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Now, I have someone who I've known for quite a
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while and actually we wrote a book together.
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We went to school together, and we.
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Have a lot of history and I feel like we're
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going to learn a lot from this conversation today. Nazanine Rozzie, doctor,
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Nazneine Rozsie and myself got our PhDs together in Lyle, Illinois,
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Chicago area and wow, we went like every other weekend
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for years and then. Nazanine has had some wonderful, wonderful
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career experiences as chief chro for numerous Fortune fifty companies.
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Right now, she's doing some work with a healthcare organization.
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She was with Blue Cross, Blue shield for a long
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period of time, and she's doing some really interesting things
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around the world. She started a school in India for
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underprivileged children. So nasnine is one of these just great
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contributors to society and just a wonderful individual. You were welcome, naznine,
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and I'm so glad you could take the time to
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come on board.
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Don't you look cheery?
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Yeah?
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Hi, so, Linda, thank you, Thank you for inviting me
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to this show of yours. I'm really glad to be
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here and contribute. It's exciting to see you again. As
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you you know, you and I go way back. We
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we were in the cohort together the PhD program and honestly,
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if I look back to those days, that was foundational
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for me, you know. Ye the g program taught us.
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I think it wasn't just a credential. It was that
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you think about it, you know, it gave us the confidence.
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We were both we didn't know where we were going
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to go at that point, and we did two big things.
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We were at one company and then we moved up
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and for me it was the launch pad. It was
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sort of the springboard to getting into CHR ro roles
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for the first time. It was the the twenty years
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following the PhD program, I think we're sort of the
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highlight of my career. In those two decades, I was
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chro O at major companies and worked with several leaders.
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You know, I worked with eleven CEOs and if you
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think to me, that's eleven leadership lessons, you know, you're
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looking with eleven lenses. And each CEO brings a different culture,
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different characteristic and so it was really an exciting Those
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were exciting times as well, right as I.
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And remember because we were in that class together and
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you were doing so much work with leaders and I
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was too. Globally, we wrote that book, Winning with trans Winning.
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With trans Global Leadership. I thought it was a great book.
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I know, and McGraw hill published it. It took us
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a year, but we enjoyed the experience.
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We enjoyed the experience the time.
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It was selling in Asia big time, and you know.
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Yeah, world, Yeah, And I was teaching a lot of
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I was using it for a lot of speeches and
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stuff around the world, and you know, and that, and
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and remember we had a survey in there for how
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you could tell a local leader from a trans global leader.
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And a lot of people use that. That was pretty exciting,
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and they still do.
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I mean I still use it.
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It's yeah, me too, It too great.
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I think it's a great resource.
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I do too.
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We wrote it, but we did a lot of research
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on it.
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So we did.
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We did everybody's input in that right.
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We made that PhD go to work.
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We did, we did all the research on it.
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So so tell me, so what are you up to now?
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Tell me about this nasnim Razzie school that you started
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in India.
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It's so interesting.
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Yeah, so I can pivot to that. I what happened is,
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you know, there were there were two large initiatives in India.
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The first one was a mentoring programs. So a professor
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at Columbia, you know, and I and a partner at
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McKinsey we sort of curated a mentoring program for college
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students in India and that was very exciting, you know.
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And then we've moved, it's evolved. We have close to
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one hundred mentors and we now you know, have gone
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beyond just colleges. We've got high school students that we
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mentor we build their soft skills, leadership skills, you know, communication, collaboration,
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all of those things and that was our initiative. And
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we also have MBA students now that we work with. Wow,
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it's yeah, that's exciting. But the one that's most exciting
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that you referenced, you know, it Goes is a school
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that actually my great grandmother started and then I restarted
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the school and it really takes young women and girls
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and takes them off the slums. This is in a
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little town in Hyderabad. It's called masher Abad and it's
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very underprivileged and you know, it's impoverished the area. It's
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very slummish even today. And so we put two hundred
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and fifty women I mean actually five hundred women and
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girls through the program each year and they graduate. Yeah,
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and it's all free, you know, we don't charge them anything.
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And they learn computer science skills, they learn the trades
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like tailoring, henna design, and actually they have been given jobs.
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And you know, one thing I realized, talent is everywhere,
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but opportunities are not everywhere.
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And that's what a great statement.
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Yeah, it's it's interesting. You know when I go back,
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I go back for the commencement and I see these
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young girls and they are so different from when you
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see them at the inception of the program. So it's
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very gratifying.
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Oh, I bet it is. And what kind of opportunity
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have they Are they able to find jobs? Yes they are.
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Yes, most of them end up with, you know, really
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decent positions where they can make a living. I mean,
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these are young girls who would never have had that opportunity.
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And for those who cannot read and write, you know,
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we have the computer literacy classes, and then for those
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who cannot read and write, we teach them the trades.
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Either way, we make sure that they're gainfully employed that's
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the idea. Or even if they are not gainfully employed,
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they have the ability to be employed you know, in
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the future. So it really does uplift the society in
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the community, and that's very rewarding.
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Oh that's what's the percentage of people that.
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Do they end up learning how to read and write
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as I go through the program?
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Or or is it actually not a goal?
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No? No, that isn't necessarily the goal, you know, the goal.
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For those who have some degree of education, we teach
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them the computer you know, computer science courses, want Excel
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and were just basic stuff that they can use and they.
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Can do that without having to reader write well.
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That's most Do those those have fundamental they have basic
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fundamental literacy skills. Yeah, so this is giving them a
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little bit more advanced technical skills. Yeah, technical competencies.
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Right. Oh, that's good.
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So the last time you and I talked, you know,
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we do go back to Benedictine from time to time,
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although I haven't I haven't been been back there lately.
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But you were going to retire. So what happened?
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And then I find out you've got this great job
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again and you're doing all this other stuff. So give
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me your story.
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Well, you know, I left HCSC, which was an eighty
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billion dollar company, and at the time I thought I
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would sort of semi retire. Even then, I hadn't planned
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to retire. So I started my own consulting company and
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for five years I did that. I loved it. I
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loved the diversity of my clients. You know, my clients
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were higher ed. I worked with Universe STU of Illinois
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in Chicago. I worked with not for profits like World
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Education Services and Candid, and I also worked for profit
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the Honest Company. So I did a lot of consulting.
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More are those honest companies around these days?
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I know you're right about that, and then I also
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amped up my learning, you know, I doubled down on
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learning and I tried my hand again back at academia.
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And so I am still senior faculty at the Josh
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Person Academy. So we run these sessions and every Friday.
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We started before the pandemic. In fact, the next session
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is coming up and it's all about AI. I don't know,
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if you're watching, the Davos takes incredible what they are
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doing with AI. And then the intersection of HR and
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AI is becoming a big deal. So the next breakout
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session that I will be leading beginning next month is
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around HR and artifical intelligence. And it's made my life easy.
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You know, it's so simple, it's actually so fascinating.
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So didn't you go to Deavos at one time? I
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did go to it.
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I thought, so, yeah, I remember that one an experiences.
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Business trip of my life. I went with the CEO
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and I was chosen. It was great they could take
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one a senior executive and so that was a wonderful experience. Actually,
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I did get to see Jane Goodall and you know,
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listen to some of these peak Adam Grant and some
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of the big CEOs. But I was watching Davos again
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with some nostalgia going time, and you listen to the
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CEOs of today, you know, listen to Jensen Huang who
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talks about He says, it's so simple AI if he
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doesn't require to program. If you don't know how to program,
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just ask Chad GPT show me how to program or
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program you know the website, teach me how to use
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chat GBT. It's really if you think about it, and
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you know it.
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Is because even I can use it me too.
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It's very intuitive and I just have to talk to
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the computer and it gives you all. And you know
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the best part about HR for us, you and I
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as we coach and we you know, we prepare executives.
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There's so much data at your fingertips. I don't have
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to go to a compensation expert. I can get benchmarking
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data anytime anywhere. I mean, it's really amazing. And you
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look at best practice information, what our company's doing, it's
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all there. It's there for you to grab anyway. So
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I did that for about five years. Going back to
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your question, I did try my hand at retiring. So
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last year I said, okay, I think I'm going to
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take a break and six months, that's that's all I
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could handle. You know, I was. I was bored to
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the point of distraction. I'll tell you of doing nothing
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and just.
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Well, you have a second home on Aker.
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We do.
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Yeah, so you think you could have entertained yourself up there,
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but no.
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No, no, I had to keep moving. And you know
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it's not to me, it's not it's not a necessity.
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It's a choice. It's a correct choice. And I do
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believe that. You know, careers don't expire. You know, work
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doesn't expire. You just need to keep doing what you like.
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And I like it, and you know the best part,
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so going back to it, I did go back to
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being a CHR. And I'm back to being a CHR.
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Oh again. Right, It's different because I'm working for a
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company that's extremely mission oriented, have a very compelling story,
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and you know, the whole idea is to provide access
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to healthcare. You know, we hear so much about nursing
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homes and treatments in nursing homes. It's all about quality
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of care where the people are the center, and so
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making sure that people are kept out of hospitals and
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when they do leave hospitals, are they getting the care
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they need? So it's all it's a not for profit.
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Love the CEO. He's brilliant but compassionate. It's just a
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very nice story. And you know, it's the most fulfilling
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part of my part of my career. So the last
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decade's been quite interesting. As I said, I gave myself
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the permission to explore. You know, Okay, let's explore. Five
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years I did the consulting thing, which I loved, and
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you know, kept my feet wet in academia. I go
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back to be you. I go back to Benedictine University
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for guest lectures and I've done that a few times.
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And so yeah, and now I'm being a CHR O
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or again, believe it or not.
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What do you see?
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Do you see any significant differences between you know, like
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ten years ago when you were a CHR O versus