Multinational corporations look to establish and build new markets continuously and hire product and marketing people who reflect the languages and cultures of the marketplace. They help determine what will sell within a specific culture and they understand the nuances of language that keep their companies from making foolish mistakes when naming and promoting products.

Chevrolet, for example, many years ago learned a hard lesson about the risk of using American-born marketing people when the Chevy Nova, a major seller in the U.S., failed to sell in Spanish-speaking countries. The reason, they learned belatedly, was because, in Spanish, the name translated to "doesn't go."

Errors, when they occur in global corporations, may be laughable, foolish and oftentimes costly, but they are fixable. The product is renamed and re-promoted and the error, in effect, is minimized. What is not minimized is the need for people who understand the issues before they become a problem.

When it comes to hospital management, diversity is just as important, but the issues become incredibly more complex and challenging. In a life and death business, where patient care and safety are fundamental, mistakes are costly both in dollar and human terms. Too often, there are no second chances.

Diversity plays a big role in hospitals now and will play an increasing role as the percentage of minorities in the U.S. population expands from 30% in 2010 to nearly 50% by 2050. Most of that expansion will come from the Hispanic and Asian populations. In that same period, Baby Boomers, who will begin to turn 65 in 2011, will represent a major portion of an older population that is expected to double in size and live well into their 80s.

Couple these factors with the added number of patients that will undoubtedly stem from health reform and the shortages of key personnel and the challenges to hospital leadership begin to clarify. Senior executives, middle managers and supervisors face the issues of continuing to improve patient care and safety, managing sparse finances and building the reputation of their hospitals in their communities. Selling widgets — or even Novas — to an emerging foreign market sounds so much easier!

As with corporations bringing new products to market, recruiting quality people, retaining them and then engaging them to go beyond their job descriptions to make their environment better is critical. Whether doctors are recruited fulltime, or a sufficient number of skilled nurses, pharmacists, technicians and aides can be found, the job of leadership is to influence them to commit to working together to minimize errors, provide the best quality care possible and shorten patient stays. That saves lives, builds pride and broadens the reputation of hospitals as safe havens for the sick and injured of any generation or any culture.

To get to that point means coping with the growth of minorities in the population and with the language and cultural challenges they present, and dealing with a steadily older population that may be faced with multiple chronic conditions. Just as a Fortune 500 company hires people who can enable product sales in foreign cultures, hospitals need to add staff who represent the changing demographics of their sphere of influence.

There are already some 24 million to 25 million people in this country who have significantly limited or no ability to speak English. They need to be diagnosed and treated with the same care and respect as those patients who speak fluent English and can describe their symptoms and circumstances in clear, understandable terms. Their trust and confidence needs to be earned. Someone has to understand the nuances of their languages and, perhaps, in some cases, sooth their apprehensions about Western medicine.

Leadership in this changing environment is very different from the past. With four generations — some say five — coming together in the workplace, interlaced with multiple cultures, communication must be flexible and appropriate for both individuals and groups. Leaders need to understand the different skills, experiences, work habits and learning abilities of their staffs in order to maximize their effectiveness.

Leadership is no longer telling someone what to do. It also is not a "follow me" philosophy. It is guiding, influencing, coaching, counseling, mentoring and oversight, with clearly stated performance standards. It is establishing responsibility and accountability, along with recognition and rewards for quality performance and corrective action when performance fails. While members of different generations tend to think and act differently, they all have in common a desire to succeed, to be valued and to work for a leader they respect.

Hoberman is President of Executive Search & Training at RW Consulting Group, a Holmdel, NJ-based talent management firm that is partnering with the AHA's Institute for Diversity in Health Management to present a 90-minute Webinar, "Successfully Managing the Multigenerational-Multicultural Workforce," on January 20 at 3 p.m. EST. For more information, visit www.diversityconnection.org.