In this world, we can choose to do the bare minimum. He gave me a model for living a life of high expectations. He did everything he should have done – and then he chose to do more. Why? Because he did more than was expected of him. The point is that Brian will always hold a special place in my heart and I will never forget his actions. In fact, it wasn’t too many years after my interactions with Sandy that I found myself pursuing a whole different direction as my career aspirations turned to nonprofit work and the impact I hoped to make in the area of social change.

And I wasn’t even working in healthcare anymore when it did. Now, nothing actually happened in healthcare reform for many more years to come. And because of my relationship with her, I was even given the opportunity to share my model for healthcare reform with Governor John Engler. Because of Brian I had the opportunity to consult with the highest level of healthcare administrator in our county. He reached out to Sandy Bruce, the president of our healthcare system, and suggested she mentor me. He supported my efforts as I continued my education, and he gave me opportunities to take on more responsibility. If you aren’t making an impact, why are you doing it? Too much work to not be accomplishing anything.īrian knew that I was interested in moving from being a Business Manager to becoming a Healthcare Administrator. If we can’t imagine it, we can’t manifest it. Having an impact begins with having a dream, a vision, a goal that is worth pursuing. Now, to be clear, I don’t let the possibility of being wrong stop me from trying. There is just one small problem with that. In my mind, every one of my suggestions would lead to more health, more happiness, more wholeness, more humanness. And I am happy to share with anyone who cares to listen. I can tell you with a good degree of certainty what could and should be done. A lot of thoughts about addressing our challenges. I have a lot of ideas for changing the world. Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team? Barbara Lee, appreciate you joining us today.

We recently connected with Barbara Lee VanHorssen and have shared our conversation below.

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