Ep. 038 -The 10,000-Pound Elephant: Why Old Beliefs Keep Hospitals Chained

This episode uses the baby-elephant metaphor to reveal four deeply held beliefs that trap health care operations—especially Sterile Processing Departments—in dysfunction: that reactivity is inevitable, SPD is merely a cost center, the OR will never be satisfied, and "we're doing the best we can". Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs explains where these beliefs come from, how they damage finances and relationships, and points to proactive operating systems and evidence-based change that can break the chains and restore reliability, revenue, and partnership.

Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs delivers a keynote on Operational Blindness™ at the ORMBC Summit 2026 in Austin, TX, showing how legacy beliefs, broken structures, and low visibility create the costly gaps hospitals keep calling “surprises” especially in the OR–Sterile Processing relationship. Through stories and analogies like cast-iron skillets and NASCAR pit crews, he exposes how Operational Blindness™ allows two departments to run “fine” independently while failing together operationally. He then shares benchmark findings and a programmatic playbook to eliminate Operational Blindness™ through assessments, people development, process redesign, and layered technology so leaders can predict issues, govern performance, and sustain safer, more efficient care.

Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs delivers a keynote on Operational Blindness™ at the ORMBC Summit 2026 in Austin, TX, showing how legacy beliefs, broken structures, and low visibility create the costly gaps hospitals keep calling “surprises” especially in the OR–Sterile Processing relationship. Through stories and analogies like cast-iron skillets and NASCAR pit crews, he exposes how Operational Blindness™ allows two departments to run “fine” independently while failing together operationally. He then shares benchmark findings and a programmatic playbook to eliminate Operational Blindness™ through assessments, people development, process redesign, and layered technology so leaders can predict issues, govern performance, and sustain safer, more efficient care.

Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs delivers a keynote on Operational Blindness™ at the ORMBC Summit 2026 in Austin, TX, showing how legacy beliefs, broken structures, and low visibility create the costly gaps hospitals keep calling “surprises” especially in the OR–Sterile Processing relationship. Through stories and analogies like cast-iron skillets and NASCAR pit crews, he exposes how Operational Blindness™ allows two departments to run “fine” independently while failing together operationally. He then shares benchmark findings and a programmatic playbook to eliminate Operational Blindness™ through assessments, people development, process redesign, and layered technology so leaders can predict issues, govern performance, and sustain safer, more efficient care.

This episode exposes "operational blindness": invisible beliefs that feel like facts and drive poor decisions in healthcare, especially in sterile processing. Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs explains how activity-based metrics mask real outcomes, causing delays, costs, and eroded trust. He outlines four common limiting beliefs, shows how they become self-fulfilling, and offers practical techniques to surface and change them so organizations can become proactive, visible, and high-performing.

This episode names and explains "operational blindness": the invisible visibility gap in sterile processing (SPD) that disconnects internal metrics from organizational outcomes, creating cost overruns, OR delays, and hidden quality risk. Using the IBM parallel, the host shows how hospitals must fix upstream systems—not just people—by building new metrics, feedback loops, and an operating system (Sterile by Design) to restore transparency and unlock perioperative performance.

In this episode Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs recounts Lou Gerstner’s 1993 turnaround of IBM—how he saved the company not by firing people but by changing the underlying beliefs, measurements, and systems that trapped talent. He draws direct parallels to healthcare, especially sterile processing, arguing that invisible beliefs and broken systems—not staff—are often the root cause of failure and wasted resources. The episode introduces the concept of operational blindness, previews the book "Operational Blindness," and points listeners to free resources and assessments to identify and fix systemic problems.

In this episode Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs challenges organizations especially in healthcare to stop letting tradition block progress. He explains "operational blindness," why conformity kills innovation, and how leaders must pair courage (gumption) with evidence and systems to drive real change. Listeners will learn five principles for innovation-driven leadership: question everything, prioritize impact over optics, build a coalition, make failure safe, and lead with evidence. Practical steps and a call to action close the episode: identify one unquestioned tradition and begin redesigning it.  

This episode exposes why hospitals break under pressure: not because of staffing shortages but because systems are built to survive, not scale. Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs walks through how to diagnose a facility’s "shaking point," the signs of survival infrastructure, and why slowing down strategically creates lasting speed. He outlines a practical playbook—map failures, design for 150% capacity, pilot changes in parallel, standardize processes, and measure stability—and shares a sterile processing case study that cut overtime, eliminated agency spend, and reduced turnover while increasing capacity.

In this episode Dr. Jake Tayler Jacobs diagnoses a leadership famine in healthcare caused by promoting technical stars into roles they aren’t trained for. He explains the "clinical excellence trap," why clinical skill ≠ leadership capacity, and the systemic issues that keep organizations repeating the mistake. The episode outlines five essential leadership skills—systems thinking, emotional intelligence, change management, a development mindset, and strategic foresight—and offers clear fixes: separate career tracks, assess capability not just credentials, create apprenticeships and development ramps, invest in sustained training, and hold leaders accountable for developing others. Practical, urgent, and solution-focused, this episode shows how to stop accidentally finding leaders and start intentionally building them to create resilient healthcare organizations. If you are not subscribed please subscribe now.