December 29, 2025 • 45 mins
We sit down with Lexington Health VP Lara Lotmore to unpack the real work of leadership: presence over perfection, influence over control, and culture over slogans. From mentorship and conflict to AI and talent pipelines, Lara shares practical ways to build trust and keep teams strong.
• choosing organizational leadership for real-world impact
• leading through fatigue with presence and grace
• mentors and sponsors as growth accelerators
• building culture from day one and protecting it at scale
• tackling conflict quickly with humility and respect
• accountability without eroding trust
• reinventing hiring and training to solve shortages
• candidates interviewing employers and what to prepare
• AI as an enhancer, not a replacement
• transparency as the engine of public trust
• influence over control as you rise
Share the link with someone that’s looking to grow to become more effective as a leader.
Connect with Ron
Just Make A Difference: Leading Under Pressure by Ron Harvey
“If you don’t have something to measure your growth, you won’t be self-aware or intentional about your growth.”
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The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization or entity. The information provided in this podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners should consult with their own professional advisors before implementing any suggestions or recommendations made in this podcast. The speakers and guests are not responsible for any actions taken by listeners based on the information presented in this podcast. The podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or services. The speakers and guests make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this ...
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
Welcome to Unpack Podcast with your host,
Leadership Consultant, RonHarvey of Global Core Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now, to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, Ron Harvey.
SPEAKER_03 (00:20):
Well, good afternoon, everybody.
This is Ron Harvey with GlobalCore Strategies and Consulting.
We're a professional leadershipfirm based out of Columbia,
South Carolina.
And we really spend all our timehelping leaders be more
effective, of taking care of thepeople that get the job done for
real in their organizations.
So we love it, we enjoy it, andwe love giving back to the
community, which is why we dothe podcast, Unpack with Ron
(00:42):
Harvey, where we invite guestsfrom around the world.
And we have local talent with usas well.
So we bring them on the show andwe talk about organization, we
talk about leadership, we talkabout challenges.
We're pretty transparent, andthat's why we call it Unpack.
So welcome back to anotherepisode where we're going to
talk about uh the truth aboutleadership, um, people and what
it actually takes to lead at thehighest level possible.
(01:03):
So I get to have a friend ofmine.
Uh, we've been having coffee andmeeting and working with her for
years now, who's become a reallygood colleague, a supporter, and
a friend.
So, Laura, welcome to the show.
Uh, I'm gonna invite you andmove out the way of this
microphone and let you uhintroduce yourself.
SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Well, thank you, Ron.
Thank you for having me.
Um, so hey guys, I am LauraLotmore.
I am uh vice president here atLexington Health in the Midlands
of South Carolina.
We cover mostly Lexington andRichland County.
Um I have the pleasure ofworking with our perioperative
groups or our ORs, um, imagingum and all things community
(01:40):
related, which is how I got tomeet Ron through all of our
chamber um initiatives and as aparticipant in Leadership
Columbia.
So just uh excited to be hereand excited to talk to Ron like
we normally do over coffee.
SPEAKER_03 (01:55):
Yes, yes.
We can let them into our ownlittle coffee meeting, you know,
on a podcast, um, because we douh we did the talk often and
support one another and havefun, um which is how I met you
over time, you know, throughcoaching experience and helping
some of your leaders.
When you think about, you know,you've been you've been in your
space and you know, you look atLexington Health and the work
that you're doing.
What do you enjoy most aboutbecause I know it's challenging,
(02:16):
I mean, for everybody, but whatdo you enjoy most about your
role of being a leader?
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
Well, I think it's it's interesting.
I always say the leadershipportion of it, while it feels
like it can be the hardest, isthe most rewarding because you
get to um meet um all kinds offolks, whether it's like
yourself outside of theorganization or within the
organization, but then you getto um feel like you have this um
(02:41):
an impact and a and a real time,something you can see that's
tangible um working with someoneand seeing them um improve and
and then them helping me improveum because I I certainly don't
know at all and have a lot to tostill learn.
And so I I just I'm blessed thatI get to do what I do and um and
(03:02):
get to pull on the strengths ofso many others and then share
that amongst all of them.
Um and so to me, this is the funstuff that we get to do.
Um I I kind of geek out on it alittle bit now.
Um, and and and I get it all inmy little element and get so
excited when I have a newleadership book to read or if I
have a new concept or somethingI want to share with someone.
(03:22):
But it really, it really is thefun stuff that we get to do.
And um, I'm just blessed that Iget to do it here, somewhere
that I love working, been herefor 16 years.
Um, and I always say I bleedgreen just because um it, it
just it I I believe in what wedo, um, and not because I was
(03:45):
told to, but because I honestlysee things in action and um and
getting to work alongside somereally strong, creative, amazing
leaders who've helped me grow.
Um, and I believe we all do itfor the right reasons.
So I I'm blessed, one, that Iget to be a leader, two, that I
get to do it here, and three, Iget to do it alongside um some
(04:06):
pretty great people.
SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
I uh uh I want to unpack alittle bit.
I mean, when I met you, you'realready in your in a role and
you were getting promoted andyou were doing things yourself,
but even in that journey, youknow, you you took the the
liberty of continuing youreducation.
That's important because you,you know, you were successful,
but you you saw a need tocontinue your own personal
growth.
What do you say to leaders thatthat are on the fence, whether
(04:29):
they should do theirprofessional development or
growth or continue education?
What do you say to thoseleaders?
Because you did it and you werealready in a in a in a great
role.
What made you continue?
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Well, I think that was part of it.
Um, you know, when I got out ofcollege, I swore, please don't
make me go and do that again.
Um it was just such a, you know,it was a it was a long time ago.
And you know, I've been affordedsome really great opportunities,
um, worked really hard, but hadsome folks that really believed
in me.
And you're right, I was in arole where I didn't have to
(05:01):
continue my educationnecessarily.
Um, at least I wasn't, it wasn'ta requirement, I should say.
And I had looked over the yearsmany, many times and you know,
Googled different programs ofwhat do I want to do, but
nothing really stuck with me.
I mean, I could have done an MBAor an MHA and I thought about it
and I looked that up um formultiple years.
(05:22):
Um, but it's what I do all dayalready, right?
And I felt like it wasn't, Ididn't know what else I was
going to gain from it personallyas well.
And I think that's what struckme when I found um the program
that I did at Columbia College,um, organizational leadership.
I thought, one, didn't know thatwas a thing you could do, but it
(05:45):
it spoke to me in a way, and itwas different.
And so that when I went about itat that moment, it um it was
because I wanted to, not becauseI had to.
And it was something that wasgonna be impactful for me
professionally and personally.
Um, and so I had a conversationwith my boss, and I said, Hey,
I'm thinking about doing this.
(06:06):
Um, and I said, you know, whatdo you think?
And he said, One, I absolutelysupport you, but if you're
asking me, do you need this tokeep your job or to be
considered for other things?
The answer is no, but do I thinkit's a good idea?
Yes.
And that was what I needed.
It wasn't required again.
Um, but it it gave me a push.
And so um it's interesting.
(06:27):
I I told myself I'm gonna writethe entrance essay.
And if I write it and it'snatural and I feel like I can
flow and I can do this, thenI'll I'll I'll I'll move
forward.
And it did.
Um, I sat in my office and Ithink I wrote it in probably 45
minutes just because I was justI was really excited about it.
Um, and it was hard.
(06:49):
It was hard doing that.
Um, being a mom, having um, youknow, a career and a demanding
job, uh, being a wife, doing allthe things, um, being out in the
community, but it was hands downone of the best things I did for
myself um in the last 20 years.
(07:09):
Just and it definitely is partof my career because, you know,
it it helped me in ways I didn'teven know I needed help and or I
didn't even think about.
Um, it was again, I do the thetechnicalities, the the business
aspects of the job every day,and I've been a leader for many
years, but it helped me realizehow much more one I needed to
(07:32):
learn, but how much there was anopportunity that I got to
experience some of that and thenshare it with other people.
Um, and so it was a hard year,um, because it was a year.
Um, it was it was really hard,but and my husband probably
doesn't always agree that it wasthe best of times, but it was it
(07:53):
was almost like being intherapy.
It was it really was because itwas it brought me to a lot of
these realizations about myselfand helped me realize who I am
that will ultimately make me abetter leader.
And so I, you know, I I highlyrecommend it to anyone, and this
program specifically, um, justbecause I got so much out of it.
(08:14):
I've actually um I've had fourpeople that I work with now.
Um, one's already finished theprogram, same one.
Um, and then the other three aregoing to finish in December, and
they're excited, and I can seethat spark in them.
And it's not for everybody.
Um, the program that I did orany program may not be, but if
they got as excited about it asI did, um I wanted them to know
(08:36):
that there was an option outthere.
SPEAKER_03 (08:38):
So yeah, I love it.
And professional development andfinding something that that that
piques your curiosity andexcitement about it.
Uh and you did it for you.
You know, you you you startedtoo for a while, Laura.
You you know, you're walkingthrough that and you brought up
some things that that I wantedto to unpack for people, you
know, because sometimes it'sdifficult.
But your wife, your mom, you'rebusy, you're on the chamber, you
know, you're on differentboards, you're you know, you you
(08:58):
know, you do the heart, youknow, association where there's
just a lot.
How do you lead through fatigue?
Because that that can be veryexhausting.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
I don't know if I have anything.
SPEAKER_03 (09:09):
Even healthcare.
So you think healthcare, youguys have been, you know, since
2020, since COVID, you know, youguys have really been nonstop
turbulent since 2020.
How do you help people that thatare watching, that are
listening, saying, how does shedo it all, still keep a healthy
marriage, still be there for herkids, still continue her
education, and still staylevel-headed and grounded and
(09:30):
through all of that?
How do you do it?
SPEAKER_01 (09:32):
That's a great question.
Um, I don't know that I have allthe answers, but um I just I I
give myself some grace andremember um that I don't have to
be perfect at everything, thoughI I I think I try really hard
and strive to be, we all do, butI'm a little OCD in that
respect.
But I give myself grace and Igive myself the time and space
(09:56):
to to take on whatever I feellike is gonna bring me some
value or bring me or bring thosearound me value, right?
And you know, just when youthink there's not enough time in
the day, there is, you can makeit.
It's hard.
And then there are a lot oftimes in the moment when you
think I cannot do this anymore,whether it's school or um an
(10:18):
organization that you're workingwith.
But I think it also comes frombeing really honest with
yourself, but also with yourfamily and your significant
other, because you know, you'vegot to have some conversations
about what the give and take is.
And there's always gonna besomething.
And um, again, my husband may ormay not agree that I get that
(10:38):
right every time, but we try.
Um, you know, we have aconversation every week on what
days I have to be at work early,what days I have to be at work
late, and you know, who'spicking up the kid, and we we
get all the logistics stuff outof the way so that then with
then when we're actually in theweek, hopefully, you know, we
can be present in the moment.
And I'll tell you, I'm notalways present in the moment,
(11:00):
and I'm not always really goodat that, but I'm trying really
hard, and it's something thatI've tried to take my focus and
shift it, is that um be presentwhere you are and what what
you're doing.
And if you can, you can do it inshorter snippets sometimes if
you can have your mind focus andbe there.
When my mind, when I'm at homeand my mind's at work, I'm not
(11:21):
really there for either one ofthem, and vice versa.
And so it's it's about kind ofchanneling that and figuring out
um how you can really be therephysically and mentally for
those you're in the room with atthat moment.
And and you'll be successful.
It's it's it's not perfect, butthere's um it's something you've
(11:44):
got to try if it's somethingyou're really interested in,
because you'll feel bad andworse if you didn't try to do
something else or be a part ofan organization that you believe
in their mission or whatever itmay be, spend some time
volunteering.
If you'll feel worse if you ifyou don't make the effort, and
so I say make the effort.
SPEAKER_03 (12:04):
Yes, I love it.
I mean, I think I said it at theconference for everyone is you
know, how do you get to theplace as a leader where you
where you be where your feetare?
You know, all the time.
Yeah, you know, oftentimes youcould be sitting at a table and
not be in the room um becauseyou got so much going on in your
life, and and people notice it,people pick up on it, um, and it
leaves them in this awkwardplace of do they address it or
do they do they ask questions ordo they start the fight, or you
(12:27):
know, what do they do to to makesure they can close that gap?
So I would tell you, I love thatyou're saying that I'm working
on how do I be where my feet areat that moment.
If it's 30 minutes, it's 30minutes.
Um, if it's two minutes, it'stwo, whatever that time frame
is.
Um, so people get the undividedattention um that they need in
that that time frame.
I want to shift a little bit.
You're you're when you thinkabout you coming through the
ranks and and and getting to thelevel that you are, what role
(12:48):
did mentors or sponsors play inin your level of success?
Um, you know, did you pick them?
Did they pick you?
Did you have them?
SPEAKER_01 (12:57):
I think a little bit of all of it.
Um definitely they played a hugerole.
Um, I can think of um severaloff the top of my head.
Um, but it's about surroundingyourself with really good
people.
And I think some of them happennaturally, in that um, you know,
one's my boss, my and he's beenmy boss the majority of the
(13:18):
time.
And um, and it that was kind ofa natural thing.
Um now I I'll say he's he'sgiven me a lot of grace over the
years because again, when Idon't get it right, he tells me.
Um, but he's we're willing tohave those really raw and honest
conversations with each otherand not take it personal.
Um the others, there's beenothers where I've sought them
(13:39):
out like yourself.
Um, I just remember seeing youmultiple times.
I think we've talked about this.
Um, you know, after the thirdtime I saw you in a two-week
period, I'm like, I'm meant toknow this man and he's gonna
bring something.
And and I and I do, it's afriendship, but I also see it as
a mentorship or you know, um, ina way as well, because I always
(14:02):
um joke that I feel like you'recoaching me on the side, like uh
it's it's like you need somehelp, but do you know you needed
the help?
Um, but again, that's where itcomes from.
So it just kind of it isnatural, but I did seek you out
in that respect.
Um so I think it can it can comefrom a lot of different ways.
I mean, you from folks who don'tnecessarily realize it.
Um, I've had um others that nowI'm helping and doing that for
(14:27):
because I feel like the reasonthat I am successful and able to
do some of the things I I can dois because I've had some really
good mentors and teachers thatinvested time in me, and I
really didn't realize how muchtime they invested in me until I
started doing that for otherpeople.
And I thought to myself, wow,one, I need to go thank them
again, but two, I need to giveback and I need to do that.
(14:50):
And if I can save someone fromhaving some heartache, not not
from going from the experiencebecause they need to learn from
it, but save them um fromgetting in this vicious cycle or
circle of um you know leadershipthings that you really wish you
you had somebody to kind ofguide you through.
And if I can do that for them, Iwant to do that.
(15:12):
Um, I've got a couple differentpeople that I do that with, some
very um deliberate in that wemeet monthly, some that I do it
just naturally, again, as a as afriend or in a colleague.
Um some that maybe are mentoringme and when I think I'm
mentoring them, you know.
Um, but all of that isimportant.
(15:33):
You know, I I didn't I've alwaysknown that my mentors were a
huge part of it, but I reallystarted focusing on that when I
like you mentioned we were whenI was in school, and when I did
my capstone, I did it onmentorship um because it felt
like God, there's somethingthere.
This needs to be more, thereneeds to be some intentionality
(15:54):
to this more than what there is.
And I want to invest my time inthat and understanding not only
what people have done for me andcontinuing to gain that, but
what I can do for other people.
SPEAKER_03 (16:05):
Yeah, I love it.
I love that you're saying, youknow, be intentional about it so
that way you can lean in alittle bit more.
I mean, it definitely isvaluable.
And how do you how do you leaninto it?
So I would tell people beintentional, lean into it, and
let people know.
Um, you know, and then also be amentor to other people uh so you
can learn the skill set of howto be a phenomenal mentor.
I'll just shift a little bit foryou.
You think about you know theculture in in a clinical
(16:27):
hospital world.
And oftentimes, you know, when Igo into the Lexant Health, the
service is phenomenal externallyto all the patients.
How do you guys do when it comesto internal creating the culture
that that the people that areserving us doing a really,
really good job?
How do you manage and make sureyou meet that same level of
expectation to how you treateach other internally in the
(16:49):
healthcare world?
SPEAKER_01 (16:50):
To me, it starts from day one.
Um, the day that I I had thesame feeling.
I wanted to work at Lexington.
Um, I I remember thinking thatis a place I need to be.
And I did everything I could.
I had seven interviews before Igot a job.
Um, but it was it was becausethe the external culture was
there.
And so what really embedded itfor me too was day one of
(17:12):
orientation.
Um it started from that day andit's never ended.
And so it is a it is apurposeful, intentional, um
something we talk about oftenkind of thing.
Um, but we don't just talk aboutit, we do it.
You know what I mean?
And so it is, but we don't reston our laurels that it just
(17:34):
happens naturally.
Now it'll morph and change overtime.
We always talk about our culturehere, and sometimes it has you
know it has changed.
When you when you grow fromprobably 2,500 employees when I
started to 9,000 today, it'sgoing to change.
But it is a at the core of it,we are here for our patients and
(17:54):
our employees, period.
And everything else justgravitates around that, right?
We're here to provide reallygood service to our patients and
treat our employees well so theycan provide that good service
for the patients.
And we hopefully we're elevatingthe right leaders who understand
that and who get that, and whoagain are intentional and very
(18:17):
um forthcoming about that, andand and we talk about it.
And if we don't get it right allthe time, and when we don't, we
have that conversation too.
But we continuously have that asour our strategy for success,
and and it works, and I and I'mgrateful that I get to be a part
of it.
So, and that's what I tellpeople all the time.
(18:38):
They're like, you know, you'veworked your licensing a long
time.
Why?
I'm like, I'm just grateful theylet me stay.
I'm just grateful that I get tobe here because I believe in
what we do, but I believe in howwe do it and how we treat people
because these are the thepatients that we have are our
friends, our neighbors, youknow, our are people we go to
church with, all of thosethings.
(18:59):
And so we we got to be goodpartners and good caretakers for
them.
SPEAKER_03 (19:06):
Yeah.
I love that you're using theword partners because that's
that's at the end of the day,that's what it is.
Being that you guys work so hardon making sure that you you set
a great culture and people feelrespected, seeing and heard.
What practices do you do youimplement?
Um, do you guys practice everyday, honestly, when they're when
conflict arises?
How do how because oftentimespeople feel like you know
conflict and they think negativeand they think like, oh, I don't
(19:28):
want to deal with it.
How do you guys you know trainyour leaders to, when it arises,
to still live up to your corevalues?
SPEAKER_01 (19:35):
I think it it's a couple things.
One, you've got to be verywilling to have hard
conversations, willing to leanin and step in, but you've also
got to be willing to be humbleand back up and realize that you
may be the problem.
And we do that a lot.
I mean, I I you know, everybodyhas this initial right reaction
in their head, right?
It's always, oh my gosh, theythat it must be the other
(19:58):
person.
It must be that.
But when you take a step backand you don't let that come out
of your mouth yet, and you takea step back and you really think
about it, at the end of the day,being right or getting the right
result are not always the rightthing, or always the same thing,
I should say.
And it doesn't really matterabout how we go about something
(20:21):
differently or how we um, youknow, how we're going to attack
a problem.
What matters is that we're doingit with respect, and it matters
that we're doing it in a waythat we're not trying to
alienate and and shatterrelationships.
Now there are times when some ofthe some of that happens.
Um, and again, you don't get itright, but if you built up
(20:44):
enough trust in your team andyou've built up enough trust
through your reputation of howyou handle things, um, hopefully
you can live through one ofthose.
Not always, but hopefully youcan.
Um so I think for for for me andfor us, I think it's about
really um leaning in to whenthere's an issue, being willing
to solve it, and then just moveon.
(21:06):
Um you can't let it linger, youcan't let it keep going, have
the hard conversation, figure itout, work together, and then go
forward.
Because the worst thing a teamcan see is that there's a
conflict and that the twoleaders can't get along, or that
they can't work through it.
How can I expect them as teammembers to work through a
problem if we can't?
SPEAKER_03 (21:27):
Exactly.
Yes, yes.
How do you guys, if you're on ateam such as look at your team,
you know, someone's not carryingtheir fair share of the weight?
Um, how important is it for aleader to address that?
Um, and what's the danger ifthey don't?
SPEAKER_01 (21:40):
Yeah, I mean, the danger is that another person
ends up doing all the work, oryou end up doing all the work
and you burn people out and youerode a culture and you erode
that trust that you had.
Um, so you definitely have toyou have to take that head on.
You you gotta be honest withpeople.
Um, if you're not honest, how doyou expect them to get any
(22:02):
better?
And how do you expect, you know,if you want a different result,
you've got to do somethingdifferent.
And that starts with tellingthem.
Um, and you know, that's notthat's not easy.
Difficult conversations are, youknow, you have to prepare them.
Yeah, they are.
I mean, they're by nature,that's just what they are.
But again, you can't take it asthis um, it's not always a
(22:26):
negative.
Sometimes what you're doing isactually telling somebody maybe
they're not pulling theirweight, they may not realize it.
And what you're doing is doingthem a favor and helping them
and helping them in theircareer.
Um, and there are gonna be timeswhen everybody's gonna have
something going on in theirpersonal life or at work um that
is gonna impact it.
Give them people a little bit oftime and space to have that
(22:47):
every now and then, but youstill hold them accountable and
you still have conversations.
Um, but sometimes that's maybethat's what they needed.
They needed to know you caredand recognized it.
Um, and you believed enough inthem to give them a chance to
fix it.
Because if you didn't believe inthem, you just either write them
off or you don't help them andand and they don't they don't
(23:09):
advance and you don't getanything else out of them.
So I mean it did it it behoovesyou to actually have those
conversations.
SPEAKER_03 (23:16):
Yes, yes.
So I'm gonna um so Laura, whenyou when you guys think about
healthcare right now, retainingtop talent, you know, there's a
crisis for making sure we haveenough people in our healthcare
system in on all positions.
That's a national crisis withinhealthcare right now.
What is the one thing thehealthcare system is gonna have
to abandon to make sure theydon't lose their best talent?
(23:37):
What's the change that have tobe made within healthcare?
SPEAKER_01 (23:40):
Yeah, I mean, I think we've got to think
differently.
Um, we have to, you can the olddays of posting a job and people
replying, and then youinterviewing and then you hiring
these great people, that isover.
You uh this is about having agreat place to be and a great
place to work, and and thenshowcasing that, right?
(24:02):
But where it's genuine and it'sreal, and you're not having a
recruiter out there talkingabout how great an environment
is, um, that that you can't liveup to when they get here, right?
Um and then thinkingdifferently.
I mean, we do uh we talked aboutpartnerships earlier.
A lot of it is partnering.
I mean, we've partnered with USDum for the School of Nursing.
(24:23):
We knew there was gonna be anursing shortage.
We've partnered with them tohelp them expand um their class
size, which in turn gets morepeople coming um here for their
clinicals.
Um, we've got to do on-the-jobtraining.
You know, in the past, I wouldhave never in imaging said, Oh,
you want to go to school?
Let me help you, let me help youpay for it, and let me let me um
(24:44):
let me teach you um while you'reon the clock, let me do all of
these things, and then let mehelp you have a job when you're
done.
But what better way to do it,right?
Um, if you've got people thatare already vested interest, um,
and they see that we'reinvesting in them, they're more
likely to stay with you.
You know, you've got to buildthat loyalty because it's
(25:06):
different.
Um, the days again of peoplecoming here and being here for
30, 40, 50 years just becausethey love this place and they're
hard workers, um, that doesn'thappen as much anymore.
We want it to, but times changeand what the expectations
change.
So you've got to have adifferent approach in doing it.
You cannot just accept thestatus quo and say, you know,
(25:28):
this training program that'sreally intense, that's you know,
three years long is the only wayto do it.
Is it?
You know, is it it it probablyis a gold standard and it and it
works, but can you do itdifferently?
And can you do more on the jobtraining?
And I think you can.
Um, and again, it doesn'tsupersede any kind of
educational requirements.
I don't mean that, but on thejob training and and and working
(25:52):
in an environment and exposingpeople to an environment early
helps.
SPEAKER_03 (25:56):
Yeah, I love that you're you've been open-minded,
adaptable, and and what otherway can you do it?
You know, so you can stop thebleeding.
You know, I mean, I think youguys are being interviewed just
as much as you're interviewing.
So people are interviewing younow, you know.
So you can walk into a roombefore we would talk.
Well, have at least one questionat the interview.
No, you better be prepared toanswer like five questions if
you're the company that's tryingto hire me now because they're
(26:18):
interviewing you just as much asyou're interviewing them.
Is that happening for Lex toHealth as well?
SPEAKER_01 (26:22):
Oh, without a doubt.
It's funny you say that becauseI interviewed someone yesterday
and I know now to leave extratime, right?
Um, but and I always do becauseI just think that's the right
thing to do.
But they she had a list of uhthree pages for me.
Now, granted, a lot of it we hadtalked about throughout, but it
was what their questions were.
But so I mean, yeah, it happensevery day.
(26:44):
And and there is a lot, I feellike I'm selling more now than I
ever did before.
And some of that's okay.
I mean, it it that is a hardthing to transition to, but and
and but I also don't want it tobe, I'm still, no matter how you
know, short we may be in anarea, we're still not going to
hire the wrong people.
And by the wrong people, I meanpeople who are not willing to
(27:04):
come here and be um a part ofthe change, a part of who we are
as a culture, a part of takingcare of those patients, like we
talked about earlier, that it'sall about the patients, you
know, and it's about makingtheir experience good.
So people who don't understandthat we're not willing to
compromise when it comes tothat.
When it comes to training andother things, you know, we'll
figure that out.
(27:25):
But we need to know that you'regoing to be here for the right
reasons and that you're going tocome here and take good care of
our patients.
And so I think it's justfiguring out what your your
priorities are and and and androlling through that, but
definitely being prepared toanswer some hard questions.
SPEAKER_03 (27:42):
Yeah.
And I think that's for everyone.
So if you listen, whetherhealthcare or not, we we got to
be prepared as an interviewernow to to to um answer some hard
questions.
SPEAKER_00 (27:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (27:50):
I want to move to future-proofing leadership.
Um, so three to five years fromnow, what what scares you more
in the role that you're in?
Is it you know technologydisruption?
Is it uh healthcare models?
Is it declining workforcepipelines, uh, erosion of public
trust?
What stands out the most to youthree to five years from now for
(28:12):
Lexan Health to be what it wantsto be and what you can be?
What scares you the most aboutthose those topics?
SPEAKER_01 (28:19):
All of the things that you mentioned.
SPEAKER_03 (28:21):
All of it's around all of it.
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
We got the I mean they're all important, but I
think you said it earlier.
For us, it's it's um it's theculture, right?
And the larger you grow, theharder it is to maintain, right?
Um, we've been very blessed andvery lucky that um for many
years we've been able to grow inthis community and um continue
(28:46):
to hire people who work in thiscommunity, lived here their
whole lives, who want to bethere, and that's harder.
You're gonna have to, you gottago out, you've got to get um new
talent, more talent.
I mean, there's just neverenough, right?
Um, so I think that that'sthat's always a scary thing
because what's typically set usapart is is our culture.
(29:08):
Yes, and so maintaining thatwhile also thinking out
differently and getting newpeople.
Um, I mean, then there's youknow, as as the landscape
changes and how um how thingsare gonna be um compensated or
how you're going to um payersare gonna pay for certain
things.
I mean, that always scares allof us.
But if it's gonna be a focus onquality and you're providing
(29:31):
quality, it's you know, there'sa I get it, you know, it's a
good way to do it.
Um, it's just are those that arejudging your quality, are we
judging it and doing it in a waythat makes sense?
So you always get to think aboutthat.
Um, I mean, there's there's aton of things out there.
I mean, AI, I mean, you know, Ithink AI in a healthcare
(29:53):
setting, though, um can beamazing.
Um, you know, we've dabbled intoit a little bit and I feel like
uh doing some good things.
Um, but that's scary to all ofus, you know.
I think in our personal livestoo, you know, of what AI can be
some really great things, but itcan also be some very um really
(30:14):
hard things that feel likeyou're replacing people.
And and and for us to be sofocused on our people, I don't
want technology to completelyreplace it, I want it to enhance
it, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_03 (30:25):
Yes, and I think that makes sense.
You know, AI will, you know, youthink about you know, horse and
buggy days, and when cars camealong, I can only imagine what
they were saying.
Yeah, you know, for people thatyou know, now we got you know
cars, and then when thetelephone came along, oh my
goodness, we're gonna not talkto each other more because we
got this device we can.
So I think there's always thisthing of the unknown that scares
humans, um, but also that wefigured out and it enhances the
(30:47):
quality of life.
I think you know, putting somesome some gateways up or some
barriers, if you will, you know,to guard us will be important.
But I'll tell most people nowwith technology, if you don't
use it, you won't be aroundbecause it's it's not going
anywhere.
So you got to figure out how toleverage it.
Like now, you know, I've youknow, I can do three interviews,
you know, um, you know, a lotfaster than if I had to drive or
(31:08):
you had to drive, you know, toget it done.
You probably only get one ofthose or two of those in per
day.
So when you start thinking aboutthe work that you're doing and
and with public trust beingreally low for everybody across
the industry, what are you guysdoing really, really well?
Because I don't hear that therethat public trust is low for Lex
and Hill.
I mean, I don't it's not even aconversation I hear in our
(31:29):
community.
What do y'all do so that y'allmaintain public trust?
SPEAKER_01 (31:32):
Well, again, I think it's just being completely
transparent and open.
I mean, we put everything outthere.
We try to um, if there's gonnabe something that because
everything's not positive.
I mean, as much as we want it tobe, I mean, things happen, um,
but we try to be open about itand and we're not hiding
anything.
Like there's no like somethinghappening over here that that
(31:55):
we're trying to hide in any way.
We're trying to do the best wecan.
Circumstances don't always workout.
I mean, you know, I thinkthere's always this this this
fear that there's um, is itreally a great place?
Or, you know, we we did a newbonus thing recently um for a
hard-to-recruit area.
And one of the things thatsomeone told me um that the way
(32:18):
it could be taken was like, itmust be a really bad place to
work if they're offering thatmuch money to work there.
I'm like, no, we just believe init that much.
So it's it's it's just a um,it's a hard thing.
Some of the trust comes from notnecessarily us, but from the
industry or from experiencesmaybe even they've had other
places.
(32:38):
Um, and that's hard to overcome.
But again, I think if we cancontinue to be who we are and
continue to hold our leaders andour team accountable for
producing that really goodexperience, um, then you know,
word of mouth is everything.
It'll make or break you, one wayor the other.
(32:58):
It's gonna it's gonna happen.
And don't get me wrong, we havegotten it wrong before.
We uh made some decisions wherepeople didn't understand them or
why we were doing them.
Um, and we've had to back uppivot and explain again um or or
rethink our message, but we havea really good um team that we
(33:20):
use that that does help us withour message.
And it's not like I don't wantto call it crafting a message to
um to mislead someone, but it'scrafting a message to make it
relevant to the folks that weare trying to get to.
Does that make sense?
Like you want, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:35):
I mean, it's authentic, it's real, you know.
So when you think about like,you know, for the for the
healthcare and building trust, Imean, you constantly up front,
and and that doesn't mean you'reperfect, but when you're not you
on a foot.
Here's what we're trying to do,and you can do everything right
and it still doesn't go doesn'tgo right, you know.
So I think that's important.
When you when you think of therole that you're currently in
(33:56):
and and where we are now, if youhad a chance to to make one
major change uh for leaders,what would you do if you had a
magic wand to make somethingbetter?
What would you do?
SPEAKER_01 (34:08):
That's a good question, Ron.
Oh um one thing to make itbetter for everybody.
Um you know, I think I wouldremind people that it's okay to
(34:29):
make mistakes, it is okay to notbe the leader that you are want
to be at all times um or thinkyou are, but be honest enough
with those that you work withand yourself to say, you know
what, I can do that better, andthen actually go and do it
(34:49):
better, you know.
But remind people that it's okayto to to get it wrong and to
fail.
I you know, I hate to say that,but otherwise you've got the
these perfectionists out there,right?
I'm I'm I'm one.
And it is and you beat yourselfup so badly um when those around
(35:10):
you aren't beating you up, youknow, and so it it's giving
yourself grace, giving yourselfsome um some, I don't know, a
little bit of space to figure itout.
What makes you a better leaderis having gone through it and
experienced something andthinking, hey, I'm gonna make
that better next time.
(35:30):
Not you know, wallow in this toolong.
I mean, you can wallow a littlebit, but don't wallow too long
about the first time.
SPEAKER_03 (35:39):
I think a lot of people expect for it to be
perfect the first time.
Yeah, you know, if you have youknow, my wife and I have three
kids, I think we were betterparents with the third kid.
Yeah, because you you learn.
I mean, um, because you got whatyour parents did, uh, or you got
what you saw on television, oryou got from some show or from
your friends or from yourchurch, whatever you picked up
those parenting skills, and thenyou have your own all of a
sudden, and you're figuring outand navigating how to be
(36:01):
effective.
Um, because the days of hey, I'mthe parent, I pay all the bills,
that worked.
I mean, our parents led more byintimidation and fear, and today
you know, you learn to be moreeffective as a parent.
SPEAKER_01 (36:14):
You know, there's nothing more humbling than
having a kid and watching theirreactions to things and seeing
how, and you and I've talkedabout this, and seeing how um
how they're developing to go,wait, I don't that there's
something going on there, andrealizing it's because they're
(36:34):
emulating you.
Yes, and it is a that is athat's a hard thing to watch.
Um, but it you know, I thinkbeing a parent is gonna teach me
how to be a better leader.
I hope.
SPEAKER_03 (36:48):
They are watching, whether they tell you they're
watching or not.
They are watching everything wedo.
SPEAKER_01 (36:53):
The words that come out of my son's mouth who is
six, um, I'm like, where do youhear that?
And I'm like, oh, he heard thatfrom me.
Um, you know, I mean, you toldme the other day I was bossy,
and I said, Well, not reallybossy, but I am your boss right
now.
So, but I mean, just you know,hearing those kinds of things,
but realizing maybe the tone inwhich I'm saying something or
(37:17):
the expectation that I think asix-year-old's gonna get it
right every single time.
And I'm like, I'm telling myselfto give myself space, but am I
giving my team enough space tomake it these errors or or you
know, learning opportunities,missteps, whatever you want to
call them?
And I'm expecting asix-year-old, I live and die by
this phone in the app that thiskid's there telling me how his
(37:40):
how he reacted today.
And if he has one moment wherehe's unkind, I'm like, buddy,
what happened?
Why'd you have such a bad day?
And it was like, and for him, itwas a blip on the radar.
And I think if somebody wasdoing that to me, saying, You
reacted really badly four hoursago to something.
Did you have a bad day?
I'm like, no, that was a blip.
And so remembering that, uh,that's easier said than done,
(38:04):
but there's nothing wrong withthe problem.
SPEAKER_03 (38:07):
It's amazing.
I mean, and what I reflected onwhen you said it, you know, I do
this workshop and I and I tellpeople, you know, almost ask the
question, hey, when's the lasttime you had a bad day?
And you walk through thisactivity with them, and it can
happen at six o'clock in themorning, but they'll they'll
carry it for the rest of theday.
I say, You had a bad moment inthe day.
Yeah, you allowed it to absorbyour day, and it's amazing how
(38:30):
many people something can happenfor 30 seconds and they'll let
it suck up the other 23 hours oftheir day.
SPEAKER_01 (38:37):
You know, I'm very guilty of it.
Um, I've tried to be moreintentional about it now.
I'm the sad part is I'm betterabout it at work than I am at
home.
Um, because I think it's all dayI've tried to be like, nope,
we're gonna be good, we're gonnabe good.
And then I get home and I'mlike, oh, and then I'm done.
SPEAKER_00 (38:54):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (38:54):
And then and then my husband wants to talk to me, and
I'm like, no.
He's like, was it a bad day?
I'm like, I don't know, I don'twant to talk about it.
And and it really probablywasn't.
I'm just done at that point.
And I hate it for it because Ithink he gets the worst of me.
Um we've been talking about thatover coffee.
SPEAKER_03 (39:11):
So if y'all are listening to it, this is this is
our coffee talks.
This is this is behind thecurtain, unpack.
Yes, right.
SPEAKER_01 (39:16):
My husband can always tell when I've been
talking to you, Ron, becausethen I always usually have a
better day.
SPEAKER_03 (39:24):
So I'm gonna do some, I'm gonna do some uh I'm
gonna do a light around withyou.
I'm gonna ask you just some somepretty funny questions.
Um so uh beach or the mountains.
SPEAKER_01 (39:32):
Ooh, mountains.
SPEAKER_03 (39:34):
The mountains, really?
Okay, I saw you as a beachwoman.
Okay, I got that one.
SPEAKER_01 (39:39):
I like both, but I don't want to be hot wrong.
unknown (39:45):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (39:46):
So uh uh sit down, find dining, or burgers of
pizza.
SPEAKER_01 (39:53):
I like both, but probably burgers and pizza.
SPEAKER_03 (40:01):
If you had an opportunity to donate a million
dollars to an organization, whatorganization would it be?
SPEAKER_01 (40:08):
Oh, that's I that for me is um an easy one.
Um anything that deals withdomestic violence or um victims
of assault, um, especiallywomen, um, that is where I would
spend my time.
Either it and the only otherthing I would add to it is um
homelessness because there areso many people out there that
don't um ask for that situationto happen.
(40:30):
It can happen to anybody rightnow.
So both of those, because youthere's there's less control in
a lot of those situations.
Yeah.
And I always want to help peopledo you know things that that
they didn't control whathappened to them.
SPEAKER_03 (40:43):
Awesome, awesome.
Yeah, take a nice flight towherever you wish, or would you
take a cruise?
SPEAKER_01 (40:50):
Ooh, you know, I've never been on a cruise,
strangely enough.
Um, as claustrophobic as I am,I'm probably flying somewhere
because I want to make sure it'sover quickly and I need to see
land, and I need to make surethat um it's the control freak
in me that yeah.
Yeah, I'm gonna definitely fly.
SPEAKER_03 (41:09):
And your favorite holiday of the year and why?
SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
Oh, it's oh, it's it's Christmas just because
there's you know family time andall the things we get to do, um,
especially now.
Um my husband and my son areboth obsessed.
Um, they're obsessed withHalloween too, but uh, but with
Christmas, and I think it's justthe joy and seeing what it
brings to other people.
(41:35):
Um, it's there's somethingmagical about it.
SPEAKER_03 (41:38):
Yes, yes.
Well, well, thank you.
You've been fun.
It's been great.
SPEAKER_00 (41:43):
Always great, Ron.
SPEAKER_03 (41:44):
Yeah, it's always fun to talk to you.
Is there anything that we didnot talk about that that you
will share with theup-and-coming leader as a
Laura's tip?
What's something you would sharewith someone, the younger
version of you?
What would you tell yourself?
SPEAKER_01 (41:56):
You know, I've had this conversation lately with a
couple of people.
Is if you think that elevationas a leader means that you're
going to have more control,you're sadly mistaken.
Yes, is about the higher you go,the less control you have.
It is more about influence,hands down, every day, all day.
(42:18):
Um, you know, people are alwayslike, I want this promotion
because I want to have a seat atthe table and all that.
And that is true, you know, insome ways.
However, again, you are notultimately controlling what's
happening, you're helpinginfluence what it is.
So the sooner you realize that,the better off you're gonna be.
SPEAKER_03 (42:38):
You won't be so disappointed when you get the
promotion.
SPEAKER_01 (42:42):
It's not all as cracked up to me.
It's great.
No, it really is great, but itagain, it is it's not if you're
doing it for control, you'redoing it for the wrong reasons.
SPEAKER_03 (42:52):
Just just have a kid, you'll find out real quick
you're not in control.
SPEAKER_01 (42:56):
Okay, and realize you are zero control.
SPEAKER_03 (43:01):
Become a parent.
You'll watch how how much youdon't have control.
You're like only thing I can dois influence this little kid
because they'll boss me aroundevery day.
I want this to eat, I want todress like this, I don't want to
wear that, I want to go to bedat this time.
You know, this six-year-old.
SPEAKER_01 (43:15):
Yes, this child tells me what to do every day,
and I'm telling you, I'm livingit down.
Like, I'm gonna, as soon aswe're done, I'm checking to see
did how did he act today?
You know, dictate the rest ofit.
SPEAKER_03 (43:26):
Well, it's been fun.
What's the best way to reachwhat's the best way to reach you
if someone wants to reach out toyou?
I mean, because I think peoplewill listen to the podcast and
looking for a mentor or lookingfor a leader or looking for an
executive, you know, what's thebest way to reach you?
SPEAKER_01 (43:38):
Um, my email is always the easiest, just because
I'm I'm constantly checking it,probably when I shouldn't be.
Um, it's L lot, L L O T T more,M-O-O-R-E at Lexhealth.org.
Always the easiest way to reachme.
SPEAKER_03 (43:52):
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
And for everyone, thank y'allfor joining us.
Um, we ask that you share thelink with someone um that's
that's looking to grow um tobecome more effective as a
leader.
Um we appreciate you stayingwith us again, Ron Harvey with
Global Course Strategies andConsulting.
The two best places to find meis always going to be LinkedIn
um or go to our company'swebpage.
All the other stuff, I don't doa bunch of social media, um, so
(44:15):
I'm not on all those platforms,but you can always find me on
LinkedIn and you can always goto my company website and send
me an email.
And I do personally respond toall the emails I get.
So uh feel free.
Um, until next time, the Lauraand I will sign off and tell
everyone have a great day, besafe, um, and get ready for the
holiday season.
I don't know if it'sThanksgiving, Halloween, or
Christmas right now, becausewhen I go to Home Depot, they
got it all in the store.
They got it all.
(44:35):
I'm not sure what holiday we'rein.
I know we're all spending moneyon that stuff.
So thank y'all.
Have a great day.
SPEAKER_01 (44:41):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (44:43):
Well, we hope you enjoy this edition of Unpack
Podcast with leadershipconsultant Ron Harvey.
Remember to join us every Mondayas Ron Unpacks Sound Advice,
providing real answers for realleadership challenges.
Until next time, remember to addvalue and make a difference
where you are for the people youserve.
(45:05):
Because people always matter.
Welcome to Unpack Podcast with your host,
Leadership Consultant, RonHarvey of Global Core Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now, to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, Ron Harvey.
SPEAKER_03 (00:20):
Well, good afternoon, everybody.
This is Ron Harvey with GlobalCore Strategies and Consulting.
We're a professional leadershipfirm based out of Columbia,
South Carolina.
And we really spend all our timehelping leaders be more
effective, of taking care of thepeople that get the job done for
real in their organizations.
So we love it, we enjoy it, andwe love giving back to the
community, which is why we dothe podcast, Unpack with Ron
(00:42):
Harvey, where we invite guestsfrom around the world.
And we have local talent with usas well.
So we bring them on the show andwe talk about organization, we
talk about leadership, we talkabout challenges.
We're pretty transparent, andthat's why we call it Unpack.
So welcome back to anotherepisode where we're going to
talk about uh the truth aboutleadership, um, people and what
it actually takes to lead at thehighest level possible.
(01:03):
So I get to have a friend ofmine.
Uh, we've been having coffee andmeeting and working with her for
years now, who's become a reallygood colleague, a supporter, and
a friend.
So, Laura, welcome to the show.
Uh, I'm gonna invite you andmove out the way of this
microphone and let you uhintroduce yourself.
SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Well, thank you, Ron.
Thank you for having me.
Um, so hey guys, I am LauraLotmore.
I am uh vice president here atLexington Health in the Midlands
of South Carolina.
We cover mostly Lexington andRichland County.
Um I have the pleasure ofworking with our perioperative
groups or our ORs, um, imagingum and all things community
(01:40):
related, which is how I got tomeet Ron through all of our
chamber um initiatives and as aparticipant in Leadership
Columbia.
So just uh excited to be hereand excited to talk to Ron like
we normally do over coffee.
SPEAKER_03 (01:55):
Yes, yes.
We can let them into our ownlittle coffee meeting, you know,
on a podcast, um, because we douh we did the talk often and
support one another and havefun, um which is how I met you
over time, you know, throughcoaching experience and helping
some of your leaders.
When you think about, you know,you've been you've been in your
space and you know, you look atLexington Health and the work
that you're doing.
What do you enjoy most aboutbecause I know it's challenging,
(02:16):
I mean, for everybody, but whatdo you enjoy most about your
role of being a leader?
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
Well, I think it's it's interesting.
I always say the leadershipportion of it, while it feels
like it can be the hardest, isthe most rewarding because you
get to um meet um all kinds offolks, whether it's like
yourself outside of theorganization or within the
organization, but then you getto um feel like you have this um
(02:41):
an impact and a and a real time,something you can see that's
tangible um working with someoneand seeing them um improve and
and then them helping me improveum because I I certainly don't
know at all and have a lot to tostill learn.
And so I I just I'm blessed thatI get to do what I do and um and
(03:02):
get to pull on the strengths ofso many others and then share
that amongst all of them.
Um and so to me, this is the funstuff that we get to do.
Um I I kind of geek out on it alittle bit now.
Um, and and and I get it all inmy little element and get so
excited when I have a newleadership book to read or if I
have a new concept or somethingI want to share with someone.
(03:22):
But it really, it really is thefun stuff that we get to do.
And um, I'm just blessed that Iget to do it here, somewhere
that I love working, been herefor 16 years.
Um, and I always say I bleedgreen just because um it, it
just it I I believe in what wedo, um, and not because I was
(03:45):
told to, but because I honestlysee things in action and um and
getting to work alongside somereally strong, creative, amazing
leaders who've helped me grow.
Um, and I believe we all do itfor the right reasons.
So I I'm blessed, one, that Iget to be a leader, two, that I
get to do it here, and three, Iget to do it alongside um some
(04:06):
pretty great people.
SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
I uh uh I want to unpack alittle bit.
I mean, when I met you, you'realready in your in a role and
you were getting promoted andyou were doing things yourself,
but even in that journey, youknow, you you took the the
liberty of continuing youreducation.
That's important because you,you know, you were successful,
but you you saw a need tocontinue your own personal
growth.
What do you say to leaders thatthat are on the fence, whether
(04:29):
they should do theirprofessional development or
growth or continue education?
What do you say to thoseleaders?
Because you did it and you werealready in a in a in a great
role.
What made you continue?
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
Well, I think that was part of it.
Um, you know, when I got out ofcollege, I swore, please don't
make me go and do that again.
Um it was just such a, you know,it was a it was a long time ago.
And you know, I've been affordedsome really great opportunities,
um, worked really hard, but hadsome folks that really believed
in me.
And you're right, I was in arole where I didn't have to
(05:01):
continue my educationnecessarily.
Um, at least I wasn't, it wasn'ta requirement, I should say.
And I had looked over the yearsmany, many times and you know,
Googled different programs ofwhat do I want to do, but
nothing really stuck with me.
I mean, I could have done an MBAor an MHA and I thought about it
and I looked that up um formultiple years.
(05:22):
Um, but it's what I do all dayalready, right?
And I felt like it wasn't, Ididn't know what else I was
going to gain from it personallyas well.
And I think that's what struckme when I found um the program
that I did at Columbia College,um, organizational leadership.
I thought, one, didn't know thatwas a thing you could do, but it
(05:45):
it spoke to me in a way, and itwas different.
And so that when I went about itat that moment, it um it was
because I wanted to, not becauseI had to.
And it was something that wasgonna be impactful for me
professionally and personally.
Um, and so I had a conversationwith my boss, and I said, Hey,
I'm thinking about doing this.
(06:06):
Um, and I said, you know, whatdo you think?
And he said, One, I absolutelysupport you, but if you're
asking me, do you need this tokeep your job or to be
considered for other things?
The answer is no, but do I thinkit's a good idea?
Yes.
And that was what I needed.
It wasn't required again.
Um, but it it gave me a push.
And so um it's interesting.
(06:27):
I I told myself I'm gonna writethe entrance essay.
And if I write it and it'snatural and I feel like I can
flow and I can do this, thenI'll I'll I'll I'll move
forward.
And it did.
Um, I sat in my office and Ithink I wrote it in probably 45
minutes just because I was justI was really excited about it.
Um, and it was hard.
(06:49):
It was hard doing that.
Um, being a mom, having um, youknow, a career and a demanding
job, uh, being a wife, doing allthe things, um, being out in the
community, but it was hands downone of the best things I did for
myself um in the last 20 years.
(07:09):
Just and it definitely is partof my career because, you know,
it it helped me in ways I didn'teven know I needed help and or I
didn't even think about.
Um, it was again, I do the thetechnicalities, the the business
aspects of the job every day,and I've been a leader for many
years, but it helped me realizehow much more one I needed to
(07:32):
learn, but how much there was anopportunity that I got to
experience some of that and thenshare it with other people.
Um, and so it was a hard year,um, because it was a year.
Um, it was it was really hard,but and my husband probably
doesn't always agree that it wasthe best of times, but it was it
(07:53):
was almost like being intherapy.
It was it really was because itwas it brought me to a lot of
these realizations about myselfand helped me realize who I am
that will ultimately make me abetter leader.
And so I, you know, I I highlyrecommend it to anyone, and this
program specifically, um, justbecause I got so much out of it.
(08:14):
I've actually um I've had fourpeople that I work with now.
Um, one's already finished theprogram, same one.
Um, and then the other three aregoing to finish in December, and
they're excited, and I can seethat spark in them.
And it's not for everybody.
Um, the program that I did orany program may not be, but if
they got as excited about it asI did, um I wanted them to know
(08:36):
that there was an option outthere.
SPEAKER_03 (08:38):
So yeah, I love it.
And professional development andfinding something that that that
piques your curiosity andexcitement about it.
Uh and you did it for you.
You know, you you you startedtoo for a while, Laura.
You you know, you're walkingthrough that and you brought up
some things that that I wantedto to unpack for people, you
know, because sometimes it'sdifficult.
But your wife, your mom, you'rebusy, you're on the chamber, you
know, you're on differentboards, you're you know, you you
(08:58):
know, you do the heart, youknow, association where there's
just a lot.
How do you lead through fatigue?
Because that that can be veryexhausting.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
I don't know if I have anything.
SPEAKER_03 (09:09):
Even healthcare.
So you think healthcare, youguys have been, you know, since
2020, since COVID, you know, youguys have really been nonstop
turbulent since 2020.
How do you help people that thatare watching, that are
listening, saying, how does shedo it all, still keep a healthy
marriage, still be there for herkids, still continue her
education, and still staylevel-headed and grounded and
(09:30):
through all of that?
How do you do it?
SPEAKER_01 (09:32):
That's a great question.
Um, I don't know that I have allthe answers, but um I just I I
give myself some grace andremember um that I don't have to
be perfect at everything, thoughI I I think I try really hard
and strive to be, we all do, butI'm a little OCD in that
respect.
But I give myself grace and Igive myself the time and space
(09:56):
to to take on whatever I feellike is gonna bring me some
value or bring me or bring thosearound me value, right?
And you know, just when youthink there's not enough time in
the day, there is, you can makeit.
It's hard.
And then there are a lot oftimes in the moment when you
think I cannot do this anymore,whether it's school or um an
(10:18):
organization that you're workingwith.
But I think it also comes frombeing really honest with
yourself, but also with yourfamily and your significant
other, because you know, you'vegot to have some conversations
about what the give and take is.
And there's always gonna besomething.
And um, again, my husband may ormay not agree that I get that
(10:38):
right every time, but we try.
Um, you know, we have aconversation every week on what
days I have to be at work early,what days I have to be at work
late, and you know, who'spicking up the kid, and we we
get all the logistics stuff outof the way so that then with
then when we're actually in theweek, hopefully, you know, we
can be present in the moment.
And I'll tell you, I'm notalways present in the moment,
(11:00):
and I'm not always really goodat that, but I'm trying really
hard, and it's something thatI've tried to take my focus and
shift it, is that um be presentwhere you are and what what
you're doing.
And if you can, you can do it inshorter snippets sometimes if
you can have your mind focus andbe there.
When my mind, when I'm at homeand my mind's at work, I'm not
(11:21):
really there for either one ofthem, and vice versa.
And so it's it's about kind ofchanneling that and figuring out
um how you can really be therephysically and mentally for
those you're in the room with atthat moment.
And and you'll be successful.
It's it's it's not perfect, butthere's um it's something you've
(11:44):
got to try if it's somethingyou're really interested in,
because you'll feel bad andworse if you didn't try to do
something else or be a part ofan organization that you believe
in their mission or whatever itmay be, spend some time
volunteering.
If you'll feel worse if you ifyou don't make the effort, and
so I say make the effort.
SPEAKER_03 (12:04):
Yes, I love it.
I mean, I think I said it at theconference for everyone is you
know, how do you get to theplace as a leader where you
where you be where your feetare?
You know, all the time.
Yeah, you know, oftentimes youcould be sitting at a table and
not be in the room um becauseyou got so much going on in your
life, and and people notice it,people pick up on it, um, and it
leaves them in this awkwardplace of do they address it or
do they do they ask questions ordo they start the fight, or you
(12:27):
know, what do they do to to makesure they can close that gap?
So I would tell you, I love thatyou're saying that I'm working
on how do I be where my feet areat that moment.
If it's 30 minutes, it's 30minutes.
Um, if it's two minutes, it'stwo, whatever that time frame
is.
Um, so people get the undividedattention um that they need in
that that time frame.
I want to shift a little bit.
You're you're when you thinkabout you coming through the
ranks and and and getting to thelevel that you are, what role
(12:48):
did mentors or sponsors play inin your level of success?
Um, you know, did you pick them?
Did they pick you?
Did you have them?
SPEAKER_01 (12:57):
I think a little bit of all of it.
Um definitely they played a hugerole.
Um, I can think of um severaloff the top of my head.
Um, but it's about surroundingyourself with really good
people.
And I think some of them happennaturally, in that um, you know,
one's my boss, my and he's beenmy boss the majority of the
(13:18):
time.
And um, and it that was kind ofa natural thing.
Um now I I'll say he's he'sgiven me a lot of grace over the
years because again, when Idon't get it right, he tells me.
Um, but he's we're willing tohave those really raw and honest
conversations with each otherand not take it personal.
Um the others, there's beenothers where I've sought them
(13:39):
out like yourself.
Um, I just remember seeing youmultiple times.
I think we've talked about this.
Um, you know, after the thirdtime I saw you in a two-week
period, I'm like, I'm meant toknow this man and he's gonna
bring something.
And and I and I do, it's afriendship, but I also see it as
a mentorship or you know, um, ina way as well, because I always
(14:02):
um joke that I feel like you'recoaching me on the side, like uh
it's it's like you need somehelp, but do you know you needed
the help?
Um, but again, that's where itcomes from.
So it just kind of it isnatural, but I did seek you out
in that respect.
Um so I think it can it can comefrom a lot of different ways.
I mean, you from folks who don'tnecessarily realize it.
Um, I've had um others that nowI'm helping and doing that for
(14:27):
because I feel like the reasonthat I am successful and able to
do some of the things I I can dois because I've had some really
good mentors and teachers thatinvested time in me, and I
really didn't realize how muchtime they invested in me until I
started doing that for otherpeople.
And I thought to myself, wow,one, I need to go thank them
again, but two, I need to giveback and I need to do that.
(14:50):
And if I can save someone fromhaving some heartache, not not
from going from the experiencebecause they need to learn from
it, but save them um fromgetting in this vicious cycle or
circle of um you know leadershipthings that you really wish you
you had somebody to kind ofguide you through.
And if I can do that for them, Iwant to do that.
(15:12):
Um, I've got a couple differentpeople that I do that with, some
very um deliberate in that wemeet monthly, some that I do it
just naturally, again, as a as afriend or in a colleague.
Um some that maybe are mentoringme and when I think I'm
mentoring them, you know.
Um, but all of that isimportant.
(15:33):
You know, I I didn't I've alwaysknown that my mentors were a
huge part of it, but I reallystarted focusing on that when I
like you mentioned we were whenI was in school, and when I did
my capstone, I did it onmentorship um because it felt
like God, there's somethingthere.
This needs to be more, thereneeds to be some intentionality
(15:54):
to this more than what there is.
And I want to invest my time inthat and understanding not only
what people have done for me andcontinuing to gain that, but
what I can do for other people.
SPEAKER_03 (16:05):
Yeah, I love it.
I love that you're saying, youknow, be intentional about it so
that way you can lean in alittle bit more.
I mean, it definitely isvaluable.
And how do you how do you leaninto it?
So I would tell people beintentional, lean into it, and
let people know.
Um, you know, and then also be amentor to other people uh so you
can learn the skill set of howto be a phenomenal mentor.
I'll just shift a little bit foryou.
You think about you know theculture in in a clinical
(16:27):
hospital world.
And oftentimes, you know, when Igo into the Lexant Health, the
service is phenomenal externallyto all the patients.
How do you guys do when it comesto internal creating the culture
that that the people that areserving us doing a really,
really good job?
How do you manage and make sureyou meet that same level of
expectation to how you treateach other internally in the
(16:49):
healthcare world?
SPEAKER_01 (16:50):
To me, it starts from day one.
Um, the day that I I had thesame feeling.
I wanted to work at Lexington.
Um, I I remember thinking thatis a place I need to be.
And I did everything I could.
I had seven interviews before Igot a job.
Um, but it was it was becausethe the external culture was
there.
And so what really embedded itfor me too was day one of
(17:12):
orientation.
Um it started from that day andit's never ended.
And so it is a it is apurposeful, intentional, um
something we talk about oftenkind of thing.
Um, but we don't just talk aboutit, we do it.
You know what I mean?
And so it is, but we don't reston our laurels that it just
(17:34):
happens naturally.
Now it'll morph and change overtime.
We always talk about our culturehere, and sometimes it has you
know it has changed.
When you when you grow fromprobably 2,500 employees when I
started to 9,000 today, it'sgoing to change.
But it is a at the core of it,we are here for our patients and
(17:54):
our employees, period.
And everything else justgravitates around that, right?
We're here to provide reallygood service to our patients and
treat our employees well so theycan provide that good service
for the patients.
And we hopefully we're elevatingthe right leaders who understand
that and who get that, and whoagain are intentional and very
(18:17):
um forthcoming about that, andand and we talk about it.
And if we don't get it right allthe time, and when we don't, we
have that conversation too.
But we continuously have that asour our strategy for success,
and and it works, and I and I'mgrateful that I get to be a part
of it.
So, and that's what I tellpeople all the time.
(18:38):
They're like, you know, you'veworked your licensing a long
time.
Why?
I'm like, I'm just grateful theylet me stay.
I'm just grateful that I get tobe here because I believe in
what we do, but I believe in howwe do it and how we treat people
because these are the thepatients that we have are our
friends, our neighbors, youknow, our are people we go to
church with, all of thosethings.
(18:59):
And so we we got to be goodpartners and good caretakers for
them.
SPEAKER_03 (19:06):
Yeah.
I love that you're using theword partners because that's
that's at the end of the day,that's what it is.
Being that you guys work so hardon making sure that you you set
a great culture and people feelrespected, seeing and heard.
What practices do you do youimplement?
Um, do you guys practice everyday, honestly, when they're when
conflict arises?
How do how because oftentimespeople feel like you know
conflict and they think negativeand they think like, oh, I don't
(19:28):
want to deal with it.
How do you guys you know trainyour leaders to, when it arises,
to still live up to your corevalues?
SPEAKER_01 (19:35):
I think it it's a couple things.
One, you've got to be verywilling to have hard
conversations, willing to leanin and step in, but you've also
got to be willing to be humbleand back up and realize that you
may be the problem.
And we do that a lot.
I mean, I I you know, everybodyhas this initial right reaction
in their head, right?
It's always, oh my gosh, theythat it must be the other
(19:58):
person.
It must be that.
But when you take a step backand you don't let that come out
of your mouth yet, and you takea step back and you really think
about it, at the end of the day,being right or getting the right
result are not always the rightthing, or always the same thing,
I should say.
And it doesn't really matterabout how we go about something
(20:21):
differently or how we um, youknow, how we're going to attack
a problem.
What matters is that we're doingit with respect, and it matters
that we're doing it in a waythat we're not trying to
alienate and and shatterrelationships.
Now there are times when some ofthe some of that happens.
Um, and again, you don't get itright, but if you built up
(20:44):
enough trust in your team andyou've built up enough trust
through your reputation of howyou handle things, um, hopefully
you can live through one ofthose.
Not always, but hopefully youcan.
Um so I think for for for me andfor us, I think it's about
really um leaning in to whenthere's an issue, being willing
to solve it, and then just moveon.
(21:06):
Um you can't let it linger, youcan't let it keep going, have
the hard conversation, figure itout, work together, and then go
forward.
Because the worst thing a teamcan see is that there's a
conflict and that the twoleaders can't get along, or that
they can't work through it.
How can I expect them as teammembers to work through a
problem if we can't?
SPEAKER_03 (21:27):
Exactly.
Yes, yes.
How do you guys, if you're on ateam such as look at your team,
you know, someone's not carryingtheir fair share of the weight?
Um, how important is it for aleader to address that?
Um, and what's the danger ifthey don't?
SPEAKER_01 (21:40):
Yeah, I mean, the danger is that another person
ends up doing all the work, oryou end up doing all the work
and you burn people out and youerode a culture and you erode
that trust that you had.
Um, so you definitely have toyou have to take that head on.
You you gotta be honest withpeople.
Um, if you're not honest, how doyou expect them to get any
(22:02):
better?
And how do you expect, you know,if you want a different result,
you've got to do somethingdifferent.
And that starts with tellingthem.
Um, and you know, that's notthat's not easy.
Difficult conversations are, youknow, you have to prepare them.
Yeah, they are.
I mean, they're by nature,that's just what they are.
But again, you can't take it asthis um, it's not always a
(22:26):
negative.
Sometimes what you're doing isactually telling somebody maybe
they're not pulling theirweight, they may not realize it.
And what you're doing is doingthem a favor and helping them
and helping them in theircareer.
Um, and there are gonna be timeswhen everybody's gonna have
something going on in theirpersonal life or at work um that
is gonna impact it.
Give them people a little bit oftime and space to have that
(22:47):
every now and then, but youstill hold them accountable and
you still have conversations.
Um, but sometimes that's maybethat's what they needed.
They needed to know you caredand recognized it.
Um, and you believed enough inthem to give them a chance to
fix it.
Because if you didn't believe inthem, you just either write them
off or you don't help them andand and they don't they don't
(23:09):
advance and you don't getanything else out of them.
So I mean it did it it behoovesyou to actually have those
conversations.
SPEAKER_03 (23:16):
Yes, yes.
So I'm gonna um so Laura, whenyou when you guys think about
healthcare right now, retainingtop talent, you know, there's a
crisis for making sure we haveenough people in our healthcare
system in on all positions.
That's a national crisis withinhealthcare right now.
What is the one thing thehealthcare system is gonna have
to abandon to make sure theydon't lose their best talent?
(23:37):
What's the change that have tobe made within healthcare?
SPEAKER_01 (23:40):
Yeah, I mean, I think we've got to think
differently.
Um, we have to, you can the olddays of posting a job and people
replying, and then youinterviewing and then you hiring
these great people, that isover.
You uh this is about having agreat place to be and a great
place to work, and and thenshowcasing that, right?
(24:02):
But where it's genuine and it'sreal, and you're not having a
recruiter out there talkingabout how great an environment
is, um, that that you can't liveup to when they get here, right?
Um and then thinkingdifferently.
I mean, we do uh we talked aboutpartnerships earlier.
A lot of it is partnering.
I mean, we've partnered with USDum for the School of Nursing.
(24:23):
We knew there was gonna be anursing shortage.
We've partnered with them tohelp them expand um their class
size, which in turn gets morepeople coming um here for their
clinicals.
Um, we've got to do on-the-jobtraining.
You know, in the past, I wouldhave never in imaging said, Oh,
you want to go to school?
Let me help you, let me help youpay for it, and let me let me um
(24:44):
let me teach you um while you'reon the clock, let me do all of
these things, and then let mehelp you have a job when you're
done.
But what better way to do it,right?
Um, if you've got people thatare already vested interest, um,
and they see that we'reinvesting in them, they're more
likely to stay with you.
You know, you've got to buildthat loyalty because it's
(25:06):
different.
Um, the days again of peoplecoming here and being here for
30, 40, 50 years just becausethey love this place and they're
hard workers, um, that doesn'thappen as much anymore.
We want it to, but times changeand what the expectations
change.
So you've got to have adifferent approach in doing it.
You cannot just accept thestatus quo and say, you know,
(25:28):
this training program that'sreally intense, that's you know,
three years long is the only wayto do it.
Is it?
You know, is it it it probablyis a gold standard and it and it
works, but can you do itdifferently?
And can you do more on the jobtraining?
And I think you can.
Um, and again, it doesn'tsupersede any kind of
educational requirements.
I don't mean that, but on thejob training and and and working
(25:52):
in an environment and exposingpeople to an environment early
helps.
SPEAKER_03 (25:56):
Yeah, I love that you're you've been open-minded,
adaptable, and and what otherway can you do it?
You know, so you can stop thebleeding.
You know, I mean, I think youguys are being interviewed just
as much as you're interviewing.
So people are interviewing younow, you know.
So you can walk into a roombefore we would talk.
Well, have at least one questionat the interview.
No, you better be prepared toanswer like five questions if
you're the company that's tryingto hire me now because they're
(26:18):
interviewing you just as much asyou're interviewing them.
Is that happening for Lex toHealth as well?
SPEAKER_01 (26:22):
Oh, without a doubt.
It's funny you say that becauseI interviewed someone yesterday
and I know now to leave extratime, right?
Um, but and I always do becauseI just think that's the right
thing to do.
But they she had a list of uhthree pages for me.
Now, granted, a lot of it we hadtalked about throughout, but it
was what their questions were.
But so I mean, yeah, it happensevery day.
(26:44):
And and there is a lot, I feellike I'm selling more now than I
ever did before.
And some of that's okay.
I mean, it it that is a hardthing to transition to, but and
and but I also don't want it tobe, I'm still, no matter how you
know, short we may be in anarea, we're still not going to
hire the wrong people.
And by the wrong people, I meanpeople who are not willing to
(27:04):
come here and be um a part ofthe change, a part of who we are
as a culture, a part of takingcare of those patients, like we
talked about earlier, that it'sall about the patients, you
know, and it's about makingtheir experience good.
So people who don't understandthat we're not willing to
compromise when it comes tothat.
When it comes to training andother things, you know, we'll
figure that out.
(27:25):
But we need to know that you'regoing to be here for the right
reasons and that you're going tocome here and take good care of
our patients.
And so I think it's justfiguring out what your your
priorities are and and and androlling through that, but
definitely being prepared toanswer some hard questions.
SPEAKER_03 (27:42):
Yeah.
And I think that's for everyone.
So if you listen, whetherhealthcare or not, we we got to
be prepared as an interviewernow to to to um answer some hard
questions.
SPEAKER_00 (27:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (27:50):
I want to move to future-proofing leadership.
Um, so three to five years fromnow, what what scares you more
in the role that you're in?
Is it you know technologydisruption?
Is it uh healthcare models?
Is it declining workforcepipelines, uh, erosion of public
trust?
What stands out the most to youthree to five years from now for
(28:12):
Lexan Health to be what it wantsto be and what you can be?
What scares you the most aboutthose those topics?
SPEAKER_01 (28:19):
All of the things that you mentioned.
SPEAKER_03 (28:21):
All of it's around all of it.
SPEAKER_01 (28:23):
We got the I mean they're all important, but I
think you said it earlier.
For us, it's it's um it's theculture, right?
And the larger you grow, theharder it is to maintain, right?
Um, we've been very blessed andvery lucky that um for many
years we've been able to grow inthis community and um continue
(28:46):
to hire people who work in thiscommunity, lived here their
whole lives, who want to bethere, and that's harder.
You're gonna have to, you gottago out, you've got to get um new
talent, more talent.
I mean, there's just neverenough, right?
Um, so I think that that'sthat's always a scary thing
because what's typically set usapart is is our culture.
(29:08):
Yes, and so maintaining thatwhile also thinking out
differently and getting newpeople.
Um, I mean, then there's youknow, as as the landscape
changes and how um how thingsare gonna be um compensated or
how you're going to um payersare gonna pay for certain
things.
I mean, that always scares allof us.
But if it's gonna be a focus onquality and you're providing
(29:31):
quality, it's you know, there'sa I get it, you know, it's a
good way to do it.
Um, it's just are those that arejudging your quality, are we
judging it and doing it in a waythat makes sense?
So you always get to think aboutthat.
Um, I mean, there's there's aton of things out there.
I mean, AI, I mean, you know, Ithink AI in a healthcare
(29:53):
setting, though, um can beamazing.
Um, you know, we've dabbled intoit a little bit and I feel like
uh doing some good things.
Um, but that's scary to all ofus, you know.
I think in our personal livestoo, you know, of what AI can be
some really great things, but itcan also be some very um really
(30:14):
hard things that feel likeyou're replacing people.
And and and for us to be sofocused on our people, I don't
want technology to completelyreplace it, I want it to enhance
it, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_03 (30:25):
Yes, and I think that makes sense.
You know, AI will, you know, youthink about you know, horse and
buggy days, and when cars camealong, I can only imagine what
they were saying.
Yeah, you know, for people thatyou know, now we got you know
cars, and then when thetelephone came along, oh my
goodness, we're gonna not talkto each other more because we
got this device we can.
So I think there's always thisthing of the unknown that scares
humans, um, but also that wefigured out and it enhances the
(30:47):
quality of life.
I think you know, putting somesome some gateways up or some
barriers, if you will, you know,to guard us will be important.
But I'll tell most people nowwith technology, if you don't
use it, you won't be aroundbecause it's it's not going
anywhere.
So you got to figure out how toleverage it.
Like now, you know, I've youknow, I can do three interviews,
you know, um, you know, a lotfaster than if I had to drive or
(31:08):
you had to drive, you know, toget it done.
You probably only get one ofthose or two of those in per
day.
So when you start thinking aboutthe work that you're doing and
and with public trust beingreally low for everybody across
the industry, what are you guysdoing really, really well?
Because I don't hear that therethat public trust is low for Lex
and Hill.
I mean, I don't it's not even aconversation I hear in our
(31:29):
community.
What do y'all do so that y'allmaintain public trust?
SPEAKER_01 (31:32):
Well, again, I think it's just being completely
transparent and open.
I mean, we put everything outthere.
We try to um, if there's gonnabe something that because
everything's not positive.
I mean, as much as we want it tobe, I mean, things happen, um,
but we try to be open about itand and we're not hiding
anything.
Like there's no like somethinghappening over here that that
(31:55):
we're trying to hide in any way.
We're trying to do the best wecan.
Circumstances don't always workout.
I mean, you know, I thinkthere's always this this this
fear that there's um, is itreally a great place?
Or, you know, we we did a newbonus thing recently um for a
hard-to-recruit area.
And one of the things thatsomeone told me um that the way
(32:18):
it could be taken was like, itmust be a really bad place to
work if they're offering thatmuch money to work there.
I'm like, no, we just believe init that much.
So it's it's it's just a um,it's a hard thing.
Some of the trust comes from notnecessarily us, but from the
industry or from experiencesmaybe even they've had other
places.
(32:38):
Um, and that's hard to overcome.
But again, I think if we cancontinue to be who we are and
continue to hold our leaders andour team accountable for
producing that really goodexperience, um, then you know,
word of mouth is everything.
It'll make or break you, one wayor the other.
(32:58):
It's gonna it's gonna happen.
And don't get me wrong, we havegotten it wrong before.
We uh made some decisions wherepeople didn't understand them or
why we were doing them.
Um, and we've had to back uppivot and explain again um or or
rethink our message, but we havea really good um team that we
(33:20):
use that that does help us withour message.
And it's not like I don't wantto call it crafting a message to
um to mislead someone, but it'scrafting a message to make it
relevant to the folks that weare trying to get to.
Does that make sense?
Like you want, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:35):
I mean, it's authentic, it's real, you know.
So when you think about like,you know, for the for the
healthcare and building trust, Imean, you constantly up front,
and and that doesn't mean you'reperfect, but when you're not you
on a foot.
Here's what we're trying to do,and you can do everything right
and it still doesn't go doesn'tgo right, you know.
So I think that's important.
When you when you think of therole that you're currently in
(33:56):
and and where we are now, if youhad a chance to to make one
major change uh for leaders,what would you do if you had a
magic wand to make somethingbetter?
What would you do?
SPEAKER_01 (34:08):
That's a good question, Ron.
Oh um one thing to make itbetter for everybody.
Um you know, I think I wouldremind people that it's okay to
(34:29):
make mistakes, it is okay to notbe the leader that you are want
to be at all times um or thinkyou are, but be honest enough
with those that you work withand yourself to say, you know
what, I can do that better, andthen actually go and do it
(34:49):
better, you know.
But remind people that it's okayto to to get it wrong and to
fail.
I you know, I hate to say that,but otherwise you've got the
these perfectionists out there,right?
I'm I'm I'm one.
And it is and you beat yourselfup so badly um when those around
(35:10):
you aren't beating you up, youknow, and so it it's giving
yourself grace, giving yourselfsome um some, I don't know, a
little bit of space to figure itout.
What makes you a better leaderis having gone through it and
experienced something andthinking, hey, I'm gonna make
that better next time.
(35:30):
Not you know, wallow in this toolong.
I mean, you can wallow a littlebit, but don't wallow too long
about the first time.
SPEAKER_03 (35:39):
I think a lot of people expect for it to be
perfect the first time.
Yeah, you know, if you have youknow, my wife and I have three
kids, I think we were betterparents with the third kid.
Yeah, because you you learn.
I mean, um, because you got whatyour parents did, uh, or you got
what you saw on television, oryou got from some show or from
your friends or from yourchurch, whatever you picked up
those parenting skills, and thenyou have your own all of a
sudden, and you're figuring outand navigating how to be
(36:01):
effective.
Um, because the days of hey, I'mthe parent, I pay all the bills,
that worked.
I mean, our parents led more byintimidation and fear, and today
you know, you learn to be moreeffective as a parent.
SPEAKER_01 (36:14):
You know, there's nothing more humbling than
having a kid and watching theirreactions to things and seeing
how, and you and I've talkedabout this, and seeing how um
how they're developing to go,wait, I don't that there's
something going on there, andrealizing it's because they're
(36:34):
emulating you.
Yes, and it is a that is athat's a hard thing to watch.
Um, but it you know, I thinkbeing a parent is gonna teach me
how to be a better leader.
I hope.
SPEAKER_03 (36:48):
They are watching, whether they tell you they're
watching or not.
They are watching everything wedo.
SPEAKER_01 (36:53):
The words that come out of my son's mouth who is
six, um, I'm like, where do youhear that?
And I'm like, oh, he heard thatfrom me.
Um, you know, I mean, you toldme the other day I was bossy,
and I said, Well, not reallybossy, but I am your boss right
now.
So, but I mean, just you know,hearing those kinds of things,
but realizing maybe the tone inwhich I'm saying something or
(37:17):
the expectation that I think asix-year-old's gonna get it
right every single time.
And I'm like, I'm telling myselfto give myself space, but am I
giving my team enough space tomake it these errors or or you
know, learning opportunities,missteps, whatever you want to
call them?
And I'm expecting asix-year-old, I live and die by
this phone in the app that thiskid's there telling me how his
(37:40):
how he reacted today.
And if he has one moment wherehe's unkind, I'm like, buddy,
what happened?
Why'd you have such a bad day?
And it was like, and for him, itwas a blip on the radar.
And I think if somebody wasdoing that to me, saying, You
reacted really badly four hoursago to something.
Did you have a bad day?
I'm like, no, that was a blip.
And so remembering that, uh,that's easier said than done,
(38:04):
but there's nothing wrong withthe problem.
SPEAKER_03 (38:07):
It's amazing.
I mean, and what I reflected onwhen you said it, you know, I do
this workshop and I and I tellpeople, you know, almost ask the
question, hey, when's the lasttime you had a bad day?
And you walk through thisactivity with them, and it can
happen at six o'clock in themorning, but they'll they'll
carry it for the rest of theday.
I say, You had a bad moment inthe day.
Yeah, you allowed it to absorbyour day, and it's amazing how
(38:30):
many people something can happenfor 30 seconds and they'll let
it suck up the other 23 hours oftheir day.
SPEAKER_01 (38:37):
You know, I'm very guilty of it.
Um, I've tried to be moreintentional about it now.
I'm the sad part is I'm betterabout it at work than I am at
home.
Um, because I think it's all dayI've tried to be like, nope,
we're gonna be good, we're gonnabe good.
And then I get home and I'mlike, oh, and then I'm done.
SPEAKER_00 (38:54):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (38:54):
And then and then my husband wants to talk to me, and
I'm like, no.
He's like, was it a bad day?
I'm like, I don't know, I don'twant to talk about it.
And and it really probablywasn't.
I'm just done at that point.
And I hate it for it because Ithink he gets the worst of me.
Um we've been talking about thatover coffee.
SPEAKER_03 (39:11):
So if y'all are listening to it, this is this is
our coffee talks.
This is this is behind thecurtain, unpack.
Yes, right.
SPEAKER_01 (39:16):
My husband can always tell when I've been
talking to you, Ron, becausethen I always usually have a
better day.
SPEAKER_03 (39:24):
So I'm gonna do some, I'm gonna do some uh I'm
gonna do a light around withyou.
I'm gonna ask you just some somepretty funny questions.
Um so uh beach or the mountains.
SPEAKER_01 (39:32):
Ooh, mountains.
SPEAKER_03 (39:34):
The mountains, really?
Okay, I saw you as a beachwoman.
Okay, I got that one.
SPEAKER_01 (39:39):
I like both, but I don't want to be hot wrong.
unknown (39:45):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (39:46):
So uh uh sit down, find dining, or burgers of
pizza.
SPEAKER_01 (39:53):
I like both, but probably burgers and pizza.
SPEAKER_03 (40:01):
If you had an opportunity to donate a million
dollars to an organization, whatorganization would it be?
SPEAKER_01 (40:08):
Oh, that's I that for me is um an easy one.
Um anything that deals withdomestic violence or um victims
of assault, um, especiallywomen, um, that is where I would
spend my time.
Either it and the only otherthing I would add to it is um
homelessness because there areso many people out there that
don't um ask for that situationto happen.
(40:30):
It can happen to anybody rightnow.
So both of those, because youthere's there's less control in
a lot of those situations.
Yeah.
And I always want to help peopledo you know things that that
they didn't control whathappened to them.
SPEAKER_03 (40:43):
Awesome, awesome.
Yeah, take a nice flight towherever you wish, or would you
take a cruise?
SPEAKER_01 (40:50):
Ooh, you know, I've never been on a cruise,
strangely enough.
Um, as claustrophobic as I am,I'm probably flying somewhere
because I want to make sure it'sover quickly and I need to see
land, and I need to make surethat um it's the control freak
in me that yeah.
Yeah, I'm gonna definitely fly.
SPEAKER_03 (41:09):
And your favorite holiday of the year and why?
SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
Oh, it's oh, it's it's Christmas just because
there's you know family time andall the things we get to do, um,
especially now.
Um my husband and my son areboth obsessed.
Um, they're obsessed withHalloween too, but uh, but with
Christmas, and I think it's justthe joy and seeing what it
brings to other people.
(41:35):
Um, it's there's somethingmagical about it.
SPEAKER_03 (41:38):
Yes, yes.
Well, well, thank you.
You've been fun.
It's been great.
SPEAKER_00 (41:43):
Always great, Ron.
SPEAKER_03 (41:44):
Yeah, it's always fun to talk to you.
Is there anything that we didnot talk about that that you
will share with theup-and-coming leader as a
Laura's tip?
What's something you would sharewith someone, the younger
version of you?
What would you tell yourself?
SPEAKER_01 (41:56):
You know, I've had this conversation lately with a
couple of people.
Is if you think that elevationas a leader means that you're
going to have more control,you're sadly mistaken.
Yes, is about the higher you go,the less control you have.
It is more about influence,hands down, every day, all day.
(42:18):
Um, you know, people are alwayslike, I want this promotion
because I want to have a seat atthe table and all that.
And that is true, you know, insome ways.
However, again, you are notultimately controlling what's
happening, you're helpinginfluence what it is.
So the sooner you realize that,the better off you're gonna be.
SPEAKER_03 (42:38):
You won't be so disappointed when you get the
promotion.
SPEAKER_01 (42:42):
It's not all as cracked up to me.
It's great.
No, it really is great, but itagain, it is it's not if you're
doing it for control, you'redoing it for the wrong reasons.
SPEAKER_03 (42:52):
Just just have a kid, you'll find out real quick
you're not in control.
SPEAKER_01 (42:56):
Okay, and realize you are zero control.
SPEAKER_03 (43:01):
Become a parent.
You'll watch how how much youdon't have control.
You're like only thing I can dois influence this little kid
because they'll boss me aroundevery day.
I want this to eat, I want todress like this, I don't want to
wear that, I want to go to bedat this time.
You know, this six-year-old.
SPEAKER_01 (43:15):
Yes, this child tells me what to do every day,
and I'm telling you, I'm livingit down.
Like, I'm gonna, as soon aswe're done, I'm checking to see
did how did he act today?
You know, dictate the rest ofit.
SPEAKER_03 (43:26):
Well, it's been fun.
What's the best way to reachwhat's the best way to reach you
if someone wants to reach out toyou?
I mean, because I think peoplewill listen to the podcast and
looking for a mentor or lookingfor a leader or looking for an
executive, you know, what's thebest way to reach you?
SPEAKER_01 (43:38):
Um, my email is always the easiest, just because
I'm I'm constantly checking it,probably when I shouldn't be.
Um, it's L lot, L L O T T more,M-O-O-R-E at Lexhealth.org.
Always the easiest way to reachme.
SPEAKER_03 (43:52):
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
And for everyone, thank y'allfor joining us.
Um, we ask that you share thelink with someone um that's
that's looking to grow um tobecome more effective as a
leader.
Um we appreciate you stayingwith us again, Ron Harvey with
Global Course Strategies andConsulting.
The two best places to find meis always going to be LinkedIn
um or go to our company'swebpage.
All the other stuff, I don't doa bunch of social media, um, so
(44:15):
I'm not on all those platforms,but you can always find me on
LinkedIn and you can always goto my company website and send
me an email.
And I do personally respond toall the emails I get.
So uh feel free.
Um, until next time, the Lauraand I will sign off and tell
everyone have a great day, besafe, um, and get ready for the
holiday season.
I don't know if it'sThanksgiving, Halloween, or
Christmas right now, becausewhen I go to Home Depot, they
got it all in the store.
They got it all.
(44:35):
I'm not sure what holiday we'rein.
I know we're all spending moneyon that stuff.
So thank y'all.
Have a great day.
SPEAKER_01 (44:41):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (44:43):
Well, we hope you enjoy this edition of Unpack
Podcast with leadershipconsultant Ron Harvey.
Remember to join us every Mondayas Ron Unpacks Sound Advice,
providing real answers for realleadership challenges.
Until next time, remember to addvalue and make a difference
where you are for the people youserve.
(45:05):
Because people always matter.
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