Starcher had returned to Mercy after stints as a CEO for a for-profit health system and a venture capital company, Vestal led the health care practice of Hay Croup, an International management consultancy, and had gained years of experience as a health care executive, They' believed they could share their "out side-in" perspectives and utilize the strengths of choir board in new ways. Generate all pertinent data, Roth Starcher and Vestal, who understood the importance of working with comprehensive data, tasked their research group to collect in sights from scientific, economic, psychosocial, marketing, investment banking and finance sources that formed the context fordoing strategy. Like most new behaviors, they improve the more they arc repeated, ľn this process, Mercy learned that board members will likely use both analytical and conceplual thinking. ...selecting board members who can create as well as analyze hypotheses is essential. New roles Vestal's advice to board chairs who wish to Implement strategy co-creation Is "to understand what 'co' means," 'It does not overstep management in data collection," she says, "It includes agreeing on the scope and sources of data and, more importantly, a process whereby the board participates In crunching the raw data rather than merely listening to inputs, The stratege product reeds to have the fingerprints of borh managemen anti the board" As such, foe process requires courage, stamina and selfcontrol from each constituency. CO-CREATION: HOW TO SUCCEED A number of principles and practizes help boards and management cocreate a strategy: * Start where you...