Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Welcome to the Leadership Window podcast with Patrick Jinks. Each week, through a social sector lens, Patrick interviews leaders and experts and puts us in touch with trends and tips for leading effectively.
Patrick is an LSI certified leadership coach, a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, a best selling author, award winning photographer, and professional speaker.
And now here's Patrick.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Welcome to episode twelve of the Leadership Window podcast.
I've really been looking forward to this episode because I know every week we've said it, we have a very special guest on the show and we really do. All our guests are very special.
Let me tell you what's super special about today's guest is that she's family.
Not technically, like biologically or by marriage or anything, but just through friendship. She's family. But she's so, so much more than that. There's a reason we've got her on this podcast. Her name is Maricel Losa. She's the president and CEO of United Way of Greenwood and Abbeville counties in Greenwood, South Carolina. Her track record over three decades in the public and community health arena have prepared her perfectly for this role. She currently serves because her current role as some of her previous roles is about leading cross sector collective impact at a community level. Now, if you're on this podcast listening and you're not familiar with those kinds of terms, remember that this is a podcast about leadership, but it is through the social sector lens. So basically all that means is Maracel's work is about leading people that she doesn't sign a check for. It's about leading stakeholders in a community, cross sector stakeholders toward working toward community improvement together. She served as president and CEO of the Health Council of South Florida in Miami for twelve years, and she even founded the Florida association of Free and Charitable Clinics. And since her founding of that, it has blown up exponentially. And the work, in fact, nationally around free clinics, the Jinkx perspective is doing a lot of work with free clinics. But Maracel's extensive understanding of the healthcare arena allows for the analytical knowledge, skills and experience to support the development and implementation of collaborative efforts that improve service delivery systems in a community. And in her case, of course, the Greenwood, South Carolina community. I could go on for a long time about Maricel's accomplishments and achievements. She has numerous recognitions, things like the Women that shine award by the League of Women Voters, the Hispanic Women of Distinction Charity Award, the March of Dimes Humanitarian of the year award, and the University of South Florida's Florida Public Health Woman of the year award. Again, we're gonna cut this off and make it abbreviated. But the bottom line is she's got a lot of experience in leadership, working with bringing various stakeholders in a community together to make community impact. We met in, I think it was 2011, she'll correct me if I'm wrong, but we met at a conference called the Blue Ridge Institute, and the Blue Ridge Institute at the time was called the Blue Ridge Institute for Southern Community Executives. It's changed now because we're nationwide, but, yeah, social sector leaders across the country that get together and share and lead and learn and renew, and we clicked pretty immediately. And since then, we've had so many wonderful opportunities to work together. I've worked with her at the health council in south Florida and the association of Free and charitable clinics that she helped to form and have done some work with her here at United Way in Greenwood. But more than that, because of our close work and our friendship, we have. We have truly become family. We consider each other family. We've stayed in each other's homes and our kids know each other, and we're just. It's all about family and Maricelle. That is why I've been really excited to have you on, so. And you're here in the studio with us, which is really cool. So welcome. Glad you're here.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you. It's an absolute pleasure to be here, Patrick. And yes, indeed, we are family.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Yep. Yep. Absolutely. And we've been away too long. This pandemic is ridiculous. We finally just decided, no, we're gonna make this happen. So if you were watching, if we were filming this podcast, like a lot of people do on YouTube, you would see that we are socially distanced.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: This is true.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: We're 6ft apart and we've test that. We've disinfected all the microphones and everything else. We're being careful, but we just said, now we gotta make this happen. This is just like I said, we're family. So welcome. And Maricel is also one of the new members of the advisory board for the Jinkx perspective. And that's a group of cross sector leaders who really, quite honestly, helped me and helped the Jinkx perspective business with design and service and marketing and branding.
And Maricel, along with the other board members, recognize that our work is critical to the nonprofit sector, and so they're a part of it. When you see the Jinkx perspective doing good work in communities, you got to credit this group of people for help and support that along the way. So.
Well, Maricel, this is obviously a podcast about leadership but before we get into sort of theory and philosophy and whatever your kind of thoughts are on leadership, I know a lot of them, having worked with you, but catch us up for those of you that don't, for those of the listeners that don't know you yet, catch us up on how you got to this point in leadership. You're leading a local united way in a community very different from the one you left in Miami.
But those that know United Way know that United Way is a very broad reaching social sector organization that has to connect with every sector to make impact in a community. But just tell us a little bit about your journey, your leadership journey that's brought you here.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Okay, awesome. Thank you again. Thank you, Patrick, for having me here today. I'm absolutely thrilled to be here and thrilled about this opportunity. So my leadership journey started a very long time ago. I remember being told as a young child that I was really bossy. And, yeah, and I came to realize not too long ago that being bossy is also kind of a prerequisite for being a leader.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: We're already getting a glimpse into your philosophy of leadership.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: So, you know, as a child, I was told many a times, you know, you're so bossy. And now I realize that it wasn't that I was being bossy again. They were just leadership skills that were starting to surface. I just did not know how to put my arms around that. But it didn't take me very long to learn that. Indeed, there is a very thin line between being bossy and being a leader.
And you just kind of have to learn how to. How to manage that so that folks understand that. Really just trying to guide, guide the situation and guide the attributes of any given person or any given group of persons. So throughout my life, I started off at a very young age in a hospital. At the age of 16, my very first job was with a catholic hospital and spent 35 years in that hospital, just kind of rising through from position to position till eventually ended up in a situation where I was offered by the sisters who ran that hospital a position to oversee what their mission was, and that was overseeing a free clinic, which was the St. John Bosco clinic. And I had thought that I was going to run a hospital. I had gone into nursing and dabbled into the nursing arena and transitioned from nursing into administration.
My bachelor's degree was in health services administration with the thought that I would be the CEO of a hospital one day, until the nuns kicked in and said, yeah, no, you're going to run a free clinic. And so I ventured off to run a free clinic and found my calling and discovered that I was much more fascinated, interested, and better at helping people to connect to the services that they needed and looking at a much more comprehensive continuum of care for folks and realizing that it's not just about health care, it's about everything else that encompasses a healthy mind and a healthy spirit.
And so ventured into that arena that took me into the challenges of systems and understanding how difficult it was to get folks who needed healthcare services into the system and into not just, again, the health arena, but then what else do they need to make their lives happy and healthy? And so we transitioned into the work that I did over at the health council.
I went to the health council, actually, and knocked on their doors because I needed their assistance to get folks into the system.
We were talking about, we're talking about undocumented folks, we're talking about immigrants, folks that really had very difficult times being able to access health care. And so I went to the health council thinking that it would be really easy to just talk to people that make those decisions. And what I found when I got there was that it was ultimately impossible to talk to these planners, to talk to these folks unless I was there to apply for a position. That's the only way I could get in front of their board. So it just so happens that there was an opening.
And so I applied for the position of president and CEO of the health council, never once thinking I was going to get the position or the job, but I just wanted to talk to their board.
And so they gave me the number of the headhunter, and I made a call and met with her. We had lunch together, and I said, listen, I'm not here for a job. I just want to be able to talk to your board and tell them what they need to do to get people into the system.
And so they went ahead and gave me an opportunity to answer an email that had five questions. And that email allowed me to voice my thoughts and put on paper what I thought were the issues at hand and how they could play a role in it.
And so I sent that in, took a deep breath, and thought, this is it. This is great.
All of my problems are going to be solved now, and these folks are going to help me get my patients into the system. Well, it didn't work out that way.
Next thing I know, I get a telephone call that says, maricel, the board wants to meet with you. Or better said, not the board, the selection committee.
Again, I wasn't planning on applying for this job. I just wanted them to hear what I had to say and how we could tweak the system and make it work for everybody.
And so next thing I know, I get a telephone call that says, you need to come in person to meet with the selection committee, which I did. I had a two hour interview with them. What? They thought they were interviewing me for a job, but I was really just there to get them to understand what, what they needed to do. I discovered that not one of their planners had ever set foot in a free clinic. They had no idea how it worked or the why behind it. And it was a very interesting conversation. I left feeling elated, feeling like, okay, somebody listened to me, somebody is going to make the change, the necessary changes. And I'd be helping my patients.
And a few months went by and next thing I know, I get a telephone call offering me the job of president and CEO of the health Council of South Florida.
And if that wasn't very interesting, I actually received the call while I was recuperating from a major surgery. And I was just coming out of a morphine, morphine eye, I guess you'll call it, and got the telephone call and thought, wow, they're offering me this position. And when I had gone in, the position was executive director.
And when I got the call, the offer was for president and CEO. So I thought, damn, this morphine's good.
And, yeah, next thing I knew, I was accepting a position. And I called the chair of the board who, who made me the offer. I had to call her back and say, did you really make me that offer? Or was that just me dreaming? Right?
And so I accepted the position under those circumstances and then thought, oh, my gosh, now what do I do? Because I really wasn't planning on a job. I was just trying to make things happen.
And so, long story short, I now had. I was playing this role. I needed to move on and become this leader of this organization that I didn't know much about, because, again, I had not gone in with that mindset, but I knew that where I wanted to take the organization was to be able to make those necessary systemic changes and wanted to lead this team of planners into the realistic world of healthcare and of social needs that folks needed and being able to help people connect the dots, but realistically, not behind the scenes, not from a boardroom, not from behind a desk. I needed to lead these folks and have them understand what it really was like out there in the real world.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: You needed to be bossy.
Let me interject. Real quick here, because there's some themes that I'm seeing, and I want to go back to the bossy thing because that was a really, that was interesting. I had not heard that story. I did not know that that started young. And so you, I don't remember the exact words you used a minute ago, but you said something and, like, you realized it wasn't about bossiness, but that's the way it sort of came off. And so I'm wondering, it sounds to me, as I'm picturing little Mahdi color, Mari Sell or Mahdi, but little Maricelle, I'm picturing that the bossiness is you have always been clear in your own head about what is good and what is possible and what, what you should do and we should do this or we should do it that way.
It sounds to me like you've always had this point of view that you just always knew was a good place to go. And so what came off as bossiness to people was really about influence.
The person who always has the idea that point of view. And it's crystal clear it can come off as bossy. Right? Like, oh, well, but she knows where she's going, but people followed. Right. And so I'm matching up, going on to your story about your job interview that you didn't know was a job interview. You had a crystal clear point of view about what should be and what was possible and what it would take. And that board recognized probably not bossiness at that point, but that board recognized how clear that point of view was.
And so when they're looking for a leader, that's what you're looking for in a leader, someone who has a clear point of view and can bring others along. In terms of inspiration, I mean, am I reading that? Am I reading more into it, or does that sound right about that sounds pretty right.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: I think it was that clarity of being able to see, you know, here we want to get from point a to point being what's the shortest, fastest way to get there, and how do we get folks to come on board and join us to make that journey?
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And you also realize that a hospital, as important a role as a hospital, plays in a community. It's not just about a hospital. It's not just about a place where you go to get medical care. As important as that is. It's about the whole person, and it's about the whole community and what impacts that person and what drives health. I've been doing a good bit of work, as you know, with some of the organizations that you are still involved with, but also with some organizations that are working on and healthy communities and health equity, for example, and things like walkable communities, even like the wellness of a community.
And I tell you, I've learned a lot about the term used in the sector is the social determinants of health. Right. In other words, what are the things that actually determine how healthy a person is? And it turns out all the things that you would think, like eating and exercise, play a role. But it is so much more than that.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: I mean, what are some of the things that, I don't want to go too off a target here, but I want to flow where the conversation goes. When we say social determinants of health, most people have no bearing, no clue on what that term is. Like I said, I'm still learning it, and I'm in the sector working with organizations that are working within it. But how would you describe for the average person out there who may have never heard the term social determinants of health? What does it really mean? Why is it important? For example, what are some of the social determinants of health that we might have not have ever connected to health?
[00:18:25] Speaker A: So I think when you look at the social determinants, those are the factors or the things that impact anyone's health. Right. So when we're looking at social determinants, it's, what are, what are the things that the best way I can describe it or give you an example, right. I think is probably the best thing. The best way. So there are several ways to look at it. So if you're looking at, for example, childhood asthma is one, is a great example to start, when you look at the things that impact a child's ability to overcome childhood asthma, there are so many things we can do to prevent it. There are so many things that impact that child's getting asthma, for example, that we don't realize. So things like the environment, things like just something as simple as in the home, things like rugs, things about are there bugs in the home, are there roaches, are there animals in the home, in the community? What about pollution? What about things that we can change in the environment, where that child frequents, in the schools, traffic cars?
There's so many layers of environmental issues. When you look at things like diabetes, for example, what are the things, the social determinants that impact diabetes? What about nutrition? What about the food?
It's crazy how you go to restaurants and they have a healthy diet or a healthy option or a healthy choice because it has low calories. But what about the sodium? What about some of the other things that we don't look at in our menus? What about those healthy choices? Are they really healthy? What about the walkable sidewalks, walkable communities? What about exercise? There's so many things when you start looking at the environment around folks and keeping them healthy and healthy, happy communities, because then you start looking into some of the social determinants in terms of mental wellness and well being.
Is there space for that in your community? Is there space for you to be able to exercise? Is there space for you to be able to have the necessary zen environment? Right. And that environment to allow for that spirituality, for that mental mindfulness?
So there's so much more that impacts, well, marketing.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Right. So the foods we eat, we're, we're a product of our marketing environment, too. And so when we talk about, well, just eat healthy, well, healthy foods are not nearly as accessible and not nearly as highly marketed as unhealthy foods. And we live in these environments. And so I just. And cost. Oh, that's right.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: The fact that it costs more to eat. Right.
But I just, so I just learned something just now when you were talking about asthma. It's a perfect example of social determinants of health and environmental determinants of health, where asthma, I mean, I would have thought asthma was not necessarily triggered by things that you could prevent.
You know, that it's just some physical, you know, a genetic condition or whatever. You know, a person gets asthma. And so what you're talking about is that there is prevention possibilities.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: And so what, where I'm headed now, back to the leadership lens, that makes me think that a big part of your job has to be awareness and education.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: Getting people to understand, learn these things and go, hey, it's not what you think it is. Like, you're missing things. You're missing opportunities that we can make this a better place. But here's how it's got to be a huge part of the leadership job.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think there's a lot of aha moments that have to occur when you're a leader. I think there's a lot of opportunity to provide that space and to provide that community conversation that allows for those aha moments. I think as a leader, and especially in this type of work of community conversations, there has to be that platform that you lay out for folks to be able to have those. And then what conversations, as opposed to just, this is the way we've always done it, to be able to lay that groundwork and set up the opportunities and the ability for folks to say, hmm, you know, I never really thought about it that way. Right. And to really set up an opportunity for folks to carry on those necessary conversations and be heard. I think a lot of folks really need to be heard and want to be heard. And giving them that opportunity and that space is really, really important. As a leader, I think that providing that avenue is really important. Being able to identify community champions that you can bring to the table and give them that opportunity to say, we're here, we want to hear you, we're listening.
And what comes out of this conversation is not going to end here. We're going to take this and take it up a notch and take it up a few levels and explore it and see how it fits into this bigger picture. Because no suggestion or recommendation or comment is too small.
[00:24:18] Speaker B: We use the term that you just used a lot in the sector, bringing people to the table. It's almost become cliche, but it's a real thing. And what is your, what's your take on the leadership capabilities required to get these champions to the table? Right. I mean, who are you, right? Who are you to, who are you to tell me you're this, you're a little nonprofit charity, right? Who, who is this Maricel Losa person trying to rally the community around this? So obviously you've overcome that in major ways, particularly your record in Florida speaks for itself.
You got to a point where you inspired people so much that they gave you jobs you didn't know you were applying for, number one.
But I also happen to know, and I'll tell our listeners this, that you were pursued for political office pretty aggressively in your community, and you always resisted that. But you were pursued. And the reason was because there was something about you that influenced people. There was, I don't know if it's a magnetism or what natural gift people say, are you a born leader or do you learn leadership? I've always thought the answer is a little bit of both. But what is the magic sauce of leadership that is able to take someone who's an unknown into a community, rally these community champions and lead people forward on big, big stuff? What are the leadership tenants required for that?
[00:25:45] Speaker A: Well, I think in my particular case, one of the areas I think that a lot of my fellow legislators identified and saw in me from the very beginning was the non threat. I wasn't threatening in any way. I wasn't out there to prove my point. I was just out there to help connect the dots I wasn't out there to say, I know it all because it didn't.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: So there was no agenda or ulterior motive that people could point to and say, she's just trying to. This is all in self interest.
[00:26:17] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: It's not like you were getting big bucks for it. No, no.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: And I say that now, even in Greenwood. I say, listen, I am not here for money. Trust me on that one. And I'm certainly not here for fame. It's not fame or fortune. It is to do what's right and to help connect the dots and make it happen. And that's where my, what I feel is what drives me is just to be able to make those accomplishments and be successful at helping to connect the dots, whether that be people to assistance or service, organizations to service, whatever it takes to move the needle forward.
I kind of, I jokingly say all the time, I relate so well to the little engine that could, you know, that's kind of how I feel and how I see myself. It's just, you just keep going. You just stay focused because you think you can. Yeah. Why not? Why not? You know, people say a lot of times I've been told, well, what makes you think you can do it? And I'm. What makes me think I can't. Right. You just do it, and before you know it, you're doing it. If you think you can, you will, and you just get started, and before you know it, you're there. Right.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: One of the things I know you've done that's been central to your work is around data and using data to lead. We had Stacy Stewart recently on the show, who is the CEO of the March of Dimes globally. And we were talking about the importance of metrics and how data helps tell the story. Data helps make the case.
You have really focused a lot of your operational attention on data and shared data in a community. Talk a little bit about that, about what you did in Miami and how actually you're bringing some of those tenants now into Greenwood. And why is it, and how does it tie to leadership?
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Absolutely. So, you know, you can go out there and tell all the stories you want, but unless you have the data to support those conversations, I mean, the data is what really drives decision making. It drives leadership. It says to folks, hey, listen, I'm not just saying it. Here's the data to prove it. Here's the data that shows and supports what I'm trying to say. So when I started at the health council, and again, you already know how I ended up there. Surprise. Right now I was faced with a team of 15 researchers that were data gurus and experts, and I had a lot of catching up to do. I had run a free clinic. I knew about the challenges of getting healthcare in Miami and in the United States. I knew about what it meant to be uninsured, but I didn't have the data to really support the story. I didn't know of the data. So I tapped into my 15 researchers and said, hey, teach me. Educate me. How do I take this data and this information on the uninsured and the folks that really need the assistance? How do I put it together into a story, and how do I show that and teach folks and utilize it to maximize on the decision making process for my leaders?
And so I did. I worked with, again with this group of folks, and we sat down and said, okay, let's lay out all this data and let's see how we can tell the story to our elected officials, to our legislators in Tallahassee who won't expand Medicaid, who won't invest monies in free clinics, who don't get it. They figure everybody's insured, and how do we knock on the doors and say, hey, here's all the information you need to make some informed decisions.
And so when I accepted, and let me backtrack just a second, when I accepted the position at the health council, I accepted it with one condition, and that was that the health council board would approve for me to incubate the Florida association of Free and Charitable Clinics. And so I incubated it. This was back in 2007, and in 2009, it had grown into its own, its own person or its own organization. And we moved on to make it its own 501.
And so we were able then to take the data that we collected on uninsured and the folks of the community and tell our story to our legislators, our elected officials. And three years later, we were able to get the state to approve $9.5 million for free clinics. Now, if you understand that free clinics, especially in South Florida, are for the undocumented, and you understand that the challenges of the underserved and undocumented are huge, and to get the state to approve that when they wouldn't approve Medicaid expansion, that was a huge effort. But it was the data that allowed us to convince them and get them to understand the value, the need, most importantly, and then the value of investing those dollars.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: Pause right there, because as you were talking, I was thinking about, you work in a field a little less now, specifically on health, because at United Way, you're focused on a number of other things surrounding health, education and the financial stability of families. But in the health arena and even in what you're doing now, there is an overlay of politics that comes into play. No matter how much you want it to or wish it did or didn't, it just does. It's the reality. And one of the things, and this isn't a political show, and those, those that have been listening know that I don't want it to be. But, but politics does come into it. And one of the things a CEO has to be able to do is navigate political nuances, not just the politics of president and senators, but the politics in your community. You know, who's who, who's on what board and who's donating to what organization and who likes who and who doesn't. You know, politics is a big deal, and I'm going somewhere. I've got a question for you about this. How do you as a leader, what's the secret to navigating the politics?
Most nonprofits cannot afford, for example, to be political organizations. Now, there are those who, that's what they're set up to be, a lobbyist organization or a true advocacy organization, and they get a little bit more involved in politics. But most, the 501 arena, that's delivering services, raising public money through donations and these kinds of things, normally they have boards who are averse to getting involved. We don't want to get involved in the politics because that makes us, you know, people think we lean one way or the other and that'll shut off half our donors and whatever. Those are realities, too. What's the magic of navigating when you're in an arena like health? And I think you just actually hit on one with, you know, you use data, but of understanding, you've got to influence the political environment without being political.
How do you do that? I know that's like, how do you fly a plane? It's a big question, but what are some of the key principles that you would say that leaders can employ to think through that? Because I work with leaders who are, quite frankly, intimidated by it. They don't know how to do that.
[00:33:53] Speaker A: So I think when I look back on my experience, one of the things that I was always curious about as I started working with elected officials was the why. Why did they think the way they do? And realizing that even though they thought differently, my role was really to educate them and raise their level of awareness. In so many cases, especially in the free clinic conversation. What I found was that a lot of elected officials or legislators just didn't understand.
And when I sat down in front of them and explained to them the pros and the cons, the benefits, here is how it benefits your constituents. Here is how it benefits you and your role. Here's how we can make it a win for everyone involved. So I did my homework. I went and prepared, provided the data, provided the necessary information, but then also provided the, hey, let's have a very candid conversation on how this can be a win for everybody.
And again, the why. I think the why is so incredibly important.
I think the more I understood why, they thought the way they did made my job easier to explain how this could be a win for them.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: That's so good.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: If you do your homework, if you get to know who they are, usually what I would do before I went in, I made sure I found out what college they went to, what donuts they read.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: Exactly. Relationships.
[00:35:27] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. And as leaders, we have to do that across the board. It's not just with elected officials, it's with everybody. Get to know people, get to know who they are, what drives them, what do they like? What do they not like? What really keeps them awake at night? How can you work with them more closely, really get to know them, and then come to them with your case, with your data, with your information, have a very candid, open conversation and get to know them. And not every time will you walk away with a win. It doesn't, it's not guaranteed you're going to walk away. I have some legislators that as soon as I walked in their office, since I wasn't speaking the same language that they were, said, I don't even want to talk about it. You say thank you and you exit.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: And you don't go back for a little while.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: For a little while. Oh, you really.
[00:36:19] Speaker B: Until the electorate selects somebody else. Yeah, I'm hearing some. Let me, let me summarize some themes because this is really rich stuff. Maricelle, first of all, so we've talked about bossiness. What we really talk about is clear point of view. Okay? Leadership, tenants, trust.
You didn't use the word trust. I applied the word trust when you talked about not threatening people. So the idea that people can trust your motive and that you're not there to take anything away from them or do any damage to them or that you're just there to build up yourself, but that you really have strong motive.
Data, evidence is powerful. So information is a powerful thing at a leaders fingertips and relationships.
These are people.
Senators are people.
You know, councilmen and councilwomen are people. School board members are people. Health officials are people. They all have relationships. They can all be influenced and not manipulated. There's a fine line, isn't there, between manipulation and influence, but the ability to influence people based on meeting them where they are. I'm just loving this. These are great tenants. Where did you get your leadership? Tenants?
We all have. This is a question, by the way, I ask all our guests.
We all have those either mentors or family members or bosses or someone in our lives, leaders who have helped shape our view of leadership. And some of them that even that some of our guests have talked about weren't necessarily great leaders. They were the opposite, but helped shape their form, their view, and their point of view on leadership. Who were a couple of those people for you just early on in your life that you think have probably shaped who you are as a leader today and how you think about leadership?
[00:38:11] Speaker A: I think I've had a few folks in my life that I have looked up to. I used to sit back and watch, and I still do. I'd look at folks and say, you know, when I grow up, I want to be just like them. Right. I think one of my earliest and most impactful individual in my life that helped guide me was Doctor Pedro Grier, who was my medical director for the free clinic that I ran.
He was, and is, and still is an incredibly, incredibly powerful leader and started a free clinic through the University of Miami and used to actually drive. He was one of the first folks in Miami who would actually drive out to the neighborhoods that had high poverty rates and homelessness and provide service right there in the street. To these folks, he was just an incredible human being. But what influenced me the most from Joe Greer was that he was the most down to earth, or is the most down to earth, easygoing leader I have ever met. And, you know, I would go to him all the time with angst or worries about, you know, I've got to give a presentation, and he'd say, ah, you're going to knock it out of the ballpark, don't even worry. He was always just so laid back and so supportive, and I would sit and watch him every single presentation he gave and admired the ease with which he presented himself and slowly started learning how to provide information that made folks not only understand it, but feel comfortable with it, to present it in a way that they would accept it as just knowledge, just, yeah, grateful for. Grateful to accept that knowledge and not that they were being spoken down to or being preached to, but just a very comfortable conversation. And so I slowly, very slowly throughout the years, and I worked with him for, gosh, about 20 years throughout the clinic and the years I was at the hospital, at Mercy Hospital.
And so I just, for me, he was probably my biggest, my biggest influence and is still my go to person for many, many situations. I will still reach out to him for guidance.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Down to earth and service oriented.
[00:40:48] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: I do want to ask one other thing before I ask my final question.
We have talked a good bit on this show already about speed, the excruciatingly slow speed at which the sector moves on big issues.
And we won't get into, I don't want to go deep into it now. We won't get into, why is the sector moved so slow? There's a lot of moving parts. Part of it's bureaucracy, part of it's just social change takes time.
But how do you balance the patients, not hospital patients, but the patients of knowing as a leader, I gotta be bossy. I gotta have travel point of view and a vision and move. Let's go, let's go. At the same time, if I move too fast, it implodes. This is only gonna go so fast. How do you balance that? Because it drove me crazy as an organizational leader, and I've said it many times already on the show, it drove me crazy. When I'm working by myself, I can move as fast as I want, but when I'm leading, I have to lead at a different pace. How do you do that? Keep your sanity?
[00:42:02] Speaker A: That's a great question and very appropriate for me right now because I'm experiencing that moving into a small town in South Carolina from a big city. My board tells me I'm light years ahead of everyone in Greenwood, and I'm used to working at a very fast pace. Working in a big city that is made up of 56 municipalities, that means 56 greenwoods, and working with all 56 of them at any given time. And now coming to one town, that's one of those municipalities, and working as an individual community, and certainly not at the same pace or in the same year that I'm in. Right. So it's been very difficult and very much of a challenge initially. But what I've learned and what I do is I manage multiple things at the same time. So when some things are not going as fast as I'd like them to be, it's okay, you take your time. I'm going to shift over here. I'm going to work.
I'm going to move over here and where I have control on the speed. So we're doing a lot of work with technology, for example, and data, and we just started, we just launched a data platform. I can work on that at the speed that I want and make it happen while something else is marinating on the other side.
[00:43:28] Speaker B: That's a great tip.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: And I'm not.
[00:43:32] Speaker B: You don't feel like you're paralyzed?
[00:43:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So they're still moving parts. They're not all moving at the same speed, but they're still moving. So it satisfies me enough that I can feel that sense of accomplishment and that I'm moving forward. But they don't all have to move at the same time or at the same speed, so there's different layers and levels of work going on simultaneously. And then the ones, the areas that I do have control over are obviously going to move much faster. The ones I don't have control over, it's okay. They'll catch up sooner or later. They'll come on board. And the same thing with the relationships in the community that are necessary to keep that engine moving. Right. So those will come on board when they're ready. When they're ready. I can't rush them. You can't rush those. You can't force them. They will come on board by just virtue of seeing what's happening and want to be part of what's moving.
[00:44:26] Speaker B: I love that. That is such a practical tip for our leader listeners to just when you feel like you're stuck, find something that can make you feel unstuck so that you have your sanity and your movement and be patient with those other things. I love that. Uh, as we wrap this up and. And, um, you know, I. We could go on and on and on. Uh, this has been really rich. As we wrap this up, what would you say is the top piece of advice that you have for leaders today, based on your experience and just your leadership journey? What's the maricel Losa piece of advice for all leaders?
[00:45:04] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
Um, let's see.
Just really what's worked for me, and I would recommend to everyone, is to realize that you are more than what you think you can do, more than what you think.
Don't limit yourself at all. We have a tendency to do that. We have a tendency to put up our own barriers and our own restrictions. So be mindful all the time and remind yourself that you can do more and you can do better. Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Wow. You got to believe in yourself?
[00:45:41] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:45:42] Speaker B: How are other people going to believe in you if you don't believe in yourself? I get that a lot. You know, some of my coaches, when we do 360 performance, not performance appraisals, leadership assessments, a lot of people are looking for more assertion and confidence from their leaders.
And those leaders aren't trying to, like, not be confident. They're just trying to. Trying to be deferential and just servant leaders and not come off as arrogant. But sometimes you can do that to a fault where that confidence really isn't showing up. It's important. There's a balance between confidence and arrogance. They don't necessarily mean the same thing. I love it. You can do it. You can lead. Well, Marisol, you are doing it, and you've been doing it for a long time and just extraordinary work. Love to have you back on anytime down the road and tell us some of the great things that are happening in Greenwood, because as impatient as I know you are, because you're like me about this speed, some great things are happening in Greenwood, and I know that there are stakeholders in that community rallying around what you're doing. So, hey, thanks again, folks. Stay with us. More great episodes to come on the leadership window. See you soon. Lead on.
