September 2, 2025 • 44 mins
In this debut episode of the MGMA Early Careerist podcast, host Melinda Mastel speaks with Shay Eskew, Vice President of Sales at Kodiak Solutions, Ironman athlete, and burn survivor. Shay shares his remarkable journey from a childhood accident that changed his life, to building a career in healthcare, writing a bestselling book, and embracing challenges in athletics and leadership. Tune in for insights on resilience, risk-taking, building community, and finding purpose—plus practical advice for early careerists navigating their own paths.
8 Key Moments:
- 00:00 – Introduction & Meet Shay Askew
- 01:10 – Shay’s Unplanned Path into Healthcare
- 03:10 – Childhood Accident & Burn Survivor Story
- 05:15 – Recovery, Shriners Hospital, and Finding Purpose
- 10:00 – Sharing His Story: Speaking, Rotary, and Writing a Book
- 16:00 – Embracing Challenges: Ironman, Global Adventures, and Mindset
- 25:00 – Leadership, Mentorship, and Advice for Early Careerists
- 34:00 – Book Recommendations, Final Advice, and How to Connect with Shay
Resources:
- MGMA for Early Careerists (resources)
- Melinda Mastel (MGMA resource groups)
- Shay Eskew (website)
- Shay Eskew (LinkedIn)
- Book: What the Fire Ignited by Shay Eskew (Barnes & Noble)
- Book: Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (Amazon)
- Shriners Hospitals for Children (Official Site)
- Rotary International (Official Site)
- The Human Performance Project – Illinois Chapter
- The Human Performance Project – Bird’s Eye View Project
Additional Resources:
Email us at dwilliams@mgma.com if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to advisor@mgma.com. Don't forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Melinda Mastel (00:01):
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the MGMA Early
Careers podcast, where weexplore the steps, shifts,
stories behind purposefulcareers in health care. Whether
you're just beginning your path,exploring new directions, or
sharing wisdom from experience,this space is for curious minds
shaping what's next. I'm yourhost, Melinda Mastel, and today
I'm joined by Shay Eskew.Welcome, Shay.
It's a pleasure to have youhere.
Shay Eskew (00:22):
Hello, Melinda, and it's great to meet everybody.
Glad to be with you today.
Melinda Mastel (00:27):
Lovely. So just start us off, can you introduce
yourself, maybe a bit of yourbackground, what you do
professionally today?
Shay Eskew (00:34):
My name is Shay Eskew. I'm vice president of
sales with Kodiak Solutions. Weare a data and tech healthcare
company based out of Nashville.I'm the father of five. You
heard that right.
Five kids under 19, marriedtwenty one years, and weekend
warrior triathlete on the sideand been in healthcare now for
(00:55):
over fifteen years.
Melinda Mastel (00:57):
Fantastic. And would you mind sharing a little
bit, how did you end up inhealthcare? Was this something
that you chose from the start ordid you kind of end up there
through a different path?
Shay Eskew (01:05):
You know, I'd love to say something I had planned
out from the beginning. Myundergraduate degree was in
wildlife biology. I spent sixmonths living in the woods
trapping bears for a living,doing research for the US Fish
and Wildlife Services. And aftersix months in the woods, you
kinda realized it was more of ahobby as opposed to a career. I
was making $75 a week, sendinghalf that money home to my
(01:28):
grandmother to pay to feed mydog.
And I said, you know, I reallyneed to get a professional
degree. So I went back to theUniversity of Tennessee, got my
MBA in finance. And thenstrangely enough, I was in
insurance business. I had owneda distribution company, sold
that in 02/2008, got intoinsurance. The market was
(01:48):
getting hard in 02/2010.
Things were dramaticallychanging as we know the big
collapse in o eight. And thenliving here in Nashville, a
friend of mine was like, hey. Ineed you to meet this company.
Long story short, I gotintroduced to a health care
company that specialized inworkers' comp billing. And
through my insurance, you know,commercial property and
(02:08):
casualty, I was selling workers'comp insurance to big
corporations.
And so that was my entree intohealth care. And then in the
last fifteen years, really haveworked in every side of it,
front, mid to back end revenuecycle and just love it. And it's
one of those things along theway, I kind of felt like this is
where I was meant to be. We'llget into it more, but as
(02:30):
somebody spent a lifetime in andout of hospitals, it was really
a blessing to be on the otherside and be able to help them by
helping them recover revenuethat they had missed or were
denied through a payer. So itkind of felt like it was my
mission.
This was my purpose. It justtook me thirty years to get
there.
Melinda Mastel (02:46):
That's fantastic. Kind of bringing it
full circle, sounds like.
Shay Eskew (02:50):
So
Melinda Mastel (02:51):
speaking of that personal story, would you mind
just giving some overview ofthat for those that are not
familiar? Because you have anincredible and unique life
story.
Shay Eskew (03:00):
Sure. Let me preface this by saying I think all of us
have a story. And so my goal isnever to compare. It's always
like I'm here to share and justkind of tell you what I've went
through. But at the age ofeight, my mom had asked me to
warn my neighbors about anaggressive yellow jacket nest
they had in their yard that hadswarmed to my bicycle the day
before.
So I recruited my friend who wasseven, again I was eight, we
(03:23):
walked across the street, weknocked on the neighbor's door,
the dad's not home but the 15year old daughter is. We started
to tell her about the yellowjackets and she asked us if we
would show her the nest and ifwe'd help her get rid of them.
And I preface this by saying Ihad the most conservative
parents you've ever met. Didn'tdrink, didn't smoke, didn't
cuss. I wasn't allowed to go tospend night parties.
(03:44):
I couldn't go to firework shows.If there was any chance of me
ever getting hurt, wasn'tallowed to participate. And so
this 15 year old girl asked usto help her get rid of the nest,
and we said, what do you need usto do? She goes, I just need you
to stand here and watch them tomake sure they don't leave. She
walks up.
She drops a match by the nest,which is a hole in the ground.
And we're standing like 15 feetaway watching these yellow
(04:06):
jackets fly in and out of thenest. And without saying a word,
we feel something splashes. Ithits the right side of my body
on my face, neck, and back, hitsmy buddy on the left side of his
body, then it hits that match.And it's in that moment we
realized she threw a cup ofgasoline.
So as soon as that gasoline hitit, we blew up. We were engulfed
in flames head to toe. Andluckily, had the wherewithal to
(04:29):
run into my yard, stop, drop,and rolled, and put out my
flames. Then I looked over, Isee my buddy standing there
screaming just covered in fire.So I ran back across the street,
got a water hose, put him out,and then just stood there with a
hose pouring the water over thetop of our heads.
Our body is charred, blackened,our clothes are melted to our
body. I touched my head, all ofmy hair came out. And I remember
(04:53):
looking at him and I was like,oh my god, what just happened?
Right? Like, in an instant, ourentire life was changed
overnight.
And we shortly found out that wehad no health insurance. My dad
was insured, but neither my momnor I recovered. And the girl
who had set us on fire, herhomeowners insurance denied
(05:13):
liability. And so we were nowstraddled with a $2,000,000 plus
hospital bill. We were taken toGrady Hospital Atlanta at first.
And then fortunately for us, theShriners heard about us and they
specialize in pediatric burns.And so I spent the next three
months up in Cincinnati. So theyrelocated my mother and I from
Atlanta to Cincinnati. Spentthree months there. My right arm
(05:36):
was physically melted to mybody.
It would take three years for meto lift my arm over my head. My
neck was melted at a 30 degreeangle. My right ear had to be
amputated. Gangrene had set in,they'd amputate that. Before it
was all said and done, over 65%of my body was permanently
covered in burns and burnrelated scarring.
The Shriners would treat me fromthe age of eight to 21. They
(06:00):
covered all of our expenses. Itwas quite a process, as you can
imagine. I had to learn how towrite left handed just to go
back to school to finish. I wastold I'd never play sports
again.
Luckily, we'll get into it, butall that really did was motivate
me. I'm one of those people whenyou tell me there's something I
can't do, I'm gonna spend everywaking moment trying to prove
you wrong. And that's where myjourney started. It's been a
(06:21):
long journey. I've had over 43surgeries now over the years,
still having some.
I need to have another one now.And that's just part of it. As
part of a burn patient, therereally never is any. It's just
how much can you live with,right? And that's where you got
to figure that out.
Melinda Mastel (06:36):
Wow, that's just incredible. And I've never heard
it all detailed in that way. ISo appreciate that so much. And
just, I think you're humbleabout your story, but truly it's
a testament to resilience, topersistence. And it's just
amazing to hear from someonelike you who's been through all
of that.
And like you said, what afirsthand interaction with the
healthcare system to then beable to really understand what
(06:58):
it's like on the other side ofthat. So just getting into your
story a little bit, you havesince written a book, you're on
social media. I love followingyou on LinkedIn and seeing all
of your adventures you speak.What was that journey like to
decide that you wanted to bemore public about your story?
Because that's something reallypersonal and vulnerable.
And I imagine it maybe took sometime to kind of process or
(07:18):
decide how you could how youcould share it.
Shay Eskew (07:21):
You know, it's funny, Melinda, you say that
because for years I never talkedabout it. I don't want to say I
was embarrassed, but it's one ofthose I never wanted sympathy,
right? All I've ever asked forin life is just give me an
opportunity. I don't want anyspecial treatment. So I never
really told anybody whathappened.
And when I moved to Nashvillefrom Atlanta, one of the first
(07:41):
things I did was sign up, joinRotary. I by far was the
youngest person. Here I am 34.The average person is like 60,
right? I signed up to be theperson that would recruit
speakers every week to come andshare their story.
Well, one of our speakers backedout the last minute, and I
couldn't let the group down. SoI said, you know what? I'll just
fill in and share my story. Whatthe heck? Standing ovation.
(08:04):
It's gut wrenching. Right? Itwasn't what I expected and very
emotional, very raw, andsomebody's like, dude, why are
you not sharing your story?Said, it's not really worth
sharing. I'm like, no.
And so I spent a couple yearsspeaking at rotary groups
nonstop about it. And thenseveral years later, fast
forward, I'll never forget, Ireached out to this guy named
(08:25):
Jack Daly. And if you look thisguy up uber successful, he's ran
a 100 marathons, marathon everycontinent. Jack's in his
seventies now. And one of myprior CEOs had said, you need to
reach out to this guy.
He's gonna talk you out of doingwhat you wanna do. I was looking
to make a career change, lookingto get into leadership as
(08:45):
opposed to being as anindividual contributor. And he
said, look. Reach out to thisguy. He's gonna talk you out of
it.
You're making a big mistake. SoI reached out to this guy, Jack.
Just emailed him throughLinkedIn and said, hey, Jack.
From one Ironman to another,because I mentioned to him I had
done, you know, 40 somethingIronmans. He goes, hey.
Let's meet. I see you've gotAtlanta phone number. I'll be
(09:06):
there next week. I wasn't gonnatell him I lived in Nashville.
So I drove to Atlanta to havedinner with Jack.
And he's he's one of these guys.He's just very direct to the
point. Right? Former armycaptain, just no thrills, tells
you what you need to hear. Andhe said, Shay, why are we here?
Because honestly, Jack, my bosswas hoping you taught me out of
doing what I just did. I quit mysales job to pursue a leadership
(09:29):
role. He goes, I absolutelythink you're doing the right
thing. I get it. You and I arebuilt just like your board.
You need the next challenge. Hegoes, the bigger question is,
when are you writing your damnbook? I said, Jack, I've got
five kids. I train fifteen hoursa week. I race in four ironmans
a year.
I travel every week for work.He's like, that's crap. Those
are all excuses. I guarantee youI'm just as busy as you are. And
(09:52):
he said, here's what's gonnahappen.
When we leave this dinner, I'mgonna introduce you to the CEO
of this of my publisher. Here'show much it's gonna cost you. In
eight months, I guarantee youyou're gonna have a bestseller.
And if anybody knows me, I'm abig person in the moment. I feel
like God places people in frontof us for a reason.
And so I called my wife on theway home from dinner. I said,
hey, babe. Guess what? I'mwriting my book. She goes, book?
(10:15):
We haven't even talked about abook. So you understand? I just
had dinner and Jack's tellingme. Said, I gotta do it. And
she's always extremelysupportive regardless how crazy
some of my ideas are.
And she goes, can we afford todo this? And I said, we can't
afford not to. Fast forwardeight months later, my book,
What the Fire Ignited was out,made an Amazon bestseller, and
(10:35):
it's one of the best things I'vedone because one of the things I
realized is over the years, noneof us have shared our stories,
and so many people could benefitfrom it. Right? They could learn
from all the hardships, thesetbacks, the shortcomings we've
faced and realize what anamazing life we've had because
of what we've been through.
Because so many people look atthings I'm doing now. It's like,
(10:56):
but you don't understand. Youknow, it took three years just
to lift my arm over my head.
Melinda Mastel (11:00):
Mhmm.
Shay Eskew (11:01):
Right? I was the last kid picked on the
playground for years. Peoplelaughed at me, they made fun of
me. They called me FreddyKrueger. I mean, there's so many
things that I've went through toget to where I am today, but I
wouldn't take any of that away.
That's what made me who I amtoday, and I think that's one of
the biggest challenges. Andtoday, people wanna remove
hardships. They tell you, oh,that's too hard. You shouldn't
(11:23):
have to face these setbacks.Right?
Everything should be positive,and we should tell you how good
you're doing. And and I waslike, these are the things that
made me who I am. Had I notgotten burned, there's no way I
would have the life I havetoday. And so that's what
convinced me to write the book.Again, it's one of these chance
encounters, but I'm one of thosepeople that when I meet somebody
(11:45):
like a Jack, I act on it.
I don't dismiss it ascoincidence saying, hey. What
are the chances somebody that'sthis successful engaged with me
out of the blue when I reachedout? I think so many of us, we
overthink things. Right? Whensomebody mentions something,
we're like, that's crazy.
Like, Melinda, one of the thingsthat you might have seen it, but
two years ago, I was offered achance to do what's called the
(12:08):
human performance project. Itwas me and a group of special
forces to raise awareness forveterans mental health. We were
going to either skydive or basejump or run a marathon and then
do a swim. Seven continents onseven days. And this Navy SEAL
reached out to me and said, hey,are you in?
I was like, hell yeah, I'm in.And then I started thinking
(12:30):
through it a couple days lateras I was telling my wife, she
goes, you did what? I said,babe, how do you say no to
something like that? She's like,it's easy, you say no. I was
like, but how many people get achance to see all seven
continents in seven days?
You spend time sleeping on aplane with all these guys Navy
SEALs, Delta Force, GreenBerets, right? Like every day
(12:50):
we're gonna go run a marathon,we're gonna skydive. I mean as
part of this, we got to skydiveover the pyramids. How many
people in the world get toskydive over the pyramids? Very
few.
And there's nothing specialabout me that says I should have
been afforded an opportunity,but it was presented to me and I
just said yes. And that's why Ithink life, if we don't start
(13:11):
questioning everything, go withit and say, this sounds amazing.
We're gonna be surprised whathappens as a result of that.
Melinda Mastel (13:18):
Yes. I love that mindset so much. It's going with
the momentum, risk taking, andjust the willingness to say yes.
And I think so often we look atdifferent paths and we wonder
how did that person get to thiscool, bold place? But it really
is those yeses in those smallmoments sometimes.
And I love that you said yesbefore you even thought it
through too much. I thinksometimes we need to just go
(13:38):
with that and, like you said,not overthink it and see where
that can lead us.
Shay Eskew (13:42):
To that point, Melinda, it's so many of us
start thinking about all thethings that could go wrong Mhmm.
As opposed to all the thingsthat could go right. Right? If
all I did was think about theconsequences, would never do
anything. I wouldn't leave myhouse.
I mean, we're much more likelyto get in a car wreck within two
miles of our house than we aretraveling the world. And that's
where things happen. But again,I've been fortunate enough to
(14:06):
interact with some incrediblepeople. And the more time you
spend with those kind of people,the more you start seeing life
differently. And that's kind ofthe biggest advice I give people
is spend time with people thatare living the life that you
think you wanna live, and thenthey'll start removing the
blinders for you.
Because what happens is, like,we naturally come with filters
built into our brain.
Melinda Mastel (14:27):
Mhmm.
Shay Eskew (14:27):
And to give you an example, for instance, like,
when you get a new car, all of asudden, if say you went out and
bought a a four Runner, a whitefour Runner. As soon as you get
one, you're gonna say, oh mygod. There's two four Runners in
our neighborhood. I'm like, Jimat work drives one. Like, your
brain has a filter built in sayshey every time you see a white
4Runner let me know and it makesyou aware of all those 4Runners
(14:51):
the same thing as if you hearyour name called at the airport
they call thousands of names butas soon as your name's called
out your brain filters out allthe noise and says hey Melinda
you left your package at TSA.
So the same thing is true forsuccess so when you're around
successful people you start tolearn what filters can I apply
to everyday life that somebodyelse may dismiss this as random
(15:14):
coincidence and you may say,hey, that sounds like an
obstacle but it's actually anopportunity because most people
would never do this, right?That's kind of what I've done in
life is the things that soundreally hard, I've learned those
are the best opportunities forme because most people don't
want to pursue those. They'renot willing to do the hard work.
They're not willing to delaygratification.
Melinda Mastel (15:35):
Yes.
Shay Eskew (15:36):
But I know the most meaningful things are the things
that take the longest and arethe hardest to get.
Melinda Mastel (15:41):
Awesome. So I have a couple of follow ups from
that. One was on this idea ofcommunity. So you spoke a little
bit about surrounding yourselfwith people whose perspective
you can really learn from,right? And who push you and grow
you.
Could you just speak to that alittle more? And I guess, how
did you go about curating thator finding that community that
could kind of push you andinvite you to some of those
amazing experiences?
Shay Eskew (16:02):
Yeah. I mean, someone is getting outside your
shell. So I signed up for anIronman and it's one of those
it's a very tight nichecommunity. And once you go, you
you're gonna find someone thatyou just cling with because
every body type, everypersonality type is at these
races, and you also learneverybody there is there for the
same reason. They wanna find outwhat else in life can they do,
(16:23):
right, if they're willing tojust blank out all these
obstacles in front of them.
But I'm also big intonetworking. Like, again, I
joined Rotary. That was a bigthing just to meet people. Any
kind of social events, I justlike go and tag along. I'm on a
part of a lot of group chatswith fraternity brothers from
college, people from work, butit's also finding people on
(16:44):
LinkedIn.
Like, you see them puttingcontent out. Message them. Take
a heartfelt message to somebodyand say, hey. Is there a chance
I could buy you coffee in here?Like, I've flown all the way to
Utah to meet with the CEO of alarge health system.
I messaged him and said, hey.I'd love to get your thoughts on
leadership and how you got towhere you are. If I fly into
town, could I treat forbreakfast and hear your story?
Melinda Mastel (17:05):
Mhmm.
Shay Eskew (17:06):
He responded, yeah. If you're willing to do that,
come on. And you'd be surprisedhow many successful people will
do that. Now a lot of them won'twon't even respond. Right?
But the ones that do, I mean,are nuggets. Like I mentioned to
you that guy Jack, we're likebest friends now, right? He's
the one that convinced me towrite my book. He invited me to
do the Grand Canyon rim to rimto rim, South Rim, North Rim
(17:30):
back to South Rim. The guy was69 years old when we did it, 112
degrees, but it was just thatone email on LinkedIn that
started all this, and so that'swhere things go.
I've had somebody reach out inSouth Africa and say, hey, I see
you're doing a race here. Wouldyou be open to meeting for
coffee? I'm like, absolutely.So, that's another thing is
leveraging social media. Bevulnerable, tell people, hey,
(17:53):
here's what I'm doing, and you'dbe surprised how many people
will help you.
Because what I've realized is somany people maybe don't have the
opportunity to do things thatyou're doing, but they'd love to
be a part of your success. Andso if you invite them in and
say, hey. Thank you. You'd besurprised. I mean, I did a
Ironman event in Israel twentytwenty one November.
(18:13):
Keep in mind, the country hadbeen closed for eighteen months
because of COVID. I didn'trealize they weren't even open
so I signed up for a racebecause it was the last
continent for me to race to sayI've done Ironman on every
continent and a month before Ileave I find out I can't get in
the country and so I put it onLinkedIn and said hey Does
anybody have any ideas on how Ican get in the country?
(18:34):
Somebody, I don't know who itwas, said, hey. The prime
minister is gonna pass this billon 10/01. It will be ratified by
the assembly three or four weekslater, effective travel 11/01.
So based on that person who Ididn't know, I bought a plane
ticket that day, I booked ahotel that day, all of it came
true. I flew November 3. I wasone of the first tourists
(18:57):
allowed in Israel after COVIDall because I put it out there
and said, hey, please help me.And that's what to me makes life
so exciting, right, is theseunanticipated outcomes.
Melinda Mastel (19:07):
Absolutely. And the power of asking for help.
Right? Yeah. And just putting itout there.
I love that. So you touched onpeople maybe not seeing the
work, right, that goes in behindthe scenes, right? And kind of
this delayed gratificationconcept. So you are quite the
athlete, you've taken on a lotof physical challenges, and I
would love for you to just givepeople a little bit of
(19:28):
background. I mean, youmentioned the Iron Man on Every
Continent, rim to rim to rim.
You've done some other coolchallenges too, I think
Kilimanjaro is one of them, buta lot of times those are based
around these big events, right?And it's so cool to say you've
done these things, but goinginto that kind of day to day
training and just the right,it's the endurance and the
consistency that goes intogetting yourself ready for those
(19:50):
moments. Maybe if you could justspeak a little bit to that, if
there's any highlights, favoritemoments, and then, yeah, how do
you kind of translate that dayto day consistency that allows
you to perform in these bigadventures and venues?
Shay Eskew (20:03):
And let me back up just real briefly to say, so I
got into Ironman racing 02/2008,and it wasn't something I sought
out. My mentor, this guy was 65,Henry Forrest, was teaching this
boot camp fitness class. Andwhen I first joined the class, I
was thirty five poundsoverweight. And this guy came up
to me in the dressing room andsaid, hey, tough guy. I said,
(20:25):
you talking to me?
Goes, yeah. I'm talking to you.He goes, why don't you come in
here and do this little bootcamp class with me and all these
women? Shouldn't be anything fora guy like you with all your
muscles because I had thetypical dad bod. Right?
Biceps, chest, belly. And I waslike, whatever, old timers. I
get in there, true to form. It'sall women and just me. First ten
minutes, I'm in tears.
(20:45):
It's all core exercise. I had nocore. And then the last ten
minutes, he drops down beside megoes, alright, we're doing 10
count push ups. Come on, Esq. Ican't keep up with him.
And I was so embarrassed. I wenthome tomorrow. I said, this old
man kicked my butt. He doesn'tknow who he's messed with. I was
back in his class every day.
I lost 20 pounds the next twomonths. Fast forward, he got
(21:08):
diagnosed stage four pancreaticcancer, and he would do chemo
and then come yell at us in theclass. He made it a year before
we lost him. Right before hepassed away, Grupo said, Henry,
we're gonna do the next bigtriathlon. We don't care the
distance.
We're gonna do it. He surelypassed away, so we signed up for
a half Ironman. I didn't own abike, hadn't ran twenty years,
(21:28):
hated running, and didn't knowhow to swim. Like I knew how to
doggy paddle, but not freestyleswimming distance. And so based
on that commitment to him, Istarted training.
I bought a $500 bright greenbike off Craigslist, pair of
running shoes, took lessons atthe Y. Five months later, we did
a half Ironman. And then afterthe celebration of the race,
(21:49):
we're all sitting around havinga beer and somebody goes, let's
do the same race twice. The fullIronman five months from today.
I went home and signed up.
Nobody else did. And so I Ibought a book. I'm training from
a book. And the day before therace, I'm doing my workout, and
I run into Henry's daughter.They were very active in the
triathlon IRONMAN community.
Henry was the gentleman thatpassed away. And his daughter
(22:11):
said, Shay, daddy's gonna bewatching you tomorrow. I said,
yeah. I know. She goes, no.
Seriously. This is the one yearanniversary of daddy passing
away. I didn't even think aboutit. I just went with my gut,
signed up, and it just showsthat you were doing what you
were meant to do. And it becamea lifestyle.
Right? And so over the years,I've now done 54 of them on
every continent. We got to do amarathon in Antarctica last
(22:34):
year, and so we've done amarathon now every continent.
People always say, man, I wish Icould just wake up motivated
like you. Said, are you kiddingme?
I'm tempted like you. I don'twake up and go, what? Let's go.
I mean, there are some mornings,but half the mornings like you,
I'm like, I'm tired. I know whatI have to do, but I keep
reminding myself, if I wannalive like the top 1% in the
(22:55):
world, I gotta be willing to dowhat 99% of the people in the
world are not willing to do.
And that's just do somethingdaily. It doesn't take two
hours. Put in twenty minutes aday, and it will change your
entire life. And so one of thethings that's worked for me is,
number one, I hired a coachbecause it became a goal of mine
I wanted to be ranked top 2% inthe world and so they tracked
(23:15):
that and so I was like if I wantto hit that I need some
accountability so the nightbefore every workout I go in
down to my pain cave which is myworkout room in my basement I
write the workout on awhiteboard I lay out all my
workout clothes I have mynutrition set out everything's
there so that way when I wake upmake my coffee add an extra shot
(23:35):
it's ready to go. It'sclockwork.
It's just automatic. And it'sone of those where you start
wrapping your identity around,hey, I'm somebody that works
out. That's who I am. And soyou're not being true to
yourself if you skip it. Right?
It becomes a habit just likebrushing your teeth. You're the
type of person that brushes yourteeth, so why would you skip
brushing your teeth? Well, thesame is true for working out. If
(23:57):
you're somebody that works out,this is what you do daily. And I
can tell you, as somebody withfive kids, it's been one of the
best things for me just for thatmental clarity.
It's amazing how many problems Isolve at work or just with
parenting, but also I'm the typeof parent that I don't want to
tell my kids what to do. I wantto show them because we all know
they watch what you do asopposed to what you say. And so
(24:20):
when they wake up and they seedad's already been working out
for an hour before they even getup, they think that's normal.
And so they go to me. They'vetraveled the world with me at
these races.
There's nothing like it. Andit's one of those things that
also become another reason whywhen you're tempted to quit
because trust me, anybody that'sdone Ironman, you're tempted to
quit. Right? When you get deepinto a race, but then you start
(24:40):
thinking, how am I gonna tell mykids I quit? It was too hard.
So I just quit. I can tell youin fifteen years, I've never not
finished a race. Never. Right?I've ran barefoot seven miles
pushing a bike with my feetbleeding, but I kept thinking
there's no way I could tell mykids I quit.
Right? I would do anything asopposed to have to tell them I
physically quit. And that's whatI tell myself. You physically
(25:03):
have to drag me off the courseif I'm unresponsive before I
just quit and walk off. And Ithink if you approach everything
in life like that, you realizethere's so much more you can do
if you just say, I'm not gonnaquit.
I don't care if it takes methree times as long as it
should, but I'm going to finishwhat I start. And that's what
you realize is life rewardsthose who just finish. You don't
(25:24):
have to be the fastest. InIronman, we always say, it's not
about who's the fastest, it'swho slows down the least. And
that's what I look at.
There are so many people I knowthat definitely smarter, more
talented than me in high school.But if you look at where we are
in our careers and family lifenow, I think things have
switched, right? They kind ofmaxed out in high school, maybe
(25:45):
even in college because theythought the race was over. But
those of us who know, it's like,I'm gonna compete my whole life
in business and personally.
Melinda Mastel (25:55):
I love that. Can I ask about your process? How do
you go about setting goals?Because it sounds like and I'm a
I'm a similar way. When there'san idea kind of planted in my
head, it is it's not leaving.
I wanna go after that and worktoward that. So how do you kind
of set these new challenges foryourself? How do you go about
that?
Shay Eskew (26:13):
I mean, like, sports wise, it's wanna be ranked top
2%. And so that one's kindaeasy. Like, you know what it
takes. I've done it, many times,and I had a great coach and
supportive wife. And then, like,professionally, it's I set
certain things around, one, Igotta achieve the company goals.
Right? That comes first andforemost is what do they want me
to hit that I can be successful.And then I have my own personal
(26:37):
financial goals that I need tohit to provide my family the
lifestyle that I wanna provide.But then I also look at
personally, I wanna take tripswith my family. So what do I
need to do to be able to affordor provide the time away to do
those kind of trips?
Because so many people said, Iwant a goal based on achieving
this title, this amount ofmoney. Well, that's great if you
(26:59):
do that, but if you're divorcedor your kids are estranged
because you don't see them, wasit really worth it? And so one
of the things you gotta look atwhen you're setting your goals
is what are you willing tosacrifice? And, like, for me,
it's I'm willing to sacrificeTV, fast food, hanging out with
the boys, having beers, and thenidentify what you're not willing
to sacrifice. I don't wannasacrifice time away for my wife
(27:20):
and kids.
And when you can identify whatyou're gonna sacrifice and not
sacrifice, it makes it reallyeasy when you're presented with
the opportunities. Like, hey.Will this advance my family? Or
is it gonna take away from? Theneverything becomes pretty black
and white on what you're willingto do and not willing to.
Melinda Mastel (27:36):
That's fantastic advice. And speaking of goals,
obviously, sometimes inathletics, you probably show up
and maybe outperform what youwere expecting and are
pleasantly surprised. And somedays you might show up and
things are a slop and chop. Soyou've talked about finishing
every race, but can you talk alittle bit more about just
adapting to those differentconditions and kind of, I guess,
(28:00):
your mindset toward I don't knowif you'd call it failure or
learning from that or whenthings maybe don't go as
planned.
Shay Eskew (28:06):
Yeah. You know, I'll say, like in Ironman racing, a
lot of it's math. Right? Like,you know what kind of training
is required to be competitive.And that's why I hired one of
the top coaches was I know if Ido what he's prescribing, I'm
gonna be in my best condition Ican be in.
I also realized I'm not the mosttalented athlete out there. And
so sometimes you're like, hey. Idid the best I could, and I'm
(28:28):
fine with that. If if I did mybest and I still didn't have a
competitive enough to get me onthe podium, there's always gonna
be somebody better than you.Right?
You can't control that. Andthat's why, at least at this
stage of my life, it's moreabout, am I the best I can be as
opposed to the best period?Mhmm. Because I can't determine
if I'm the best period. I I havejust control over me.
(28:49):
But I also always try to begrateful for, hey. I've got the
opportunity to go do what 99% ofthe people in the world will
never even attempt. Right? Sothat in and of itself, a success
to say, I showed up. I did it.
And you just know that whenyou're in the game long enough,
you're gonna have bad days. Andif you think every day is gonna
be a PR day, you're mistaken.And I go into the races assuming
(29:12):
something's going to go wrong.When you do a long race like
these, you know you're going toand so you're just mentally
prepared, hey, if I get a flat,I can change it. I If get two
flats, I can change it.
If I get three, like I had a onerace, then I ran barefoot six
miles. Right? And so, you justhave to keep asking yourself, if
this happens, what am I going todo? And so, it's not a surprise
(29:32):
when it happens because you'vealready prepared. I will do
whatever it takes for as long asit takes.
And I think that's the key. ButI think so many people get
wrapped around, I have toachieve this. And if I don't hit
that mark, maybe it's get on thepodium, then it was a bad race,
then you're setting yourself upfor failure and you're never
gonna be happy.
Melinda Mastel (29:51):
Absolutely. Kind of going back to that work
identity and then just howathletics tie into it, I would
say not to speak on behalf ofearly careerists, but it's
really easy for really any of usat any stage to start tying our
identities to our jobs and ourcareer and titles kind of like
you said. How would you sayathletics has helped you create
(30:15):
an identity outside of work orhelp improve your career or just
teach you lessons about how toapproach work?
Shay Eskew (30:23):
It's a lot of things. One, it's goal setting.
It's making commitments,sticking to them. It's time
management, right? And it's alsobe willing to stick out because
I can tell you in an industrylike healthcare where not
everybody is focused on fitness.
Some people try to bring youdown and say, Oh, all you care
about is working out and wateroff my bridge. So, if the worst
(30:44):
thing I'm doing is because I'mspending too much time taking
care of my body, which nobodyelse can do for me, I'm okay
with that. And also willing tobe the person that, hey. If
everybody's going out drinking,I'll have a beer with you. But
I'm not staying up late night tosee how many beers are or, you
know, shots I can put.
It's just not me. And so I thinkit's just being true to who you
are and people respect that.Don't try to cave in and beat
(31:07):
the person you think they wantyou to be. It's funny because,
you know, people used to makelook at that guy. He's wearing
his little spandex biking shortsto go ride, you're like, okay.
Are you jealous because myshaved legs look better than
yours? I mean, what's theproblem? Right? It's just being
comfortable in your own skin,figuring out who do you wanna be
and make sure that what you'redoing aligns with what you wanna
(31:27):
be. If you say you wanna besomebody that takes care of
yourself, then you gotta look atwhat you're eating, and are you
spending time daily working out?
Right? But also keeping thingsin proportion, not going to
extremes, and that's wheresometimes I struggle. When I
first got into it, it's I wannabe the best. Right? And luckily,
I realized, hey.
(31:48):
This is a hobby. I'm not gettingpaid to do this. Let's be
realistic about it, you know,and really focus on what's
important, which is family andyour career. Right? But I think
when people see you're committedto a passion, whether it's
gardening, exercise, whatever itis, people admire people that
are all in.
(32:08):
You know, they don't say, oh,well, you know, she just planted
a few little tomato plants justlike, oh my god. She's got her
whole backyard, these tomatoplants, you know, all of this
stuff. Go all out. Bepassionate. Right?
Whatever it is. And that's why,like, I'm somebody I go
overboard so I can only have oneor two hobbies because I just go
to the extremes. But that's theway I believe life is meant to
(32:31):
be lived. It's be passionate.Whatever it is you do, go all
out for it.
Melinda Mastel (32:36):
Awesome. Kind of going back to this idea of you
mentioned earlier you had thattime where you knew that you
wanted to pursue leadership andnot be an individual contributor
anymore. Was there a certainmoments where you made that
decision or do you remember whatkind of factored into that? And
then can you just speak to kindof that journey of what it's
(32:58):
like to be a leader versus inthat individual contributor
seat?
Shay Eskew (33:03):
Yeah. And it's it's interesting because it's kinda
I've kinda went back and forthon it because my idea of being
in leadership matched with whatI saw my boss was doing, and he
was what I would call a playercoach. Right? Like, he's the guy
that would go with you and say,hey. Look.
This is how we do it, but not doit for you. Right? Like, he was
still out in the field. And someof the companies I've worked
(33:25):
with in the past, the way theysaw leadership was, well, hey,
your job's just to run reportsand report on how people are
doing. I'm like, you don't needme for that.
I mean, I could get somebodyhalf my age, a lot smarter, to
run detailed reports. You needsomebody, I believe, that's been
there, done that, that can showpeople how to be successful in
the market. Show them, here'show you build relationships
(33:47):
because you know this. Healthcare is based on relationships.
Right?
There's been so many companiesmake false promises and not
deliver. At the end of the day,these finance and revenue cycle
leaders make decisions based offthe people they trust, who they
know can deliver on thesolutions they're offering. So
that's why I love sales. Likeyou, I love nothing more than
(34:09):
talking to people. Tell me yourchallenges.
Let me see if we can help. If wecan't, I guarantee you I know
somebody that can. And that'swhere I value myself being a
connector. I would love to helpyou, but if I can't, I wanna
make sure somebody else canbecause I know if I have a
situation later in life, you'regonna try to help me. And
likewise, if you have a needthat aligns with what I'm
(34:30):
offering, you're gonna like,hey, this guy has helped me when
he wasn't going to benefit.
I'd like to bring him in to helphim out. And I think this
industry is great for that. Ithink people love helping each
other. It's an industry unlikeany other where people get into
it because they love serving andhelping others.
Melinda Mastel (34:47):
Yes, absolutely. And then just going back to
being on Rotary and being theyoungest person kind of on the
team, I imagine for some earlycareerists, they're in similar
areas maybe in their careers orother pursuits where if you
wanna learn or do somethingunique or be engaged in service
or are taking those stretchassignments, you might similarly
(35:07):
be that younger person in theroom. Do you have any advice
for, you know, people kind ofjust owning their space as being
the youngest person in the roomand then also just learning, you
know, from all generations ofpeople.
Shay Eskew (35:20):
Yeah, I mean, to me it was amazing. There was this
guy, Doctor. Boyd, here inNashville. The guy's a legend.
He's about six two, had thisgray beard that came down to the
middle of his chest, just a veryintimidating but extremely witty
guy.
And so I went up to him. I said,doctor Boyd, hey. New to the
area. Can I buy you lunch andjust hear stories? This guy
(35:43):
loved it.
And so we spent years where oncea month, we'd just get a
hamburger. We'd try around andfigure out who had the best
hamburger. And he said, Shay,don't you ever call me doctor
Boyd. I'm Luke to you. And Iloved it because we'd go out to
eat, people would come upDoctor.
Boyd. That's what they'd callhim. And here I am calling him
Luke. I said, Luke. And it wasall because he just loved having
(36:03):
somebody half his age to sharestories.
And he had the most amazinglife, tobacco farmer, right,
from Mississippi. And I thinkyou'll be surprised if you just
reach out to people and say,Hey, I just want to hear some
stories. I'm not trying to tellyou how great I am, but I'd love
to learn about your experiencesand your family. What can I do
to incorporate their past intowhat I'm doing now? Right?
(36:24):
And I think so many people arequick today to tell you how
smart they are and as opposed tojust spend time and learn other
people's story, then you figureout how you can bring value to
them.
Melinda Mastel (36:35):
Looking back at your younger self, personally,
professionally, if you couldgive advice to your younger
self, what would that be?
Shay Eskew (36:44):
It's hard. I would say maybe when I was younger,
spend time more with people thatwere older. Because it wasn't
until I got to be almost 30 thatI started spending time with
people twice my age. And my wifewill even tell you now, she's
like, do you have insider ourage? Like, all my my really good
friends are much older than me.
So that was probably it. But, Imean, I don't regret anything. I
(37:04):
don't know if I'd do anythingdifferently. I feel like the
experiences I had, the good andthe bad, were a result of living
life, you know, like trappingbears. I can't say trapping
bears prepared me for life, butbut I've always been one of
those people I value experiencesbecause I kept thinking, how
many people in life say I livedin the woods trapping bears for
a living?
How many people have beenattacked by a bear? I have.
(37:25):
Right? Like, there's so manythings. You can't take that
away, so don't seek things outbecause of the money.
Seek them out for theexperiences and the time with
the people that you'll have.
Melinda Mastel (37:35):
And if someone kind of summarized your story in
a sentence or two, is there acertain message or takeaway that
you hope people would bring outof kind of your life and your
attitude toward it?
Shay Eskew (37:48):
Well, things, you know, gritty, adventurous,
industrialist, can do attitude.I'm just a big believer that
life is not about who's the mosttalented. You know, I've got a
lot of my friends are waysmarter than I am, but they're
just not as risk as much as arisk taker willing to do things.
Right? They want assuranceseverything's gonna work out.
(38:08):
The people that I know that areextremely successful take those
risks, they realize failure is arequirement. And just because
you have one, two, or even 10failures doesn't mean you're not
gonna be successful. You know,it's kinda like when Thomas
Edison was talking about thelight bulbs. Right? I figured
out 999 ways not to do it.
That's kinda the way my life'sbeen. But we learn more from our
disappointments than we do fromour successes. And but one
(38:31):
advice I would give is spendtime with people that champion
your successes as opposed tothose that are always looking to
downplay what you do or persuadeyou not to do it. I said, these
guys that I traveled the worldwith for seven days, I don't
care whatever you said you'regonna do. That's awesome, mate.
Let's do it. You know? And oneof the guys I met on that trip,
(38:52):
he and I went and spent a weektogether in Antarctica. He wind
up climbing Mount Kilimanjarowith me. I told him, hey, buddy.
When you do sign up for yourfirst full Ironman, I'm gonna do
it with you. I'm gonna fly toSwitzerland, and I'm gonna do it
with you. And those are kind ofpeople seek out in life, people
that that are willing to get inthe hole with you, endure
whatever it is, just to be apart of that with you.
Melinda Mastel (39:13):
Well, that's some organic type mentorship,
right, too, to say, hey, whenyou do yours, I'm gonna be right
there. Absolutely.
Shay Eskew (39:19):
But hold people accountable. You know, I had a
friend of mine, David Bittnerwas the CRO at Trinity. I told
him, St. Anthony, was like, Hey,fuel train for an Ironman, I'll
do it with you. And he trainedup for a half Ironman.
I flew to Maine. We got ourhotel together and we did the
race together. And I was soproud of him finishing. Was
like, and that's what it'sabout. Like, I was way more
(39:39):
happier for him finishing than Iwas for myself just knowing what
he did to get himself to thatfinish line.
Melinda Mastel (39:45):
I love that so much. You know, I was recently
in Colorado and there's theManitou Incline. I'm not sure if
you're familiar, but it's thiscrazy, basically just stairs up
the side of the mountain onPikes Peak and it's like 2,700
ish steps or something. So I hadheard about this and I was like,
I need to go do it. So I did itand it was so hard.
(40:08):
And afterward, I saw this littlemini documentary because there's
regular climbers, there's peoplewho do this multiple times back
to back, like they go forrecords in a year, right?
They've made this whole thingout of it. And it was so
inspiring, but what you justsaid reminded me of one of the
quotes that the guy said, Ithink he went for a record of
like a thousand climbs in a yearor something, right? So you're
(40:29):
doing like, you know, on averagea few a day. And he's like, my
thousand is no more valuablethan, you know, someone else's
one climb, right?
Like that may be a hugeaccomplishment for them. And I
think that's such a greatperspective that, you know, you
bring. It's like we're allworking toward our own goals and
they can be equally asimpressive, and we can cheer
each other on through that. Allright, so as we're wrapping up
(40:50):
here, you've done a lot,obviously, in your life. It's
been jam packed.
Is there something that you haveon your list for a next goal or
a dream or challenge that youhave that you're looking to do
in the future?
Shay Eskew (41:02):
You know, my biggest goal is just getting my kids out
of high school into goodcolleges and hopefully all
graduate. Like, I feel like whenit comes to sporting events,
I've done everything I've wantedto do. There's not nothing I
don't feel like I haven'tchecked that list. It's not to
say I won't add to my list. Andthat's what's crazy.
Like, when I set out an Ironman,it was never with, hey. I wanna
do 50 before I'm 50. It's justone of those I kept signing up.
(41:25):
I was like, oh, man. Only needthree more before I hit 50, I'm
there.
Right? So things just kindapresent themselves to you as you
go along there. But, honestly,I'm very content with where I'm
at as far as that goes, as faras signing up for events. I'm
just trying to be mindful.Again, I have to watch myself
not overcommitting.
It's one of those you getinvited to do a lot of really
(41:47):
cool things, but I always haveto ask myself, is this in
alignment with my goal ofgetting my kids in college?
Because these are really bigexpenses coming down the
pipeline. So I've had to reallykind of be mindful and cut back
on some of these big adventuresknowing that's a much bigger
priority for me.
Melinda Mastel (42:04):
Love that. Alright. I wasn't going to add
another question, but I see thehuge bookshelf behind you, I
have to ask. It looks likeyou're a reader. Do you have any
top suggestions or favorites ormaybe something you're reading
right now?
Shay Eskew (42:16):
My biggest or my favorite book is Endurance, the
story of Ernest Shackleton, youknow, when he's stranded in
Antarctica. Mhmm. I made my kidsread it. I just think that
embodies what life's about. It'slike this guy that probably is
not the most qualified person,but if you look at the kind of
people he targeted when he washiring, he said nothing about
(42:37):
skills.
He's talking about how miserableit's gonna be, and people that
knowingly sign up for somethingknow when it's gonna be
miserable. Those are the peopleyou want in life at your side.
And so all I read arenonfiction, as boring as that
is. My wife's got the fictionbooks on the side because what I
wanna do is program my brainthat when something crazy
(42:57):
happens, I don't freak out, andmy first reaction is, oh my god.
I'm gonna die.
I'm gonna go back to, hey. Iread about this story. Here's
what so and so did. Can I applythat to this situation? And so
you're just programming yourbrain survival is a guarantee.
It's just what do we gotta do?Right? And I think that's what
you need to do is constantlykeep training your brain that
(43:19):
obstacles are part of everydaylife. We don't get derailed by
them. We just evolve and moveon.
And the bigger thing is nomatter what we're going through,
somebody else has always beenthrough something worse. They've
not only survived, but they'vethrived. And I've been fortunate
enough to meet a lot of thesekind of special athletes and you
hear their stories like, what?Really? Incredible.
Melinda Mastel (43:39):
I love that so much. Well, it's been an
absolute joy talking with you.I've certainly been inspired and
motivated today. Any last wordsyou'd like to share with our
audience today before we signoff?
Shay Eskew (43:51):
I would say whatever it is you've been thinking
about, just sign up. Don'toverthink it. Put it on the
board. Tell everybody you know,and you'll be surprised that
you're gonna make it happen. Andthen lastly, I do speak on the
circuit.
So if anybody's looking for aspeaker for their upcoming
conferences, I would love toshare my story.
Melinda Mastel (44:09):
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. Thanks to our
audience for listening to theMGMA Early Careers podcast
today. If you found today'sconversation helpful, please
share it with fellow traveler onthe career journey. And until
next time, keep learning, keepgrowing, and remember to enjoy
the view.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the MGMA Early
Careers podcast, where weexplore the steps, shifts,
stories behind purposefulcareers in health care. Whether
you're just beginning your path,exploring new directions, or
sharing wisdom from experience,this space is for curious minds
shaping what's next. I'm yourhost, Melinda Mastel, and today
I'm joined by Shay Eskew.Welcome, Shay.
It's a pleasure to have youhere.
Shay Eskew (00:22):
Hello, Melinda, and it's great to meet everybody.
Glad to be with you today.
Melinda Mastel (00:27):
Lovely. So just start us off, can you introduce
yourself, maybe a bit of yourbackground, what you do
professionally today?
Shay Eskew (00:34):
My name is Shay Eskew. I'm vice president of
sales with Kodiak Solutions. Weare a data and tech healthcare
company based out of Nashville.I'm the father of five. You
heard that right.
Five kids under 19, marriedtwenty one years, and weekend
warrior triathlete on the sideand been in healthcare now for
(00:55):
over fifteen years.
Melinda Mastel (00:57):
Fantastic. And would you mind sharing a little
bit, how did you end up inhealthcare? Was this something
that you chose from the start ordid you kind of end up there
through a different path?
Shay Eskew (01:05):
You know, I'd love to say something I had planned
out from the beginning. Myundergraduate degree was in
wildlife biology. I spent sixmonths living in the woods
trapping bears for a living,doing research for the US Fish
and Wildlife Services. And aftersix months in the woods, you
kinda realized it was more of ahobby as opposed to a career. I
was making $75 a week, sendinghalf that money home to my
(01:28):
grandmother to pay to feed mydog.
And I said, you know, I reallyneed to get a professional
degree. So I went back to theUniversity of Tennessee, got my
MBA in finance. And thenstrangely enough, I was in
insurance business. I had owneda distribution company, sold
that in 02/2008, got intoinsurance. The market was
(01:48):
getting hard in 02/2010.
Things were dramaticallychanging as we know the big
collapse in o eight. And thenliving here in Nashville, a
friend of mine was like, hey. Ineed you to meet this company.
Long story short, I gotintroduced to a health care
company that specialized inworkers' comp billing. And
through my insurance, you know,commercial property and
(02:08):
casualty, I was selling workers'comp insurance to big
corporations.
And so that was my entree intohealth care. And then in the
last fifteen years, really haveworked in every side of it,
front, mid to back end revenuecycle and just love it. And it's
one of those things along theway, I kind of felt like this is
where I was meant to be. We'llget into it more, but as
(02:30):
somebody spent a lifetime in andout of hospitals, it was really
a blessing to be on the otherside and be able to help them by
helping them recover revenuethat they had missed or were
denied through a payer. So itkind of felt like it was my
mission.
This was my purpose. It justtook me thirty years to get
there.
Melinda Mastel (02:46):
That's fantastic. Kind of bringing it
full circle, sounds like.
Shay Eskew (02:50):
So
Melinda Mastel (02:51):
speaking of that personal story, would you mind
just giving some overview ofthat for those that are not
familiar? Because you have anincredible and unique life
story.
Shay Eskew (03:00):
Sure. Let me preface this by saying I think all of us
have a story. And so my goal isnever to compare. It's always
like I'm here to share and justkind of tell you what I've went
through. But at the age ofeight, my mom had asked me to
warn my neighbors about anaggressive yellow jacket nest
they had in their yard that hadswarmed to my bicycle the day
before.
So I recruited my friend who wasseven, again I was eight, we
(03:23):
walked across the street, weknocked on the neighbor's door,
the dad's not home but the 15year old daughter is. We started
to tell her about the yellowjackets and she asked us if we
would show her the nest and ifwe'd help her get rid of them.
And I preface this by saying Ihad the most conservative
parents you've ever met. Didn'tdrink, didn't smoke, didn't
cuss. I wasn't allowed to go tospend night parties.
(03:44):
I couldn't go to firework shows.If there was any chance of me
ever getting hurt, wasn'tallowed to participate. And so
this 15 year old girl asked usto help her get rid of the nest,
and we said, what do you need usto do? She goes, I just need you
to stand here and watch them tomake sure they don't leave. She
walks up.
She drops a match by the nest,which is a hole in the ground.
And we're standing like 15 feetaway watching these yellow
(04:06):
jackets fly in and out of thenest. And without saying a word,
we feel something splashes. Ithits the right side of my body
on my face, neck, and back, hitsmy buddy on the left side of his
body, then it hits that match.And it's in that moment we
realized she threw a cup ofgasoline.
So as soon as that gasoline hitit, we blew up. We were engulfed
in flames head to toe. Andluckily, had the wherewithal to
(04:29):
run into my yard, stop, drop,and rolled, and put out my
flames. Then I looked over, Isee my buddy standing there
screaming just covered in fire.So I ran back across the street,
got a water hose, put him out,and then just stood there with a
hose pouring the water over thetop of our heads.
Our body is charred, blackened,our clothes are melted to our
body. I touched my head, all ofmy hair came out. And I remember
(04:53):
looking at him and I was like,oh my god, what just happened?
Right? Like, in an instant, ourentire life was changed
overnight.
And we shortly found out that wehad no health insurance. My dad
was insured, but neither my momnor I recovered. And the girl
who had set us on fire, herhomeowners insurance denied
(05:13):
liability. And so we were nowstraddled with a $2,000,000 plus
hospital bill. We were taken toGrady Hospital Atlanta at first.
And then fortunately for us, theShriners heard about us and they
specialize in pediatric burns.And so I spent the next three
months up in Cincinnati. So theyrelocated my mother and I from
Atlanta to Cincinnati. Spentthree months there. My right arm
(05:36):
was physically melted to mybody.
It would take three years for meto lift my arm over my head. My
neck was melted at a 30 degreeangle. My right ear had to be
amputated. Gangrene had set in,they'd amputate that. Before it
was all said and done, over 65%of my body was permanently
covered in burns and burnrelated scarring.
The Shriners would treat me fromthe age of eight to 21. They
(06:00):
covered all of our expenses. Itwas quite a process, as you can
imagine. I had to learn how towrite left handed just to go
back to school to finish. I wastold I'd never play sports
again.
Luckily, we'll get into it, butall that really did was motivate
me. I'm one of those people whenyou tell me there's something I
can't do, I'm gonna spend everywaking moment trying to prove
you wrong. And that's where myjourney started. It's been a
(06:21):
long journey. I've had over 43surgeries now over the years,
still having some.
I need to have another one now.And that's just part of it. As
part of a burn patient, therereally never is any. It's just
how much can you live with,right? And that's where you got
to figure that out.
Melinda Mastel (06:36):
Wow, that's just incredible. And I've never heard
it all detailed in that way. ISo appreciate that so much. And
just, I think you're humbleabout your story, but truly it's
a testament to resilience, topersistence. And it's just
amazing to hear from someonelike you who's been through all
of that.
And like you said, what afirsthand interaction with the
healthcare system to then beable to really understand what
(06:58):
it's like on the other side ofthat. So just getting into your
story a little bit, you havesince written a book, you're on
social media. I love followingyou on LinkedIn and seeing all
of your adventures you speak.What was that journey like to
decide that you wanted to bemore public about your story?
Because that's something reallypersonal and vulnerable.
And I imagine it maybe took sometime to kind of process or
(07:18):
decide how you could how youcould share it.
Shay Eskew (07:21):
You know, it's funny, Melinda, you say that
because for years I never talkedabout it. I don't want to say I
was embarrassed, but it's one ofthose I never wanted sympathy,
right? All I've ever asked forin life is just give me an
opportunity. I don't want anyspecial treatment. So I never
really told anybody whathappened.
And when I moved to Nashvillefrom Atlanta, one of the first
(07:41):
things I did was sign up, joinRotary. I by far was the
youngest person. Here I am 34.The average person is like 60,
right? I signed up to be theperson that would recruit
speakers every week to come andshare their story.
Well, one of our speakers backedout the last minute, and I
couldn't let the group down. SoI said, you know what? I'll just
fill in and share my story. Whatthe heck? Standing ovation.
(08:04):
It's gut wrenching. Right? Itwasn't what I expected and very
emotional, very raw, andsomebody's like, dude, why are
you not sharing your story?Said, it's not really worth
sharing. I'm like, no.
And so I spent a couple yearsspeaking at rotary groups
nonstop about it. And thenseveral years later, fast
forward, I'll never forget, Ireached out to this guy named
(08:25):
Jack Daly. And if you look thisguy up uber successful, he's ran
a 100 marathons, marathon everycontinent. Jack's in his
seventies now. And one of myprior CEOs had said, you need to
reach out to this guy.
He's gonna talk you out of doingwhat you wanna do. I was looking
to make a career change, lookingto get into leadership as
(08:45):
opposed to being as anindividual contributor. And he
said, look. Reach out to thisguy. He's gonna talk you out of
it.
You're making a big mistake. SoI reached out to this guy, Jack.
Just emailed him throughLinkedIn and said, hey, Jack.
From one Ironman to another,because I mentioned to him I had
done, you know, 40 somethingIronmans. He goes, hey.
Let's meet. I see you've gotAtlanta phone number. I'll be
(09:06):
there next week. I wasn't gonnatell him I lived in Nashville.
So I drove to Atlanta to havedinner with Jack.
And he's he's one of these guys.He's just very direct to the
point. Right? Former armycaptain, just no thrills, tells
you what you need to hear. Andhe said, Shay, why are we here?
Because honestly, Jack, my bosswas hoping you taught me out of
doing what I just did. I quit mysales job to pursue a leadership
(09:29):
role. He goes, I absolutelythink you're doing the right
thing. I get it. You and I arebuilt just like your board.
You need the next challenge. Hegoes, the bigger question is,
when are you writing your damnbook? I said, Jack, I've got
five kids. I train fifteen hoursa week. I race in four ironmans
a year.
I travel every week for work.He's like, that's crap. Those
are all excuses. I guarantee youI'm just as busy as you are. And
(09:52):
he said, here's what's gonnahappen.
When we leave this dinner, I'mgonna introduce you to the CEO
of this of my publisher. Here'show much it's gonna cost you. In
eight months, I guarantee youyou're gonna have a bestseller.
And if anybody knows me, I'm abig person in the moment. I feel
like God places people in frontof us for a reason.
And so I called my wife on theway home from dinner. I said,
hey, babe. Guess what? I'mwriting my book. She goes, book?
(10:15):
We haven't even talked about abook. So you understand? I just
had dinner and Jack's tellingme. Said, I gotta do it. And
she's always extremelysupportive regardless how crazy
some of my ideas are.
And she goes, can we afford todo this? And I said, we can't
afford not to. Fast forwardeight months later, my book,
What the Fire Ignited was out,made an Amazon bestseller, and
(10:35):
it's one of the best things I'vedone because one of the things I
realized is over the years, noneof us have shared our stories,
and so many people could benefitfrom it. Right? They could learn
from all the hardships, thesetbacks, the shortcomings we've
faced and realize what anamazing life we've had because
of what we've been through.
Because so many people look atthings I'm doing now. It's like,
(10:56):
but you don't understand. Youknow, it took three years just
to lift my arm over my head.
Melinda Mastel (11:00):
Mhmm.
Shay Eskew (11:01):
Right? I was the last kid picked on the
playground for years. Peoplelaughed at me, they made fun of
me. They called me FreddyKrueger. I mean, there's so many
things that I've went through toget to where I am today, but I
wouldn't take any of that away.
That's what made me who I amtoday, and I think that's one of
the biggest challenges. Andtoday, people wanna remove
hardships. They tell you, oh,that's too hard. You shouldn't
(11:23):
have to face these setbacks.Right?
Everything should be positive,and we should tell you how good
you're doing. And and I waslike, these are the things that
made me who I am. Had I notgotten burned, there's no way I
would have the life I havetoday. And so that's what
convinced me to write the book.Again, it's one of these chance
encounters, but I'm one of thosepeople that when I meet somebody
(11:45):
like a Jack, I act on it.
I don't dismiss it ascoincidence saying, hey. What
are the chances somebody that'sthis successful engaged with me
out of the blue when I reachedout? I think so many of us, we
overthink things. Right? Whensomebody mentions something,
we're like, that's crazy.
Like, Melinda, one of the thingsthat you might have seen it, but
two years ago, I was offered achance to do what's called the
(12:08):
human performance project. Itwas me and a group of special
forces to raise awareness forveterans mental health. We were
going to either skydive or basejump or run a marathon and then
do a swim. Seven continents onseven days. And this Navy SEAL
reached out to me and said, hey,are you in?
I was like, hell yeah, I'm in.And then I started thinking
(12:30):
through it a couple days lateras I was telling my wife, she
goes, you did what? I said,babe, how do you say no to
something like that? She's like,it's easy, you say no. I was
like, but how many people get achance to see all seven
continents in seven days?
You spend time sleeping on aplane with all these guys Navy
SEALs, Delta Force, GreenBerets, right? Like every day
(12:50):
we're gonna go run a marathon,we're gonna skydive. I mean as
part of this, we got to skydiveover the pyramids. How many
people in the world get toskydive over the pyramids? Very
few.
And there's nothing specialabout me that says I should have
been afforded an opportunity,but it was presented to me and I
just said yes. And that's why Ithink life, if we don't start
(13:11):
questioning everything, go withit and say, this sounds amazing.
We're gonna be surprised whathappens as a result of that.
Melinda Mastel (13:18):
Yes. I love that mindset so much. It's going with
the momentum, risk taking, andjust the willingness to say yes.
And I think so often we look atdifferent paths and we wonder
how did that person get to thiscool, bold place? But it really
is those yeses in those smallmoments sometimes.
And I love that you said yesbefore you even thought it
through too much. I thinksometimes we need to just go
(13:38):
with that and, like you said,not overthink it and see where
that can lead us.
Shay Eskew (13:42):
To that point, Melinda, it's so many of us
start thinking about all thethings that could go wrong Mhmm.
As opposed to all the thingsthat could go right. Right? If
all I did was think about theconsequences, would never do
anything. I wouldn't leave myhouse.
I mean, we're much more likelyto get in a car wreck within two
miles of our house than we aretraveling the world. And that's
where things happen. But again,I've been fortunate enough to
(14:06):
interact with some incrediblepeople. And the more time you
spend with those kind of people,the more you start seeing life
differently. And that's kind ofthe biggest advice I give people
is spend time with people thatare living the life that you
think you wanna live, and thenthey'll start removing the
blinders for you.
Because what happens is, like,we naturally come with filters
built into our brain.
Melinda Mastel (14:27):
Mhmm.
Shay Eskew (14:27):
And to give you an example, for instance, like,
when you get a new car, all of asudden, if say you went out and
bought a a four Runner, a whitefour Runner. As soon as you get
one, you're gonna say, oh mygod. There's two four Runners in
our neighborhood. I'm like, Jimat work drives one. Like, your
brain has a filter built in sayshey every time you see a white
4Runner let me know and it makesyou aware of all those 4Runners
(14:51):
the same thing as if you hearyour name called at the airport
they call thousands of names butas soon as your name's called
out your brain filters out allthe noise and says hey Melinda
you left your package at TSA.
So the same thing is true forsuccess so when you're around
successful people you start tolearn what filters can I apply
to everyday life that somebodyelse may dismiss this as random
(15:14):
coincidence and you may say,hey, that sounds like an
obstacle but it's actually anopportunity because most people
would never do this, right?That's kind of what I've done in
life is the things that soundreally hard, I've learned those
are the best opportunities forme because most people don't
want to pursue those. They'renot willing to do the hard work.
They're not willing to delaygratification.
Melinda Mastel (15:35):
Yes.
Shay Eskew (15:36):
But I know the most meaningful things are the things
that take the longest and arethe hardest to get.
Melinda Mastel (15:41):
Awesome. So I have a couple of follow ups from
that. One was on this idea ofcommunity. So you spoke a little
bit about surrounding yourselfwith people whose perspective
you can really learn from,right? And who push you and grow
you.
Could you just speak to that alittle more? And I guess, how
did you go about curating thator finding that community that
could kind of push you andinvite you to some of those
amazing experiences?
Shay Eskew (16:02):
Yeah. I mean, someone is getting outside your
shell. So I signed up for anIronman and it's one of those
it's a very tight nichecommunity. And once you go, you
you're gonna find someone thatyou just cling with because
every body type, everypersonality type is at these
races, and you also learneverybody there is there for the
same reason. They wanna find outwhat else in life can they do,
(16:23):
right, if they're willing tojust blank out all these
obstacles in front of them.
But I'm also big intonetworking. Like, again, I
joined Rotary. That was a bigthing just to meet people. Any
kind of social events, I justlike go and tag along. I'm on a
part of a lot of group chatswith fraternity brothers from
college, people from work, butit's also finding people on
(16:44):
LinkedIn.
Like, you see them puttingcontent out. Message them. Take
a heartfelt message to somebodyand say, hey. Is there a chance
I could buy you coffee in here?Like, I've flown all the way to
Utah to meet with the CEO of alarge health system.
I messaged him and said, hey.I'd love to get your thoughts on
leadership and how you got towhere you are. If I fly into
town, could I treat forbreakfast and hear your story?
Melinda Mastel (17:05):
Mhmm.
Shay Eskew (17:06):
He responded, yeah. If you're willing to do that,
come on. And you'd be surprisedhow many successful people will
do that. Now a lot of them won'twon't even respond. Right?
But the ones that do, I mean,are nuggets. Like I mentioned to
you that guy Jack, we're likebest friends now, right? He's
the one that convinced me towrite my book. He invited me to
do the Grand Canyon rim to rimto rim, South Rim, North Rim
(17:30):
back to South Rim. The guy was69 years old when we did it, 112
degrees, but it was just thatone email on LinkedIn that
started all this, and so that'swhere things go.
I've had somebody reach out inSouth Africa and say, hey, I see
you're doing a race here. Wouldyou be open to meeting for
coffee? I'm like, absolutely.So, that's another thing is
leveraging social media. Bevulnerable, tell people, hey,
(17:53):
here's what I'm doing, and you'dbe surprised how many people
will help you.
Because what I've realized is somany people maybe don't have the
opportunity to do things thatyou're doing, but they'd love to
be a part of your success. Andso if you invite them in and
say, hey. Thank you. You'd besurprised. I mean, I did a
Ironman event in Israel twentytwenty one November.
(18:13):
Keep in mind, the country hadbeen closed for eighteen months
because of COVID. I didn'trealize they weren't even open
so I signed up for a racebecause it was the last
continent for me to race to sayI've done Ironman on every
continent and a month before Ileave I find out I can't get in
the country and so I put it onLinkedIn and said hey Does
anybody have any ideas on how Ican get in the country?
(18:34):
Somebody, I don't know who itwas, said, hey. The prime
minister is gonna pass this billon 10/01. It will be ratified by
the assembly three or four weekslater, effective travel 11/01.
So based on that person who Ididn't know, I bought a plane
ticket that day, I booked ahotel that day, all of it came
true. I flew November 3. I wasone of the first tourists
(18:57):
allowed in Israel after COVIDall because I put it out there
and said, hey, please help me.And that's what to me makes life
so exciting, right, is theseunanticipated outcomes.
Melinda Mastel (19:07):
Absolutely. And the power of asking for help.
Right? Yeah. And just putting itout there.
I love that. So you touched onpeople maybe not seeing the
work, right, that goes in behindthe scenes, right? And kind of
this delayed gratificationconcept. So you are quite the
athlete, you've taken on a lotof physical challenges, and I
would love for you to just givepeople a little bit of
(19:28):
background. I mean, youmentioned the Iron Man on Every
Continent, rim to rim to rim.
You've done some other coolchallenges too, I think
Kilimanjaro is one of them, buta lot of times those are based
around these big events, right?And it's so cool to say you've
done these things, but goinginto that kind of day to day
training and just the right,it's the endurance and the
consistency that goes intogetting yourself ready for those
(19:50):
moments. Maybe if you could justspeak a little bit to that, if
there's any highlights, favoritemoments, and then, yeah, how do
you kind of translate that dayto day consistency that allows
you to perform in these bigadventures and venues?
Shay Eskew (20:03):
And let me back up just real briefly to say, so I
got into Ironman racing 02/2008,and it wasn't something I sought
out. My mentor, this guy was 65,Henry Forrest, was teaching this
boot camp fitness class. Andwhen I first joined the class, I
was thirty five poundsoverweight. And this guy came up
to me in the dressing room andsaid, hey, tough guy. I said,
(20:25):
you talking to me?
Goes, yeah. I'm talking to you.He goes, why don't you come in
here and do this little bootcamp class with me and all these
women? Shouldn't be anything fora guy like you with all your
muscles because I had thetypical dad bod. Right?
Biceps, chest, belly. And I waslike, whatever, old timers. I
get in there, true to form. It'sall women and just me. First ten
minutes, I'm in tears.
(20:45):
It's all core exercise. I had nocore. And then the last ten
minutes, he drops down beside megoes, alright, we're doing 10
count push ups. Come on, Esq. Ican't keep up with him.
And I was so embarrassed. I wenthome tomorrow. I said, this old
man kicked my butt. He doesn'tknow who he's messed with. I was
back in his class every day.
I lost 20 pounds the next twomonths. Fast forward, he got
(21:08):
diagnosed stage four pancreaticcancer, and he would do chemo
and then come yell at us in theclass. He made it a year before
we lost him. Right before hepassed away, Grupo said, Henry,
we're gonna do the next bigtriathlon. We don't care the
distance.
We're gonna do it. He surelypassed away, so we signed up for
a half Ironman. I didn't own abike, hadn't ran twenty years,
(21:28):
hated running, and didn't knowhow to swim. Like I knew how to
doggy paddle, but not freestyleswimming distance. And so based
on that commitment to him, Istarted training.
I bought a $500 bright greenbike off Craigslist, pair of
running shoes, took lessons atthe Y. Five months later, we did
a half Ironman. And then afterthe celebration of the race,
(21:49):
we're all sitting around havinga beer and somebody goes, let's
do the same race twice. The fullIronman five months from today.
I went home and signed up.
Nobody else did. And so I Ibought a book. I'm training from
a book. And the day before therace, I'm doing my workout, and
I run into Henry's daughter.They were very active in the
triathlon IRONMAN community.
Henry was the gentleman thatpassed away. And his daughter
(22:11):
said, Shay, daddy's gonna bewatching you tomorrow. I said,
yeah. I know. She goes, no.
Seriously. This is the one yearanniversary of daddy passing
away. I didn't even think aboutit. I just went with my gut,
signed up, and it just showsthat you were doing what you
were meant to do. And it becamea lifestyle.
Right? And so over the years,I've now done 54 of them on
every continent. We got to do amarathon in Antarctica last
(22:34):
year, and so we've done amarathon now every continent.
People always say, man, I wish Icould just wake up motivated
like you. Said, are you kiddingme?
I'm tempted like you. I don'twake up and go, what? Let's go.
I mean, there are some mornings,but half the mornings like you,
I'm like, I'm tired. I know whatI have to do, but I keep
reminding myself, if I wannalive like the top 1% in the
(22:55):
world, I gotta be willing to dowhat 99% of the people in the
world are not willing to do.
And that's just do somethingdaily. It doesn't take two
hours. Put in twenty minutes aday, and it will change your
entire life. And so one of thethings that's worked for me is,
number one, I hired a coachbecause it became a goal of mine
I wanted to be ranked top 2% inthe world and so they tracked
(23:15):
that and so I was like if I wantto hit that I need some
accountability so the nightbefore every workout I go in
down to my pain cave which is myworkout room in my basement I
write the workout on awhiteboard I lay out all my
workout clothes I have mynutrition set out everything's
there so that way when I wake upmake my coffee add an extra shot
(23:35):
it's ready to go. It'sclockwork.
It's just automatic. And it'sone of those where you start
wrapping your identity around,hey, I'm somebody that works
out. That's who I am. And soyou're not being true to
yourself if you skip it. Right?
It becomes a habit just likebrushing your teeth. You're the
type of person that brushes yourteeth, so why would you skip
brushing your teeth? Well, thesame is true for working out. If
(23:57):
you're somebody that works out,this is what you do daily. And I
can tell you, as somebody withfive kids, it's been one of the
best things for me just for thatmental clarity.
It's amazing how many problems Isolve at work or just with
parenting, but also I'm the typeof parent that I don't want to
tell my kids what to do. I wantto show them because we all know
they watch what you do asopposed to what you say. And so
(24:20):
when they wake up and they seedad's already been working out
for an hour before they even getup, they think that's normal.
And so they go to me. They'vetraveled the world with me at
these races.
There's nothing like it. Andit's one of those things that
also become another reason whywhen you're tempted to quit
because trust me, anybody that'sdone Ironman, you're tempted to
quit. Right? When you get deepinto a race, but then you start
(24:40):
thinking, how am I gonna tell mykids I quit? It was too hard.
So I just quit. I can tell youin fifteen years, I've never not
finished a race. Never. Right?I've ran barefoot seven miles
pushing a bike with my feetbleeding, but I kept thinking
there's no way I could tell mykids I quit.
Right? I would do anything asopposed to have to tell them I
physically quit. And that's whatI tell myself. You physically
(25:03):
have to drag me off the courseif I'm unresponsive before I
just quit and walk off. And Ithink if you approach everything
in life like that, you realizethere's so much more you can do
if you just say, I'm not gonnaquit.
I don't care if it takes methree times as long as it
should, but I'm going to finishwhat I start. And that's what
you realize is life rewardsthose who just finish. You don't
(25:24):
have to be the fastest. InIronman, we always say, it's not
about who's the fastest, it'swho slows down the least. And
that's what I look at.
There are so many people I knowthat definitely smarter, more
talented than me in high school.But if you look at where we are
in our careers and family lifenow, I think things have
switched, right? They kind ofmaxed out in high school, maybe
(25:45):
even in college because theythought the race was over. But
those of us who know, it's like,I'm gonna compete my whole life
in business and personally.
Melinda Mastel (25:55):
I love that. Can I ask about your process? How do
you go about setting goals?Because it sounds like and I'm a
I'm a similar way. When there'san idea kind of planted in my
head, it is it's not leaving.
I wanna go after that and worktoward that. So how do you kind
of set these new challenges foryourself? How do you go about
that?
Shay Eskew (26:13):
I mean, like, sports wise, it's wanna be ranked top
2%. And so that one's kindaeasy. Like, you know what it
takes. I've done it, many times,and I had a great coach and
supportive wife. And then, like,professionally, it's I set
certain things around, one, Igotta achieve the company goals.
Right? That comes first andforemost is what do they want me
to hit that I can be successful.And then I have my own personal
(26:37):
financial goals that I need tohit to provide my family the
lifestyle that I wanna provide.But then I also look at
personally, I wanna take tripswith my family. So what do I
need to do to be able to affordor provide the time away to do
those kind of trips?
Because so many people said, Iwant a goal based on achieving
this title, this amount ofmoney. Well, that's great if you
(26:59):
do that, but if you're divorcedor your kids are estranged
because you don't see them, wasit really worth it? And so one
of the things you gotta look atwhen you're setting your goals
is what are you willing tosacrifice? And, like, for me,
it's I'm willing to sacrificeTV, fast food, hanging out with
the boys, having beers, and thenidentify what you're not willing
to sacrifice. I don't wannasacrifice time away for my wife
(27:20):
and kids.
And when you can identify whatyou're gonna sacrifice and not
sacrifice, it makes it reallyeasy when you're presented with
the opportunities. Like, hey.Will this advance my family? Or
is it gonna take away from? Theneverything becomes pretty black
and white on what you're willingto do and not willing to.
Melinda Mastel (27:36):
That's fantastic advice. And speaking of goals,
obviously, sometimes inathletics, you probably show up
and maybe outperform what youwere expecting and are
pleasantly surprised. And somedays you might show up and
things are a slop and chop. Soyou've talked about finishing
every race, but can you talk alittle bit more about just
adapting to those differentconditions and kind of, I guess,
(28:00):
your mindset toward I don't knowif you'd call it failure or
learning from that or whenthings maybe don't go as
planned.
Shay Eskew (28:06):
Yeah. You know, I'll say, like in Ironman racing, a
lot of it's math. Right? Like,you know what kind of training
is required to be competitive.And that's why I hired one of
the top coaches was I know if Ido what he's prescribing, I'm
gonna be in my best condition Ican be in.
I also realized I'm not the mosttalented athlete out there. And
so sometimes you're like, hey. Idid the best I could, and I'm
(28:28):
fine with that. If if I did mybest and I still didn't have a
competitive enough to get me onthe podium, there's always gonna
be somebody better than you.Right?
You can't control that. Andthat's why, at least at this
stage of my life, it's moreabout, am I the best I can be as
opposed to the best period?Mhmm. Because I can't determine
if I'm the best period. I I havejust control over me.
(28:49):
But I also always try to begrateful for, hey. I've got the
opportunity to go do what 99% ofthe people in the world will
never even attempt. Right? Sothat in and of itself, a success
to say, I showed up. I did it.
And you just know that whenyou're in the game long enough,
you're gonna have bad days. Andif you think every day is gonna
be a PR day, you're mistaken.And I go into the races assuming
(29:12):
something's going to go wrong.When you do a long race like
these, you know you're going toand so you're just mentally
prepared, hey, if I get a flat,I can change it. I If get two
flats, I can change it.
If I get three, like I had a onerace, then I ran barefoot six
miles. Right? And so, you justhave to keep asking yourself, if
this happens, what am I going todo? And so, it's not a surprise
(29:32):
when it happens because you'vealready prepared. I will do
whatever it takes for as long asit takes.
And I think that's the key. ButI think so many people get
wrapped around, I have toachieve this. And if I don't hit
that mark, maybe it's get on thepodium, then it was a bad race,
then you're setting yourself upfor failure and you're never
gonna be happy.
Melinda Mastel (29:51):
Absolutely. Kind of going back to that work
identity and then just howathletics tie into it, I would
say not to speak on behalf ofearly careerists, but it's
really easy for really any of usat any stage to start tying our
identities to our jobs and ourcareer and titles kind of like
you said. How would you sayathletics has helped you create
(30:15):
an identity outside of work orhelp improve your career or just
teach you lessons about how toapproach work?
Shay Eskew (30:23):
It's a lot of things. One, it's goal setting.
It's making commitments,sticking to them. It's time
management, right? And it's alsobe willing to stick out because
I can tell you in an industrylike healthcare where not
everybody is focused on fitness.
Some people try to bring youdown and say, Oh, all you care
about is working out and wateroff my bridge. So, if the worst
(30:44):
thing I'm doing is because I'mspending too much time taking
care of my body, which nobodyelse can do for me, I'm okay
with that. And also willing tobe the person that, hey. If
everybody's going out drinking,I'll have a beer with you. But
I'm not staying up late night tosee how many beers are or, you
know, shots I can put.
It's just not me. And so I thinkit's just being true to who you
are and people respect that.Don't try to cave in and beat
(31:07):
the person you think they wantyou to be. It's funny because,
you know, people used to makelook at that guy. He's wearing
his little spandex biking shortsto go ride, you're like, okay.
Are you jealous because myshaved legs look better than
yours? I mean, what's theproblem? Right? It's just being
comfortable in your own skin,figuring out who do you wanna be
and make sure that what you'redoing aligns with what you wanna
(31:27):
be. If you say you wanna besomebody that takes care of
yourself, then you gotta look atwhat you're eating, and are you
spending time daily working out?
Right? But also keeping thingsin proportion, not going to
extremes, and that's wheresometimes I struggle. When I
first got into it, it's I wannabe the best. Right? And luckily,
I realized, hey.
(31:48):
This is a hobby. I'm not gettingpaid to do this. Let's be
realistic about it, you know,and really focus on what's
important, which is family andyour career. Right? But I think
when people see you're committedto a passion, whether it's
gardening, exercise, whatever itis, people admire people that
are all in.
(32:08):
You know, they don't say, oh,well, you know, she just planted
a few little tomato plants justlike, oh my god. She's got her
whole backyard, these tomatoplants, you know, all of this
stuff. Go all out. Bepassionate. Right?
Whatever it is. And that's why,like, I'm somebody I go
overboard so I can only have oneor two hobbies because I just go
to the extremes. But that's theway I believe life is meant to
(32:31):
be lived. It's be passionate.Whatever it is you do, go all
out for it.
Melinda Mastel (32:36):
Awesome. Kind of going back to this idea of you
mentioned earlier you had thattime where you knew that you
wanted to pursue leadership andnot be an individual contributor
anymore. Was there a certainmoments where you made that
decision or do you remember whatkind of factored into that? And
then can you just speak to kindof that journey of what it's
(32:58):
like to be a leader versus inthat individual contributor
seat?
Shay Eskew (33:03):
Yeah. And it's it's interesting because it's kinda
I've kinda went back and forthon it because my idea of being
in leadership matched with whatI saw my boss was doing, and he
was what I would call a playercoach. Right? Like, he's the guy
that would go with you and say,hey. Look.
This is how we do it, but not doit for you. Right? Like, he was
still out in the field. And someof the companies I've worked
(33:25):
with in the past, the way theysaw leadership was, well, hey,
your job's just to run reportsand report on how people are
doing. I'm like, you don't needme for that.
I mean, I could get somebodyhalf my age, a lot smarter, to
run detailed reports. You needsomebody, I believe, that's been
there, done that, that can showpeople how to be successful in
the market. Show them, here'show you build relationships
(33:47):
because you know this. Healthcare is based on relationships.
Right?
There's been so many companiesmake false promises and not
deliver. At the end of the day,these finance and revenue cycle
leaders make decisions based offthe people they trust, who they
know can deliver on thesolutions they're offering. So
that's why I love sales. Likeyou, I love nothing more than
(34:09):
talking to people. Tell me yourchallenges.
Let me see if we can help. If wecan't, I guarantee you I know
somebody that can. And that'swhere I value myself being a
connector. I would love to helpyou, but if I can't, I wanna
make sure somebody else canbecause I know if I have a
situation later in life, you'regonna try to help me. And
likewise, if you have a needthat aligns with what I'm
(34:30):
offering, you're gonna like,hey, this guy has helped me when
he wasn't going to benefit.
I'd like to bring him in to helphim out. And I think this
industry is great for that. Ithink people love helping each
other. It's an industry unlikeany other where people get into
it because they love serving andhelping others.
Melinda Mastel (34:47):
Yes, absolutely. And then just going back to
being on Rotary and being theyoungest person kind of on the
team, I imagine for some earlycareerists, they're in similar
areas maybe in their careers orother pursuits where if you
wanna learn or do somethingunique or be engaged in service
or are taking those stretchassignments, you might similarly
(35:07):
be that younger person in theroom. Do you have any advice
for, you know, people kind ofjust owning their space as being
the youngest person in the roomand then also just learning, you
know, from all generations ofpeople.
Shay Eskew (35:20):
Yeah, I mean, to me it was amazing. There was this
guy, Doctor. Boyd, here inNashville. The guy's a legend.
He's about six two, had thisgray beard that came down to the
middle of his chest, just a veryintimidating but extremely witty
guy.
And so I went up to him. I said,doctor Boyd, hey. New to the
area. Can I buy you lunch andjust hear stories? This guy
(35:43):
loved it.
And so we spent years where oncea month, we'd just get a
hamburger. We'd try around andfigure out who had the best
hamburger. And he said, Shay,don't you ever call me doctor
Boyd. I'm Luke to you. And Iloved it because we'd go out to
eat, people would come upDoctor.
Boyd. That's what they'd callhim. And here I am calling him
Luke. I said, Luke. And it wasall because he just loved having
(36:03):
somebody half his age to sharestories.
And he had the most amazinglife, tobacco farmer, right,
from Mississippi. And I thinkyou'll be surprised if you just
reach out to people and say,Hey, I just want to hear some
stories. I'm not trying to tellyou how great I am, but I'd love
to learn about your experiencesand your family. What can I do
to incorporate their past intowhat I'm doing now? Right?
(36:24):
And I think so many people arequick today to tell you how
smart they are and as opposed tojust spend time and learn other
people's story, then you figureout how you can bring value to
them.
Melinda Mastel (36:35):
Looking back at your younger self, personally,
professionally, if you couldgive advice to your younger
self, what would that be?
Shay Eskew (36:44):
It's hard. I would say maybe when I was younger,
spend time more with people thatwere older. Because it wasn't
until I got to be almost 30 thatI started spending time with
people twice my age. And my wifewill even tell you now, she's
like, do you have insider ourage? Like, all my my really good
friends are much older than me.
So that was probably it. But, Imean, I don't regret anything. I
(37:04):
don't know if I'd do anythingdifferently. I feel like the
experiences I had, the good andthe bad, were a result of living
life, you know, like trappingbears. I can't say trapping
bears prepared me for life, butbut I've always been one of
those people I value experiencesbecause I kept thinking, how
many people in life say I livedin the woods trapping bears for
a living?
How many people have beenattacked by a bear? I have.
(37:25):
Right? Like, there's so manythings. You can't take that
away, so don't seek things outbecause of the money.
Seek them out for theexperiences and the time with
the people that you'll have.
Melinda Mastel (37:35):
And if someone kind of summarized your story in
a sentence or two, is there acertain message or takeaway that
you hope people would bring outof kind of your life and your
attitude toward it?
Shay Eskew (37:48):
Well, things, you know, gritty, adventurous,
industrialist, can do attitude.I'm just a big believer that
life is not about who's the mosttalented. You know, I've got a
lot of my friends are waysmarter than I am, but they're
just not as risk as much as arisk taker willing to do things.
Right? They want assuranceseverything's gonna work out.
(38:08):
The people that I know that areextremely successful take those
risks, they realize failure is arequirement. And just because
you have one, two, or even 10failures doesn't mean you're not
gonna be successful. You know,it's kinda like when Thomas
Edison was talking about thelight bulbs. Right? I figured
out 999 ways not to do it.
That's kinda the way my life'sbeen. But we learn more from our
disappointments than we do fromour successes. And but one
(38:31):
advice I would give is spendtime with people that champion
your successes as opposed tothose that are always looking to
downplay what you do or persuadeyou not to do it. I said, these
guys that I traveled the worldwith for seven days, I don't
care whatever you said you'regonna do. That's awesome, mate.
Let's do it. You know? And oneof the guys I met on that trip,
(38:52):
he and I went and spent a weektogether in Antarctica. He wind
up climbing Mount Kilimanjarowith me. I told him, hey, buddy.
When you do sign up for yourfirst full Ironman, I'm gonna do
it with you. I'm gonna fly toSwitzerland, and I'm gonna do it
with you. And those are kind ofpeople seek out in life, people
that that are willing to get inthe hole with you, endure
whatever it is, just to be apart of that with you.
Melinda Mastel (39:13):
Well, that's some organic type mentorship,
right, too, to say, hey, whenyou do yours, I'm gonna be right
there. Absolutely.
Shay Eskew (39:19):
But hold people accountable. You know, I had a
friend of mine, David Bittnerwas the CRO at Trinity. I told
him, St. Anthony, was like, Hey,fuel train for an Ironman, I'll
do it with you. And he trainedup for a half Ironman.
I flew to Maine. We got ourhotel together and we did the
race together. And I was soproud of him finishing. Was
like, and that's what it'sabout. Like, I was way more
(39:39):
happier for him finishing than Iwas for myself just knowing what
he did to get himself to thatfinish line.
Melinda Mastel (39:45):
I love that so much. You know, I was recently
in Colorado and there's theManitou Incline. I'm not sure if
you're familiar, but it's thiscrazy, basically just stairs up
the side of the mountain onPikes Peak and it's like 2,700
ish steps or something. So I hadheard about this and I was like,
I need to go do it. So I did itand it was so hard.
(40:08):
And afterward, I saw this littlemini documentary because there's
regular climbers, there's peoplewho do this multiple times back
to back, like they go forrecords in a year, right?
They've made this whole thingout of it. And it was so
inspiring, but what you justsaid reminded me of one of the
quotes that the guy said, Ithink he went for a record of
like a thousand climbs in a yearor something, right? So you're
(40:29):
doing like, you know, on averagea few a day. And he's like, my
thousand is no more valuablethan, you know, someone else's
one climb, right?
Like that may be a hugeaccomplishment for them. And I
think that's such a greatperspective that, you know, you
bring. It's like we're allworking toward our own goals and
they can be equally asimpressive, and we can cheer
each other on through that. Allright, so as we're wrapping up
(40:50):
here, you've done a lot,obviously, in your life. It's
been jam packed.
Is there something that you haveon your list for a next goal or
a dream or challenge that youhave that you're looking to do
in the future?
Shay Eskew (41:02):
You know, my biggest goal is just getting my kids out
of high school into goodcolleges and hopefully all
graduate. Like, I feel like whenit comes to sporting events,
I've done everything I've wantedto do. There's not nothing I
don't feel like I haven'tchecked that list. It's not to
say I won't add to my list. Andthat's what's crazy.
Like, when I set out an Ironman,it was never with, hey. I wanna
do 50 before I'm 50. It's justone of those I kept signing up.
(41:25):
I was like, oh, man. Only needthree more before I hit 50, I'm
there.
Right? So things just kindapresent themselves to you as you
go along there. But, honestly,I'm very content with where I'm
at as far as that goes, as faras signing up for events. I'm
just trying to be mindful.Again, I have to watch myself
not overcommitting.
It's one of those you getinvited to do a lot of really
(41:47):
cool things, but I always haveto ask myself, is this in
alignment with my goal ofgetting my kids in college?
Because these are really bigexpenses coming down the
pipeline. So I've had to reallykind of be mindful and cut back
on some of these big adventuresknowing that's a much bigger
priority for me.
Melinda Mastel (42:04):
Love that. Alright. I wasn't going to add
another question, but I see thehuge bookshelf behind you, I
have to ask. It looks likeyou're a reader. Do you have any
top suggestions or favorites ormaybe something you're reading
right now?
Shay Eskew (42:16):
My biggest or my favorite book is Endurance, the
story of Ernest Shackleton, youknow, when he's stranded in
Antarctica. Mhmm. I made my kidsread it. I just think that
embodies what life's about. It'slike this guy that probably is
not the most qualified person,but if you look at the kind of
people he targeted when he washiring, he said nothing about
(42:37):
skills.
He's talking about how miserableit's gonna be, and people that
knowingly sign up for somethingknow when it's gonna be
miserable. Those are the peopleyou want in life at your side.
And so all I read arenonfiction, as boring as that
is. My wife's got the fictionbooks on the side because what I
wanna do is program my brainthat when something crazy
(42:57):
happens, I don't freak out, andmy first reaction is, oh my god.
I'm gonna die.
I'm gonna go back to, hey. Iread about this story. Here's
what so and so did. Can I applythat to this situation? And so
you're just programming yourbrain survival is a guarantee.
It's just what do we gotta do?Right? And I think that's what
you need to do is constantlykeep training your brain that
(43:19):
obstacles are part of everydaylife. We don't get derailed by
them. We just evolve and moveon.
And the bigger thing is nomatter what we're going through,
somebody else has always beenthrough something worse. They've
not only survived, but they'vethrived. And I've been fortunate
enough to meet a lot of thesekind of special athletes and you
hear their stories like, what?Really? Incredible.
Melinda Mastel (43:39):
I love that so much. Well, it's been an
absolute joy talking with you.I've certainly been inspired and
motivated today. Any last wordsyou'd like to share with our
audience today before we signoff?
Shay Eskew (43:51):
I would say whatever it is you've been thinking
about, just sign up. Don'toverthink it. Put it on the
board. Tell everybody you know,and you'll be surprised that
you're gonna make it happen. Andthen lastly, I do speak on the
circuit.
So if anybody's looking for aspeaker for their upcoming
conferences, I would love toshare my story.
Melinda Mastel (44:09):
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. Thanks to our
audience for listening to theMGMA Early Careers podcast
today. If you found today'sconversation helpful, please
share it with fellow traveler onthe career journey. And until
next time, keep learning, keepgrowing, and remember to enjoy
the view.
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