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Introduction to Flourish and Guest Kim Hodgkinson

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Sarah Richardson: Hi, I'm Sarah Richardson, former CIO and President of the 229 Executive Development Community, with a passion for empowering others to reach their full potential. Welcome to Flourish, where we delve into captivating career origin stories, sparking conversations that inspire, inform, and foster a sense of community. Join us as we explore the journeys that have shaped successful professionals and uncover the insights that can help you thrive in your own career path.

Thanks for joining us.

Kim Hodgkinson is an experienced healthcare professional with multiple years of progressive executive leadership experience within large, complex health systems, including Ascension, Trinity, and Peace Health

kim is recognized as both a strategic and operational CFO with deep expertise in partnering to drive performance improvements through productivity gains, expense control, revenue cycle enhancements, and increased capacity for growth. Kim has proven successes in transforming organizations to achieve financial sustainability innovation.

Change management and leadership development, including her commitment to developing high performing teams through authenticity, transparency, accountability, and celebration. Kim is a fellow in both ACHE and HFMA, has an MBA in finance, and a master's degree in nuclear physics.

Welcome to Flourish. Today, we are joined by Kim Hodgkinson. Kim is recognized as a strategic and operational CFO with deep expertise in partnering to drive performance improvements through productivity gains, expense control, RCM enhancements, and capacity for growth. But more importantly than just her bio, which is impressive, is we were recently introduced by mutual friend Sue Shade, and I was asking her about who could come on the show for Flourish to talk

about

Sarah Richardson: Career invention, career reinvention, all the things you go through to really fulfill your best version of your life and yourself.

And she said, you have to talk to Kim. So Kim, thank you so much for being on Flourish today and welcome to the show.

Kim Hodgkinson: I'm so excited to be here and looking forward to the conversation today.

Sarah Richardson: And we connected on a really personal level even those first moments when you reach out to someone to have a conversation, to get familiar with their background, and all of a sudden you find yourself talking about your parents and your legacy and the things that are really key and helping us define who we are as we both grow up and then become .

Self sufficient adults and honoring their legacies. And so you just came back from a trip where you were honoring your father's life and it's such a meaningful story, especially about your rubber ducks. I'm hopeful that you are comfortable sharing part of that story with our audience today.

Kim Hodgkinson's Personal Journey and Career Insights

Kim Hodgkinson: Sure, so my father, unfortunately, recently passed away in June.

He's almost 92. He lived a wonderful life, and he and my grandfather are actually primary reasons I'm in health care. He was an ophthalmologist, and my grandfather was an OBGYN, really a pioneer in women's health. We can chat about that later. But my father, with his passing, he and I used to Bird hunt, fly fish, shoot sporting clays, and most of it in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan and the upper peninsula of Michigan.

And so we just spent four days, my husband and I, as well as my sister, we went to four of his favorite fly fishing rivers. And we took, not only spread his ashes, but we took rubber ducks, yellow rubber ducks, and rode on them in memory of my dad. Thank you for helping me navigate the waters of life. And on the head we also wrote return to the water in case somebody picks it up and thinks it'd be cool to take it.

But we did that on four rivers that he fly fished on and loved for his whole life. And then we ended up in the woods, his favorite spot for hunting birds. And also visiting five of the waterfalls that we visited with him as children. So it was a great celebration of his life. It was a great grounding for me also to remember that the things that we did growing up and with our family and our friends really form who we are today.

Sarah Richardson: And that story is so powerful and I wanted to start with it. Primarily because if anyone's up there, season's not over. If you're in Michigan and you're on a river and you see a rubber duck, it's a good chance that Kim and her family. Set it into the water and if you find it, see it, take the picture and send it.

Your posts on LinkedIn about it are really special. And it's just important for us to always remember who we are and where we came from. So thank you for that perspective, but also for sharing it. Absolutely. And you have such a fantastic journey in your life and your career. You're a fellow in ACHE and HFMA.

You have a MBA in finance, but the part that literally just blew me away was your master's in nuclear physics. And it's not because you have a master's in that topic as much as You got into finance and accounting and you shared with me Hey, I'm really good at fixing problems. And it just happened to be in finance.

And that's where I ended up where I did. So when you think about your career journey, what inspired you to pursue a role primarily in healthcare finance, what was that like?

Kim Hodgkinson: So it's really interesting. I did my work in physics and I really loved it and I was really good at critical thinking and figuring out problems and how to organize and fix things.

And I was always really encouraged to continue down the science path. By my professors and by my family. And I didn't go into medicine because I didn't like organic chemistry. I just couldn't figure it out. It was just, it was too hard. I couldn't memorize it. I just didn't want to do it. So physics seemed more logical to me, not to most other people, but to me.

And I was looking for a role after I got my master's in business. And the CFO for the Cadillac and Grayling hospitals said if you figure out physics, you can figure out hospital finance. And I actually went to those two hospitals for five years. I call it my personal residency program. I got to dig in.

I got to actually do an international project in American Samoa. Implement cost accounting decision support at that time. It was a great experience to not only be local. watch surgery, understand that medical records is just not about filing charts and actually doing, exploring and learning all the intricacies of healthcare in a, in two small, community hospitals.

So it was, accidental that I needed a role, but it actually allowed me to use those critical thinking skills and for me to continue to learn because I'm a continuous, lifelong learner and I just absorb information. So I found healthcare to be the most complex. And what is more complex than taking care of people, right?

We are complex and the model under which healthcare is delivered is complex. And so I feel that my skills underlying my physics training were really appropriate for healthcare finance.

Sarah Richardson: There's also a level of responsibility when we choose to go into certain fields. If we choose health care and realizing that's when people are most vulnerable in their lives, whether it's for an event that is adverse or something that they're looking forward to, like the birth of a child, it's still understanding that whole continuum and what that means.

And if we're running the facility or the system, we've got to be able to translate that so everybody who's involved. knows how it can be most impactful to the patient. And at some point or another, we're all patients too.

Challenges and Rewards in Healthcare Finance

Sarah Richardson: So when you think about all those amazing experiences, what would you say was maybe most challenging and then also most rewarding?

Kim Hodgkinson: Let's start with most rewarding. I think we, I've always worked in not for profit health care. So we've always had a financial assistance policy. And one of the phrases I use with my revenue cycle team talks about financial healing because the revenue cycle team doesn't necessarily touch the patient, but they're there to help them heal financially.

And I remember coming into my office one day after a board meeting and there were a ton of cards. Sitting on the desk in my office. My revenue cycle leader and the team had brought in a slew of letters from patients thanking them for the healing and the write offs and the financial assistance that we were able to give them so they could focus on their healing.

It was very moving to see that and that the staff actually wanted to share that. I actually then went home that weekend and put them all on a huge poster board and brought them back so that they can remember that financial healing is, what they do every day. Even though they may not touch the patient, they're there.

And so that's the rewarding part is being able to help those patients who can't help themselves but give them the quality and equitable care that they deserve. And so those are the things that I love to do. And I find so rewarding in healthcare, whether it's participating in mission activities or actually helping a colleague get their next step.

Those are fun and I just really, do love to view them. What's challenging? is healthcare in general is delivering it. The pace of change under which we need to move is challenging. And when you can't get people or an organization or a product to move in a way that's going to be helpful. And it hinders instead.

That, to me, is very challenging because we're all there to help the patient. We're not necessarily there for stockholders wealth. We are there for making the community better and taking care of the people that live in that community. And so I think pace of change, Helping people understand their benefits, because sometimes it's very hard.

I think those are the challenging things about being in healthcare. There are challenging concepts moving forward and things that we need to watch out for, but I think challenging for me is the pace of change, because I think as Peter Drucker said, we all use this culture each strategy for breakfast, and if you cannot get the culture lined up, it's going to be an uphill battle in order to make the changes that you need.

So those are the challenges that I think I've faced and really try to actually work with my teams on how to overcome.

Sarah Richardson: Both the financial resilience component and the change management and the culture, they are Sometimes they feel insurmountable. You have to have the right people aligned at the right time.

And typically, if you're a CIO, it can be a challenge to find common ground with your CIO. It doesn't mean that being a CIO and being a CFO cannot be congruent. I've reported to plenty of them. I believe if you and I ever worked together, we'd be like, this is how we're going to change the organization.

Because you just realize when you get Like minds on the right problems, amazing things can happen, but when you think about your overall approach to financial decision making in a way that supports the fiscal responsibility that's expected today, and the patient care that you just mentioned, what is something that you know from a tried and true perspective that you're going to go in with that lens every time?

Kim Hodgkinson: I'm always going to go in the lens of being curious. and asking the why. So it's why are we doing it? Do we have to do it this way? And then I always, and this is pretty much standard, what's the problem we're trying to solve? Because a lot of times we get distracted by shiny objects. AI today. Very distracting.

What problem are we trying to solve? It may be the best tool in the toolkit right now. But it's really being curious, understanding the why, and making sure you understand what problem you're trying to solve. That will usually bring the group together, because if you can't agree on the problem you're trying to solve, you've got to, you've got to get there first.

And then you've got to understand the why. And then keep asking questions. So fundamentally, that's actually how I like to approach things. Sometimes there's some interesting discussions that come out of that. Even if you're looking at working with the organization or in payer negotiations, sometimes you're not in the same place as the problem you're trying to solve or the why.

And so it's just making sure you're grounded in those.

Sarah Richardson: And yet to your point, if you're curious enough and you take the right line of questioning, you may actually get to a why that's different than what you thought it may have been, but equally beneficial to the patient, to the organization. And yet there are trends in healthcare finance today that can be either exciting or concerning for the future.

Which camp are you in and what are you seeing today that brings a lens for you on that view as well?

Kim Hodgkinson: So concerns for the future. I'm very concerned about the labor force. and balance with the aging population that we have. So the population is aging faster than we can create the roles, we can get people educated, we have a shortage of physicians, shortage of nurses, and we really need to look at how we're going to use these valuable resources moving forward.

And it's Most organizations, half of the expense to provide care. And if we don't have the people to provide the care, we can't provide the care in a quality manner. So it's people, it's a people business. And that's my biggest worry moving forward.

Sarah Richardson: From a technology perspective, what advancements have you witnessed or been a part of that helped with that equation, but also gave you hope that Technology doesn't necessarily replace people because you still need people at the center of the decision making and knowing where to insert the human in the either automation or the technological advancement perspective.

When you think about that, what role about technology may excite you the most?

Kim Hodgkinson: I, love technology and so it's probably something where I'm like, how do we solve the problems? Can we make it easier? Can we make it easier? So I'm going to just give you a simple example of technology helping with the people issue.

So patient registration in emergency room departments in low volume areas or more rural areas, we actually implemented what I call eRegistration, where we train the technician or the nurse, depending on how it's staffed, the emergency room, and we train them how to do a quick reg. And then we asked one of the busier emergency room departments to dial in and complete the registration, so we didn't have to staff every single emergency room 24 by 7 with a registrar.

So we were looking at how do we flex the resources we have, but also use technology to make it easier. Pretty straightforward, pretty simple, but getting the staff used to, you have some additional roles to do. We need to be smart with the resources we have. So it's a very simple example. However, I think as we move forward with technology, I love watching what

I'm actually most familiar with EPIC, but really how we're starting to look at either automation artificial intelligence, machine learning, whatever we can do to automate and augment the care we're providing. I'm going to use the word augment because I think When we talk about this is how do we augment the processes so we can have people start working at higher level of their license or start critically thinking or doing more audit versus data collection.

Because if you think about it today, you can go into a basic AI tool like Perplexity and you can say, tell me about, and it's going to pull everything in from the internet. To give you all the references, the information, it's going to, it does it in seconds now, where before, back in my day when we used encyclopedias, it took forever.

And so the amount of data that's available to make decisions, to take care of patients, that's what excites me right now, is how do we get there and make it the best experience for the patient. But augmenting the care we're providing, because as you said, it's never, it always has to be a human in the loop.

We need to make sure that we're providing the best care for the patient.

Sarah Richardson: And using, to your point earlier, curiosity to go and trust the data source, validate it, audit it, to make sure that whatever we're using for large language models, internally sourced information, there has to be a way that we can trust it.

So it lends itself to the next question because I have a lot of mentees or women that I mentor in different scenarios, and they're like, what? Should I go into I love healthcare. What area should I go into? And I'm like, if technology, if cyber, and finance, you really can't go wrong.

Lots of other spaces, clinician based especially, are going to be needed. When you think about the role of women in healthcare and how it's evolving, how do you support organizations in making sure that women are getting a front seat to the areas I just mentioned?

Kim Hodgkinson: Absolutely. And I think that's part of looking at the hiring process.

It's looking at the education and development process of leaders doing that for their teams. I think for women, and the good thing is, women right now are 75 to 80 percent of the healthcare workforce. in general. I think that's the last study I saw. And there's a lot of women, but it goes much smaller as you get to the executive suite.

So about 30 percent sitting up there of the executive suite are women, but it's continuing to improve. So that's, the good thing. I think women just need to make sure they have a voice. I think in the areas of technology, finance all those spaces, I think there's an opportunity to say, Hey, and raise your hand.

I think a lot of times women don't want to say something because they're afraid of being wrong or they're afraid of being judged by their male peers or perhaps leaders. And I think they need to be okay with raising their hand and saying, I have an idea or. Just having their voice heard and I think done that a little bit, I've been talking to some women's DEI groups and some various employers.

I think women still struggle with that as caregivers. They want to make sure that they're taking care of everyone and they're making sure they're not rocking the boat. Then there's women on the other side of the spectrum who do rock the boat and then get a bad rap. And I think both sets of women, and those are in the middle, really need to just work on how they communicate and it's communicating with anyone.

And if they're interested in these fields, I think they need to say so. And if they're in one of these fields and they want to do more, I think they find a way and they actually find ways to get put on projects to expand their scope. And really learn more about the organization. I think that's one thing that organizations can do is give people the opportunity.

Some organizations have fellow programs that allow people to develop from a different side or outside of healthcare into a track. I think for finance, there's a lot of finance people going into operations now. Because it's so linked, I think there's a lot of technology people going into operations.

They're not just have to stay in those areas either. They can grow and continue to evolve in their career and what really drives them from their own purpose for their career.

Sarah Richardson: Sonia, you mentioned you like to solve problems and the complexity. If you can handle physics, you can handle finance.

And I thought, I originally got into IT because I worked in a 24 hour operation and stuff broke after everybody else left. So I was there at 10 p. m. and they're like, who's going to fix it? And I'm like, I'll learn how to fix it. And then I just became part of the IT team because I could fix the things that broke because I learned how to handle the things that nobody else knew how to do and took assignments that nobody else wanted, that was a big leap.

So you say just raise your hand for the assignment, especially in all the, say in your twenties, if there is an assignment that nobody wants or doesn't have all the fanfare associated with it. You do a good job on the things that people aren't necessarily paying attention to in that moment and they become something that matters significantly organizationally, you will get noticed.

You have to make sure you do a good job all the time. You have to put your best effort forward every time you put your name on it.

Kim Hodgkinson: Exactly. And I think the other thing is being involved in your community, whether it's your community of colleagues, or it's outside in the city that you're employed in and get some visibility and exposure in the community that you're living.

Sarah Richardson: Which can be hard today. I've moved probably seven times in 20 plus years for opportunities. Sometimes with the same company, and that was planned. How do you recommend that anyone does that today, Kim? When you think about the fact that maybe you're hybrid, maybe you're remote. I don't know that I would have the career I have today if I was home 25 years ago learning how to cut my chops in corporate America.

What recommendations do you have for those that are either hybrid or fully remote and that ability to create community and connect and build the culture that supports the things we've been talking about?

Kim Hodgkinson: There's a couple things. One is, for your community that you live, which may not be where your health system is, I would get involved in whatever drives your passion.

Whether it's the First Tee Program, which might be a golf program, or it's the local food pantry or it's something with your children at school. Just try to get out so that you actually, there's something that you're giving back to that community and they're giving back to you based on your own personal purpose that you would have.

When you're hybrid or remote, you really need to make the efforts to make those connections. And I'm mentoring a young man right now who wants to continue to grow in his career, but he's mostly remote. And I said, you need to really talk to the CFO. And he goes, I'm afraid to, and I'm like he's a fellow in HFMA.

You're in the finance department. I said, so call him up and say, I just joined HFMA. I want to talk to you about how you became a fellow and then talk to him about his career path. And he actually had that conversation last week. He says, I was so afraid and nervous going in there and he's just a regular person.

Don't be afraid to ask to meet people, to be curious about them and, really learn about the people. Because you're gonna learn things that you're like, oh, I never knew that. Because all I see them every day is in a suit on a video camera or in a suit in front of a town hall. Take that time and To be totally honest with you, those people love that stuff.

Kim Hodgkinson: Take time to get to know people that you would like to be like or mentor, understand their path, understand them personally. I think the last thing is, find a way to randomly call your colleagues. and connect with them. Whether you say, we're going to do coffee every Friday morning at 730 with a bunch of people on Zoom, or do you just randomly every day call someone up?

So during COVID, I started doing virtual rounding or going to the Gemba via video, and I would black out time every Thursday at lunch, and I would tell my leaders this, I am going to call somebody in your department. It could be anybody, so just warn them. If I call, I'm not calling because it's bad. I'm calling because I'm doing rounding.

And I would call those people and I would say, hey, I just want to know how things are going. I'd say, how is I'd catch up on something, ask them what's going on in their personal life. And it was an amazing conversation because It actually brought me closer to the patient and the work that's being done in my space, but it also helped them understand that I was actually there to support them in their roles.

And so whether you're a leader or a staff member, I think you can earn a, learn a lot by just randomly calling up people and say, how are you doing? So I think that's a great way of asking people's advice.

Sarah Richardson: And it's funny when you mention that. When's the last time you said no to someone who reached out and said, do you have 15 or 20 minutes for me?

Never. You never do, especially when it's an introduction from someone that's reached out or if someone is thoughtfully saying, hey, I would love. To know you better. May I spend 15, 20 minutes with you? I'm in grad school. I'm doing this different people. I must talk to three or four people every week that I'm meeting for the first time through a connection, through somebody else, or from someone who's thoughtfully reached out on LinkedIn.

And I'm amazed at what I learn every time I talk to an unexpected conversation. And I'm always grateful for those opportunities connect. And if you added up the minutes, it might be 80 minutes a week. Which really isn't that much time to now have these connections you wouldn't have had otherwise. But it's hard for people when you think about the importance of continuous learning with how fast everything is changing.

And you just recently are still in a class about AI data because you're curious how the information is used. How important is that in today's environment, even though things are changing rapidly? How important is continuous learning and taking on some of these specialized courses?

Kim Hodgkinson: So I think I always tell people continue to learn.

When you stop learning, you stop growing, right? And so I've been a lifelong learner, have this growth mindset. I always want to know more. No need to be the expert, but I want to know enough so that I can make better informed decisions with the group and whatever we're doing. So I think today. AI is such a useful tool.

I know that, I just read that there's an organization actually educating their whole health system on the basics of AI. Awesome. Because you need to understand when it should be used, when it shouldn't be used, and how the organization is going to govern it, right? So, how do we use it? I have to tell you, I don't use search engines anymore.

Google or Duck or any of those anymore, I use perplexity because perplexity brings it all together for me. So I don't have to click on all these individual links and it gives me the references. Is it perfect? No, and that's one piece of advice I tell people. But I think it's really important that you continue to grow with the technology that's going to be available in your space.

That's going to apply to you. I think reading is important. I try to read or listen to one book a week, sometimes more, but it doesn't have to be long book. It can be short. It could be on Audible.

The Power of Continuous Learning

Kim Hodgkinson: I recently finished all of Patrick Lencioni's books. I love his books and they have all sorts of great insights in them.

And then I have friends who are writing books. It's very interesting to read their books on leadership or whatever topic they've chosen to write on. And trying to read the books and I tell people reading books or you could be making sure you're reading the Harvard Business Review every week and looking at some of the great articles that they have.

So try to keep reading. It's not, you're not always going to agree with it, but it will help you with your opinions. It'll help you with your leadership. It will help you just personally and professionally. So continue that learning. Can you always go to a seminar? Sometimes you can't. There's virtual seminars now more but I think you need to make the time for professional development because once you stop and all you do is your job and go home and do your job, you stop growing and that means you're not keeping up with what's going on with your industry and what's going on with your business,

Sarah Richardson: which I love.

Because the first thing you'll hear most people say is I don't have time. It's hard to sandwich in new learnings.

Transforming Your Life Five Minutes at a Time

Sarah Richardson: And yet you said something. Really powerful to me when we first met, it was about changing your personal story, your narrative, not only do you need to find a vision, but restructuring your life five minutes at a time.

What was so fascinating about that is you shared that with me, and I don't know how many people I shared that with over the next few days. And so how does restructuring your life in a five minute increment make a difference? Why is that effective for people? I think

Kim Hodgkinson: everybody struggles with what's works best for them.

And so on my personal journey, sometimes I set goals that were too big. I wanted to read a book a week. Okay. I wasn't reading much. I was mostly reading online stuff. I wanted to read a book I wanted to read in this category. And I felt like I was failing at these big goals that I was setting forth.

And they were both personal, professional holistic goals. So it could have been. exercising, it could be what food I'm eating, it could be how I'm responding lately, am I under a lot of stress so it's a holistic kind of change at five minutes at a time. Five minutes gives you time to actually do something and give yourself a little reward that, hey, I accomplished it.

You also don't need to give yourself grace because you might not accomplish it. And so how I started with my five minute at a time, I journal in the morning and I journal at night. I find when I write things down it's more, clear. So I actually did the five minutes at a time, but I did two and a half minutes in the morning and two and a half minutes at night.

Now it's more like, 10 to 15 minutes in each just depends on how much clarity or I want to clear out of my brain to write it down. But five minutes at a time is something that you can do and check off and say, I accomplished it. I accomplished it. I want to send one email to one employee every day.

Thanking them for something they've done. I want to make sure I actually, I'm actually listening to my husband when I'm at dinner for five minutes versus him on his phone or me on my phone. And it's all those little things that you can change. You need to change your story. So my story used to be about putting everybody else first.

And my story was taking care of myself first was selfish. That I should take care of everybody else, what everybody else wants. And I was like, no, I can't. I can't do that anymore. My holistic health got out of control, body, mind, and spirit. And. Changing my habits five minutes at a time was a key for me changing during that time.

And I do a strategic plan. I do it every 60 or 90 days. I know that's not strategic in the business world, but for me it's about as long a timeline I can go. It's seasonal, like so every 90 days you get a new season. And I talk to myself and I say, what are the three to five things that I want to do during the next 90 days?

And so I, one was like, I want to go to Pilates. The other one was like, I want to make sure I get 50 grams of protein. The other one was like, I want to make sure that I am journaling about how I'm feeling. And I, let's just say I take those three. The first week of my 90 days, I pick one and I check it off every day that I do it.

Now, I might miss a day. That's the grace. And then the second week I take the second goal, and the third week I take the third goal, so that I now have three by week three, or week four if I have four, and I just check them off every day for 60 or 90 days, and by the time I get done with it, it's now become part of my day, or part of my habit.

Does that make sense? And habits are hard to form. Going to McDonald's for a Diet Coke every single morning is a really hard habit to break. But you can break it. I can guarantee you I did. But the little things. And then there's also the big ones. I want to look at what my next step in my career is going to be.

And you set those goals. Five minutes at a time. Does that make sense?

Sarah Richardson: It does. And it can be scary for people because what I loved about the five minute approach, I had a huge list. If I'm home, if I'm not on the road, I'm very analog. I have sticky notes all over the place and all the things I don't really feel like doing, but I need to do pile up personal and sometimes professional.

And when I took your five minutes approach, I was like, I bet I could get two of those done. That became like a game. I gamified my own sticky notes. I was like, Oh, you got three things. Three of my, three of my sticky notes done in less than five minutes and they're gone. And then that sense of crumpling up the paper and throwing it away was wonderful.

So yeah, the small things, and then you try the bigger things. I love Pilates. I get kicked out of yoga because I'm so not coordinated. They won't even let me back in the class, but Pilates, Hey, the reformer is your friend. Like it may be awkward. And yet You're trying something new, you're allowing yourself to expand and try something different, and then you realize what you do and don't like.

Overcoming Obstacles and Embracing Change

Sarah Richardson: And yet, the personal story can be difficult. There's a lot of common obstacles people face. If you were to think about a couple of things that are pretty common reasons for not changing a story, how do you overcome them? How do you get rid of that fear factor, the self doubt, the embarrassment, all the different things that come with the fact that you might be embarrassed even to tell someone you're taking a class on a certain subject?

What are some great ways to get over those obstacles?

Kim Hodgkinson: So first of all, you have to want to, right? I have to tell people, you have to want to get past the obstacle because otherwise you're going to continue to create stories that keep you from leaping over that obstacle or running through it, right? So you have to change.

So 10 years ago, I had a revelation. I was in a corporate athlete program. It was part of a leadership program I was in, and the coach, Jenny, I had a revelation in the class that I gotta start journaling, I really need to start figuring out where my mind is. And then I also thought, I really need to lose some weight if I'm going to be a leader in healthcare, I want to be a great example holistically.

to that. So I changed a lot of my behaviors. I lost over a hundred pounds. I made those, but I had to change my stories. I couldn't keep saying to myself, I'm never going to lose weight. I couldn't listen. I had a doctor who was about this big around who had five babies who said, maybe you're supposed to be that way.

I had to change her story. So I actually got a small board of advisors, which included my surgeon. that I had weight loss surgery. I include my surgeon, Jenny, from the corporate athlete program, and then some friends, and I took that very small circle of people and said, I need to change my story. I need to really look at how I'm sabotaging my life by stories I'm creating in my brain.

And some of them are, I don't have time when I get home because I'm always, I gotta do email when I get home. I cleared that out. I actually said when I get home, I might do email at night, but these are the three things I'm gonna do before I do email at night. And I try not to do email at night if I don't have to, but if we do, you do.

But you have to reprioritize and make sure you have space for you. Your family, your friends, and your work. And you need to make sure you're not making up reasons, I can't work out because I need to take my kids to ice hockey. When you take your kids to ice hockey, can you walk around the arena while they're practicing, or can you do something to, during that time?

Or, I don't have time because my kids are home after school. I've heard this one a lot, and I used to say what are your kids doing when they get home? They're doing their homework, and they're on the computer. I said then what are you doing? So I got that one. The woman looked at me. She says, you're right.

What am I doing? And I'm like, you're probably doing laundry or something. But I said, you need to consciously think about what you want to change and what your stories are. And then try to find the story. So my story, taking care of others, was what I thought was first. So taking care of myself was selfish.

And I had to change it as taking care of myself first will allow me to take care of others better. Because if I'm happy and healthy holistically, I can actually lead and actually take care of people better if I'm taking care of myself.

Sarah Richardson: Like getting on the airplane, put your mask on first and you hear it over and over again.

As much as I fly, I'm always like, yep, here. It's like a constant reminder. If you just take that thing that you hear when you're traveling and you apply it to your life. How much that can matter and to make such a difference. And one of the other things that you talk about and that you have, even on your LinkedIn banner, which I love is light your candle first, so you can light up the world, which is what you were just sharing.

And yet, what does that phrase mean to you? And how did you come to embrace that specific philosophy?

Kim Hodgkinson: So I started out with me first, when, when was I going to start taking care of myself? And I had to figure that out. And so now I'm at me first, why not? You need to take care of yourself so you can best serve others.

And I was thinking about it in the context of the oxygen masks on the airplane, but I thought what else do we do? And as a Midwest girl, if you think about it, we have these storms that happen all the time and the power goes out. And what's the first thing you have to do? You have to find something to light up your space.

before you can figure out what happened and where the dog is and everything else. So I actually look at you need to light your candle first. So you need to light up your world first, so you can light up the rest of the world. So again, taking care of yourself. So that you can best serve others and be there, be present, have the energy to be there so that, everyone wins.

You're better as a team member when you look, you take care of yourself, you're better as a spouse, you're better in everything you do.

Sarah Richardson: And you've shared so many amazing ideas, five minutes at a time, because you want to, because there's an opportunity to figure out where it could fit. When an individual applies the concept of light your candle first so you can light up the world in their daily lives to contribute more, where would you tell them to start?

Because it's hard to even take the first step after you've heard this conversation, after you bought the journal, after you have the gym membership. There's always that, reason. What's that catalyst that just gets you a little bit over the edge to know that it's safe enough to try it?

Kim Hodgkinson: I think it's to try it, right?

Don't overdo it. Don't say, I'm gonna go to the gym five days this week. It's let's try two and put it in your schedule. Schedule it out. I know not everybody is a calendar person, but schedule it out so you know you have the time. The five minutes to take care of those two sticky notes you have, or you have the hour scheduled, and don't let anything get in the way.

Of course, unless it's an emergency, we understand that, but don't let it get in the way. Take that hour that you've scheduled for yourself to go to the gym. Take that time to read that book. If you have to reschedule it, But little bites. That first step of doing anything is always really big.

So I think I saw something on LinkedIn today that basically said, break it into smaller steps. So if that first step is too big for you, break it down into five steps in order to get there. And I think that's where I'm going with that five minutes at a time. Don't try to do it all at once. Just schedule it out.

That's why I do that strategic plan because it's like how do I schedule it out? And I'm not very linear and like that problem solving person who kind of bounces around a little bit But I think by putting that structure to it and it'll help you form the habit I will continue to say though you have to give yourself grace I've quit so many diets or other habits or, I don't like yoga either, by the way too slow for me, but I probably didn't give it enough time.

So you have to give yourself grace where you might need to modify. So just give it some time though. And I, like I said, with the diet thing, I don't like diets. I just like looking at changing my lifestyle. And people may look at me, but again, I used to be a hundred and 10 pounds heavier than I am today.

It can be done. I encourage people, if weight is your story, I can't do anything because I'm heavy, I can't do anything because I don't look like everybody else. I can't do anything because I don't have time to do anything. I just tell people, take those stories and try to figure out those little steps that you can do to change things.

Because it, You can.

Sarah Richardson: And as a change agent and an educator truly, you put yourself out there to say it can be done. Sometimes when we think about changing our careers or have major life changes. What advice do you have in that realm as far as, Hey, I need to look at my career in a whole new light.

We've talked a lot about the life aspect. They are never completely not intertwined. They'd go hand in hand. What advice do you have for people seeking the ability to do something significantly different?

Kim Hodgkinson: If you're looking for something different, make sure, first of all, aligns with your personal purpose.

And I keep saying purpose because. For example, my personal purpose is to take care of people, which again is contrary to my story about putting yourself first, but I love to take care of people. I love to make the community I live in better. And I live by three words, strength in my faith, courage to do the right thing, and the belief in the good of humanity.

So strength, courage, belief. Those fundamentally help me drive and make decisions about careers, about moving. So you need to know who you are. You may, and this is not a bad thing, you may move because of the money. Because money is something that you need for your family, and that is a priority for you.

Don't feel bad if that's a priority for you, but make sure the organization is the right fit for you in order to move that goal forward, because you won't be happy. I would suggest take a list. What are the top five things or six things that are important to you as you move forward in your career? And make sure that you're always making, looking at that list and making sure that's how you're prioritizing your choices.

And making sure the fit is there for you, the organization, as well as for your family. Because your family will be moving to a community if you move that's different. And you want to make sure that they're not struggling with a new community while you're learning a new role in a new organization. If you're trying to change career paths, take it on.

Try and do it. If you're looking at a job description and there's 12 things they're asking that you have experience with, and you have experience with 10 or 8, Go for it. Almost nobody has all 12. So that's the other thing that I would encourage people to do is shine the light on what you do well.

Don't necessarily have to have all 12 things that are on a job description to apply for a job. Once they meet you, they're going to want to hire you because you have the passion to do the things they're looking for. And so I encourage people to go with that positive attitude and know that there's almost nobody who's going to come in with all the 12.

So don't wait for all 12 before you apply for that new job, that new role, that new opportunity.

Sarah Richardson: And most likely you're going to get fulfilled by the other duties as assigned column or bullet point anyway, which I always remind people, you're interviewing your potential new employer. Make sure you ask the questions that are important to you.

And I love that you said that because too often we think we have to be perfect enough to be able to even apply or be qualified for something. And really we just have to have the passion and desire. As well as the existing qualifications that make us a viable candidate. That's such a powerful message, Kim.

Thank you. All right. I want to go into a speed round, which is just a couple of fun perspectives you have on the world. And I had to do this one because we're getting into the football season. So what is going to be the record this year for the University of Michigan? Oh my

Kim Hodgkinson: gosh. I would love them to win every game, but I think they're going to lose two.

Yeah, okay. I hate to say it, I think we're going to lose Ohio State and we'll lose another one along the way. We have a really tough schedule. And we, I did not go to Michigan, but I'm a huge Michigan fan, just so everybody knows that. But we're playing Oregon, Texas, USC, Michigan State, and Ohio State.

And it's a tough schedule this year, especially coming off the championship.

Sarah Richardson: Does it feel better to be coming off a major championship with a crazy tough schedule or to keep pursuing the win, the first championship? Oh,

Kim Hodgkinson: wow. I think pursuing the championship is always fun because it's a team sport and you want everybody to be their best.

And so pursuing the championship, I always look at would you rather be a superstar or a champion? And I'd rather be a champion because it's a team.

Sarah Richardson: I love that. Okay, two more. Future of healthcare. What are your thoughts?

Kim Hodgkinson: I think the future of healthcare is going to have to make a lot of changes. I think with our aging population and the technology we have, coupled with the shortages, we are going to really have to do some massive innovation in order to take care of patients where they are.

Bricks and mortar, we really are going to have to watch bricks and mortar because we're going to get through this aging cycle and then these We go back down in population. We don't need some of the assets we have today. So really looking at how do we use technology to make it easier? How do we use technology to take care of patients where they are?

And the other thing I'm really worried about is rural healthcare. How we make sure people everywhere, we have health equity, not only in the urban communities and the more populated communities, but how do we have it in the rural areas? of the United States where we're seeing closures happen very frequently now.

And so how do we make sure that we can deliver care everywhere?

Sarah Richardson: And to keep yourself pumped up, to get that energy, to get through a day, what is the one song that you want to hear first thing in the morning?

Kim Hodgkinson: Oh boy, that's a tough one. One of my favorite songs is the Hallelujah Chorus. And I just love hearing that because it just pumps up and that might be a little bit odd, but it's just hallelujah and it gets me started for the day.

There's a lot of fun songs. That we can do, but, that is probably the one that gets to my soul.

Sarah Richardson: And it makes sense because when you talk about strength, courage, and belief, that's a heck of a way to bring it all together.

Kim Hodgkinson: Thank you.

Sarah Richardson: It was such an honor and a pleasure to talk to you today. Thank you for taking time to share your story with our audience.

Thank you for giving hope to so many who may be struggling with where to begin. And we're hearing you say five minutes at a time, but more than anything, if someone reaches out and asks for help, guess what we're here to help.

Thanks for tuning in to Flourish, where we unearth the hidden gems of career journeys, illuminating paths to success and fulfillment. If you found value in today's conversation, please share it with your peers and leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts. We hope these stories are a catalyst of inspiration within you, propelling you forward in your own career odyssey.

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