Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh

The Heart Behind the Hustle: Alexander Fernandez and the Rise of Relationship-Centered Operations Leadership

• Grant McGaugh CEO 5 STAR BDM • Season 3 • Episode 34

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What happens when compassion meets operational excellence in healthcare leadership? Alexander Fernandez's journey from frontline nursing to Corporate Director at Jackson Health System reveals the transformative power of people-centered leadership in high-pressure healthcare environments.

Known affectionately as "The Mayor," Fernandez brings a rare ability to unite clinical and administrative teams while driving measurable results. His leadership philosophy—"the heart behind the hustle"—perfectly captures how he balances human connection with strategic execution. Born into a family where his grandmother modeled compassionate service and his father rose from being a Cuban orphan to becoming the first Hispanic police officer in Metro Dade and eventually a U.S. diplomat, Fernandez inherited both compassion and a powerful work ethic that defines his approach to healthcare operations.

While many leaders focus exclusively on metrics, Fernandez builds cultures that sustain performance by reducing turnover and fostering loyalty across diverse teams. "I build trust and structure at the same time," he explains, ensuring operational support recognizes that people are not just numbers. This approach has proven particularly effective when leading complex initiatives spanning patient access, stroke care, workforce staffing, and system-wide technology implementations.

Mentorship stands as a cornerstone of Fernandez's leadership strategy. Having benefited from the guidance of a CEO who recognized his potential early in his career, he now pays this forward by nurturing others' growth. His advice to aspiring healthcare leaders? Find a mentor and don't let fear stop you from moving forward. "Confidence comes through experience," he shares, emphasizing that stepping into challenging roles builds the expertise needed to navigate healthcare's complex landscape.

Connect with Alexander on LinkedIn under Alexander A Fernandez or email at afernandez3@jhsmiami.org to learn more about his approach to transformational healthcare leadership.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!

Speaker 1:

Welcome everybody to the Final Brand Podcast. This is your host, grant McGaugh. We're going to bring it all the way back to Jackson Health System. I love the people at Jackson Health. They invited me in. We've had some really candid conversations with a lot of frontline leaders. These are the leaders of now and tomorrow and I'm always curious about healthcare. I'm always curious about health care. I'm always curious about health care leadership and I wanted to really share some stories with everybody, because these particular leaders have gone through my brave framework and they've come across their own unique experiences about how this was impactful for them, how they can use it going forward to help them on their career journey. So first I'd like to get you introduced to Mr Alexander, the Mayor. Fernandez Alexander, would you like to introduce yourself?

Speaker 2:

Hi, Grant. Thank you for having me on your show. My name is Alex Fernandez. I'm a corporate director here at Jackson Memorial Hospital Health System. Sorry, I'm in charge of nursing operation for the system and I'm glad to be part of your show and you're part of your course. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Now, thank you, thank you. We had four to five weeks together in which you shared some things with me. We share with each other actually, about your journey, about what you're doing. Now I want to ask you this we're going to kind of jump right in right and I want you to share your journey from frontline nursing to becoming an operational leader. Can you give us some context around that Absolutely Grant.

Speaker 2:

So my story begins in a house filled with compassion, where my grandmother showed me what it meant to serve others quietly and consistently. And what shaped me was my parents, my work ethics working hard, my father, who also was a Cuban orphan from Cuba who came here through Peter Pan. He became the first Hispanic cop here at Metro Dade, later to become a drug enforcement agent, to then becoming a diplomat for the United States. Becoming a diplomat for the United States, seeing all that reaching his highlights in his career and the pursuit of his purpose, the work ethics that set the tone how I would live my life by entering nursing for me.

Speaker 2:

I embarked in the nursing career. I carried the nursing qualities of my grandmother, which modeled through my parents, and persistent work ethics to commitment to higher education. With that deep belief and continuous growth, I dedicate myself an advancing brand. But when I stepped into leadership, I believe that care didn't end at the bedside. And from the frontline nursing to patient access director, from service line administrator to stroke program leader, I led through all these crises to realign teams, help restore performance when it mattered most. What I've learned above all of this is that people power is the most important.

Speaker 1:

Well, you said it there, you have a what I call unique people first approach. In talking to you, you just shared some of the things I thought very I mean things your family was able to accomplish in coming here to America, and it's very inspiring. It's very inspiring and so my question I think the audience would be very intrigued to understand a little bit more that this approach, this people first approach, influence does it help in your leadership style, your operational decisions? How does that work for you?

Speaker 2:

So, being a leader who never loses sight on the human core, I've created a high trust environment where staff feel supported and motivated to perform. While others focus on metrics, I build culture to sustain performance, reduce turnover, foster loyalty across clinical and administrative teams. My ability to transform moral into momentum makes me unique, suited to lead workforce transformation at a scale, especially in moments of crisis, transition and operational fatigue. What really drives me is building that trust and structure at the same time Grant making and operational fatigue. What really drives me is building that trust and structure at the same time, grant making sure that operational support are people, not just numbers man I'm glad you said that we hear that so much from leadership.

Speaker 1:

Or even you know people that are doing the work. They think like, wow, you know, everybody's just pushing paper, they're just looking at the finances. They don't see that I'm a person, not a number. I think that's so important to understand. And as we unpack that even more because we're talking about frontline staff, we're talking about people can you give us a specific example where you feel your leadership significantly improved organizational performance based on your people-first approach?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, grant. Unlike leaders who operate in silos, I bring rare ability to connect departments, align symptoms, execute strategy across boundaries. I have led successful initiatives spanning from patient access, stroke care, workforce staffing and service line integration, always with the mindset of cohesion over control. My strength lies in bridging both clinical and administration goals, translating the big picture strategy into practical action, ensuring execution without an evil. Well, this makes me the operator that executives trust when multiple parts must move as one and when healthcare systems need both speed and stability. Right that's important.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for that speed ability. You're executing, but at the same time, you've got to balance compassion right. You've got to be compassionate because what you're doing in a high pressure healthcare environment is very, very important. So I want to understand, I mean, how do you keep that balance, you know, and with strategic education, because you've got your orders from people that you serve and then you're serving people on your team. They're serving you and what you want to accomplish. I want to understand how you balance that compassion with strategic education in these high-pressure healthcare environments.

Speaker 2:

In today's dynamic healthcare landscape, my role plays a pivotal role in aligning clinical delivery, operational efficiency and enterprise strategy to meet escalation demands in high quality, value-based care. In today's high-pressure environment, one must lead through the complexity of position and agility, transition and vision into execution, while building scalable systems that improve outcomes, cost control, elevate patients and staff experience. My success in my role demands mastery and cross-functional leadership, data-driven decision making. The workforce integration across diverse service life, especially leveraging technology, is on the technology right. That's important.

Speaker 1:

You just you know, obviously I'm a big tech guy. I understand the technology, I understand what you've got to do to operate in these high-level environments, because lives are at stake. And that leads to another, I think, very important question, and that is there's some big challenges facing healthcare operations today. Everybody knows about it the workforce, the finance issues, the clinical design, you name it but how are you uniquely equipped to address?

Speaker 2:

them. So, as a health care organization, face mounting regulatory pressures, financial constraints and shifting in consumer expectation. Nowadays, we're expected to have champions in innovation, optimize the resource allocation and, of course, most important, foster that culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Continuous improvement. That's a tech term, right. Continuous improvement, continuous improvement. You're doing that because you're moving people on both sides of the ball and make sure you get a positive outcome. That's the goal right. Have a positive healthcare outcome. Now, especially during our discussions, we understand to operate at the level that you operate, you've got to integrate financial discipline with the data that you've been given. So data-driven decisions very important. How do you drive that into your leadership practice?

Speaker 2:

So by bringing departments, connecting people with a purpose that's critical and transforming operational chaos into coordinated performance. By doing so, we redefine what health care leadership looks like at a system level, becoming not just operators but architects of sustainable people. Centered transformation is the key.

Speaker 1:

I think that's important. Now you're bringing up a lot of the technical and tactical aspects of what you do. I want you to help. A lot of you don't understand. They understand what a doctor does, they understand what a nurse does to a certain degree, but help us understand from a COO level. From a COO level, if you were operations officer, describe me a scenario where you successfully navigated organizational change, or it could have been a change or transformation. Can you give us a description?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely Grant. So I was selected to lead a system-wide technology implementation that impacted every level of my organization, from frontline staff to executive leadership. My role was to spearhead this deployment of technology across clinical providers and ancillary departments, ensuring seamless integration and adoption. This initiative required organizational awareness, extensive planning, strategic communication to gain staff buy-in, which is critical. Multiple meetings were held to support this implementation, along with essential resources to facilitate this transition. None of this would have been possible without the dedication and collaboration of my team and senior leadership support. Over a course of a year, we were successful implementing this technology across both inpatient and outpatient facilities. Our success was driven by careful planning, teamwork and shared commitment at the operational level. That's important.

Speaker 1:

I like to hear that, because you got a lot of moving parts. It's a lot of moving parts. All these different departments, all these different things are happening, usually behind the scenes. You know, sometimes could be a thankless job. I mean, people just don't realize how you, how did you get to that level, especially if you're a patient in the hospital and you're sitting like wow, I survived, like yeah, but you know how close, how close it was. But you've got to coordinate all of those things and make it happen. And that's what you know from an operational level. You're doing it Now through our work. Let me get through the BRAVE framework right. We came up with a tagline for you, alexander Fernandez, and that tagline was AF the heart behind the hustle. How does that reflect your leadership value?

Speaker 2:

So I love it so much. I added to my email signature so I'm a leader who blends frontline compassion with enterprise position. Trusted by my comments of authority, operational excellence and people first approach, I'm known as the mayor. My relation leadership style unites both clinical and administration teams to drive results, elevate patient care and, of course, prepare organizational to be scalable for future ready transformation. So the heart behind the hustle, it's me.

Speaker 1:

I love that, the heart behind the hustle. When I saw that, I said that's him, that's who he is, that's what he does, that's what he exudes. I think when people see that, I'm like, yeah, that's him. It's like putting on a suit that fits and it fit without question. And as we worked together we did a lot of role playing we got a better understanding of how to deliver on the aspects of what you bring to the table as a leader. I want you to help us understand from your lens. What role do you feel that mentorship plays in your leadership strategy, both from a personal level and also for your teams.

Speaker 2:

So from a personal level along the way, I was fortunate to have a CEO who recognized my potential and took the time to mentor me, helping me navigate challenges and honing on my skills. His guidance shaped me into the person I am as a person, as a leader and today as a compassionate caregiver determined for leader, and today as a compassionate caregiver determined for professional and advocate for growth and development. From both nursing to leadership position, every step was a reflection of my traits, instilled in me by my family and by my mentor. Due to that, in my gratitude for his mentorship and wisdom I have received, I'm committed to giving back passionately to mentorship and nurturing others, to growth and helping them to reach their goals. Through this cycle of support and empowerment, I continue to honor his legacy of those who inspired me and shaped my journey.

Speaker 1:

That's important. You've got to have good people around you. You've got to have people that believe in you, advocate for you, because they see that all of us are going to be moving on. We're just moving through these worlds. If you don't prepare the people around you, you don't prepare your team, whether it's the team above you, the team below you, the team around you. You're going to run into issues and as we become intentional about that, we can have better outcomes and achieve the goals that we want to achieve. I want to ask you, as you, where you sit now and as you look toward the future, what impact do you hope to have on healthcare systems and patient care for Alexander Fernandez.

Speaker 2:

I want to be able to lead transformational health care operations by bringing both clinical, with compassion, and strategic execution, empowering teams, elevating systems, honoring the legacies through operational excellence, definitely mentorship and visionary leadership. It's key.

Speaker 1:

It's very key. All of that is key. Now I want to get a little bit more on the lens of the BRAVE framework. You went through my program. You had your brand assessment, you had a skills gap analysis, you had the brave blueprint strategy and now we're here at the level we can have a conversation with our audience about that experience From your lens. How did you feel that that program helped you?

Speaker 2:

It helped me in a lot of ways, grant, from finding my why, finding my brand. I have my tagline, that skill set comparison. You provided me that blueprint. Show me tactics and where I have opportunities to take me to the next level.

Speaker 1:

I highly recommend it. You're going to be at the next level. We went through that entire process and we kept coming across. One thing I like and I'll share this with the audience is that you get to look at yourself, not just where you're at now at Jackson, but on the national level. Where do you sit in relationship to your market and what does that look like? And man, I was like you're there, you have what I call natural gravitas. Right, not everybody has that. You don't have the. You say well, how do you get there? Well, some of that has to be your own personality and belief system and conviction. And when you had to develop your personal story, remember, I asked that like all right, um, alexander, can you, you know, help me understand where you're at now, your current state, help me understand what you've been doing over the last five years? You had to write a story. You had to actually write it out. How did you like that exercise?

Speaker 2:

I liked it. It was a little bit emotional because it shows my legacy from how I started to where I'm at now. So it was a little bit emotional Looking back from when I started as a nurse, going through leadership and all the mentorship that I received from the CEO, and then the person who I've become today um, yeah, I still pitch myself Brad so well and keeping myself humble at the same time.

Speaker 1:

and I, that's you you have that humility and we always say well and it's always good, and I worked with a lot of different people. But sometimes, because you're moving so fast on your day to day, week to week, month to month, quarter to quarter, that you don't always get a chance to reflect and look back at your really your whole journey, Right, what is that journey been? And you're like, wow, you know what? I was In a row five, 10 years ago that I probably couldn't see myself in my current state of where you're at now and where you can go. If you had to go back and talk to that younger Alex that Alex that was five or 10 years ago because there's people in your position or in that position right now and they were like, oh man, I want to be just like Alex. What would you suggest? Some things that you feel would be very beneficial for them?

Speaker 2:

Two things, brad Definitely get a mentor. And number two don't have the fear, go forward. Yeah, you know, the impact that we have on others is the most important thing Move forward.

Speaker 1:

That whole confidence world, as you said earlier, like as you get another step up the rung. Let's say, you get that another step and then you always have that and this happens even at the CEO level or board level. There's that, that moment of can I do this job? You know, people call it now imposter syndrome. I don't really like the term imposter like you're not who you're supposed to be. But no matter what, you know you, everybody gets butterflies when you're about to do something new, right, right. But the only way to get at least for me, the only way I get confidence is by doing it.

Speaker 1:

At first I have to rehearse it. I've got to like get my juices going and then when I get out there, you know you can really. You know, let the engine go. You're like you know we're down down miami, right, you're gonna get the boat on plane and you gotta get it going. And then you know you're flying out there, right, right, right. I want to be very honest, because we had this conversation a little early. Like you know, grant, I'm a little nervous. You know I'm going to be on a podcast, I'm going to be talking to people, I'm just not sure. But here we are getting toward the end. You're motorboating now, right, right, I'm planning now. You're up on plane. You're up on play. You're up on play you got the confidence.

Speaker 2:

Talk to us about how do you gain that confidence for yourself, Brad. I think it's the experience living through the day-to-day operational and stepping in that role and then just working hard what you do. Confidence to me is experience. That's the bottom line. It's not that I'm smarter, it's just that I've been exposed to that role or that job or that project. And building that experience that's what builds confidence.

Speaker 1:

Love that and you're starting to take on some high level, high visible projects. Now People are seeing you. Now do you feeling confident you can sit in the boardroom with the board, you can sit in the room with the C-suite executive because they're coming to you about operational situational awareness. I guess that you have that. Others maybe not have, but they feel confident that you can get the job done. That's got to be a good feeling, right?

Speaker 2:

It is. At first it's scary, I'm not going to lie to you, but I don't let fear stop me, like I mentioned, and then just you know, once you get into that project, just get going. And it's nice to be recognized and being selected for these system-wide projects. I'm very blessed.

Speaker 1:

I love it. I love it. We're going to go ahead and conclude. This has been a really good session. I want to tell you, and I want to tell your family, it was a joy working with you. It was a joy understanding your story. I wasn't even aware.

Speaker 1:

When you said Peter Pan, like Peter Pan, I'm like, well, what exactly is that? And then you're telling me that your father, I believe, became one of the first police officers Latin police officers in Miami-Dade. So you know, that's that moment. You lean in, like this guy actually has a story and he has a story that I want to listen to and then understanding how he got into the healthcare field and then how he's gotten his track all the way up to healthcare leadership at this point and then he still has room to grow and you're becoming this whole new person, that from where you were when you first started out. I think it's been wonderful.

Speaker 1:

I want to thank you and your family and Jackson Health again for having this type of program, because this is how we can all come together. You never know when you're going to touch the health care system. No one wants to be in a hospital on the patient side of that, or you want to know that there's people like Alexander Fernandez, who's hey, I got your back, we're going to get through this, you know, together, because, as you said, you've had the experience. You've seen how this happens. You know the players that need to be involved. You know how to communicate the situations to all the key players so that we can have successful outcomes, not only in just your particular hospital, but throughout the system.

Speaker 2:

I want to thank you again.

Speaker 1:

How do we get you on Modern Healthcare? How do I get to Modern Healthcare?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, how do we get you to do an article for us on Modern Healthcare? We could definitely connect after this, greg.

Speaker 1:

Well, we're going to get you there. And before we let you go, how do we get in touch with you? Tell us about your LinkedIn handle. What's the best way?

Speaker 2:

So you can reach out to me on LinkedIn. I'm under Alexander A Fernandez, I work for Jackson Health System and also my email is afernandez3 at jhsmiamiorg. Thank you, this has been wonderful.

Speaker 1:

I want to thank you again for being on the show. I want to encourage your entire audience to tune into all the episodes on Follow the Brand at 5 Star BDM. That is the number five, that is star, that is B for brand, d for development informationcom. Again, this has been wonderful. Thank you again for being on the show. Thank you, grant, it's been a pleasure. You're welcome.