Robert Stone and Debra Fields on turning change into opportunity at City of Hope

What this conversation is about

Robert Stone had spent more than two decades at City of Hope, including ten years as systemwide president and CEO, when he and Debra Fields sat down with Glenn Llopis for a story Glenn was writing for Forbes. Fields led City of Hope's organizational transformation, in a role Stone says she helped define. At the time, City of Hope was integrating its acquisition of Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Glenn framed the conversation for leaders far beyond healthcare: Fortune 500 companies and universities that talk about transformation but settle for small improvements. Stone and Fields explain what it takes to help an entire workforce see change as an opportunity rather than a threat.

The edit

Glenn sees many leaders protecting their own relevance instead of building for the future:

"People are thinking more about their own obsolescence rather than future legacies." — Glenn Llopis · 00:21:28

Fields describes why change can be so hard for people who love their work:

"For a lot of people, the attachment and the struggle with change is their attachment to kind of what was, and they experience what was from the form it took and their role in it" — Debra Fields · 00:32:42

Stone adds a fear he has seen as City of Hope grew. When people no longer work beside the same colleagues every day, they worry the organization will become corporate and lose what made it special. Leaders, he says, have to acknowledge that fear openly and be intentional about countering it.

How they hold on to what matters

For City of Hope, the answer is to hold tight to the one thing that doesn't change. Fields calls the mission, to eliminate cancer and diabetes, the only thing that isn't a variable; almost everything else about how the organization achieves it can change. Stone put it simply:

"We are honoring the past by continuing to evolve" — Robert Stone · 00:33:49

Stone says he has never felt threatened by the changes, because he stays rooted in the mission. That included stepping away from the president title when a new systemwide president was the best structure for patients. He also draws a distinction every leader can use:

"There's a difference between being valuable and being valued, both are important, but if you're valuable as the organization changes, maybe your contributions aren't as valuable in the future. Well, but if you're valued, then there's a place for you to make a difference." — Robert Stone · 00:26:10

What leaders and organizations can take from it

Stone credits years of preparation for the confidence to make a big move:

"We had talented individuals ... for whom change was an opportunity and an opportunity to serve more people, rather than a threat to their own position in their own contributions." — Robert Stone · 00:18:26

Fields names the essentials of readiness: a clear vision, a clear case for why change is needed, leaders who sponsor the transformation, strong communication, and the right talent. City of Hope calls its strategy democratizing cancer care: bringing research-driven care to people who can't travel to a leading cancer center, closer to where they live. And belief grows with proof:

"Increasingly seeing the success and the impact that we have is causing people to feel well, you know what I do believe." — Debra Fields · 00:45:01

When Glenn asked what her role really is, Fields gave an answer he said he had never heard before:

"I think my role is really to create the environment that enables everything that they're doing." — Debra Fields · 01:00:17

• Start from the vision, not today's operations. Transformation begins with where you are going, not with improving where you are.
• Make people valued, not just valuable. People embrace change when they can see a place for themselves in the future.
• Build an environment for change. Talent, brand, communication, culture and ways of working can all be designed to help people buy in and deliver.

How this conversation connects to Glenn's methodology

Glenn's body of work comes down to one idea: without agency and without knowing the rooms where you belong, you can't have the conviction to reinvent yourself on purpose, or the strong identity that guides how you live and lead. City of Hope shows what it looks like when an organization takes responsibility for the room.

• Agency (the Individual). People who see change as a chance to serve more patients, not a threat to their position.
• The rooms (the Environment). A transformation role whose job is to create the environment that enables everyone else's work.
• Conviction and reinvention on purpose. Honoring the past by continuing to evolve, with the mission as the one thing that never changes.
• Identity that guides how they live and lead. A culture that unites the organization around a single identity, even as it grows.

See the body of work behind the method →