to Stand Out
How can operations leaders climb to director, AVP, or C-suite roles? Williams is explicit: “We get caught up on titles… so it’s back to where we started: being flexible, being adaptable, and just being willing to make change. In order to implement change, you have to make change.”
Williams’s Top Recommendations
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Be Flexible: Seek opportunities to stretch, even within your current role.
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Stay Creative: “Be willing to take on different opportunities even within your same role, and just stay creative.”
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Seek Perspective: “We take a lot of advice and sometimes it can be conflicting, so jot it all down—perspective.”
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Don’t Wait for Permission: The right moment to move forward “finds you” when you’ve mastered your role and start to feel unchallenged.
Final words from Williams: “Try to stay balanced. Practice meditation. Do all the things they tell you to do… Some days are higher than others, especially probably during this time—it’s all about balance.”
Event Spotlight: The Young Health Leader Summit—Atlanta, May 14-16
For those interested in connecting with innovators like Williams, the Advancement League Young Health Leader Summit will be held in Atlanta, May 14-16. Williams promises: “We’ll have amazing individuals—Scott Becker, leaders from Google, leaders from healthcare systems from across the country, and real connections… two days, high ROI, good energy, and community impact.” At publication, 150 spots remain open for registration.
Takeaway: Change-Makers Aren’t Born—They’re Made by Embracing Flexibility, Community, and Purpose
Antwan Williams, MSHA’s leadership journey is proof that adaptability, authentic networking, and purpose-driven impact are the true differentiators in healthcare today. The American Journal of Healthcare Strategy encourages every reader—whether you’re an aspiring manager or a seasoned executive—to adopt Williams’s mindset: Seek out diverse experiences, invest in genuine relationships at every level, and never underestimate the power of purposeful, people-first leadership. In a sector where the only constant is change, those who are willing to “make change in order to implement change” will shape the future.
we've seen others takes so I think it's back to where we started the conversation and that is being flexible and being adaptable and just being willing to to make change you know in order to implement change you have to make [Music] change hello everyone this is Cole from the American Journal of healthc care strategy coming to you with a special guest we've been working for a while going back and forth with scheduling and Technical glitches but such an important guest doing some really incredible things uh we're so honored to to have you on Antoine can you please introduce yourself and the role that you're in now and you know what you're working on yeah thanks for having me sorry for the delay but this will be a game changer for sure so Antoine Williams uh co-founder of the advancement League um in our Premier event the young Hef leader Summit also um Chief Operating off officer for Orlando Health's South seminal hospital um soon to be Orlando Health Lake Mary Hospital we're so happy to have you on because you're you're doing these incredible things you're moving a hospital right now as we speak just two days ago I saw the video posted where you guys were doing the prep work and then you're also working on one of the the best conferences the most unique conferences that stands out or really organizations now that stands out as something so different and so we really wanted to have you on and thank you for your time I have to ask Antoine first of all is is why did you get into healthcare administration if you could just tell us real quick what got you into that because with your mindset you would have probably been successful in anything yeah no so if you go back and read my personal statement that got me into fellowship program at geinger um it it's a lot more fluff in there but a truth but I always like to say verbally that I failed into healthare I was an aspiring civil engineer had dreams of building roadways and and I met a A A A guy by the name of George who was my college roommate who was a public health major and uh he told me to get a uh internship at the hospital I was doing Housekeeping at the time was literally cleaning toilets to pay my way through college and I was just like man I got to do something else but um that's that's how I got into it just by happen chance of a buddy in college and and and making a transition from engineering to Public Health yeah I was going to ask about that engineering background because another thing that you know really stands out is the fact that you have this lean Sis sex Sigma Master black belt I mean the master black belt is not something that you see every day it's not even something that you see every year in a hospital you usually see green belts some black belts the master black belt is is you know a whole another level could you tell us a little bit about you know how you think that impacts your thinking on a on an executive level yeah so first of all there's levels to master black belts as well so like it's the the GE Master black belt and then there's the you know Master black belt that I have right so let's I won't put myself in that category but I feel like I'm fairly knowledgeable about lean and 6 Sigma and so where it plays a role is being able to connect with Frontline team members at the gamble like where the work is actually happening so many times people who sit in my seat make decisions in the boardroom and not where you know actual patient care is being or whatever the work is being done and so for me lean just forces you to go and see and ask questions and to be humble in your inquire so it's a difference in saying why did you do it this way versus help me understand what led you to this decision right those are two different kinds of questions and lean allows you to ask those questions in a way that is not um offensive to the person do doing the work and then once you understand kind of what the current state is then you can apply some of those tools to get to the future state but I think where people mess up with lean is they try to use the tools without respecting the people first that is that is a great insight and I and it's also probably why you see so much failure in lean and why it gets such a bad rap amongst clinicians is because it's usually used as a weapon against them to make them do more with less it's definitely not a tool that's usually used to help people then yeah absolutely we do lean to people instead of doing lean with people and uh one of the things that I try to do is do it with them and allowing them to come up with the answers even you know as a a quote unquote expert in the space um I do have an idea of what needs to happen but people have to have bu in in order to sustain a change and so allowing them to use the tools and facilitating that discussion is extremely important yeah that is that is a great insight and I also want to ask you about you know one of the biggest projects that you're working on you work on a ton of different things but one of them is this advancement league and this Young Health leaders Summit that's coming up in just a couple days so I hope you're you know you're not totally burning the candle on both ends but I probably know that you are you you have this conference that's not like the other ones I mean we we go to a lot of these conferences we see the same people we see the same speakers we see the same topics advancement league is a totally different vibe you have music you have energy you have different types of people could you just tell us a little bit about you know what makes it different and you know why you think that's so important for the future of healthcare yeah absolutely I you know I attribute a lot of the vision to my co-founder Alex gramling who is um truly a Visionary um outside of healthcare but with bringing him into the industry allows us to do things differently and so you know we've been to conferences we we we know what they're like it's a lot of heavy content you sit there for 8 hours you listen to panel after panel after panel and then there's a happy hour right and you like and a lot of times it's just a business card exchange and so we wanted to create an experience where people truly brought their authentic selves to the table um where we cause what we like to call collisions right so I may have an idea Cole has an idea we talk and then something great comes from that um in order to do that you have to create the atmosphere so music food art culture like all of those things we try to infuse into Healthcare uh problem solving and we feel like that changes the dynamic of the room U we don't have titles on our badges because we don't want people you know seeking out the CEO for a job you know we want you talking to a student or an entrepreneur or somebody from the community that has nothing to do with Healthcare at all but just is impacted by it and so when we create that gumbo of people um you know great things happen and then we call it the best party in healthcare so uh it truly is a party with a purpose though I I love it that is great uh the best party in healthc care you know collisions gumbo it sounds like a great time I definitely think you know next year I'm definit going to have to be there I uh I saw some of the videos from last year and it just looked incredible I definitely want to be a part of it and I love that you said you take the titles off the Badges and you try to get people to interact that wouldn't normally interact because healthcare is so so siloed and so hierarchical and you see that every day in the hospital space you know you see that people are afraid to speak up people are afraid to say different things how do you think we can train the next generation of leaders to you know bridge that Gap or to break down those barriers yeah I mean we we have to be intentional about it and a lot of it is sponsoring people to get to the table I don't think we do a very good job of sponsoring we do a very good job of mentoring and giving people advice but it's another thing to use your political capital or your social capital to bring someone to the table that doesn't look like everyone else at the table or is you know 20 years younger than everybody at the table um and I feel like it's our duty as leadership to really look back and pull people up that are ready um you know so that sponsorship is important and then creating space for them to fail right and so a lot of times we bring people to the table and we expect them to be perfect from day one and honestly like my most valuable experiences have come from failing and and then failing forward and so um you know just creating that space allowing people to bring fresh new ideas that may sound crazy but so did Uber and Airbnb 10 15 years ago right so um that those are the types of things that we have to do in our industry I love that I I really do and I think failure is such a great teacher and in healthcare we do have this uh you know zero failure mentality which is great for clinical care but maybe not so great for Innovation or leadership development because you have to be able to try things and and messing up is part of the process and I think if you can create that safe space like you said Psychological safety that is huge uh one other thing just before we wrap up here I wanted to ask you is you you mentioned the future of Orlando Health and you guys moving to this new hospital uh there's a lot of growth happening in Florida a lot of things happening what are you most excited about for the future of your system and and really for Healthcare in general in that region yeah I mean for us it's just the continued growth of the organization I mean when I got here three years ago it was a regional health system very strong financially great quality but now we're a International Health System we're you know expanding um rapidly and so for me just being able to work with different people see different things uh be a part of different communities is just amazing and what I'm most excited about with healthcare in general is that we're starting to be real with ourselves about the problems that exist things like Health Equity things like maternal mortality so having real conversations and not kind of sweeping those things under the rug and really attacking them head on is is what I'm excited about I think typically we have shied away from those tough conversations but after 2020 the murder of George Floyd and the global pandemic we really are ripping the Band-Aid off of some of those wounds that we've had in our country and specifically within our industry so really looking forward to how we you know heal those wounds moving forward that is very well said and I think that is a perfect place to end it Antoine thank you so much for your time I really appreciate you coming on even with your busy schedule and uh best of luck with the conference and with the move thank you so much appreciate it [Music]
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