Alright! Welcome to the podcast for H and H Impact, our very first podcast. You know, it’s been a long time coming. First one.

Charles, what do you think? Yeah, I would say that unexpected journey, say five years ago, 10 years ago, did we think we’d be in Miami, sitting here on a table in a room talking about a business that’s launching and having impact? No, I think, you know, I couldn’t imagine, you know, even three, four years ago that we would have been in the position we are today. I think over the last 23 months now, we’ve had an opportunity to meet a lot of clients, a lot of people make a lot of impact, and I t
our journey is just beginning. When you think about, you know, where you started in this process, you know, what made you go from being a healthcare leader to deciding you wanted to get into the consulting side, probably much like you life has thrown a lot of curveballs where you think you know where you’re heading and the curveball comes.

Actually you’re not heading in that direction at all. And so I think there’s a series of curveballs probably in both of our lives. My life, that that curveball probably started on top of a rooftop in Anacortes with you.

I was a bottle of whiskey and learning about the other side of healthcare, those that really help leaders set their organization up for success. And that was not something that I knew much about because part of my healthcare journey didn’t include a lot of consulting services, but it did consider a lot of mentorship and coaching and helping. And I think that’s probably a better word than consulting, but I think the industry says consulting, but really it is growth and leadership and coaching a
mentoring that goes.

And I’m just naturally attracted to that. Awesome. I, you know, I think when we look at it, it really goes to, you know, our company H and H, when we talk about people, process and purpose, you know, that’s, that’s how we handle the aspects that we bring to an organization because everything we do, it involves the people side of it.

And you talk about curves, life curves, you know, I had no intention of ever getting into healthcare. Were you a lifer Navy guy? I was, I was like greater. Like greater than 20 years.

That would have been my, that was what I had thought. I thought I was going to be in the Navy for as long as they would have me. And then about, I don’t know, my 15 year mark, I realized that as you get into the, the higher side of the Navy and you start looking behind the curtain, you Work in the Pentagon.

You realize, I don’t necessarily know if I want to do all that. And my mother had a company, she was in executive recruitment, and she had a period of time where she needed a little bit of help, and I kind of started diving in, helping her a little bit with people and just process stuff, and I ended up really enjoying it. And as I got into it, more and more opportunities presented themselves.

I realized there was a huge need for leadership training and coaching in the healthcare industry. And then it just kind of cascaded. And then ultimately, you know, as you and I started working together, I think our first one was in Alaska, working at the FQHC up in Skagway.

It just started to come together and realized that we. We complemented each other well in our way. We work as I do a lot of the recruitment side, you do a lot of the process side.

And then together we’re doing leadership, and we just kept adding in capabilities and services, and we really enjoyed working with the team. But, you know, it’s. It’s been a great journey.

It’s been awesome to see where we’ve come and just. I mean, it’s just. Imagine 23 months ago, when we started this, we were.

We’re like, all right, hopefully we’ll make this work. We do have to feed our families. So it’s been a great journey.

It’s been a great journey. I want to keep kind of pounding or kind of exploring the military side, because what’s the difference in what we’re doing now compared to wherever we were in the military the last five years? Is there much of a difference? If you think about the leadership side, I don’t think so much in the leadership side because it’s still helping people to be their best selves. I mean, when as an officer in the Navy, my job is to help my team be able to execute the mission that w
have.

And you’re constantly having to work with people. It’s the biggest variable in any organization. And so working that side of it in the military was about teaching them, you know, as an officer, what you want, when you want it, and how you want it done.

But everything in the military was geared towards getting our bosses, hopes, goals, and dreams met. And it’s very similar in the hospital. You know, we.

We help teams understand what their CEOs or boards need and how to execute on that mission. I think it’s. It’s a great mission to have, and it’s another way for us to serve our country.

But, yeah, I’m not the Only military guy here. You served in the military? Let’s talk a little bit about your time and your journey and how you got there. Yeah, I’d go back to high school if you want to go that far back.

So 40, 40 years ago. Yeah, that was the way. Well, it was actually something at my school.

I grew up in New Mexico and a little bit of Wisconsin, and they had an ROTC program. And I’m not sure I was the popular, popular kid, but we saw those uniforms walking around, and you’re like, what? What. What’s that about? And so my first exposure was ROTC for six months.

And I’m like, I can’t do this. I won’t join the service. That wasn’t kind of in my cup.

But, you know, after high school, as I tried to explore what life was after high school, military became a lot more. A lot more attractive just because it was structure as a way forward. I was looking, unfortunately, at the Air Force.

Nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s perfect. I know.

And I got all the way to the recruitment center and for processing, and actually, that’s where I first bailed out. I’m like, I can’t do Air Force. I can’t do this.

I went straight to the Navy guy, and he’s like, I can’t talk to you. I can’t talk to you here, but go there. And so that day, I signed up for the Navy, and my dad was a medic.

And it just made sense that I go into healthcare and came in as a hospital recruit as of all things. And that structure that the Navy brought about accountability and expectations and contributing and selflessness and all those things were a part of that early enlisted journey. And from E1, made it all the way up into petty officer ranks and was pretty proud of that and got accepted into a Navy scholarship program, Naval officer program.

And what I heard was, hey, do you want to be. You want to be an officer? And I’m like, absolutely. That’s exactly what I want to be.

But when I got to school, the scholarship was nursing. And I’m like, what? What? But the match was great. It was a great match.

For those who know nursing and no health care and the clinical side, it is selfishness. It’s giving compassion, holistic care to not only the family, but the. Not only the patient, but the family itself.

And it really was a good match. As I learned, the body and the mind and people’s troublesome. In fact, you know, what healthcare is, is many times going into the worst time of people’s Lives.

And I was an ER and ICU guy, a critical care nurse guy, and that’s where we always got inserted. So the core of, like, who I am professionally is really looking at that patient and looking at that family, looking at that moment and going, we can do better. Things could be better for you.

We can serve better. And I think that’s kind of the core of a bit of healthcare and the core of military services and the giving back and the glasses that I wear today, I think that’s awesome. I thank you for your service.

I mean, I think as much as you and I give each other a hard time, know I lovingly call you a quitter because you only did 12 and then your years in the reserves. But, you know, I think it’s awesome, you know, your journey to go from the enlisted, the officer ranks, and then to continue that transition to the civilian side. It makes a huge difference.

It’s a different perspective as others who’ve served, as we’ve seen you see people who go into nursing, they didn’t get necessarily all the leadership from the ground up, but your background in the military kind of helped give you a different perspective of leadership and training. And. Yeah, my.

My route was a little securitous. I. Yeah. You weren’t thinking a pilot when you were young, were you? I wasn’t.

I didn’t. Were you even thinking, well, your dad was military? My dad was. My dad was an intel officer in the Navy.

I was a Navy brat. Born ready, always transfer. But where’d you go? Where’d you grow up? I was born in Omaha, Nebraska, off at Air Force Base and then transitioned from there to San Diego.

And then your dad was Navy and at the Air Force base. What was that about? Yeah, he was a naval intel officer. He worked for Strategic Command.

That’s Nebraska is where we house and host our Strategic Command for the nuclear triad. And then from there we went to San Diego. We were there for several years.

And then from San Diego we moved to Japan. Japan to the Philippines, kind of went back around the world and then came back to the US and settled somewhere in middle school. Time frame late elementary for Washington D.

C. and you know, I had no intention of going to the military. Things had kind of really slowed down, you know, Post Cold War 88 perestroika.

And so I went on to college to play football. And he graduated in 94, graduated high school in 94, and then took a little longer route through college. It was in a straight four years.

Hold on a second. Did you say the five, six, Seven year program. Five year program.

Five year program. It was, you know, playing sports and entertainment and other things kind of skewed my training. But you were in a D1 football program.

Yeah, D1, played Virginia Tech. That skews things a little bit. Yeah, it definitely changed my perspective of how college would be.

But, you know, when I left college, culinary school, became an executive chef, and then opened a bar and restaurant in Blacksburg. And again, I had no intention of the military, but the coal bombing happened in October of 2000. And I went.

The next day, I went down and went and talked to the recruiter and I actually. Did you call your dad before you did that? No. No, I did not.

So he didn’t see it coming? He did not. I don’t honestly think I was necessarily sober when I went down to the recruiter office that morning. Thank God.

Your physical was in that moment. Yeah, exactly. But I actually went in.

In the Marine Corps. So I started the Marine Corps pipeline and actually went through MEPs and the physical and all that stuff to join the Marine Corps. And then when I went to actually sign the papers, they were like, okay, we’ll get you to OCS in about eight months.

And I’m like, what? I don’t. I want to go today. I don’t want to go in eight months.

And he’s like, well, you know, the Marine Corps is different. It takes you eight months. I said, so where do I go for eight months? And they sit there and tell you, well, you just go home and you’ll wait, you know, just keep working out and everything.

And I’m like, I. I don’t want to wait that long. And so, like, literally, the Navy officer recruiter kind of rolls into the hallway. It’s like, I can have you an OCS in two weeks.

Boom. And I’m like, what? And he’s like, yeah, two weeks. And the Marine guy’s like, you didn’

Joined to be a. Or the Navy. You joined to be a Marine.

The men’s department of the Navy. And so I’m like, all right, I’m gonna walk down there. I went and talked to the Navy guy, signed an aviation contract.

So originally went into the Navy, reported the. So aviation. I thought you were going swole.

You went swo to aviation or. Well, I went. I went there on aviation contract.

So The Sunday after Thanksgiving 2000, I show up at Pensacola, Florida, OCS and then in Officer Candidate School, AOCS Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida. Your second day, you go through your full physical, and they have this Thing called the NAMI Whammy. The NAMI is Naval Aviation Medical Institute.

And the whammy is that if you fail any aspect of that physical, you’re not no longer going aviation. So I couldn’t get my eyes focused. Focused to 2020, the day of the physical.

If I don’t sleep well, it takes a little time for my eyes to get focused. And these are Physicals? Oh, yeah, they’re first thing. And that’s after a workout.

So, yeah, I got it. And the woman’s like, mpq, which means not positionally qualified. And I’m like, so now what? And they’re like, oh, don’t worry, you’re going to.

This was after ocs, right? This. This was day two of ocs. Oh, yeah.

And so they got you by then. They. They.

Well, they. They have you technically, but they don’t have you. So I had an option to get out.

I didn’t realize this until after ocs, but I remember I’m like, oh, man, I don’t know what I’m going to do. And my gunnery sergeant and class drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Burns, or class Marine Corps or Master Chief Petty Officer Proctor, decided to wake me up at midnight and got me out in the hallway and started making me do push ups because I failed my physical. Your eyes, Your eyes.

Because my eyes weren’t adjusted and sat there and said, you know, as I’m doing push ups, you know, what do you want to do? I was like, navy seal. They’re like, not an option. I was like, supply officer.

Nope. And they asked me the question, did you join the Navy to be a pilot or be an officer? And I said, to be a pilot. They’re like, wrong answer.

Yeah, push the ground. Push the ground. And so after like 20 minutes and I’m sweating my tail off, and they’re like.

I was like, so what are my options? You could be a swo. I was like, I don’t want to be a swo. They’re like, your option is to be a swo.

We’ve already sent you there. And I’m like, well, I guess I’ll be a SWO. So I finished up OCS, March of 21, got commissioned as an officer and reported to the USS Oscar Austin in Bath, Maine.

The first flight to DDG. Is that a new ship? I mean, brand new. Yeah.

Bath is where they build our ships. Yep. Bath Iron Works up in Bath, Maine, and awesome little town if you don’t have to live there.

And then we pulled the ship out of there. And then from there I did a little work up there, went back to swast school in Newport and then came back to the ship. And 911 happened when I was in my graduating week of SWAS.

And then after 911 it became fights on, you know, was a warheads on foreheads guy on the ship. We were launching Tomahawks, I was doing non compliant boardings. But somewhere, I GUESS it was 2002, going into 2003, I had an opportunity to go up in a helicopter for some reason.

And I was like, I really like this and I really wanted to go back. I knew I wanted to always be a pilot. And so my commanding officer said, hey, if you can pass a flight physical in Rota, Spain, I’ll sign your package for a lateral transfer.

And so exactly what happened. I went to Rota, took flight physical, I passed. And then you put in a package.

Was this late morning when your eyes were better? Yeah, late morning, no drinking, plenty sober. So got all that done and then you don’t know when the board’s going to convene and do all this stuff. So I was actually taking orders to my next ship, which was the USS stump DD978, a World War II destroyer that’s probably been decommissioned.

Oh yeah, yeah, it was decommissioned about a year after. I would have been there in 2004, but I was going to be the DCA, which is a damage control officer on a ship six weeks before they were going through insert, which is a major inspection on a World War II ship that probably hadn’t been funded or maintained properly. But I was literally, after I finished DCA school in Newport, I came back.

I was literally about to walk up the brow to check in and I get a call and it’s Purge 43. And they’re like, have you checked in yet? I said, no. They’re like, don’t do it.

Okay, like why? They’re like, well, you just got picked up for aviation. You got to be in Pensacola tomorrow. And I was like, what? And we had just moved into a house and so I literally called my guy.

He’s standing, he can see me on the brow and he’s got the biggest smile on his face. And you had a cell phone in your hand. Call him on the quarter deck.

I was like, hey, I’m not coming. He’s like, wow, what’s happening? Is everything okay? I’m like, I just got orders to go to Pensacola. I’m going to be a pilot.

And you just. A series of expletives and about face. Oh, yeah.

I get in the car and then I get their exo calling me, no, you have orders here. I’m going to make it not happen. I’m like, I’m sorry, sir, this is absolutely.

Here we go. So I’m off. And that was the off to Pensacola.

And then that started the aviation journey. And did pilot. I flew the H60 Sierra, multiple combat deployments, deployments to South America, did command tours for flag officers, flag aid tours, and all naval installations around the world.

Where we met one of our employees, Forest Master Chief Chris Ingalls. Awesome. Awesome, man.

Yep, he was great. He certainly helped me keep my head out of my keister on more than one occasion. And still does.

Yes, and still does. And then, you know, I finished up my career. Um, I would say the highlight of my career that ties into healthcare.

You know, I’d been a para, paramedic and EMT back when I was in high school for volunteer hours. But when I had the opportunity to lead the search and rescue unit out of Whidbey Island, Washington, that was. That was pivotal in kind of saying, man, I really like this healthcare because it was an opportunity.

We were saving lives, pulling guys out of just crazy guys and gals out of crazy, crazy situations off the mountains and through the Cascades. But the way we integrated with the ED emergency department and to see how my guys, the paramedics, were working with him. And then you save a life and then it was like, man, you’re giving somebody one more Christmas and you save another life.

Yeah. And another and another. They get one more hug with their family, one more kiss with their family, and it was like I. I saw there, there.

And then as I started still working, kind of moonlighting, doing the work with my mother’s company and the recruitment, it just, it all came together. And that’s how I met you, actually, when I. I was doing a search, executive search for Washington, for the hospital in Washington up at island, and I had the opportunity to meet you, and that was our first interaction. And that was life changing.

Did you say that? Yeah, life changing. Life changing. And so impactful.

Yes, that’s a key word. Yeah, there you go. Impact bowl.

Yeah, that’s. It was impactful, but it was a great experience. And that kind of knew that was where I wanted to make that transition when I got out.

But I think the difference also is getting into healthcare is one thing, but then being an entrepreneur and starting a company was something completely different. And I’d always kind of wanted to do my own thing when I was a kid, I’m sure like you cut grass, you wash cars, you do whatever you can to make extra bucks to pay, buy your shoes or back then it was like the VCR sized Nintendo cartridge that you had to blow on to make it work properly. But the entrepreneurial side really kind of lit o
when I started working for my mom’s company.

But then that opportunity to go to the IVMF program through Syracuse, that entrepreneurial bootcamp for veterans, really kind of sparked it. And that, you know, you get the proof of concept. You and I had that opportunity to work together, got to meet Ted, you know, who’s been instrumental for us as not only as an advisor, but supporter of us.

And then it was kind of like, all right, fights on, you know, we’re into it and man, this year, this month will be 24, 24 months we’ve been in business. And the impact that that’s made is huge. That’s huge.

You know, you think back 24 months, what do you think in the last 24 months, what do you think was a pivotal moment for the company in that 24 month period? Yeah, I think, I’m not sure if it was the last 24 months. I think proof of concept happened the years prior to that. And I think how we discovered services, Recruitment is recruitment.

Leadership is something that I think we discovered like cohorts or what is coaching look like? Who are the personalities we’re working at because we have to adapt to them versus them adapting to our leadership style. I think advisory services, like what is an operational assessment or how do we work with somebody who may not understand program dynamics? I think those were like the pivotal years of discovery. Like is.

Is what we’re selling and I’m not even sure of salary. And I think it’s more of offering is it received well. And I think those were the moments that said, hey, listen, what are we looking at? Are we looking at recruitment? Are we looking at leadership? And I think it evolved to.

It’s just a solutions firm. I mean at the end of the day there’s like words out there like consulting and whatnot or advisory. Just the solutions firm.

How can we work shoulder to shoulder with you and, and. And solve whatever problems or navigate whatever landscape that’s out there and, and I think that’s kind of that moment where we said one contract or one agreement or one relationship turned into another one and it just kind of cascaded and it, it made sense. It just naturally made sense.

I know that how we work together or the areas that we work together. The expertise we bring at the table is received well and fulfilling, too. It’s a good place to be when an organization transforms and you’re there shoulder to shoulder with them, helping them do that.

I mean, those are the really fulfilling things about what we do. And I think that happened. It probably happened a little bit in Alaska and Montana was probably a pitiful moment or two before that CEO came on board.

That made sense. Colorado made sense, too, of those early years before we built this. And I think when you put it all together, it was obvious that there was something there that was being received well and organizations were standing up on their own and prospering, and it was good to be a part of their journey.

Yeah, I would agree. I think you look at the whole picture, solutions is the right answer, because even when we don’t have the solution, we go out and find the solution. And I think part of that comes from the fact that they’re so in the weeds with running their hospitals day in, day out.

Some of them have 4, 5, 6 jobs and aren’t able to kind of find that solution. Or sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. You know, we were able to come in and kind of shine light on some aspects or opportunities that in a different situation, they might have seen it.

But we help them to navigate that. And, you know, we talk with our teams. It’s the training aspect, it’s the implementation aspect, but then, you know, we work with an organization to help them find that sustainment.

And I think that’s a big piece. You know, for me, I think the first time I did my first placement, you know, when you take a group of, you know, five to seven final slate candidates, you present them to the client, they’re all capable of it, but you kind of have a feeling that this one or two guys is going to be the one that gets selected. And then, you know, when you get to call them up and behave, you were the one.

You’re changing their lives, you’re changing their family’s lives. You’re giving them an opportunity for a new career, a new job. That aspect, I think was awesome.

And then when we started doing that with H and H, I think it was. It was incredible to see how everything kind of tick and tack together. It was the recruitment side that led to, hey, there’s opportunities for advisory and the operational assessments and, you know, things that when you look at it or we look at it from the outside, you’re like, man, it seems obvious.

And then you realize it’s not for a lot of people because there’s so much going on. And then that led to the leadership and then ultimately into the marketing piece and, well, we find many of our organizations, not all of them, but in chaos, some degree of it, or stagnant or. Here’s another good one, wounded.

Wounded is a good word. The culture itself. And so in the rural environment, an area that I think is kind of true to who we are and how we embrace society, you know, they race through the ranks, may not always be exposed to best practice, industry standard or different experiences.

And so they have, they have strong leadership in their own right, but the navigation or their compass isn’t always there. And I think we provide that compass a bit and that empowerment. And we’ve been watching leadership leaders, career just blossom with just a little extra support.

Support that if you’ve been in the healthcare industry long enough, that reinvestment into self or the reinvestment into leaders isn’t always there. And I think that it’s what everybody wants, but it’s not what everybody gets. And I think we fill that gap quite nicely.

Yeah, I would agree. And I think the other side of it is the board work. As we started getting more and more into it, many of these board members are.

They’re farmers, they’re local business owners, insurance owners, and not having the understanding of health care. And we use this language all the time. If mom and dad are telling you to do something or this hospital CEO says it, there’s always like, do I really have to? How do you know? But then when that third party or us come in and start talking about things, sometimes people listen a little more and they listen a little differently, whether it’s the way we message it or they just w
validation from an outside source.

And I think that makes a huge difference. I think, you know, we look at, even into the future, what’s next for us as we look at, you know, we’ve already started a second company in 24 months going into EMS. So everything we’ve done in healthcare, we’re now bringing that over to the emergency medical services side of the continuum, expanding internationally, contracts and opportunities in Saudi Arabia and Portugal and Canada.

You know, it’s impressive to see that scope of it, but I think a lot of what we do is again, helping find that unique way of approaching it, or just having the fortitude and the direction to implement some of the things they know they wanted to do, but maybe not had enough push to get it there. When a leader has vision or many of those Leaders don’t have vision, vision per se. They just know it’s not where they want to be or their agency or their healthcare system needs to be.
They need to be able to talk it out. And I think naturally, wherever we fit, we’ve brought in the H and H Solutions. HH Leadership Solutions is kind of that company that transcends different industries, at least the model does.

And though EMS is clearly a part of the healthcare industry, it’s a sector of the healthcare industry that’s different and it’s essential pre and post acute or transport or that acute support within a region itself. And it just naturally walked in that direction as it gained steam of the need. And we filled it, we filled it by listening to these leaders and bouncing ideas off them or putting frameworks in them.

And many of our hospitals had the EMS agency. So it made sense, it just made sense to move into that direction and build a H&H EMS Solutions Company. And it’s, we’ve not, we’ve began to announce it I would say, but I don’t know if we’ve launched it in that meaningful way as we start finishing putting the bones in the program and begin talking about it.

But no doubt the usage of, in the partnership with NIMSMA is like totally essential because of all the experts there that can help contribute. Yeah, I think that was something. Another thing we weren’t considering is, you know, would you, would you want to take over and manage the National EMS Management Association? And it was, it was like, yeah, sure, we’ll figure it out.

And to be able to get into that, that was a, at first was a serious request because we were, we were like, okay, tell me more. Squirrel. Yeah, shiny object.

Tell me more again. Squirrel. Oh, it’s real.

All right. What is this? What are we doing? And I think that that’s the catalyst that really helped us really focus in on the EMS side of life. Absolutely.

We’ve met some national and world experts who inspire, it’s a good way to say it, inspire us to be better leaders and focused leaders in that industry and help them have a stronger voice. And in all of that it’s really just helped save or stabilize some EMS agencies that normally would have been struggling or non existent. Now it’s been pretty impressive to see it has and you know, you think of again, that’s another great organization to in the last 12 months increase their membership by 20 s
odd percent.

Starting our first national conference next year, about a year and a half in. Yeah. And they, I mean I think they can speak for themselves are definitely not the same organization than a year and a half, two years ago.

I would agree. I think their journals, their desire to, in the conference side, get that off the ground and to be the source of knowledge and truth for the industry. It’s been impressive to see the expertise that has surrounded us in this program and this journey.

It’s been good to see. Absolutely. Let’s take a second.

Talk about. So you mentioned the first. We’re here in Miami, so what are we in Miami for? What are we doing here, Charles? You know, it’s pretty awesome in building a team and getting leaders from all over the organization, all over the United States to really help this journey.

We’ll call it impact. We’ll call it, you know, contribution to healthcare. We’re celebrating.

We’re here for the second year in a row having an annual retreat strategy and looking at budget and doing education and training, team building. All of this here in our second year, our second year in a row doing a retreat as a company. And I think that’s really special.

It gives testament to our investment in our team, but also a level of prosperous nature that allows us to give this back to our people. I agree. I think, you know, being in our second year, having the retreat to get the team together, we see some of our team constantly because we travel with them, but to get the others out here, to be able to bring in family members and bring in some strategic partners like the naming group.

And Rossi, is that the first time you met in person, Cindy? First time I met her in person, yeah. We worked with her for six years. Almost six years.

And so almost daily, too. So that’s like. To meet our people in person because we’re all remote and we’re all remote all over the world.

Yeah. That’s a true statement. We’re all remote, and we’re looking forward to maybe a retreat or bring in some of our leaders from overseas, the Philippines, and meeting them in person.

Because we work so closely with them day and night. Yeah. Which is a true testament to their commitment to what we’re doing.

Because they work the night hours. Yes, they do. I mean, they.

And they’re just phenomenal as part of our team. I don’t. I don’t think we would be as strong as a company without them.

I would agree. Yeah, I would agree. They’ve been a significant point for us and opportunity for growth, you know, with.

You know, the retreat has been wonderful because, again, you know, it’s that opportunity to come together and get to teach the team a Little bit more about what we do so they can kind of see that aspect of it. But I love the future stuff. I love looking at, you know, what does next year hold? How are we going to grow the organization, not only through people, through our capabilities.

Process is a huge piece of it. Not necessarily my bailiwick as a dot, the I’s cross, the T’s type person, you’re missing out. Yeah.

That’s where the action is. I’ll leave that for you. I’ll stick with the people side.

You deal with the process side. But I think, you know, we also have some potential new hires that we brought in this time, which was different. Some.

Some leaders in the military currently that are either in the close to their retirement or recently retired. That’s awesome to be able to bring them in and see if that’s the right fit. I watched their eyes light up as we interacted with them yesterday.

Last night, I mean, they were drinking Kool Aid and Truly Kool Aid. Good stuff. Absolutely.

Of information and potential. And I think what was so attractive as we talk with him, I talked to him last night, was, you mean I get to lead still? You mean there’s a group where I can contribute to help them be better? And for those from the outside in, not quite understanding what consulting, advisory or kind of a solutions firm is, you are still in the same responsibility as you left the military. It’s ethical responsibility.

It’s a moral responsibility. It’s a people responsibility. And what I saw out of the two awesome leaders that spent some time with us yesterday was they going to continue to get to lead.

And that was inspirational to see me watch them be excited about that. Yeah. And it was answering some of their questions about, hey, I don’t have a deep background in healthcare.

My wife was a nurse, or I got a family member that was a nurse. And I think that’s, you know, I learned from some of this is leadership. Is leadership.

That’s exactly right. You know, my. One of my former mentors, Admiral Filon Dano, was really big on, you know, as a leader, your opportunity and the direction is to lead people and to inspire them.

If you understand what you’re leading them towards, what their goal is, to help them get to, it’s leadership, you know, and it’s a privilege to be in that position to lead. And I think, you know, the two that we met with, I think they’re awesome. It’ll be interesting to see where we’re at next year on our.

Our yearly podcast. It comes out closer to retreat Time. But, you know, we talk about the journey in the coming year.

I think, you know, as we continue to get more clients. Welcome to the East Coast, Charles. And then as we start to expand those services, you know, and just continue to solidify the bones of our company, I think we’re going to just continue to get bigger and bigger.

I think this last year, some major strategic partners. The National Rural Health Association. That’s huge.

I mean, we’re everywhere. That’s a true statement. We’ll just keep it at that.

But Kansas City was a great place, and the partners of National Rural Hospital association focused on hospitals and clinics in the rural environment. The type of caliber of people that we spent time with last week, that’s inspirational. I mean, their mission is inspirational.

Absolutely. And, you know, they’re all dealing with certain struggles. You know, we talk about it all the time.

We go into hospitals and most hospitals are dealing with issues about accountability or they’re dealing with challenges for staffing or it’s funding. How do they accurately get their funding? How do they account for it? How do they capture every dollar for services they’ve already done? And that aspect of what we worked on in NRHA was really awesome. Those are great leaders, great group.

The strategic partners. We got to meet with Ria. Ria was wonderful.

Those guys. Oh, man. Well, both guys and ladies there, of course there.

And what they do to help support healthcare with benefits and insurance and empowering the staff and team to have a better life. Definitely. And some of our strat partners or clients per se that was there got to understand all the dynamics of contributing to their people and inspiring them, what was possible.

Absolutely. Just a great, great time last week at the conference there in Kansas City. I’ll give a special shout out to Mark Augsberger and his team from Edgerton Hospital, their second year in the row winning top 20 critical access hospital.

And he had a phenomenal week last week. He had a top 20 critical access hospital. They won an award for patient care and patient safety.

I mean, he was just crushing it. He’s killing it. He’s killing it.

He’s just not only a great human, great leader, but his team at Edgerton really working hard to help provide the best quality care for the community. I think that was awesome to see another one. We.

We got to spend time with Robin. Yeah, Robin out of Humboldt General. She rockstar.

Completed her certification, her CEO rural hospital certification. Although she’s, I mean, just incredible in general that what she’s accomplished there in four years, she turned that hospital around and it’s one of those organizations that was falling apart, that used to be prosperous, and her resiliency made her stand out among all of them. She was born and raised in that area.

And so coming from Bedside, which we had. 30 years. She’s been there.

Yeah, 30 years. 30 years. 30.

30 years as an ED. Nurse. Nurse.

And now she’s four years as a hospital CEO and actually pivotal in the state of Nevada. Absolutely. Yeah.

She’s. She’s killing it. But what I loved about her was her humbleness and her talking about her journey from, like, you know, as she described it, like being the nurse Cratchit ED nurse, to, like, learning to be more humble and learning to be a team player with the team and to the point now where she took over as a CEO and she’s having to deal with the boards and all the different pieces.

Complete servant leadership. Absolutely. It’s amazing to see her go.

Let me defer. Remember that word? Defer to expertise. And so she has brought in leaders and expertise that helps to shape their future.

And she’s learned and she’s grown, and now she’s established and she’s a rock star. Pat Songer. Pat Songer.

Oh, yeah. Pat Cascade. Cascade Miracle Executive director for nemsma All Everything.

Ems, COO of the hospital and chief of EMS of his area. He definitely is a national player, and it’s great to have him on our team, but also to collaborate with him and all things that we have done there in Central Washington. Absolutely.

It’s, you know, you look at our clients coast to coast, north to south, east to west, great groups of people, you know, and we’ll have opportunities. I think, as you know, this is our first podcast. As we kick off more podcasts, we’ll have opportunities to have our leaders on to talk about some of their successes, some of the challenges in here.

Absolutely. So get some experts. We have, I think, one of testimonials and have them tell their story, and great lessons can be learned from their stories, and I think that’s exciting to understand what’s ahead of us.

Absolutely. I think what I like about our direction on our podcast, it’s. It’s to be informative.

It’s to talk about what’s going on in healthcare, the challenges that healthcare faces, you know, talk about some of the great restaurants we’ve had the opportunity to attend, which is. It’s more of a my thing. It’s a per thing, you know, but, man, some of the restaurants we’ve been to around the country are just.

I mean, Many of them are just mom paws. Oh, yeah, yeah. They’re just like, wow, this is a.

This is unexpected. No. One of the ones that I truly was never expecting.

And I’ll give them a shout out real quick. The burger joint in Billings, Billings, Montana. World’s best burger, four times world Burger Champion.

Was that goat cheese and huckleberry? Yeah, Huckleberry jam, warm goat cheese, arugula was probably one of the greatest burgers I’ve ever had. That was probably a good experience in life. It was.

It was over and over and over again. More than once. Yes.

Yeah. It was great. But I think, yeah, it’s.

It’s been a. It’s been a great journey. I think we have.

We’re just starting out in that opportunity, you know, I think we wouldn’t be where we’re at today. With all the help of our supportive family, you and I are traveling around the country over and over again. Our wives.

Big shout out to the. The family. The wives, the kiddos.

Yeah. The late nights on video chat, saying good night. Yep.

Where are you now, Papa or dad? And. And then get to share that experience a couple times a year to bring them along, which has been great as well. I. I like that.

I think it’s awesome out here. You know, we. We don’t get to do it often or enough because we’re going to be home enough.

That’s a true statement. Yeah. Yeah.

But it’s. It’s a big deal. Pop it out there.

As we’re working to wrap it up. I think when we started thinking about podcast, what we’re saying here is the lessons that we’ve learned, the people that we’ve met have a place in learning about leadership in healthcare, and we want to contribute back to that knowledge. We want to have a voice in the sustainable nature of healthcare and as we move in, and I think this gives us that platform to be able to resonate in this case with healthcare, with their leaders, to be able to say, hey, these a
some challenges that healthcare has and people have within their roles and that we’re here to help you in that journey.

We’re here to bring them some people to these podcasts that can empower you to give you those tools to be able to say that you’re never alone. A message that you and I share with all of our leaders, that you’re never alone. I think this podcast really will give a platform to help other people know that you can be successful.

And it is a heavy road leadership. And in healthcare, it’s an uphill battle and very complex. But if you hang into it, if you stay focused on it, if you bring the right people around you, you and your organization and community can be successful.

I think this is going to be great for what we can contribute back to, in this case, healthcare. I agree. I think one thing I’ll take off that you hit really hard and I agree is you’re not alone.

Most of you have challenges in your hospitals or health systems, and I think the podcast also helps people understand you’re not alone. The challenge of staffing, the challenge of the unique board member or challenging board member or the inspirational board member or the inspirational. Or we have small rural hospitals that have had employees there for 30 years, and it’s like, you need more.

You need more out of them. And how do you get that? And I think that’s the fun part. It’s the journey.

It’s getting you to where the ultimate goal is. And part of leadership is helping the hopes and dreams of an organization come alive. And whether it’s the board, the leadership team, or the staff, I think one of my favorite things is going in when you’re working with environmental services or food services and you’re talking leadership, and they’re like, I’m not a leader.

I make food. And it’s like, you are in charge of nutrition for this entire hospital and for the patients and some family members. Absolutely.

Or you’re in charge of infectious control. And it’s like to see their face light up and be like, I never thought of it that way. And I think that’s the thing, is how do we help them make that transition and change? I think as a solutions firm, we have huge impact.

I think as we continue to grow our scope, it’s going to be great. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to the coming year.

I’m looking forward to the opportunities. And our speakers just. We’re going to have some phenomenal speakers coming on to talk about healthcare.

Some of our advisors. Yeah, yeah, we got some pretty phenomenal advisors who help us think through the structure of who we are and the purpose of what we’re doing. Can’t wait to introduce the world to these phenomenal human beings.

Absolutely. Well finished up our first podcast. I think it’s great.

H H Impact. That’s what we do. H H impact.

I’m looking forward to our next one. All right. All right, brother.

Cheers Out. Fist bump.