Tell me about your vision. Hi, Harry. Thank you
for inviting me on the podcast. When you say
vision... It's one of those elusive words that
I come across with my mentees and the people
I've worked with is that many people are just
working towards a goal. And it often is a material
goal or something that they've been told to do.
When I work with my mentees, I ask them, what
is your vision? Actually, I put it slightly different.
I ask them what their big dream is. And sadly,
most people really cannot articulate what their
big dream is. They are really holding themselves
back. And the few of them who do... tell me about
their big dream often it's limited to the next
step so i find it critically important as i work
with folks to take a step back and raising self
-awareness and part of self -awareness is to
really start at the foundation and it is asking
the key question uh about your why what why do
you do what you do why are you in healthcare
why are you in banking why are you in it doesn't
make a difference what industry you're in but
really bringing that out of people and developing
what i call that 43 -second power statement,
the eight -second hook, the 30 -second body,
and then a five -second closer in order to be
able to represent who they are. Because your
vision needs to come from your why itself. And
people are always perplexed after three, four,
five, even maybe six or seven renderings and
practice sessions when they finally get to the
tip of the spear and they now see their why.
they become much clearer on what their vision
for the future is. And after we see that their
dreams are expanded beyond what they think they
can accomplish in the next role. So what is your
vision? So my vision, actually, interesting enough,
as I have grown up as an adult, has changed.
So my vision early on, and I always say my why,
is that as a young man riding my bicycle in Holland,
I came across a horrible car accident. And I
had an old farmer who was literally dying in
my arms, and I did not know what to do. I felt
helpless. And right at that moment in time, sitting
on that pavement, I had an epiphany that I wanted
to be in healthcare. I wanted to never feel like
that again. And everything I did from that point
forward as a vision, I took steps to becoming
a first aid. And I became an EMT, and I became
a paramedic, and then a flight paramedic. And
that's really how my first vision of what it
is today, the impact I want to have on the world.
Of course, because things change around us. You
know, I had three kids. They all had to, at some
point, go to college. I have to pay for things.
I have a household to maintain. You know, just
as an individual healthcare provider, you can
only work so many hours and make so many dollars.
So my vision shifted from being that one -to
-one healthcare provider to becoming that healthcare
administrator that could lead people who take
care of patients. And that, as I said, my vision
is to make a difference in how we deliver care
from sick care. to well care so really big vision
right big big picture wise and i started taking
steps i got my bachelor's my master's my fellowship
i worked my way into a hospital worked up you
know my career ladder into all the way into the
c -suite and once i was there i got to see you
know, and do things that were absolutely amazing,
right? That I met my big dream at that point
in time. And then I said, challenge myself, what
else do I want to do? Especially now that I'm
going into, you know, retirement age, so to speak,
55 and plus, what is it that, how else do I want
to contribute? And that's where my vision shifted
to say, listen, instead of being a leader of
a large organization, I want to have impact on
one -to -one and teams as an executive coach,
as a mentor, particularly. And that was on the
healthcare side, but always deep within me, I
had a vision of being and owning a flight school.
I love helicopters. I love airplanes. So I shifted
my vision from what I was doing to what it is
that I thought I could do going into the future.
And first, you know, you have to kind of sit
back and be in that dreamy state. What could
that look like? And once I understood what my
vision was like, I was able to execute to that.
So I got my pilot's license, my fixed wing, and
now my helicopter, working all of my ratings
while I continue to build out the business so
that it has a foundation that I can provide for
my family. I can feel that I can make a real
impact on the world. But again, it also fuels
the vision of what it is that I would like to
build for the future. So one of the things that
I've seen, Harry, is that most people just get
stuck into this one track. And I always say that
the scary part is that, especially in healthcare,
68 % of the people are working at a near burnout.
That's a scary statistic, right? It's part of
the reason why we have such high turnover rates.
But even more importantly, only 28 % of the people
who go to work love what they do. But we only
have one life to live. We likely have to work
for 40 years. So we spend more time at work than
we do at home, per se. So we need to go back
and really challenge people to raise self -awareness,
to really deeply understand their why and start
dreaming big. So what else can they do that really
hits home? And I use the 4P approach for that.
You know, it is really important that we need
to have a vision that connects to our purpose
and passion at the heart level. And then we need
to connect that to the processes and people that
we want to work with. And we do have choices,
right? Listen, sometimes we got to put food on
the table and we just have to do a job and make
money. But once you have that, don't stop dreaming.
Don't stop visioning to what it is that you want
to do and start taking small steps to that. And
don't let anybody else around you tell you that
you cannot do it. You're too old. You're too
young. You're not this. You're not that. We have
to make sure that every day you take small steps
to that big dream that you have. And of course,
listen, it's your vision. You don't need to lift
somebody else's. Thank you for sharing that.
So for you, the mentorship, the Dutch mentor
and the mentorship you do and then the flight
school and the businesses, how does that fit
in your vision? How did you get on the path of
being the mentor and why is that the center of
everything that you do and everything that you
portray, even the shirt that you're wearing?
Yeah, it is a great question. So just to go back
two steps. Initially, I had the vision I wanted
to be the best one -to -one health care provider
in the field that I loved, which was emergency
services. And then I made a decision that I wanted
to be a health care leader and set a vision for
well care rather than sick care. And at that
point in time, I identified along my path that
there are lots of great people who go from doing
things to leading. But they fall into that valley
of despair where they don't really know how to
lead and they continue to do and they don't find
the fun in leadership. But I identified and made
that my new vision is that if I can bring in
the value of mentorship, I'd work with somebody
who has been there, done that with deep personal
experience. There's not a coach who's going to
tell you or a coach who's going to listen. No,
a mentor is somebody you can work with on a daily
or weekly basis. for an extended period of time
who can bring other people's visions to a reality.
All right. So my reality is today that I had
a vision to become a great mentor and build a
small company into a midsize company. And I'm
on my way to doing that. I had a vision to be
able to do my hobby and pay it forward as a flight
instructor and then a flight school. Now, both
those two things, I just finished up my flight
instructor licenses. Now it is to envision on
how I want to open up a flight school in the
next couple of years. be able to work that in
a way that I can graduate new aviators who are
going to make a difference in the world. So for
me, as a mentor, it is about making a difference
on a one -to -one basis or on a team basis that
helps drive performance. Now, in healthcare,
if I work with middle managers, if I work with
executives, or I work with doctors and nurses,
if they are happy doing what they're doing, Hey,
that goes right back to my first vision. They
will be better health care providers to the patients.
And so that's how I continue to have my values
in place, my vision of creating a better world
where we teach and pay it forward. And I get
a lot of energy from that. Thank you for being
here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in
to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing
your reactions as these episodes continue to
move forward. This is going to get more and more
fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show
and thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a vision pro yourself.