Joseph Williams

Editor's note: We select 25 outstanding business and nonprofit leaders of color from around Greater Washington to spotlight each year with our Diversity in Business Awards. Read on to find out more about their personal journeys to the C-suite and their thoughts on the current DEI environment.

When the chief nursing gig at Encompass Health came open in 2018, Joseph Williams was tempted. Mulling over the big change, he just happened to overhear another candidate for the same position disparage night nurses. That sealed the deal. He had to apply for the chief nursing position. If there was a superhero to avenge the dedication of night nurses, this makes for a great origin story.

Williams got the job, moved quickly up the ranks, enrolling in the Encompass Health’s executive training and becoming CEO of Bowie Rehabilitation Center in 2023, before the 60-bed facility even opened. 

What about your personality aligns with being in health care and being a leader in health care? I really do want to know about people, especially people who work for me or the patients and the families that we have in the hospital who we are caring for. I'd like to think  that I am a personable individual and I want people to know I care about them. 

The nursing profession has faced some headwinds — staffing, contract battles, post-Covid burnout, etc. How do you counter that? I think people forget why they came into the field. There's been this push for the next dollar, which is fine, right? But, we've kind of moved away from the core of care. You can always find a job that's going to pay you more. But why are they paying you more? Ask yourself: Is there a cultural issue? Is there already an issue with staffing there that's going to justify that amount of money they're spending on you. 

Tell me about a patient interaction that motivates you: I originally worked in oncology, where you know that not everything you do is going to save someone's life. But, depending on how you treat that person and how you connect with that person, you can change the quality of their life for the time that they have left. We had a fairly young patient who had a young child at home, but didn't have the support. I was young too, 21 or 22. The nurses that I worked with had been in the field a little bit longer and had their own kids, and they would rotate out taking care of this patient's child — because she didn't have anywhere else to go. That just really struck me: It's not just what we do at the bedside, but what we do for our community. I can have 20 bad days in a row, but you see somebody walk out of the door, smiling, who came in on a stretcher, that's enough for me. 

If you overheard employees talking about you, what do you hope they’d say? That I’m fair, that I am consistent with my communication, my behaviors, and my presence. I expect excellence, not perfection, right? Because there's always gonna be something that we have to work on, but we can try to do our best every day. During new-hire orientation this week, I introduced myself and got to talking to some new techs. They're like: “Oh, the CEO is smiling. I've never worked anywhere that the CEO smiles so much.” I said, “Yeah, it's a happy place to be. If I'm not smiling, it's probably because you didn't do what I asked you to do.” Then, the educator said, “That's exactly what I told them: The only thing that he asks you to do is come to work, take care of the patients and take care of each other.”

Tell me about a new thing you tried: I'm a people pleaser, so it’s difficult for me to say no to someone that I know I can help or to not spend my entire weekend catching up with my family. But one of the things that I have been trying to do, with the support of my wife, is take time for myself. In the last year, a friend and I have made it a point to work out together on Saturdays. Taking that time to kind of refuel and just doing something outside of your ordinary day-to-day, with people who don’t care you’re a CEO, makes you show up even better in your personal life and your network.

You’ve had a particularly challenging day or week. What's your antidote? Having some time to decompress. I like to drive, so maybe driving a little bit longer than I typically would to get home. But, the biggest thing that refuels me is when I open my door. Someone's there to greet me and it's typically my youngest, with a hug, a big smile, a “Daddy, I miss you!” I tell my wife all the time, and it's something that my dad told me that I didn't quite understand: I wouldn't be where I am today if I wasn't your father, if I wasn't your husband, because the support and energy that you give me is why I work as hard as I do for you. I want to be able to leave something behind that they're gonna be proud of.

How do your kids describe what you do: It's kind of cute and it's as simple as possible: Daddy works with people who help other people fix their bodies when they're broken.

Joseph Williams, CEO, Rehabilitation Hospital of Bowie