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55, has kept them both around, the title morphing into the queen-castle saying and the crown tucked in a drawer in her office, "just in
case," she jokes.
"Administrators have to consider themselves the queens of the castle," says Ms. Zahnow. "You're responsible for understanding all that's happening in the center — clinically, administratively and financially. You have to always be thinking about how to improve your processes, and always have your eyes open to be sure all the rules are being followed."
Ms. Zahnow has taken the queen-castle analogy a step further to include a drawbridge. A good surgical leader, she explains, lets the drawbridge to her castle down so that vendors, consultants and others can provide services. "That is their gateway to the castle," she says. "And then back up it goes."
Back up it goes to keep them out until they're needed again. That's how it is in the insular world of surgery. The queen only grants access to the castle to her loyal subjects: surgeons, staff and patients.
There's one last thing we love about the queen-castle analogy. Like good leaders and rulers, facility managers care deeply about the people they work with and for, and the place they govern.
"I love my job," says Her Majesty Queen Lyn I. "It's a big job, but I love my job."
