WHO IS THE HERO OF YOUR STORY?

Written By: Bill Brady

Every great story has a few main characters. There has got to be a villain, either a literal bad guy or a tough problem to solve. Frequently there is a guide, a sage, or a mentor...someone whose wisdom lights the way for others to follow. And there definitely has to be a hero, that person who always shows up to save the day, conquer evil, or just make things happen amid tough circumstances.

Like a lot of kids, I dreamed of being the hero of my own story. In an effort to prepare myself for an epic hero’s journey to unfold, I became an avid reader of historical and political biographies. I wanted to learn from the lives of great men and women whom I considered heroes to me or to the times in which they lived, but through that exploration and discovery, my goals evolved.

I became fascinated with Ronald Reagan, and he began to change my understanding of what it means to be a hero. On top of all he accomplished, what impressed me about President Reagan was his character and leadership. Though arguably one of the greatest presidents of the United States, he didn’t seek the mantle of hero. He was an unboastful—even humble—statesman who recognized he could accomplish more by helping others accomplish more. In fact, as an homage to a plaque President Reagan kept on his desk (right beside the jelly beans he loved sharing with visitors), I have a quote posted in my own office that reads, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he does not mind who gets the credit.”

Though I’ve been blessed with some pretty incredible opportunities throughout my life, I have found my greatest joy in helping other people accomplish their goals—and in giving them as much credit as possible for a job well done—so they can be the heroes of their own journeys.

At one point in my career, for example, I sold a marketing company I owned to a competing firm in order to create a larger, multi-disciplined agency that would be well poised to do great work for Silicon Valley. In the course of those negotiations, I met a single mom named Emily at the reception desk of the firm that was buying mine.

As I got to know Emily over the weeks that followed, I knew unequivocally that she was overflowing with massive talent and untapped potential, so I moved her out of her receptionist role and put her on the front lines with our clients as an account manager. While she learned to manage accounts, we supported her effort to earn an MBA. When she finished grad school, I moved her into a marketing strategist role. Then, through an uncanny course of events that followed, we recommended her as an employee to our largest client, where she became the Global Director of Digital Marketing for a Fortune 500 company—and we reported to her! No experience in my career has made me happier.

In How Will You Measure Your Life?, renowned Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen said it best:

“Management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well. No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team. More and more MBA students come to school thinking that a career in business means buying, selling, and investing in companies. That’s unfortunate. Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people.”

Just as President Reagan taught me, we find true meaning and satisfaction in business when we focus on people before we focus on profits or on the success of programs. Rather, I believe those desirable and necessary outcomes are best achieved as natural consequences of prioritizing around the growth of the people we work with... around making them heroes.

Because of this paradigm, I have deeply appreciated the culture of Med One Group.

In the world of healthcare, there are a lot of villains to combat, and some of them pose seemingly insurmountable challenges for many people: Covid, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, to name just a few. In the United States, we are extremely blessed to have one of the greatest healthcare systems in the world, one that brings the most advanced technologies to bear on the toughest problems to be solved, led by more than three million nurses and one million doctors.

These incredible men and women, who work endless hours and provide thankless service, are the heroes of Med One’s story. By making medical equipment available with maximum convenience and flexibility—in whatever ways best serve the needs of a hospital—we work behind the scenes to make sure these heroes of healthcare are well equipped with the tools necessary to increase patient comfort, improve outcomes, and save lives. And in a partnership like that, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

"By making medical equipment available with maximum convenience and flexibility—in whatever ways best serve the needs of a hospital—we work behind the scenes to make sure these heroes of healthcare are well equipped with the tools necessary to increase patient comfort, improve outcomes, and save lives."