April 1, 2025 • 53 mins
In this powerful episode of HTM On The Line, host Bryant Hawkins Sr. sits down with Andrea Bordenca, CEO of Desco Medical Services, for an honest and enlightening conversation that goes far beyond equipment.
Andrea shares her journey from growing up in a family-run HTM business to becoming a bold, emotionally intelligent leader committed to inclusion, growth, and collaboration. She opens up about hard lessons learned, the power of feedback, and why emotional intelligence and communication are essential tools for every HTM professional.
From training the next generation of sterilizer technicians to building a culture that values every voice, Andrea drops gems that will resonate with leaders, technicians, and anyone passionate about creating real change in healthcare technology.
Topics We Cover:
- Desco’s 55-year legacy and evolution
- Leading diverse teams across the East Coast
- Inclusivity and culture-building in HTM
- Why emotional intelligence matters more than ever
- The connection between leadership and public speaking
- Tips for becoming a more impactful communicator
- Training the next generation of HTM professionals
Whether you’re a biomed, a manager, or someone looking to grow in your role, this episode will leave you motivated and equipped with actionable insight.
We are immensely grateful to our partners: College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, A.M. BICKFORD, INC., UptimeServices, PM BIOMEDICAL and Talent Exclusive—for their support in making this podcast possible. Their dedication to advancing the Healthcare Technology Management industry is truly commendable. For more information about their contributions and services, please visit their websites.
For more podcast episodes, motivational videos, blogs, and newsletters, make sure to visit our website at elevatehtm.com. We look forward to connecting with you.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to another impactful episode of HTM
on the Line.
I'm your host, bryant HawkinsSr, and today we're going to
have a truly enrichingconversation with a remarkable
leader in the healthcaretechnology management industry.
My guest is none other thanAndrea Berdinka, ceo of Desco,
(00:27):
medical leadership coach, publicspeaking advocate and someone
who's deeply passionate aboutinclusive workplaces and
emotional intelligence.
Not only has she helped expandDesco's footprint across the
East Coast, but she's alsoinspiring leaders to lead with
(00:47):
presence, compassion and courage.
We cover everything from howDesco serves over 200 surgery
centers to how Andrea navigatedhard lessons in leadership, to
why emotional intelligence andpublic speaking are game
changers for HTM professionals.
(01:08):
Trust me, you will walk awaywith more than just insight.
You'll walk away withinspiration.
Let's get to it.
We'll be right back.
(01:49):
Welcome to another episode ofHTM on the Line.
Today I have a very specialguest, ms Andrea Burdenka.
How are you doing today, andrea?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I'm doing really well .
How are you?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I'm doing just fine.
Thank you for coming on, I'mexcited.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Glad to have you, are you?
Speaker 1 (02:05):
you, I'm doing just fine.
Thank you for coming on.
I'm glad to have you, youexcited.
Yeah, now, before we getstarted, I know it's a little
generic question, but tell us alittle bit about yourself for
those who may not know, andreaBurdenka.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, I'm a mother of three boys.
The oldest is 23, the youngestis 15.
And my middle son is 22.
I reside in WesternMassachusetts, near the
Connecticut line in Ludlow, andI am.
(02:40):
Something to know about me isthat on one of the leadership
you know there's so manyleadership assessments out there
.
So on the Myers-Briggs, I'm anENFP, if that means anything to
anybody.
And one of another assessment Itook that I can't remember the
name of, I got 100% collaborator, so I rate high on
(03:03):
collaborative.
So I'm a very collaborative,that my leadership style is very
collaborative.
So I do love to bring people inand include my boys and men, I
should really say, in all of myendeavors, and my husband as
well.
So, yeah, I like to integrateall the different parts of my
(03:25):
worlds and so they sort ofoverlap and synthesize into each
other.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Okay, great.
Now.
The main reason why I have youon here is, of course, your
relationship to the healthcaretechnology technology management
industry.
Yeah and Desco.
Now what is your position withDesco?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I am the CEO and second generation owner.
My father founded Desco in 1970.
So April 1st is our 55th 2025,our 55th anniversary and you
know the HTM industry has alwaysbeen.
I always refer to it as myolder brother.
(04:11):
I grew up with Desco.
My mom was one of, you know, mydad's first employees when he
started out and then she was anurse practitioner, so she just
helped him a little bit in thebeginning and then I brought her
actually back on some years agoand she retired.
Now it's been five or six years, but Desco's been a family,
(04:31):
very much a family business.
We had family members workingthere.
We have employees who havefamily members that work there.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
So Desco, give us a little bit more of what Desco
has to offer to the HTM industry.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, oh, I love that question.
So when I came on board DescoI've been working on and off
Desco since I was in middleschool and when I came on in an
executive role back in 2000.
So I was named the CEO in 2005.
(05:08):
So it's my 20th year and I'vebeen in an executive role since
2000.
One of the things I really lovedabout it what my dad brought to
Desco was we started inlaboratory and then over the
years evolved into differentmarkets that had like specialty
markets.
So in the 90s he startedservicing sterilizers in ORs and
(05:37):
then when I came on board in2000, we started to expand our
imaging.
We started to expand ourimaging and and gosh, 2000, 2008
, we really started specializingor adding to, I should say,
surgery centers to ourrepertoire.
So we service, um, a wholebunch over, I would say I think
(06:00):
it's up to 200 surgery centersfrom Florida up to Maine.
And so we take the in-housebiomed clinical engineering or
HTM, rather Gosh, that's so oldschool.
We take the model of in-houseHTM and we do a hybrid for the
(06:25):
surgery centers.
So we have, although we're notin-house at surgery centers
because we have so manydifferent modalities that we
serve, we have multiple fieldservice techs and engineers that
go to the different surgerycenters.
So we really offer a holisticapproach and with that ability
(06:49):
to diversify we've gone into weservice ice machines, which
started off as an ask from asurgery center and so now we do
them at our hospitals.
But we also do movie theaters,we do restaurants, so we service
ice machines in differentmarket segments.
And we also started arelationship with a manufacturer
(07:12):
called Acuity Brands.
Acuity Brands manufacturelighting like beautiful, like
stadium lighting, lighting theydo lighting in you know the
street lighting, highwaylighting.
They do lights in you knowdepartment stores.
So we are their service armacross the country.
(07:33):
So we've diversified in othermodalities as well.
So we do HDM primarily andwe've taken that staffing model
into other sectors, which to methat's super collaborative
because we're always inconversations with our customers
and prospects to say what doyou need?
(07:54):
How do we take our skills andtransfer them to what it is that
you need?
And we've been very it's been areally fun, collaborative,
strategic process that'sinvolved so many people within
Desco and also our customerpartners.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Oh man, that's.
That's amazing, the way youtook your brand and expanded it
Now with this large amount ofpeople.
You say you work from Floridato Maine, so you probably have
employees of all ages, races andgenders.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
How do you, I guess, incorporate inclusivity into
your leadership and coaching ofthat many people?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And it's really interesting to me because this
has been something that has beena huge source of learning the
inclusivity part and also havingpeople of different races,
especially when, years ago, ouroffice in Miami is led by
Ignacio Ortega, who's ourdirector of operations there, so
he and I actually used to workside by side.
So he was a field serviceengineer and I was doing quality
(09:14):
assurance years ago.
So I just mean like we wereside by side as far as our
parallel in our roles andauthority and over the years I
really enjoyed working with him.
I really loved like as I wasbecoming more of an executive in
an executive role.
He was someone who was notafraid to give me feedback, to
(09:37):
voice his dissatisfaction, so Ireally learned to trust him and
he is one of my key.
He's on the leadership team,he's one of the key people that
I really rely on on Desco andyears ago it happened in, I'd
say, 2010, we had a customer whois in the Northern Florida area
, north of Miami, who didn'twant people who spoke with an
(10:04):
accent, so she wanted English,fluent English technicians to
service her site and Ignacio hadcalled me and said hey, you
know, it was one of these thingswhere it was like this is
normal for him.
He saw it as you know, this issomething that you know, people
can be ignorant and wanted to beof service and so called me
(10:29):
down to meet with the customer.
And at that time and I'm reallyI'm not proud of this at all At
that time I went down there,had a conversation with her and
you know, a part of theconversation was that she was
treating some of our employees.
She would make some of themwait in the parking lot, but
(10:49):
those who spoke fluent English,those who were white, were
allowed in, and so I voiced myconcern and my dismay with that,
but I didn't fire her as acustomer.
Today, I would absolutely fireher as a customer Today, I would
absolutely fire her as acustomer.
And in the conversations we hadwithin Desco it was like okay,
this is normal, we need to workaround this.
(11:11):
And so, over the years, whenyou ask, how do you include the
inclusivity across all thegenders and all the regions and
all the races?
I didn't always do that well,and so a part of the learning
over time has been understanding, like me, as a white woman so
I'm a white woman notrecognizing that I had privilege
(11:34):
.
I grew up in Medfield,massachusetts, which is
primarily a white affluent townoutside of Boston and was very
sheltered, was very ignorantuntil I went to college in
Baltimore, where there was morediversity and it really opened
my eyes to learn and heardifferent people's experience.
I didn't realize I lived in abubble until I went to a city
(11:57):
where I was exposed to differentraces, ethnicities, genders as
well, and so that informed apart of my consciousness.
There, when I went down and weworked around this customer, we
kept her on board as a customerand saying like that was wrong
of me.
(12:17):
And Ignacio will share hisstory too, and he's been open
about me.
Sharing the story as well isthat he will no longer allow or
tolerate that as well, becausehe's realizing that's
dehumanizing not only him buthis team and he wants to be an
ally and amplify the voices andcreate equity.
The old narrative that he hadwas you know, I'm from Cuba,
(12:41):
he's from Cuba and that this isthe price I need to pay to be an
American citizen.
And he's recognizing, you know,he's recognized over the last
few years now that that's notokay.
That's not a story that he'swilling to live, that's not a
narrative and that's not anarrative that I'm willing to
allow within Desco.
So if we have anyone who is notokay with any of our employees
(13:04):
employees because of theirethnicity or their race then
that to me is a deal breaker.
We are not going to share afuture in that relationship.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
You mentioned that effective leadership involves
navigating challenges, like youhad to deal with down there in
Florida, and making toughdecisions.
Now, a lot of that requiresself-awareness.
Now, as a leader, what are somekey questions leaders should
ask themselves to betterunderstand their impact on their
(13:39):
staff in the H-10 ministry?
In your opinion, what are somekey questions you think they
should ask themselves?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah.
So I actually think it's morekey questions to ask other
people.
So, you know, there's a certainway that I would say most
leaders want to show up and wecan have great intentions but,
as we know, good intentions pavethe road to tell whatever the
(14:06):
saying is.
And so, getting the input fromthose I mentioned Ignacio in the
early days, he was someone thatI knew would voice honestly
what he felt and thought, and hehas told me some hard truths,
some patterns that I've knownexisted in myself, that I didn't
realize that other people werepicking up on, and so I think
(14:31):
it's really important that, inorder for us to stay in our
integrity, that getting thefeedback about hey, these are
the questions I tend to ask iswhat can you trust me for?
And these actually came from afriend, a friend of mine named
Samir Dua.
He would ask and I ask thesequestions what do you trust me
(14:52):
for?
What can't you trust me for?
What can't you trust me for?
And then it's like the difficultpart of that is then listening,
and I had this question with mykids, my oldest son now about
10 years ago and he told me Someof the things that he couldn't
(15:15):
trust me for was that I wasn'tfully present with him when he
would come home from school andI would get on his case for
doing the chores or doing hishomework, and he had a really
bad day, which was make sure herkids do well in school and are
(15:45):
responsible adults that takecare of their chores.
When he was a teenager a youngteenager and what was of concern
to him were not those things.
He was trying to navigate peerpressure.
He felt shame from a teacherthat publicly scolded him.
He had issues with some friendgroups, but I wasn't taking the
(16:06):
time to meet him where he was at.
So the best way, I would say,for leaders to be able to meet
others where they're at becauseotherwise why are we leaders is
to ask them like what do you see?
How can I support you better?
What do you trust me for?
What can't you trust me for?
And then the part of theself-awareness is then listening
(16:29):
.
And the way that I will coachpeople through this is feel your
butt in your seat, make sureyou're sitting down and, if you
are standing up, feel the flooror the ground beneath you and
just keep breathing down,because oftentimes, when people
tell us what they really thinkof us.
(16:50):
We want to defend ourselves ifwe don't like what we hear,
which does not providepsychological safety.
So people will not feel safebeing honest if we're not able
to contain that and really hearthem.
And the thing that I oftenremind people as their mantra is
this is their experience, soyou can tell them they're wrong,
(17:13):
or you can say what yourintention is, but your behavior
and how you're showing up, basedon their perception of you, is
real and true for them.
So it's like oh, this is yourexperience of me.
Okay, thank you for letting meknow.
This is the experience I'd likeyou to have of me, so you can
(17:33):
ask them.
So when I am reactive or when Icome to you angry or whatever,
can you just signal to me, justsay hey, or just give me some
kind of a sign to bring it to myattention?
And I might not notice it atfirst because it's a habit, but
I am committed to picking up onyour signals and to entering
(17:56):
into this relationship in a waywhere I'm building the
experience that's aligned withwhat I'm trying to produce.
So that's a really long answerfor the self-awareness piece.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Absolutely, hey, I mean, that's just some of the
things.
You just showed that you reallycare about your people.
Now I did a little homework onyou and I read somewhere where
you compare leadershipdevelopment to sports coaching.
Oh yeah, Examine habits beforedeveloping new ones.
Now, what are some commonleadership habits that you think
(18:29):
need to be unlearned?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I would say reactivity.
So oftentimes with what I seewith leaders is the enormous
amount of pressure that peoplehave and that in the same thing
actually, I mean I'll say when Isay leaders, I'm meaning like
everyone has the capacity to bea leader and influence culture,
their organization, their lifeand other people's life.
(18:53):
So what I see with so ifsomeone is, you know, an
employee reporting up tosomebody, they have the stress.
They have field serviceengineer on site, the OR
director is coming at them.
They need, you know, they needcertain information.
They call the office you knowat work and their office doesn't
(19:19):
have the information.
So what could happen is thefield service engineer who's
under this pressure could yell,you know, at the service
coordinator and just say I needthis and just feeling the
pressure.
And so the part around like howdo we have these conversations
and how do we ask like, how dowe check our mood?
And how do we ask like, how dowe check our mood?
(19:40):
So our mood influenceseverything that we do.
And when you ask a like aperformance, an Olympic athlete,
like what they focused onbefore they won the gold medal,
many of them will say I was justtrying to stay relaxed.
So the more relaxed we are, theless energy we're exerting and
(20:01):
the more present we can be, andit doesn't close people off.
So being aware of, okay, whatis really going on with me, we
have choice about the emotionsthat we're in and every minute,
and people don't realize that.
So this reactivity part issomething that's very common
(20:22):
because life can be stressful.
So if we're reacting all thetime, we're actually
disconnecting from others versusbeing a little bit mindful of
like, okay, I can be underpressure and I can also say, hey
, I really need your help,versus why aren't you giving me
the information?
So I would say that that partabout self-awareness and mood
(20:45):
checking before entering into aconversation, I would say like
emotional intelligence, is soimportant that this this I
believe he's a psychologist, hisname is Daniel Goleman and he
did some research in the 90s andhe found that people who were
(21:06):
emotionally intelligent, soemotionally aware, would check
their mood before having certainconversations, were 20% more
productive at work than thosewho were reactive and didn't
have high emotional intelligence.
Those who had low emotionalintelligence underperformed by
(21:26):
20%.
So that's a 40% delta.
So people say you know it usedto be.
Now it's like more evolved, but10 years ago even emotional
intelligence was seen as a softskill and really it's not.
There's like hard data thattranslates into productivity,
performance and just like sports, when we're in these
(21:49):
conversations about our emotions, about what we're at like, how
we're connecting to others ornot, it's a habit.
So for me, I used to be veryreactive.
I would go to anger, didn'treally go to sadness a lot.
Now I'm okay, more comfortablebeing in my sadness when sadness
appears.
I just grew up like sadnessdidn't really have a space.
(22:10):
When I was growing up we weretold to be tough and I really
appreciate that because there'sa lot of resilience I had, but
it also built walls so I didn'treally have close intimate
relationships until I reallyappreciate that because there's
a lot of resilience I had, butit also built walls so I didn't
really have close intimaterelationships until I really
found my husband and I'm sograteful that I did because he
put up with a lot of stuff withme early on.
We've been together for 25years now.
(22:33):
We were.
When I learning, just being in arelationship with my husband
over the years and me as aleader in my early days, I would
get so upset and reactive and Iwould yell at people, and I had
some employees that actuallysaid to me you know, we're human
beings, andrea, and I was likewhat?
(22:54):
I'm like, I know you're humanbeings, and this employee, who
actually is still an employeewith me, so he said this to me
(23:15):
about 20 years ago now he's likeyou know, andrea, I see that
you're looking at the scheduleand you're trying to maximize
our time and, you know, we havefamilies, we have lives outside
of Desco, and so that was likevery eye-opening to me, because
here I am only thinking about weneed to satisfy the customer
and we have to make sure thatwe're, you know, efficient and
all of the things that drive meto be efficient with my high
standards and also a lack offlexibility I was imposing on
other people.
So then I started to go downthis track of learning about
(23:39):
emotional intelligence, learningabout our nervous system and
how that impacts us in all ofour relationships, and what I
learned is that the more that wecan tune in and be in the
discomfort of the differentsensations, of the emotions and
the language that accompaniesthose emotions, the more we can
(23:59):
shift how we're being withothers.
So, just like someone who'slearning a professional sport.
They learn with a coach.
They learn to hone like, say,you know they're playing tennis.
They learn how to, you know,hold a racket or get the spin
optimized, whatever the heckthey do.
And tennis I don't really know,I don't know why I picked that
one, um but they're learningcertain skills and they're
(24:21):
getting the feedback from theircoaches.
Whatever the heck they do intennis, I don't really know, I
don't know why I picked that one, but they're learning certain
skills and they're getting thefeedback from their coaches.
The same is true for leaders.
It's a habit.
So we all have certaintendencies and we all have
things that we're not aware of.
So having a coach and havingthat reflection back by asking
the people closest to us that wereally care about and we value
their opinions and also I alwayssay to people I always
(24:46):
recommend hiring a coach to getthat feedback to help, because
there's always a new edge.
We learn something and then itgets us to a new edge where
there's something else to belearned, and so it's very much
like professional sports we'realways honing our skill.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, now you touched on emotional intelligence.
I can agree with you a thousandpercent that it's definitely
needed in the HTM industry,because I tell people all the
time that EI, emotionalintelligence it helps HTM
professionals Number one.
We become better problemsolvers, leaders and team
(25:25):
players.
Ultimately, it also elevatesthe HTM industry as a whole and
then that in turn brings a greatimpact on healthcare.
Now, htm professionals, youknow we may not always be in the
spotlight, but our work is inthe spotlight every day because
(25:46):
the equipment that we service.
Now, beyond repairing andmaintaining equipment, as HTM
professionals, we know thepotential to drive innovation
and shape the future ofhealthcare.
It's very important to us.
In your opinion, how can HTMprofessionals who, like we said,
works behind the curtain, howdo we become change makers in
(26:09):
health care?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I think it comes down to really understanding what
our customers need.
Understanding what ourcustomers need.
So, if you're working in anacademic institution versus
working in a surgery center, oreven working in a hospital
setting versus a surgery center,where the hospital, their OR,
(26:32):
is running 24 hours a day,whereas a surgery center,
perhaps, is running a little bitless, there's not only does the
equipment have different usageand different wear and tear, the
demands are different.
So people are going to havetheir own needs and they know,
like our customers know, whatthey need, what their center or
(26:54):
hospital requires.
So, just being in tune withthat, so oftentimes I have heard
people in the HTM industry andeven within Desco, you know, in
the past people said, well, weknow that, like this one unit's
down, but they have three otherunits and it's like, okay, we
know that and we really need toget the sense of urgency and
(27:16):
understand like, is theresomething else going on there
with them, that they're underpressure?
Let's have the conversation andmaybe it's fine, maybe someone's
saying I need this done now.
And then the conversation ishey, we'll get there as soon as
we can, and you have these threeother units, are those in use?
And they might say you knowwhat?
Oh, thank you for that reminder, yes, it's fine.
(27:36):
Might say you know what?
Oh, thank you for that reminder, yes, it's fine.
Or they might say you know whatthose are in use.
We have a high patient loadtoday, so we never want to make
assumptions about what ourcustomers need or want.
There's that conversationaround how can I be of service
to you, customer, because I knowthat your needs and your
preferences might be differentfrom someone else's and I just
want to make sure that I'm awareof what they are so I can be
(27:58):
your partner in, you know, beingof service for you.
So I would say, for me, thatwould be key.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yes, that's.
I mean you hit it on the head.
We have to figure out a way tobridge that gap.
I mean because a lot of the biomeds, of all their introverts,
they don't really like talkingto people.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
So we have to communicate and we have to talk,
because the equipment today isso much more driven by
communication it's not justfixing, put it back, we have to
explain it.
A lot, a lot of networking, alot of computers.
Now, that being said, you haveother things that you do outside
(28:39):
of being the CEO of Desco.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Venture Way Collaborative.
I heard you one morning.
I've been listening to youbecause you put some good stuff
out there and you were sayingyou were trying to encourage or
be a coach with public speaking.
How do you think publicspeaking can be of benefit in
the HTM industry?
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Oh yeah.
So this actually goes back toyour last question, being able
to speak confidently.
Where there's this, no matterwhat the other person says,
right?
So if we something like you hadmentioned, if there are people
who are introverts and perhapsstill want to have a
(29:25):
conversation with a customer,the ability to practice doing
that builds so much trust.
So one of the, when I came onboard as an executive at Desco,
I had asked our customers and,like some we lost, some
customers we lost and some thatwe had for a long time.
Like hey, I'm new in thisposition, I've been a part of
(29:46):
Desco for many years now and Ireally want to understand you a
little bit more.
So can you tell me what workedwell, what didn't work well, and
why did you choose Desco or whydid you leave Desco?
For those that left, and what Iheard loud and clear that has
become like a huge part of whoDesco is, is that we want to
(30:08):
hear the bad news.
So if there's a part that'sdelayed, if someone is running
late, if someone can't get theretoday, oftentimes they would
say that we don't hear from ourstaff or our service technician
or in-house person or ouroutside person.
(30:28):
So we want to hear the bad news.
So I started working with theteam at Desco because it was a
theme that many of our customerssaid and I said, ok, we're not
going to be like that.
What we're going to do is we'regoing to proactively tell
people, not only the by whenwe're going to get to a site.
If we hit traffic, if we're alittle bit late, we're going to
(30:51):
call, we're going to let themknow and if, like, let's get
clear on our parameters of whatan emergency is.
So fire, flood, a patient's indanger, a staff is in danger and
we will say to our customer ifwe had a scheduled call and had
to be diverted, we will say toour customer that we couldn't go
to because there was anemergency down the road.
(31:12):
Hey, I am so sorry I can't getthere.
Today.
There is this happening downthe road and we would treat you
with that same urgency if thishappened to you.
So for me, this skill aboutpublic speaking and being able
to speak with confidence is allabout connecting to the audience
(31:37):
.
So I love to coach people ontheir public speaking skills,
not only for the sake of thatone event that they might be
doing to publicly speak.
It actually has a lot of othereffects as well, which are the
practice around speaking moreconfidently, getting because I
(31:57):
give people coaching practices,so one of the coaching practices
I give to people.
So please people, whoever'slistening to this, take this or
leave it.
But if you're someone who gets alittle bit nervous or shy
around connecting with peopleyou don't know or a smaller
large group, is whenever you goto the grocery store or to buy
new clothes.
(32:17):
You go to the grocery store orto buy new clothes.
Have a conversation with thecashier.
Have a conversation like say hiand make eye contact to
somebody in the store, whetherthey work there or not.
Make eye contact when you'rewalking down the street, wave to
somebody and you're going tosee a variety of responses.
You're going to see that thereare some people that roll their
eyes at you.
You're going to see that thereare some people that roll their
(32:38):
eyes at you.
You're going to see some peoplethat are skeptical of you.
You're going to see some peoplethat are willing to talk and
connect and you're going to likemake their day.
But what that practice does isit allows us to see that other
people's reactions to us istheir filter of the world or
maybe their filter of that day.
(33:00):
They're having a bad day, theydon't feel connected.
So it gets us more confident andrealizing that oh, not
everyone's going to shun me orshut me down, that I can
actually make connection withpeople and how they response is
totally up to them and is notnecessarily just a reflection of
me.
(33:20):
So that, right there, that helpsus to build more confidence in
the skin that we're in.
So when we're in front of agroup or a team, or even like a
large stadium of people, thatwe're recognizing that the
people in that room there aregoing to be some people that are
advocating for us to succeedand there are going to be some
people that maybe are waitingfor us to fumble and that the
(33:44):
ability for us to connect withjust one person in that room to
make impact is enough to rippleout and amplify.
So there's a variety ofpractices that we can do to
build up our repertoire forconnecting with others when
we're on the field at HTM, whenwe're in our hospital sites,
when we're talking to ourcustomers, when we're talking to
(34:04):
the CEO of a hospital, whoeverit may be, where it doesn't feel
so fear inducing anymore.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, I guess I must be using those practices,
because my wife always teachesme and tells me I've never met a
stranger, so I guess Icommunicate well.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Now mastering public speaking.
How can that help an HTMprofessional advocate for their
work?
Or maybe to show how much of animpact we do have on the health
care industry?
How can public speaking helpwith that?
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I used to be very sociallyanxious and it was very
difficult for me to speak infront of people.
So one of the things that Iwould do was go to places where
it was low stakes, like I mightgo to a local town.
I went to a town hall meetingonce.
I would ask questions at thegym in front of other members,
(35:11):
at the gym in front of othermembers.
And the reason why I would dothis is because when I would ask
people questions or speak infront of others, my heart would
start to pound really fast, myeyes would begin to tear up and
oftentimes when I was in thatpractice I wouldn't hear the
answer because my nervous systemwas so overwhelmed with like
wanting to get out of therebecause I felt unsafe.
Not that I was unsafe, but mybody was, like you know, flee.
(35:33):
It was the whole like flightresponse showing up.
And I mentioned this because ifwe are feeling those nervous
system, physiological responseswhen we're talking to people at
the job site that we might getnervous, anticipating whatever,
like they might be upset.
(35:54):
So if they're upset we mightwant to avoid that.
So avoiding a conversation is ahabit, is a practice that many
people are very skilled at.
So being able to enter intothose conversations, you know
we've got a lot of pressure onus in the HTM industry, so we
don't always have good news.
We do, we do it's like not evena it's not, it's a non
(36:17):
negotiable.
We do have to tell people thatthe, the unit that they were
relying on for that day togenerate revenue or to, you know
, service their patient care,it's not working.
So if we're not adept at beingable to have those conversations
and noticing our physiologicalresponse, then that's not going
(36:41):
to build trust.
So the whole public speaking,being able to speak into what it
is that is so that we need toconnect with others that, I
would say, is a huge benefit oflearning how, or just being more
skillful at public speaking,because it impacts us every day.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Absolutely.
What type of skills can Imaster in communication that can
maybe elevate my leadershippresence?
But how can you coach me justto make my skills as a leader be
more present?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah.
So one of the questions I wouldask is you know for the sake of
what, like?
What do you care about?
So so, brian, why would youwant to learn how to do this?
Why does this matter to you?
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Okay, you want me to be when you?
Okay, I got a plan.
Okay, well, cause I just wantto be heard.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Ah, okay and okay.
So you want to be heard, andwhat is it that that's important
for you to communicate.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
That I'm capable of Doing more or expecting more
from my manager to provide mewith more training, that I can
work on more equipment.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Oh, awesome.
Ok, and how would this benefityour manager?
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Well, if I get more training, I can probably save
him some money on hiring outsidevendors to come in and do the
repairs.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Oh, that's a huge value.
So basically that's it.
So I would walk people through.
So people have their ownreasons for wanting to either
learn how to publicly speak orto get in front of people.
You know you do a lot of workwith junior achievement and
really making HTM visible tomiddle school and high school
(38:44):
students.
And if there are people outthere that are saying I really
want to advocate for ourindustry because a lot of people
don't even know that we exist,they take it for granted.
So how can I get in front ofpeople like talk to kids or talk
to schools or talk to others tolet them know that this
industry exists?
It all comes down to we all havea voice, we all have a story
(39:07):
and getting clear.
So people like I could never dothat.
I can never publicly speak,which was my story.
I never thought that I could dothat and then I was like no, I
have a story, I want to share itand I also want to invite other
people in.
So this is a skill that I wantto learn.
So it comes down to why do Iwant to learn it?
So that would be the questionis why is it important to you?
(39:28):
What do you see getting in yourway?
So people that come to me,they're like I know that public
speaking is something that is afear of mine and I don't want it
to be anymore Like.
I just want to be able to feela little bit more comfortable
and I just want to be able tolike, not be afraid and avoid.
I want to feel full of vitalityand feel like I'm living
(39:51):
meaningfully and with purpose,and I'm no longer willing to
make excuses for myself thatit's just not something I can do
, because I always say you canlearn anything if you care and
if you are committed and you getthe right support in place,
anybody can learn anything.
And so it comes down to what doyou care about, what are you
committed to?
(40:11):
And that's how I accompanypeople on this public speaking
journey of what is it that wantsto be heard?
And then, who do you need tospeak to and what's?
You know, if it's like aconversation, like you said,
with a boss, is all right.
Put yourself in their position.
What would be a value to them,so you can speak to it from
their position.
Like here's my offer to you.
(40:32):
So it's not just I need this, Iwant this it's.
I really would love yoursupport for me to do this public
speaking, because I know it canhelp us get on the map.
I know it can help us recruitpeople.
I know whatever, you know,whatever it is.
So I think there's a number ofthings that people really care
(40:52):
about and are committed to andthat each one you know, maybe
has a different version of whattheir story or what their care
and commitment and outcomes are.
I have them name.
What are you afraid of?
What's getting in your way?
Let's not have it be thismysterious anxiety that lives in
(41:12):
your body.
Let's find where in your bodythe anxiety lives and what shape
, what's the sensation, what'sthe language that's going with
that, so we can demystify it,work with it, name it and then
move with it, versus trying torepress it.
Did that answer your question,brian?
(41:33):
I just get very excited aboutthis.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
Yeah, you did.
I mean, I guess it's the firstpodcast episode I ever did a
role play, but I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
I like it.
I didn't mean to put you on thespot.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I'm good with it.
Hey, I like it.
And it turned into it'sliterally turned into a public
speaking episode, which isawesome, Because I think a lot
of HTM professionals need toknow how to speak more publicly.
And this question popped in myhead while you was giving your
answer to the last question andyou mentioned about public
(42:07):
speaking and the benefits of it.
And you mentioned about publicspeaking and the benefits of it.
Now, how?
Speaker 2 (42:18):
can improving.
I just say me how improving mypublic speaking skills enhance
the ability for me to inspireothers.
Oh, I love that question.
You know People will come up tome and I've heard this and
others that I have coached inpublic speaking as well is
people going up to them andsaying, oh my gosh, you made it
accessible.
I now see that, because of whatyou just demonstrated, I can
(42:43):
see that I can do that too to.
And really what that like.
When people give that kind ofresponse, it's because the
person who's speaking to them isbeing genuine.
And when we're being genuine,people know it.
We all have very good BS meters,so our nervous systems are
always broadcasting to eachother and picking up on each
(43:06):
other.
So we've got like these littlehits of can I, you know, trust
this person?
Can I not trust this person?
So we all have these certainfeelings around different people
.
There are some people thatdrain us.
There are some people that giveus energy.
There's some people that feel alittle bit slippery and maybe
we're not sure why.
So when we're in our fullintegrity and we are authentic,
(43:29):
that's when people respond whoare also looking and valuing
high on, like their value isauthenticity that gives people
permission and, uh, theaccessibility, to pursue it as
well.
So for me, that, like whenpeople come up to me after like
I want to do what you just did,I'm like that's awesome, because
(43:51):
that's basically why I do it,cause I saw some people do it.
I'm like I really love whatthey're saying and I love who
they are, and I want to be seenin that way and really what it
was was authenticity andaccessibility, which are two
very for me, those are very, twoimportant values.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Okay, Andrea, I mean we probably can go on.
What's next for you?
Are there any new projects orinitiatives that you're excited
about?
Seems like you're excited aboutwaking up every day.
So what are some new projectsyou got going on?
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Yeah, so we are starting to in.
We do internal training, uh,for our sterilizers up in the
northeast in our hadley office,massachusetts, and then we do in
durell, florida.
We have sea arms there andscope washers and we are going
to start offering externaltraining on those modalities.
(44:52):
So I'm really excited aboutdoing, you know, offering
external training.
So I'd say that's in the DescoHTM world.
That's what I'm really excitedabout capitalizing on people's
collective wisdom within Desco.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Now, when you say external training training you
mean you're going to trainpeople outside of desco?
Yes, oh wow yeah yeah, becausesterilizers repair technicians
are a rare item these days, soit's not many yeah, and we can
teach people, uh, to do first.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
look, you know, I mean really, um, a lot of people
need sometimes just to likethere's a lot of, you know, like
anything else.
There's some repairs that arepretty frequent, some things to
assess and check.
So I would love for more peopleto have that opportunity for
(45:45):
their own in-house to be ofservice.
And now, you know, with we'reseeing some cuts in NIH funding,
telehealth reimbursements gonedown.
So if we're seeing somereimbursement cuts, there could
be the potential where ourservice contracts are also
reduced as well.
So we want to give people thatare in-house, who work directly
(46:07):
for healthcare systems, thepower to be able to service
certain things on their own ifthey don't have the budget to
have maintenance contracts withus outside of it.
So we're just kind ofanticipating what market changes
may be coming up.
Maybe not, but otherwise it'slike wow, we love to train, so
(46:28):
why wouldn't we offer thisexternally anyway?
Speaker 1 (46:32):
Okay Now I always ask this one question at the end
what advice or encouragement, ormaybe some inspiring knowledge
you can share with the HTMindustry?
Speaker 2 (46:48):
I would say this is a broad, this is a broad response
that is relevant, I would say,for everybody is to find find
your peers, find your people,find the people within the HTM
industry who share your valuesand can reflect back to you who
(47:09):
you are, versus surroundingyourself with people who you
feel like might be cutting youdown or might be telling you
you're not doing good enough oryou're not practicing your
skills well enough, whatever itis like.
Find the people who are honestwith you and also who support
(47:30):
and have your back.
I think that for us, as humanbeings, who tend to isolate and
we're pretty hard on ourselves,and especially women just
speaking as a woman within amale dominated industry, to be
able to find those who arewilling to sponsor, mentor,
amplify, accompany us is so, soimportant.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Great answer.
Now I got one more bonus.
This is more of a personalbonus.
You in front of a bunch of 12year olds.
What would you tell them aboutthe HTM industry?
Speaker 2 (48:07):
I would tell them that it is a very challenging
and rewarding career industry tobe in that.
You know, one of my favoritethings about it is that it
changes every day, so you'rewith different challenges.
You have to troubleshootdifferently.
(48:29):
So, being creative I wasactually talking to my
15-year-old son about this todayis that what I love about it is
that you have to be creative.
You need to be able to not onlybe aware of how you're showing
up in your mood.
If you're in crisis, or ifyou're upset or you're
frustrated, you're not going tofigure anything out because your
(48:49):
amygdala is going to behijacked and your nervous system
is going to be overwhelmed.
So, being able to look at theproblem, to understand, like,
what are the steps, and to reachout when you know you need to
reach out, versus trying to bangyour head against the wall and
figure it out, it's the mostsupportive industry that I have
(49:10):
experienced.
It is the most collaborativeand the most creative and the
most challenging and rewarding,and it's accessible.
The other thing I would say,too, is that a lot of places are
willing to give you on-the-jobtraining, and I know a lot of
(49:31):
organizations that also pay forthe CBET certification, and so
there's a lot of opportunitiesfor growth and competency
development.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
What would you say?
Speaker 2 (49:44):
Bryant.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
I know you was talking to 12-year-olds.
The people in the industryright now can use that advice.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
It's true.
What would you say?
I'm curious.
I say to 12.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Yeah, yeah, oh man, I would.
First I would tell them thatit's an industry that every day,
you don't know what you'regoing to expect when you walk
into the hospital.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
You don't know what you're going to expect when you
walk into the hospital.
Speaker 1 (50:09):
Yeah, every day is different and it's always.
That's the good part, I guess,and the bad part.
But every day you go to work.
It's not mundane, it's notboring.
Every day is going to be anexciting day Totally, and you
get to do something that'slife-saving.
Yes, I used to see people likeI work at a children's hospital,
so I work at a children'shospital, so I see the benefit
of our work when I see thesekids walking around with a piece
(50:32):
of an IV pump that helps themwalk around, or when you go in
the ICU and you see these babiesadvancing.
Just to tell you this one quickstory with you.
This past weekend we had our.
There's a fundraiser they haveevery year.
It's the 43rd anniversary forthe Sugar Plum.
It's a fundraising ball theygive every year.
It's the 43rd anniversary forthe sugar plum.
It's a fundraising ball to giveevery year, gala rather, and
(50:52):
they had um.
I think he was 11 or 12 yearold kid and he was singing um
eye of the tiger and he cameinto the hospital as at one
pound and I can't remember howmany months he was there, but he
was there a few months and justto see him at 12 years old on
stage singing in front of thepeople that probably took care
(51:15):
of him was amazing.
So oh my gosh, that is amazingyeah, so baume had a part in
that also, because he was in icu, he was on medical equipment,
it's like a nurse and doctor.
So that's what I tell the kidswhat you do is just as important
as the doctors and nurses,because without the medical
equipment you can't take care ofthe patients, and that usually
(51:37):
catches their attention somewhat.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
Oh, that's beautiful.
That is so beautiful.
I like your story.
Your answer is way morecompelling.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
Andrea, I appreciate you coming on.
You're welcome to come backanytime.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
Oh, thanks.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
And it was an enjoyable conversation.
It was different and I likedifferent, you know, and Any
other.
Anytime you want to come back,you're always welcome.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
Oh, thank you.
I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
Thank you, what a powerful episode.
A huge thank you to AndreaBerdenka for sharing her journey
from growing up in the Descofamily business to becoming a
thoughtful, intentional leaderwho's helping transform not only
her team but the HTM industryas a whole, but the HTM industry
(52:30):
as a whole.
Her vulnerability, wisdom andcommitment to continuous growth
are exactly what this industryneeds more of.
If you're in the HTM industryand wondering how to lead better
, connect more deeply or evenstep into public speaking to
advocate for your impact, thisepisode should be saved and
replayed Until next time.
(52:52):
Keep pushing the boundaries,stay passionate and always
strive to make an impact.
See you on the next episode ofHTM Online.
Y'all be safe out there.
Welcome back to another impactful episode of HTM
on the Line.
I'm your host, bryant HawkinsSr, and today we're going to
have a truly enrichingconversation with a remarkable
leader in the healthcaretechnology management industry.
My guest is none other thanAndrea Berdinka, ceo of Desco,
(00:27):
medical leadership coach, publicspeaking advocate and someone
who's deeply passionate aboutinclusive workplaces and
emotional intelligence.
Not only has she helped expandDesco's footprint across the
East Coast, but she's alsoinspiring leaders to lead with
(00:47):
presence, compassion and courage.
We cover everything from howDesco serves over 200 surgery
centers to how Andrea navigatedhard lessons in leadership, to
why emotional intelligence andpublic speaking are game
changers for HTM professionals.
(01:08):
Trust me, you will walk awaywith more than just insight.
You'll walk away withinspiration.
Let's get to it.
We'll be right back.
(01:49):
Welcome to another episode ofHTM on the Line.
Today I have a very specialguest, ms Andrea Burdenka.
How are you doing today, andrea?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I'm doing really well .
How are you?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I'm doing just fine.
Thank you for coming on, I'mexcited.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Glad to have you, are you?
Speaker 1 (02:05):
you, I'm doing just fine.
Thank you for coming on.
I'm glad to have you, youexcited.
Yeah, now, before we getstarted, I know it's a little
generic question, but tell us alittle bit about yourself for
those who may not know, andreaBurdenka.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, I'm a mother of three boys.
The oldest is 23, the youngestis 15.
And my middle son is 22.
I reside in WesternMassachusetts, near the
Connecticut line in Ludlow, andI am.
(02:40):
Something to know about me isthat on one of the leadership
you know there's so manyleadership assessments out there
.
So on the Myers-Briggs, I'm anENFP, if that means anything to
anybody.
And one of another assessment Itook that I can't remember the
name of, I got 100% collaborator, so I rate high on
(03:03):
collaborative.
So I'm a very collaborative,that my leadership style is very
collaborative.
So I do love to bring people inand include my boys and men, I
should really say, in all of myendeavors, and my husband as
well.
So, yeah, I like to integrateall the different parts of my
(03:25):
worlds and so they sort ofoverlap and synthesize into each
other.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Okay, great.
Now.
The main reason why I have youon here is, of course, your
relationship to the healthcaretechnology technology management
industry.
Yeah and Desco.
Now what is your position withDesco?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
I am the CEO and second generation owner.
My father founded Desco in 1970.
So April 1st is our 55th 2025,our 55th anniversary and you
know the HTM industry has alwaysbeen.
I always refer to it as myolder brother.
(04:11):
I grew up with Desco.
My mom was one of, you know, mydad's first employees when he
started out and then she was anurse practitioner, so she just
helped him a little bit in thebeginning and then I brought her
actually back on some years agoand she retired.
Now it's been five or six years, but Desco's been a family,
(04:31):
very much a family business.
We had family members workingthere.
We have employees who havefamily members that work there.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
So Desco, give us a little bit more of what Desco
has to offer to the HTM industry.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, oh, I love that question.
So when I came on board DescoI've been working on and off
Desco since I was in middleschool and when I came on in an
executive role back in 2000.
So I was named the CEO in 2005.
(05:08):
So it's my 20th year and I'vebeen in an executive role since
2000.
One of the things I really lovedabout it what my dad brought to
Desco was we started inlaboratory and then over the
years evolved into differentmarkets that had like specialty
markets.
So in the 90s he startedservicing sterilizers in ORs and
(05:37):
then when I came on board in2000, we started to expand our
imaging.
We started to expand ourimaging and and gosh, 2000, 2008
, we really started specializingor adding to, I should say,
surgery centers to ourrepertoire.
So we service, um, a wholebunch over, I would say I think
(06:00):
it's up to 200 surgery centersfrom Florida up to Maine.
And so we take the in-housebiomed clinical engineering or
HTM, rather Gosh, that's so oldschool.
We take the model of in-houseHTM and we do a hybrid for the
(06:25):
surgery centers.
So we have, although we're notin-house at surgery centers
because we have so manydifferent modalities that we
serve, we have multiple fieldservice techs and engineers that
go to the different surgerycenters.
So we really offer a holisticapproach and with that ability
(06:49):
to diversify we've gone into weservice ice machines, which
started off as an ask from asurgery center and so now we do
them at our hospitals.
But we also do movie theaters,we do restaurants, so we service
ice machines in differentmarket segments.
And we also started arelationship with a manufacturer
(07:12):
called Acuity Brands.
Acuity Brands manufacturelighting like beautiful, like
stadium lighting, lighting theydo lighting in you know the
street lighting, highwaylighting.
They do lights in you knowdepartment stores.
So we are their service armacross the country.
(07:33):
So we've diversified in othermodalities as well.
So we do HDM primarily andwe've taken that staffing model
into other sectors, which to methat's super collaborative
because we're always inconversations with our customers
and prospects to say what doyou need?
(07:54):
How do we take our skills andtransfer them to what it is that
you need?
And we've been very it's been areally fun, collaborative,
strategic process that'sinvolved so many people within
Desco and also our customerpartners.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Oh man, that's.
That's amazing, the way youtook your brand and expanded it
Now with this large amount ofpeople.
You say you work from Floridato Maine, so you probably have
employees of all ages, races andgenders.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
How do you, I guess, incorporate inclusivity into
your leadership and coaching ofthat many people?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And it's really interesting to me because this
has been something that has beena huge source of learning the
inclusivity part and also havingpeople of different races,
especially when, years ago, ouroffice in Miami is led by
Ignacio Ortega, who's ourdirector of operations there, so
he and I actually used to workside by side.
So he was a field serviceengineer and I was doing quality
(09:14):
assurance years ago.
So I just mean like we wereside by side as far as our
parallel in our roles andauthority and over the years I
really enjoyed working with him.
I really loved like as I wasbecoming more of an executive in
an executive role.
He was someone who was notafraid to give me feedback, to
(09:37):
voice his dissatisfaction, so Ireally learned to trust him and
he is one of my key.
He's on the leadership team,he's one of the key people that
I really rely on on Desco andyears ago it happened in, I'd
say, 2010, we had a customer whois in the Northern Florida area
, north of Miami, who didn'twant people who spoke with an
(10:04):
accent, so she wanted English,fluent English technicians to
service her site and Ignacio hadcalled me and said hey, you
know, it was one of these thingswhere it was like this is
normal for him.
He saw it as you know, this issomething that you know, people
can be ignorant and wanted to beof service and so called me
(10:29):
down to meet with the customer.
And at that time and I'm reallyI'm not proud of this at all At
that time I went down there,had a conversation with her and
you know, a part of theconversation was that she was
treating some of our employees.
She would make some of themwait in the parking lot, but
(10:49):
those who spoke fluent English,those who were white, were
allowed in, and so I voiced myconcern and my dismay with that,
but I didn't fire her as acustomer.
Today, I would absolutely fireher as a customer Today, I would
absolutely fire her as acustomer.
And in the conversations we hadwithin Desco it was like okay,
this is normal, we need to workaround this.
(11:11):
And so, over the years, whenyou ask, how do you include the
inclusivity across all thegenders and all the regions and
all the races?
I didn't always do that well,and so a part of the learning
over time has been understanding, like me, as a white woman so
I'm a white woman notrecognizing that I had privilege
(11:34):
.
I grew up in Medfield,massachusetts, which is
primarily a white affluent townoutside of Boston and was very
sheltered, was very ignorantuntil I went to college in
Baltimore, where there was morediversity and it really opened
my eyes to learn and heardifferent people's experience.
I didn't realize I lived in abubble until I went to a city
(11:57):
where I was exposed to differentraces, ethnicities, genders as
well, and so that informed apart of my consciousness.
There, when I went down and weworked around this customer, we
kept her on board as a customerand saying like that was wrong
of me.
(12:17):
And Ignacio will share hisstory too, and he's been open
about me.
Sharing the story as well isthat he will no longer allow or
tolerate that as well, becausehe's realizing that's
dehumanizing not only him buthis team and he wants to be an
ally and amplify the voices andcreate equity.
The old narrative that he hadwas you know, I'm from Cuba,
(12:41):
he's from Cuba and that this isthe price I need to pay to be an
American citizen.
And he's recognizing, you know,he's recognized over the last
few years now that that's notokay.
That's not a story that he'swilling to live, that's not a
narrative and that's not anarrative that I'm willing to
allow within Desco.
So if we have anyone who is notokay with any of our employees
(13:04):
employees because of theirethnicity or their race then
that to me is a deal breaker.
We are not going to share afuture in that relationship.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
You mentioned that effective leadership involves
navigating challenges, like youhad to deal with down there in
Florida, and making toughdecisions.
Now, a lot of that requiresself-awareness.
Now, as a leader, what are somekey questions leaders should
ask themselves to betterunderstand their impact on their
(13:39):
staff in the H-10 ministry?
In your opinion, what are somekey questions you think they
should ask themselves?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah.
So I actually think it's morekey questions to ask other
people.
So, you know, there's a certainway that I would say most
leaders want to show up and wecan have great intentions but,
as we know, good intentions pavethe road to tell whatever the
(14:06):
saying is.
And so, getting the input fromthose I mentioned Ignacio in the
early days, he was someone thatI knew would voice honestly
what he felt and thought, and hehas told me some hard truths,
some patterns that I've knownexisted in myself, that I didn't
realize that other people werepicking up on, and so I think
(14:31):
it's really important that, inorder for us to stay in our
integrity, that getting thefeedback about hey, these are
the questions I tend to ask iswhat can you trust me for?
And these actually came from afriend, a friend of mine named
Samir Dua.
He would ask and I ask thesequestions what do you trust me
(14:52):
for?
What can't you trust me for?
What can't you trust me for?
And then it's like the difficultpart of that is then listening,
and I had this question with mykids, my oldest son now about
10 years ago and he told me Someof the things that he couldn't
(15:15):
trust me for was that I wasn'tfully present with him when he
would come home from school andI would get on his case for
doing the chores or doing hishomework, and he had a really
bad day, which was make sure herkids do well in school and are
(15:45):
responsible adults that takecare of their chores.
When he was a teenager a youngteenager and what was of concern
to him were not those things.
He was trying to navigate peerpressure.
He felt shame from a teacherthat publicly scolded him.
He had issues with some friendgroups, but I wasn't taking the
(16:06):
time to meet him where he was at.
So the best way, I would say,for leaders to be able to meet
others where they're at becauseotherwise why are we leaders is
to ask them like what do you see?
How can I support you better?
What do you trust me for?
What can't you trust me for?
And then the part of theself-awareness is then listening
(16:29):
.
And the way that I will coachpeople through this is feel your
butt in your seat, make sureyou're sitting down and, if you
are standing up, feel the flooror the ground beneath you and
just keep breathing down,because oftentimes, when people
tell us what they really thinkof us.
(16:50):
We want to defend ourselves ifwe don't like what we hear,
which does not providepsychological safety.
So people will not feel safebeing honest if we're not able
to contain that and really hearthem.
And the thing that I oftenremind people as their mantra is
this is their experience, soyou can tell them they're wrong,
(17:13):
or you can say what yourintention is, but your behavior
and how you're showing up, basedon their perception of you, is
real and true for them.
So it's like oh, this is yourexperience of me.
Okay, thank you for letting meknow.
This is the experience I'd likeyou to have of me, so you can
(17:33):
ask them.
So when I am reactive or when Icome to you angry or whatever,
can you just signal to me, justsay hey, or just give me some
kind of a sign to bring it to myattention?
And I might not notice it atfirst because it's a habit, but
I am committed to picking up onyour signals and to entering
(17:56):
into this relationship in a waywhere I'm building the
experience that's aligned withwhat I'm trying to produce.
So that's a really long answerfor the self-awareness piece.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Absolutely, hey, I mean, that's just some of the
things.
You just showed that you reallycare about your people.
Now I did a little homework onyou and I read somewhere where
you compare leadershipdevelopment to sports coaching.
Oh yeah, Examine habits beforedeveloping new ones.
Now, what are some commonleadership habits that you think
(18:29):
need to be unlearned?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
I would say reactivity.
So oftentimes with what I seewith leaders is the enormous
amount of pressure that peoplehave and that in the same thing
actually, I mean I'll say when Isay leaders, I'm meaning like
everyone has the capacity to bea leader and influence culture,
their organization, their lifeand other people's life.
(18:53):
So what I see with so ifsomeone is, you know, an
employee reporting up tosomebody, they have the stress.
They have field serviceengineer on site, the OR
director is coming at them.
They need, you know, they needcertain information.
They call the office you knowat work and their office doesn't
(19:19):
have the information.
So what could happen is thefield service engineer who's
under this pressure could yell,you know, at the service
coordinator and just say I needthis and just feeling the
pressure.
And so the part around like howdo we have these conversations
and how do we ask like, how dowe check our mood?
And how do we ask like, how dowe check our mood?
(19:40):
So our mood influenceseverything that we do.
And when you ask a like aperformance, an Olympic athlete,
like what they focused onbefore they won the gold medal,
many of them will say I was justtrying to stay relaxed.
So the more relaxed we are, theless energy we're exerting and
(20:01):
the more present we can be, andit doesn't close people off.
So being aware of, okay, whatis really going on with me, we
have choice about the emotionsthat we're in and every minute,
and people don't realize that.
So this reactivity part issomething that's very common
(20:22):
because life can be stressful.
So if we're reacting all thetime, we're actually
disconnecting from others versusbeing a little bit mindful of
like, okay, I can be underpressure and I can also say, hey
, I really need your help,versus why aren't you giving me
the information?
So I would say that that partabout self-awareness and mood
(20:45):
checking before entering into aconversation, I would say like
emotional intelligence, is soimportant that this this I
believe he's a psychologist, hisname is Daniel Goleman and he
did some research in the 90s andhe found that people who were
(21:06):
emotionally intelligent, soemotionally aware, would check
their mood before having certainconversations, were 20% more
productive at work than thosewho were reactive and didn't
have high emotional intelligence.
Those who had low emotionalintelligence underperformed by
(21:26):
20%.
So that's a 40% delta.
So people say you know it usedto be.
Now it's like more evolved, but10 years ago even emotional
intelligence was seen as a softskill and really it's not.
There's like hard data thattranslates into productivity,
performance and just like sports, when we're in these
(21:49):
conversations about our emotions, about what we're at like, how
we're connecting to others ornot, it's a habit.
So for me, I used to be veryreactive.
I would go to anger, didn'treally go to sadness a lot.
Now I'm okay, more comfortablebeing in my sadness when sadness
appears.
I just grew up like sadnessdidn't really have a space.
(22:10):
When I was growing up we weretold to be tough and I really
appreciate that because there'sa lot of resilience I had, but
it also built walls so I didn'treally have close intimate
relationships until I reallyappreciate that because there's
a lot of resilience I had, butit also built walls so I didn't
really have close intimaterelationships until I really
found my husband and I'm sograteful that I did because he
put up with a lot of stuff withme early on.
We've been together for 25years now.
(22:33):
We were.
When I learning, just being in arelationship with my husband
over the years and me as aleader in my early days, I would
get so upset and reactive and Iwould yell at people, and I had
some employees that actuallysaid to me you know, we're human
beings, andrea, and I was likewhat?
(22:54):
I'm like, I know you're humanbeings, and this employee, who
actually is still an employeewith me, so he said this to me
(23:15):
about 20 years ago now he's likeyou know, andrea, I see that
you're looking at the scheduleand you're trying to maximize
our time and, you know, we havefamilies, we have lives outside
of Desco, and so that was likevery eye-opening to me, because
here I am only thinking about weneed to satisfy the customer
and we have to make sure thatwe're, you know, efficient and
all of the things that drive meto be efficient with my high
standards and also a lack offlexibility I was imposing on
other people.
So then I started to go downthis track of learning about
(23:39):
emotional intelligence, learningabout our nervous system and
how that impacts us in all ofour relationships, and what I
learned is that the more that wecan tune in and be in the
discomfort of the differentsensations, of the emotions and
the language that accompaniesthose emotions, the more we can
(23:59):
shift how we're being withothers.
So, just like someone who'slearning a professional sport.
They learn with a coach.
They learn to hone like, say,you know they're playing tennis.
They learn how to, you know,hold a racket or get the spin
optimized, whatever the heckthey do.
And tennis I don't really know,I don't know why I picked that
one, um but they're learningcertain skills and they're
(24:21):
getting the feedback from theircoaches.
Whatever the heck they do intennis, I don't really know, I
don't know why I picked that one, but they're learning certain
skills and they're getting thefeedback from their coaches.
The same is true for leaders.
It's a habit.
So we all have certaintendencies and we all have
things that we're not aware of.
So having a coach and havingthat reflection back by asking
the people closest to us that wereally care about and we value
their opinions and also I alwayssay to people I always
(24:46):
recommend hiring a coach to getthat feedback to help, because
there's always a new edge.
We learn something and then itgets us to a new edge where
there's something else to belearned, and so it's very much
like professional sports we'realways honing our skill.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, now you touched on emotional intelligence.
I can agree with you a thousandpercent that it's definitely
needed in the HTM industry,because I tell people all the
time that EI, emotionalintelligence it helps HTM
professionals Number one.
We become better problemsolvers, leaders and team
(25:25):
players.
Ultimately, it also elevatesthe HTM industry as a whole and
then that in turn brings a greatimpact on healthcare.
Now, htm professionals, youknow we may not always be in the
spotlight, but our work is inthe spotlight every day because
(25:46):
the equipment that we service.
Now, beyond repairing andmaintaining equipment, as HTM
professionals, we know thepotential to drive innovation
and shape the future ofhealthcare.
It's very important to us.
In your opinion, how can HTMprofessionals who, like we said,
works behind the curtain, howdo we become change makers in
(26:09):
health care?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I think it comes down to really understanding what
our customers need.
Understanding what ourcustomers need.
So, if you're working in anacademic institution versus
working in a surgery center, oreven working in a hospital
setting versus a surgery center,where the hospital, their OR,
(26:32):
is running 24 hours a day,whereas a surgery center,
perhaps, is running a little bitless, there's not only does the
equipment have different usageand different wear and tear, the
demands are different.
So people are going to havetheir own needs and they know,
like our customers know, whatthey need, what their center or
(26:54):
hospital requires.
So, just being in tune withthat, so oftentimes I have heard
people in the HTM industry andeven within Desco, you know, in
the past people said, well, weknow that, like this one unit's
down, but they have three otherunits and it's like, okay, we
know that and we really need toget the sense of urgency and
(27:16):
understand like, is theresomething else going on there
with them, that they're underpressure?
Let's have the conversation andmaybe it's fine, maybe someone's
saying I need this done now.
And then the conversation ishey, we'll get there as soon as
we can, and you have these threeother units, are those in use?
And they might say you knowwhat?
Oh, thank you for that reminder, yes, it's fine.
(27:36):
Might say you know what?
Oh, thank you for that reminder, yes, it's fine.
Or they might say you know whatthose are in use.
We have a high patient loadtoday, so we never want to make
assumptions about what ourcustomers need or want.
There's that conversationaround how can I be of service
to you, customer, because I knowthat your needs and your
preferences might be differentfrom someone else's and I just
want to make sure that I'm awareof what they are so I can be
(27:58):
your partner in, you know, beingof service for you.
So I would say, for me, thatwould be key.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Yes, that's.
I mean you hit it on the head.
We have to figure out a way tobridge that gap.
I mean because a lot of the biomeds, of all their introverts,
they don't really like talkingto people.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
So we have to communicate and we have to talk,
because the equipment today isso much more driven by
communication it's not justfixing, put it back, we have to
explain it.
A lot, a lot of networking, alot of computers.
Now, that being said, you haveother things that you do outside
(28:39):
of being the CEO of Desco.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Venture Way Collaborative.
I heard you one morning.
I've been listening to youbecause you put some good stuff
out there and you were sayingyou were trying to encourage or
be a coach with public speaking.
How do you think publicspeaking can be of benefit in
the HTM industry?
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Oh yeah.
So this actually goes back toyour last question, being able
to speak confidently.
Where there's this, no matterwhat the other person says,
right?
So if we something like you hadmentioned, if there are people
who are introverts and perhapsstill want to have a
(29:25):
conversation with a customer,the ability to practice doing
that builds so much trust.
So one of the, when I came onboard as an executive at Desco,
I had asked our customers and,like some we lost, some
customers we lost and some thatwe had for a long time.
Like hey, I'm new in thisposition, I've been a part of
(29:46):
Desco for many years now and Ireally want to understand you a
little bit more.
So can you tell me what workedwell, what didn't work well, and
why did you choose Desco or whydid you leave Desco?
For those that left, and what Iheard loud and clear that has
become like a huge part of whoDesco is, is that we want to
(30:08):
hear the bad news.
So if there's a part that'sdelayed, if someone is running
late, if someone can't get theretoday, oftentimes they would
say that we don't hear from ourstaff or our service technician
or in-house person or ouroutside person.
(30:28):
So we want to hear the bad news.
So I started working with theteam at Desco because it was a
theme that many of our customerssaid and I said, ok, we're not
going to be like that.
What we're going to do is we'regoing to proactively tell
people, not only the by whenwe're going to get to a site.
If we hit traffic, if we're alittle bit late, we're going to
(30:51):
call, we're going to let themknow and if, like, let's get
clear on our parameters of whatan emergency is.
So fire, flood, a patient's indanger, a staff is in danger and
we will say to our customer ifwe had a scheduled call and had
to be diverted, we will say toour customer that we couldn't go
to because there was anemergency down the road.
(31:12):
Hey, I am so sorry I can't getthere.
Today.
There is this happening downthe road and we would treat you
with that same urgency if thishappened to you.
So for me, this skill aboutpublic speaking and being able
to speak with confidence is allabout connecting to the audience
(31:37):
.
So I love to coach people ontheir public speaking skills,
not only for the sake of thatone event that they might be
doing to publicly speak.
It actually has a lot of othereffects as well, which are the
practice around speaking moreconfidently, getting because I
(31:57):
give people coaching practices,so one of the coaching practices
I give to people.
So please people, whoever'slistening to this, take this or
leave it.
But if you're someone who gets alittle bit nervous or shy
around connecting with peopleyou don't know or a smaller
large group, is whenever you goto the grocery store or to buy
new clothes.
(32:17):
You go to the grocery store orto buy new clothes.
Have a conversation with thecashier.
Have a conversation like say hiand make eye contact to
somebody in the store, whetherthey work there or not.
Make eye contact when you'rewalking down the street, wave to
somebody and you're going tosee a variety of responses.
You're going to see that thereare some people that roll their
eyes at you.
You're going to see that thereare some people that roll their
(32:38):
eyes at you.
You're going to see some peoplethat are skeptical of you.
You're going to see some peoplethat are willing to talk and
connect and you're going to likemake their day.
But what that practice does isit allows us to see that other
people's reactions to us istheir filter of the world or
maybe their filter of that day.
(33:00):
They're having a bad day, theydon't feel connected.
So it gets us more confident andrealizing that oh, not
everyone's going to shun me orshut me down, that I can
actually make connection withpeople and how they response is
totally up to them and is notnecessarily just a reflection of
me.
(33:20):
So that, right there, that helpsus to build more confidence in
the skin that we're in.
So when we're in front of agroup or a team, or even like a
large stadium of people, thatwe're recognizing that the
people in that room there aregoing to be some people that are
advocating for us to succeedand there are going to be some
people that maybe are waitingfor us to fumble and that the
(33:44):
ability for us to connect withjust one person in that room to
make impact is enough to rippleout and amplify.
So there's a variety ofpractices that we can do to
build up our repertoire forconnecting with others when
we're on the field at HTM, whenwe're in our hospital sites,
when we're talking to ourcustomers, when we're talking to
(34:04):
the CEO of a hospital, whoeverit may be, where it doesn't feel
so fear inducing anymore.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, I guess I must be using those practices,
because my wife always teachesme and tells me I've never met a
stranger, so I guess Icommunicate well.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Now mastering public speaking.
How can that help an HTMprofessional advocate for their
work?
Or maybe to show how much of animpact we do have on the health
care industry?
How can public speaking helpwith that?
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So I used to be very sociallyanxious and it was very
difficult for me to speak infront of people.
So one of the things that Iwould do was go to places where
it was low stakes, like I mightgo to a local town.
I went to a town hall meetingonce.
I would ask questions at thegym in front of other members,
(35:11):
at the gym in front of othermembers.
And the reason why I would dothis is because when I would ask
people questions or speak infront of others, my heart would
start to pound really fast, myeyes would begin to tear up and
oftentimes when I was in thatpractice I wouldn't hear the
answer because my nervous systemwas so overwhelmed with like
wanting to get out of therebecause I felt unsafe.
Not that I was unsafe, but mybody was, like you know, flee.
(35:33):
It was the whole like flightresponse showing up.
And I mentioned this because ifwe are feeling those nervous
system, physiological responseswhen we're talking to people at
the job site that we might getnervous, anticipating whatever,
like they might be upset.
(35:54):
So if they're upset we mightwant to avoid that.
So avoiding a conversation is ahabit, is a practice that many
people are very skilled at.
So being able to enter intothose conversations, you know
we've got a lot of pressure onus in the HTM industry, so we
don't always have good news.
We do, we do it's like not evena it's not, it's a non
(36:17):
negotiable.
We do have to tell people thatthe, the unit that they were
relying on for that day togenerate revenue or to, you know
, service their patient care,it's not working.
So if we're not adept at beingable to have those conversations
and noticing our physiologicalresponse, then that's not going
(36:41):
to build trust.
So the whole public speaking,being able to speak into what it
is that is so that we need toconnect with others that, I
would say, is a huge benefit oflearning how, or just being more
skillful at public speaking,because it impacts us every day.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Absolutely.
What type of skills can Imaster in communication that can
maybe elevate my leadershippresence?
But how can you coach me justto make my skills as a leader be
more present?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah.
So one of the questions I wouldask is you know for the sake of
what, like?
What do you care about?
So so, brian, why would youwant to learn how to do this?
Why does this matter to you?
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Okay, you want me to be when you?
Okay, I got a plan.
Okay, well, cause I just wantto be heard.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Ah, okay and okay.
So you want to be heard, andwhat is it that that's important
for you to communicate.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
That I'm capable of Doing more or expecting more
from my manager to provide mewith more training, that I can
work on more equipment.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Oh, awesome.
Ok, and how would this benefityour manager?
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Well, if I get more training, I can probably save
him some money on hiring outsidevendors to come in and do the
repairs.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Oh, that's a huge value.
So basically that's it.
So I would walk people through.
So people have their ownreasons for wanting to either
learn how to publicly speak orto get in front of people.
You know you do a lot of workwith junior achievement and
really making HTM visible tomiddle school and high school
(38:44):
students.
And if there are people outthere that are saying I really
want to advocate for ourindustry because a lot of people
don't even know that we exist,they take it for granted.
So how can I get in front ofpeople like talk to kids or talk
to schools or talk to others tolet them know that this
industry exists?
It all comes down to we all havea voice, we all have a story
(39:07):
and getting clear.
So people like I could never dothat.
I can never publicly speak,which was my story.
I never thought that I could dothat and then I was like no, I
have a story, I want to share itand I also want to invite other
people in.
So this is a skill that I wantto learn.
So it comes down to why do Iwant to learn it?
So that would be the questionis why is it important to you?
(39:28):
What do you see getting in yourway?
So people that come to me,they're like I know that public
speaking is something that is afear of mine and I don't want it
to be anymore Like.
I just want to be able to feela little bit more comfortable
and I just want to be able tolike, not be afraid and avoid.
I want to feel full of vitalityand feel like I'm living
(39:51):
meaningfully and with purpose,and I'm no longer willing to
make excuses for myself thatit's just not something I can do
, because I always say you canlearn anything if you care and
if you are committed and you getthe right support in place,
anybody can learn anything.
And so it comes down to what doyou care about, what are you
committed to?
(40:11):
And that's how I accompanypeople on this public speaking
journey of what is it that wantsto be heard?
And then, who do you need tospeak to and what's?
You know, if it's like aconversation, like you said,
with a boss, is all right.
Put yourself in their position.
What would be a value to them,so you can speak to it from
their position.
Like here's my offer to you.
(40:32):
So it's not just I need this, Iwant this it's.
I really would love yoursupport for me to do this public
speaking, because I know it canhelp us get on the map.
I know it can help us recruitpeople.
I know whatever, you know,whatever it is.
So I think there's a number ofthings that people really care
(40:52):
about and are committed to andthat each one you know, maybe
has a different version of whattheir story or what their care
and commitment and outcomes are.
I have them name.
What are you afraid of?
What's getting in your way?
Let's not have it be thismysterious anxiety that lives in
(41:12):
your body.
Let's find where in your bodythe anxiety lives and what shape
, what's the sensation, what'sthe language that's going with
that, so we can demystify it,work with it, name it and then
move with it, versus trying torepress it.
Did that answer your question,brian?
(41:33):
I just get very excited aboutthis.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
Yeah, you did.
I mean, I guess it's the firstpodcast episode I ever did a
role play, but I love it.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
I like it.
I didn't mean to put you on thespot.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
I'm good with it.
Hey, I like it.
And it turned into it'sliterally turned into a public
speaking episode, which isawesome, Because I think a lot
of HTM professionals need toknow how to speak more publicly.
And this question popped in myhead while you was giving your
answer to the last question andyou mentioned about public
(42:07):
speaking and the benefits of it.
And you mentioned about publicspeaking and the benefits of it.
Now, how?
Speaker 2 (42:18):
can improving.
I just say me how improving mypublic speaking skills enhance
the ability for me to inspireothers.
Oh, I love that question.
You know People will come up tome and I've heard this and
others that I have coached inpublic speaking as well is
people going up to them andsaying, oh my gosh, you made it
accessible.
I now see that, because of whatyou just demonstrated, I can
(42:43):
see that I can do that too to.
And really what that like.
When people give that kind ofresponse, it's because the
person who's speaking to them isbeing genuine.
And when we're being genuine,people know it.
We all have very good BS meters,so our nervous systems are
always broadcasting to eachother and picking up on each
(43:06):
other.
So we've got like these littlehits of can I, you know, trust
this person?
Can I not trust this person?
So we all have these certainfeelings around different people
.
There are some people thatdrain us.
There are some people that giveus energy.
There's some people that feel alittle bit slippery and maybe
we're not sure why.
So when we're in our fullintegrity and we are authentic,
(43:29):
that's when people respond whoare also looking and valuing
high on, like their value isauthenticity that gives people
permission and, uh, theaccessibility, to pursue it as
well.
So for me, that, like whenpeople come up to me after like
I want to do what you just did,I'm like that's awesome, because
(43:51):
that's basically why I do it,cause I saw some people do it.
I'm like I really love whatthey're saying and I love who
they are, and I want to be seenin that way and really what it
was was authenticity andaccessibility, which are two
very for me, those are very, twoimportant values.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Okay, Andrea, I mean we probably can go on.
What's next for you?
Are there any new projects orinitiatives that you're excited
about?
Seems like you're excited aboutwaking up every day.
So what are some new projectsyou got going on?
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Yeah, so we are starting to in.
We do internal training, uh,for our sterilizers up in the
northeast in our hadley office,massachusetts, and then we do in
durell, florida.
We have sea arms there andscope washers and we are going
to start offering externaltraining on those modalities.
(44:52):
So I'm really excited aboutdoing, you know, offering
external training.
So I'd say that's in the DescoHTM world.
That's what I'm really excitedabout capitalizing on people's
collective wisdom within Desco.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Now, when you say external training training you
mean you're going to trainpeople outside of desco?
Yes, oh wow yeah yeah, becausesterilizers repair technicians
are a rare item these days, soit's not many yeah, and we can
teach people, uh, to do first.
Speaker 2 (45:24):
look, you know, I mean really, um, a lot of people
need sometimes just to likethere's a lot of, you know, like
anything else.
There's some repairs that arepretty frequent, some things to
assess and check.
So I would love for more peopleto have that opportunity for
(45:45):
their own in-house to be ofservice.
And now, you know, with we'reseeing some cuts in NIH funding,
telehealth reimbursements gonedown.
So if we're seeing somereimbursement cuts, there could
be the potential where ourservice contracts are also
reduced as well.
So we want to give people thatare in-house, who work directly
(46:07):
for healthcare systems, thepower to be able to service
certain things on their own ifthey don't have the budget to
have maintenance contracts withus outside of it.
So we're just kind ofanticipating what market changes
may be coming up.
Maybe not, but otherwise it'slike wow, we love to train, so
(46:28):
why wouldn't we offer thisexternally anyway?
Speaker 1 (46:32):
Okay Now I always ask this one question at the end
what advice or encouragement, ormaybe some inspiring knowledge
you can share with the HTMindustry?
Speaker 2 (46:48):
I would say this is a broad, this is a broad response
that is relevant, I would say,for everybody is to find find
your peers, find your people,find the people within the HTM
industry who share your valuesand can reflect back to you who
(47:09):
you are, versus surroundingyourself with people who you
feel like might be cutting youdown or might be telling you
you're not doing good enough oryou're not practicing your
skills well enough, whatever itis like.
Find the people who are honestwith you and also who support
(47:30):
and have your back.
I think that for us, as humanbeings, who tend to isolate and
we're pretty hard on ourselves,and especially women just
speaking as a woman within amale dominated industry, to be
able to find those who arewilling to sponsor, mentor,
amplify, accompany us is so, soimportant.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Great answer.
Now I got one more bonus.
This is more of a personalbonus.
You in front of a bunch of 12year olds.
What would you tell them aboutthe HTM industry?
Speaker 2 (48:07):
I would tell them that it is a very challenging
and rewarding career industry tobe in that.
You know, one of my favoritethings about it is that it
changes every day, so you'rewith different challenges.
You have to troubleshootdifferently.
(48:29):
So, being creative I wasactually talking to my
15-year-old son about this todayis that what I love about it is
that you have to be creative.
You need to be able to not onlybe aware of how you're showing
up in your mood.
If you're in crisis, or ifyou're upset or you're
frustrated, you're not going tofigure anything out because your
(48:49):
amygdala is going to behijacked and your nervous system
is going to be overwhelmed.
So, being able to look at theproblem, to understand, like,
what are the steps, and to reachout when you know you need to
reach out, versus trying to bangyour head against the wall and
figure it out, it's the mostsupportive industry that I have
(49:10):
experienced.
It is the most collaborativeand the most creative and the
most challenging and rewarding,and it's accessible.
The other thing I would say,too, is that a lot of places are
willing to give you on-the-jobtraining, and I know a lot of
(49:31):
organizations that also pay forthe CBET certification, and so
there's a lot of opportunitiesfor growth and competency
development.
Speaker 1 (49:42):
What would you say?
Speaker 2 (49:44):
Bryant.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
I know you was talking to 12-year-olds.
The people in the industryright now can use that advice.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
It's true.
What would you say?
I'm curious.
I say to 12.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
Yeah, yeah, oh man, I would.
First I would tell them thatit's an industry that every day,
you don't know what you'regoing to expect when you walk
into the hospital.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
You don't know what you're going to expect when you
walk into the hospital.
Speaker 1 (50:09):
Yeah, every day is different and it's always.
That's the good part, I guess,and the bad part.
But every day you go to work.
It's not mundane, it's notboring.
Every day is going to be anexciting day Totally, and you
get to do something that'slife-saving.
Yes, I used to see people likeI work at a children's hospital,
so I work at a children'shospital, so I see the benefit
of our work when I see thesekids walking around with a piece
(50:32):
of an IV pump that helps themwalk around, or when you go in
the ICU and you see these babiesadvancing.
Just to tell you this one quickstory with you.
This past weekend we had our.
There's a fundraiser they haveevery year.
It's the 43rd anniversary forthe Sugar Plum.
It's a fundraising ball theygive every year.
It's the 43rd anniversary forthe sugar plum.
It's a fundraising ball to giveevery year, gala rather, and
(50:52):
they had um.
I think he was 11 or 12 yearold kid and he was singing um
eye of the tiger and he cameinto the hospital as at one
pound and I can't remember howmany months he was there, but he
was there a few months and justto see him at 12 years old on
stage singing in front of thepeople that probably took care
(51:15):
of him was amazing.
So oh my gosh, that is amazingyeah, so baume had a part in
that also, because he was in icu, he was on medical equipment,
it's like a nurse and doctor.
So that's what I tell the kidswhat you do is just as important
as the doctors and nurses,because without the medical
equipment you can't take care ofthe patients, and that usually
(51:37):
catches their attention somewhat.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
Oh, that's beautiful.
That is so beautiful.
I like your story.
Your answer is way morecompelling.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
Andrea, I appreciate you coming on.
You're welcome to come backanytime.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
Oh, thanks.
Speaker 1 (51:54):
And it was an enjoyable conversation.
It was different and I likedifferent, you know, and Any
other.
Anytime you want to come back,you're always welcome.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
Oh, thank you.
I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
Thank you, what a powerful episode.
A huge thank you to AndreaBerdenka for sharing her journey
from growing up in the Descofamily business to becoming a
thoughtful, intentional leaderwho's helping transform not only
her team but the HTM industryas a whole, but the HTM industry
(52:30):
as a whole.
Her vulnerability, wisdom andcommitment to continuous growth
are exactly what this industryneeds more of.
If you're in the HTM industryand wondering how to lead better
, connect more deeply or evenstep into public speaking to
advocate for your impact, thisepisode should be saved and
replayed Until next time.
(52:52):
Keep pushing the boundaries,stay passionate and always
strive to make an impact.
See you on the next episode ofHTM Online.
Y'all be safe out there.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.