Raquel Bono

Dr. Raquel Bono grew up believing she could do anything. As a three-star U.S. Navy Vice Admiral, trauma surgeon, health care disruptor and executive, she’s broken glass ceilings, championed (and conquered) systemic change, and blazed new leadership paths for the women, men, and minorities who’ve come after her. Dr. Bono believes everyone can do “it” – whatever your “it” may be – with the right guidance, encouragement and support. In this intensely personal and deeply inspiring presentation, Dr. Bono talks about her life and career, and how she continues to find ways to “think and do big” and provide others with the tools and encouragement they need to perform at higher levels. This is a talk for all audiences, and one that promises to move you – challenging you to find the confidence and courage to believe in yourself and make an impact.

The most effective leaders recognize certain inherent traits (both good and bad) and purposefully develop their more positive traits while acquiring additional skills that allow them to create conditions and design environments for people within organizations to successfully adapt to and create meaningful change. The circumstances may be easier or the path more natural for some, but the best leaders are thoughtfully and purposefully developed. Drawing on nearly four decades as a champion of change in military medicine, Vice Admiral Raquel Bono, MD shares her own stories of leadership from the battlefield to the boardroom – illustrating why leadership is more than a job or a collateral responsibility or a mere professional competence, it’s who you are. Dr. Bono, who has studied and practiced the discipline, art and science of leadership, discusses her philosophy for making purposeful decisions, and why it often takes being pushed to the edge of your comfort zone to recognize where conventional thinking needs transformation and redesign. Attendees inside and outside of health care and the military will learn from – and be inspired by – Dr. Bono’s leadership insights from the frontline. From organizational shifts and culture changes to the structures, systems and strategies required to make institutions more effective, she encourages you to think differently about what it takes to lead, both in times of peace and conflict.

“As a military officer, if I ever found myself relying on giving orders to get something done, then I had failed as a leader,” says Vice Admiral Raquel Bono, MD. “Giving orders to make change happen is a failure of leadership.” As the Chief Health Officer for Viking Cruises, Dr. Bono has been a trailblazer in how to successfully lead through simultaneous public health and business crises. With genuine leadership, an engaged company culture, and a thoughtful and informed approach, Viking served as a real-time example in successful pandemic management that included on-board PCR testing, applied public health interventions and epidemiologically-informed shipboard operations that led to successfully restarting and sustaining cruising during the pandemic.  According to Dr. Bono, there’s a formula of the solutions that Viking employed for any organization. An outspoken advocate for involving others by asking questions and making requests, rather than directing with  unilateral orders, Dr. Bono can consult a wide variety of organizations to provide operations recommendations on how to redesign their strategies differently to successfully weather existing and future crises.