Sister Judith Ann Karam sacrificed her sacred cow.
The demands of a competitive business landscape often call for
moral ambiguity, but Karam, also a president and CEO, was hardly acting with blasphemous intent. This is not a story of compromised beliefs and shunned value. It is one of identity.
Take Karam’s “cow.” Hers was not the golden calf of biblical allusion. It was a name that she held dear: The Sisters of Charity of St.
Augustine Health System.
Since the health provider was established in 1982, that name has
represented 20 entities spread throughout Cleveland, Canton and
South Carolina. In the past year alone, it’s represented $307 million
in annual revenue, $1 billion in total assets and the work of more
than 10,000 employees. ∂ Most importantly, that name has represented the identity, history and mission of a 156-year-old religious
order.
Given what it stood for, Karam’s playful pseudonym is not surprising. The fact that she finally gave it up, on the other hand,
might be — until she explains the impetus:
“A needs assessment revealed a lack of awareness with regard to
our collective ministries,” she says. “It also said that my sacred
cow, the name, was cumbersome.”
That initial assessment was the first phase in a larger image campaign designed to unite the 20 scattered voices of the system’s 20
scattered entities.
“We want to be able to leverage our cause on who we are,”
Karam says. “We have something to say about the care of the uninsured. We have something to say about faith-based health care.”
To say those things in a singular, collective voice, Karam let go of
her cumbersome sacred cow for the more compact title, Sisters of
Charity Health System.
But turning idol into identity was no effortless task. Karam and
her steering committee endured a four-phase “image enhancement” initiative before creating the stronger, more unified brand.