Now Live : 2025 Global Most Loved Workplaces® — See the Top 100 Companies
The 2025 America’s Top 100 is live. See the list →
The 2025 America’s Top 100 is live. See the list →
Hey folks! Welcome back to the Leader Show with Lou Carter. Our guest today is Dr. Christopher Chen, the CEO of ChenMed, America’s leading primary healthcare provider. In this episode, Chris shares the importance of providing underserved communities with love and value-based care and what makes ChenMed a Most Loved Workplace®.
Now, with that said, let’s jump right in!
Lou starts the conversation by asking Chris how ChenMed integrates love into its workplace culture. In reply, the ChenMed CEO highlights three factors that have helped the company become a Most Loved Workplace ®: a focused mission, a sense of purpose and community, and living and reinforcing its values of love, accountability, and passion.
He describes how his personal experience as a doctor and a patient drove him to create a company that would transform and improve healthcare, particularly for the most underserved communities.
Chris emphasizes the importance of love as the foundation for building employee relationships, caring for each other, and ultimately serving patients. He cites examples of the company’s initiatives, such as the ChenMed Cares Foundation, that support employees in times of crisis and hardship.
Chris also highlights the company’s efforts to address racial and economic inequity issues through employee resource groups. He mentions that 53% of their employees are women of color and are recognized on the Change The World list.
According to him, building relationships with each other and fostering a culture of love is necessary for caregivers to achieve their mission and make a difference in communities.
Lou is amazed by the statistic that 53% of women employed by ChenMed are of color and asks how ChenMed creates a culture of love and inclusivity. In response, Chris reiterates that love is a core value at ChenMed, and he was initially met with some resistance from his team who found love to be “un-corporate”.
While some people think that associating love with the workplace is “kooky,” Dr. Chen strongly believes that love is necessary. Employees spend a significant portion of their lives at work, therefore it is imperative that they should receive and give love in that environment.
Chris believes that the values of empathy, selflessness, grace, kindness, dignity, respect, and valuing each other’s perspectives are all fundamental to fostering a culture of love at ChenMed. For Lou, childhood experiences of feeling disrespected and undervalued inspired him to create the Most Loved Workplace® certification process.
Chris talks about the challenges of serving underserved populations and the importance of overcoming fear through love. He gives examples of practical ways in which they demonstrate love and care for their patients and team members, such as making “love calls” during the pandemic and investing in leadership training programs for their staff.
Next, Chris mentions the practical benefits of creating an environment of love and support in healthcare. Statistics show that having love as a key guiding value can lead to a 50% reduction in hospitalization rates, over 30% reduction in ER visits, potentially double the six-month survival from cancer, and substantial reductions in heart failure admissions.
He notes that many caregivers are experiencing burnout and argues that this is not due to too much work but rather a lack of love and support. According to him, people can do remarkable things when they feel loved and supported and when they have a clear purpose and mission.
Moving on, Chris and Louis discuss the role of love in improving various aspects of society, including healthcare and reducing disparities between different neighborhoods. Chris believes that love is not just a kooky concept but it is the energy that flows into us and allows us to flow it into others.
He emphasizes that if we can allow love to flow freely, we can achieve things beyond our expectations. Chris shares how ChenMed became the highest-ranked healthcare company on the Most Loved Workplace® list and how they celebrated it by having team members sign a heart and talk about what they loved and why they love.
Louis responds by expressing his admiration for Chris’s work and how it aligns with his own research on creating the Most Loved Workplace® platform.
Lastly, Chris highlights ChenMed’s mission-driven culture and how they are looking for dedicated and compassionate people to join their team. The perks of working at ChenMed include competitive compensation, great benefits, leadership programs, mentoring, and wellness programs.
Overall, he emphasizes the importance of love and mission-driven work in healthcare and the opportunities available at ChenMed and encourages listeners to join their team.
Chris and Louis discuss a lot more on this episode of The Leader Show. Share your thoughts with us at info@bestpracticeinstitute.org
Thank you for listening!
