Early in his career, Kurt Isaacson had a conversation that flipped his entire worldview, shaping him as a leader for decades to come.
At the time, Isaacson was one person at home and another at work, and the latter wasn’t always the nicest, he said. Isaacson felt he had to be harsh in order to lead, until a mentor explained to him employees would follow his direction out of respect for his position, giving him permission to loosen up.
“You can be compassionate. You can still be firm. You can still hold people accountable, but you can be nice,” said Isaacson. “That’s made a big difference in my career, and I think it’s made a big difference in my success.”
Isaacson was recruited to join behavioral and mental health services provider Spectrum Health Systems as its chief operating officer in 2013 with the understanding he would take over as CEO in three years when its leader was set to retire.
By 2016, Isaacson was manning the helm of what is today the sixth-largest human services nonprofit in Central Massachusetts, providing services and support to those living with addiction. That year, Spectrum generated $69.77 million in revenue, a figure he has helped to more than double as the system projects to bring in $145 million this fiscal year.
Isaacson has greatly expanded Spectrum’s service footprint. When he first joined Spectrum, the organization had about six outpatient opioid treatment programs; today, it has 15, and Isaacson has even more plans for strategic growth.
Last year, Spectrum purchased a 52,000-square-foot building in Lowell for $9.4 million, with plans to invest an additional $4 million to renovate the site into a detox unit, crisis stabilization services provider, and small outpatient opioid treatment facility. Isaacson eyed Lowell specifically because the city has one of the highest rates of opioid-related emergency room visits in the state, he said.
“When somebody raises their hand finally and says ‘I’m ready for treatment,’ they better have access to treatment, or that opportunity slips away very quickly,” said Isaacson.
This dedication to meeting the needs of some of the region’s most vulnerable members, even when the price tag is jarring, is a cornerstone of Isaacson’s leadership, said Cheryl Gallant, former Spectrum board chair.
Isaacson has leveraged the solid financial ground he has helped build for Spectrum to operate initiatives that haven’t proved profitable. For example, the nonprofit operates an opioid treatment program in Great Barrington that doesn’t see many patients but serves as the area’s sole treatment facility.
The program makes no money, but Isaacson has kept it open “because we know that staying in a program like that with support from others, means that your recovery is much more likely to succeed,” he said.
It’s decisions like that that show the type of person Isaacson is, said Gallant.
“That’s when I think Kurt shines,” she said.
Isaacson emphasizes servant leadership and centers the wellbeing of his staff, seeing it as his job to make their work easier.
“I view my job as taking away the barriers that impede others to be able to do their job,” said Isaacson. “I firmly believe that people want to come to work. They want to succeed. They want to go home with a sense of accomplishment.”
Those barriers can be small, like replacing a copier stalling productivity, and large-scale efforts to save employees money. Last year, and every time Spectrum is able to, the organization covers the annual premium increase for its employee benefits in an attempt to keep their healthcare costs as low as possible.
“He just wants to give them the best,” Gallant said. “Kurt continues to think … of ways like that … to keep the people that he wants on his staff.”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries.
