Greg Schwarz
Episode 171

Narrator: Welcome, friends, to another episode of the Story & Experience Podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira with his guest today and discover the moments that shape us, our families and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, welcome friends to another episode of the Story & Experience Podcast. I'm here at Adventist Health White Memorial with a new guest, obviously, I'm very excited about this, and I'm going to introduce you to them in a second. But if you're brand new, I have 100 questions, they progressively become more vulnerable the closer you get to 100, and they're about stories and experiences that shape this person into the leader that they are today. So let's begin with the first one. Could you tell us your name and does anybody ever mispronounce it, sir?

Greg Schwarz: My name is Greg Schwarz and a lot of people put a T in the last of my name, so Schwartz, which is black in German.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes, yes.

Greg Schwarz: But it's pronounced Schwarz, not Schwartz.

Japhet De Oliveira: Does it have a T?

Greg Schwarz: It does not have a T. So that's the only issue with the spelling usually and the pronunciation of my last name. Not a problem, I go by either.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do you ever correct people?

Greg Schwarz: Occasionally. I don't know when I do or when I don't, but I have, yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: So Greg Schwarz, Schwartz, Schwarz.

Greg Schwarz: Schwarz, yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: See, I automatically put the T in it.

Greg Schwarz: Yeah, exactly. It's easier to say to pronounce it. But it's all good.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, so if Schwartz is black in German, what's Schwarz?

Greg Schwarz: It's a good question.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, you have to find out your family history.

Greg Schwarz: That's right.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, that's great, Greg. Hey Greg, what do you do for work?

Greg Schwarz: So I'm the business development executive here at White Memorial for the LA campus and Montebello campus. So basically that means, in layman's terms, is I create access for the communities that we serve, healthcare access.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice. So you look at new kind of service lines that people should have and find partners?

Greg Schwarz: Yep. I do new service lines, new services, bring in those services, bring in the physicians that'll provide the care, and also work with a lot of the payers too because healthcare is so contractual, especially in LA, we need to make sure that we have that alignment with the payers so those patients can come in to the hospital when they need the services.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. So give us a little insight on something you're working on right now that you're hoping is going to come through.

Greg Schwarz: So we are the process of purchasing our DaVinci robots, so the robotic program here at LA and Montebello. So we have three robots that we are bringing up to speed and online and so that's exciting for us.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Greg Schwarz: Montebello has never had a robot in their community.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Greg Schwarz: So we're excited about that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, well done, well done. That's really good. So 2024 will be a great year for that.

Greg Schwarz: Correct, correct.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now how long have you been working in business development?

Greg Schwarz: 30 years, 30+ years.

Japhet De Oliveira: And with Adventist Health?

Greg Schwarz: Eight years.

Japhet De Oliveira: Eight years, okay, all right. Did you fall into this role or did you... ?

Greg Schwarz: I fell into healthcare and evolved over time in the business development lane. I like it because it allows me to work in a lot of different areas, not just one. Everything that sort of touches the bottom line I can get my hands in and hands on to create.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Greg Schwarz: I love to create.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now we're obviously a non-profit system, so does that change any of your work?

Greg Schwarz: Not to the sense of still trying to develop programs that create margins because we still need to create margins so we can put back into capital. There's a lot of capital needs in our facilities and so if we're not making money we have no way to continue to keep up the-

Japhet De Oliveira: Reinvest.

Greg Schwarz: ... state of the art and reinvest, correct.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, that's great. That's great. Now Greg, where were you born?

Greg Schwarz: Los Angeles. I'm a native.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, that's fantastic. So when you were a child in LA what did you imagine you would grow up to be?

Greg Schwarz: I was an athlete most of my life, so.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really? This explains the posture. You should see Greg. I asked him before we began how's going to be seated and he's like, "Just like this." Like wow, that's like he's got his posture down.

Greg Schwarz: That way I don't fall asleep. I stay up here.

Japhet De Oliveira: So you're an athlete so you wanted to be an athlete?

Greg Schwarz: I did. I played all through college. My dad was a physician and my mom was a teacher and I just knew that I was going to school and I was going to go to college. But in terms of really picking a career early, I didn't do that. I just sort of thought I would fall into something and actually I did.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Now when you get up in the morning, drink of the day, do you have water, coffee, tea, liquid green smoothie? What's your first drink of the day?

Greg Schwarz: Usually coffee, although I do exercise before work and so there'll be some water obviously going on there. But on my way to work I'll have a cup of coffee in the car.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah, and what's your exercise routine?

Greg Schwarz: Every other day I try and do either a four-mile run or a 45-minute Peloton bike ride. So I'll switch it off every other day.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's really good. You do it like seven days a week?

Greg Schwarz: No, I try and get five days in a week.

Japhet De Oliveira: Five solid, okay. All right. Hey, good for you man, great, great.

Greg Schwarz: When it works out it's great.

Japhet De Oliveira: Personality, if they were to describe you would they say you're an introvert or an extrovert and would you agree?

Greg Schwarz: So for my job I should sort of go down the path of extrovert, although I think I'm somewhere in between, but the people that I know would probably say extrovert.

Japhet De Oliveira: Extrovert, okay. All right, and then are you an early riser or late night owl?

Greg Schwarz: I'm a little bit of both actually.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, all right.

Greg Schwarz: I don't sleep in the mornings and I don't go to sleep too early. I guess during the work week, 10 or 11, maybe that's early, I don't know. It just depends what's on TV or what's happening.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, that's fair enough. And so this morning when you woke up, first thought that went through your mind?

Greg Schwarz: I had to get out to the gym and exercise.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh okay, okay. Was it a Peloton day today or?

Greg Schwarz: Today was a run.

Japhet De Oliveira: A run day, okay.

Greg Schwarz: So that's the first thought. Then once that's done then it clicks into sort of the kids, the family, everybody's taken care of, and off to work I go.

Japhet De Oliveira: And do you run on a treadmill or you run around?

Greg Schwarz: Normally I run on the treadmill, but I live in an area that I should really be outside. I live down in Long Beach, which is by the water and canals and stuff so I have a good area outside that I could do the running. And I'll probably convert that over pretty soon since it's spring and summer's coming.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Good for you, man. Good for you. All right, last one in this block, a leadership question. Are you a backseat driver?

Greg Schwarz: No, in terms of leadership I like to create a vision and communicate with my team what that vision is and then sort of explain what I believe... some of my expectations, and then I will take a step back and let them run with sort of that vision, the explanation, after we have some conversation around it and watch that unfold.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good, good. All right, floor is open, sir, where would you like to go, which number?

Greg Schwarz: Wow.

Japhet De Oliveira: I know, it's great. You should see his face. It's great. Well, I've done the first 10 so it'll be like 11 and upwards. Sorry, my bad.

Greg Schwarz: Okay. All right, so let's go to 16.

Japhet De Oliveira: 16, all right. Tell us about one of the places you traveled to and why you want to go back.

Greg Schwarz: So I'm outdoors, I like the outdoors. And recently we went to Costa Rica and just the trees, the rainforest, the combination between the sun and then the clouds and the rain, and that contrast to me was really fantastic. And some of the sunsets and the hiking, it just created a good vibe and liveliness in my body.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. Oh, that's a great advert for Costa Rica. They'd be very happy with that. All right, where next? That was 16.

Greg Schwarz: 22.

Japhet De Oliveira: 22, if you could be anywhere right now where would it be?

Greg Schwarz: Well, I like to golf.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, you're…okay.

Greg Schwarz: So I'd like to be out on the golf course once again. It gets me outside, it's competitive with yourself and so I'm pretty competitive with myself and it allows me to get a little exercise, sunshine, and so I would usually opt for a golf course if I could be somewhere other than work.

Japhet De Oliveira: And do you prefer nine or 18 or?

Greg Schwarz: 18, I like to play the whole deal. Some guys are like, "Hey, do you want to go play a quick nine or the smaller courses?" And if I'm going to spend the time I want to be out there playing that full 18.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, all right, that's great. All right, where next?

Greg Schwarz: 28.

Japhet De Oliveira: 28, if you could give an impromptu 30-minute presentation, what would be the topic?

Greg Schwarz: So I spent a lot of time thinking about leadership and leadership skills and how to be a good leader so I would probably spend some time preparing around leadership and bring in some of my own characteristics and beliefs and talk about that in terms of how to be a good leader.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, so give us just one good principle of leadership that you think everybody should think about this.

Greg Schwarz: Obviously there's more than one. I think communication, being a great communicator, right? I mean if you can't lead, if you can't communicate to your team, somebody who you want to lead needs to really be able to communicate their vision effectively so I would say communication is number one.

Japhet De Oliveira: Great, good. All right. Where next, sir?

Greg Schwarz: 32.

Japhet De Oliveira: 32, if you were featured on the local news, what would the story likely be? Greg Schwarz, without a T.

Greg Schwarz: That's right. If I was featured on the local news, wow. I guess you'd have to think of in what area.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, I was kind of excited.

Greg Schwarz: Are we talking about family? Are we talking about work? I would like it to be for doing something that benefits the masses or a community, doing good. Whether it's creating something that was able to benefit our community, a lot of what I do at work I believe does that. So those are the things that motivate me are trying to do for the good of the people.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's pretty good. Good, good. All right, where next?

Greg Schwarz: 42.

Japhet De Oliveira: 42, oh, tell us about the story on your phone, the story of the picture on your phone.

Greg Schwarz: It's funny you say that because I was just at a conference where the icebreaker was everybody get in a circle, it was a small crowd of like 15 people, and you brought your phone and basically each person went around the room and had to take theirs-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's because it's a good icebreaker, yeah, yeah.

Greg Schwarz: Yeah, and I just changed mine.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Greg Schwarz: But mine is of my dog. It was of my family two days ago but I switched it over because it's his birthday today.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, all right. What an honor, what an honor. It's a very cute dog. What dog is it?

Greg Schwarz: That's an Aussie Doodle,

Japhet De Oliveira: Aussie Doodle. An Aussie Doodle.

Greg Schwarz: Australian Shepherd Poodle mix so he's a big guy, he is not small, so he is about 60 pounds and he's three years old. But before we got this dog, I pushed back so hard, I did not want another responsibility in my life. I have four kids, two of them are just finishing college, two of them are 14 and 12. And so the 14 and 12-year-old were talking dog, dog, dog. I was like, "No, no, no." Finally I broke down and got the dog three years ago and like people say, it's my best friend now.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, isn't that crazy?

Greg Schwarz: I want to get home and see the dog before I want to go see the kids.

Japhet De Oliveira: Your kids are going to listen to this podcast.

Greg Schwarz: That's right. They know.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hence the photo change on your phone, right?

Greg Schwarz: Right, exactly, exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: Because you know your dog doesn't know that you've changed the photo.

Greg Schwarz: Come on, don't tell me that.

Japhet De Oliveira: What's their name?

Greg Schwarz: That's Curry. Like Steph Curry. My son's a basketball player so he named him.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, that's great. Oh, that's awesome. Fantastic. Good, all right, where next?

Greg Schwarz: 53.

Japhet De Oliveira: 53, all right. Can you tell us about at least one important person in your life other than Curry?

Greg Schwarz: One?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah.

Greg Schwarz: My father has been there with me forever, obviously, and he's sort of been my biggest cheerleader, guided me through difficult times, was there through difficult times, was there through the good times. He is a great role model, was a great role model in work. I always respected and enjoyed the friendship over the years and that guiding hand that he's had to help me create my path.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, hey, that's really good. Does he know that?

Greg Schwarz: Probably not the way I said it.

Japhet De Oliveira: This is fantastic, this is great. That means that when he listens to this he will hear this beautiful moment.

Greg Schwarz: Exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, that's fantastic. I'm glad you still have your dad with you. That's great. All right, where next, sir?

Greg Schwarz: 62.

Japhet De Oliveira: 62, all right. What does a sense of community mean to you?

Greg Schwarz: So relationships, support, I think that when you look at a community as a whole, those relationships, the families that are in them, the time spent between and inter-between the different families and people, create a certain and special bond. And their experiences that they have with one another living in a community creates a culture amongst people. And so families create their own culture, their own relationships. And then as it expands through a community, it's interesting to see how those cultures and how different communities are so different by building those relationships and spending time together.

Japhet De Oliveira: If people were to describe you, Greg, would you say, first of all, that you are friends and support for more people or you have more people who support and are friends with you?

Greg Schwarz: Say it one more time?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, I know, this is a brand new question, it's not on the list here. I'm just kind curious now. Would you say that in your community you have more people that rely on you or that you rely on more people?

Greg Schwarz: So I think that I have... I don't know about rely, I'm struggling with the word rely... but I think that I have more friends that rely on me than I rely on.

Japhet De Oliveira: So you are a person that's constantly available for others.

Greg Schwarz: Correct, I think I feel like I reach out more and make sure that-

Japhet De Oliveira: And you enjoy that?

Greg Schwarz: Yeah, I do. I think that people get busy and sometimes don't find the time to keep relationships alive, and ones that I think are important, and I'm perfectly fine with being the person that reaches out to them.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. That's good. Thank you, Greg. That was a bonus question. All right, where next?

Greg Schwarz: Where are we? Let's see, so we'll go to, how about 48?

Japhet De Oliveira: 48, absolutely. Tell us about your best personality trait.

Greg Schwarz: I think I'm loyal and caring, compassionate.

Japhet De Oliveira: You always caring and compassionate from childhood or is that something you've grown into?

Greg Schwarz: I think I've grown into it actually.

Japhet De Oliveira: Interesting.

Greg Schwarz: Yeah, I think especially working here for the past eight years has been... I've grown a lot.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. That's great.

Greg Schwarz: In terms of spirituality and values, and so I've really enjoyed my time here and feel like I've grown quite a bit.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. That's really good to hear. Good, all right, that was 48. Where now?

Greg Schwarz: 65.

Japhet De Oliveira: 65, oh, I want you to use one word to describe your past and then unpack that one word. So you had a book and you were the title of this chapter, your entire past is this, and that's what it means.

Greg Schwarz: Fortunate.

Japhet De Oliveira: Fortune, nice.

Greg Schwarz: So as I started out, I didn't pick a career but I feel like I've fallen into a tremendous career that gives me back a lot in terms of meaning and value to my life. So career-wise, I think it's been great being able to come into work in the healing ministry, working with people who are so dedicated and passionate around health and caregiving. That's for one. And then as I mentioned, what I do in terms of creating access to health for a community, gives me great pride. And then my family, I've been very fortunate around health and with my wife and my kids and seeing those relationships blossom and seeing them blossom. I've been very fortunate to maintain good relationships with my family and friends. Not everybody I don't think can say that

Japhet De Oliveira: That's true.

Greg Schwarz: Not that everything is perfect.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, they're humans.

Greg Schwarz: But for the most part, yeah, right, I'm real happy about that. So yeah, fortunate and gratefulness.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like that. That's really good. That's really good. It's generous. Yeah. All right, where next?

Greg Schwarz: 73.

Japhet De Oliveira: 73, share something that you've actually had to unlearn in your life.

Greg Schwarz: I think spitefulness.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, when you're young.

Greg Schwarz: Yeah, being negative about what others may have or I think that just judging, I think the judging is something that's not healthy.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's true. Well clearly you've gone from a different place to a place where you see that you're fortunate and blessed and see that as well. So you've gone through a journey in that space.

Greg Schwarz: Correct.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's good. Is there something that happened that made you think I don't want to do that anymore, I don't want to think that way anymore?

Greg Schwarz: I think for me it was just growing. It wasn't one thing. I think it was just growing and realizing that's just negative energy, that it doesn't do any good for you.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, for no one.

Greg Schwarz: You've got to look at your own set of circumstances and gain the most out of it that you can.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's really good. That's really good. I'm glad you shook that off. That's great. All right, where next?

Greg Schwarz: 82.

Japhet De Oliveira: 82, if you could only keep three possessions what would they be and why?

Greg Schwarz: They do get harder as they get…

Japhet De Oliveira: Do they? Do they? I don't know.

Greg Schwarz: Three possessions, so my mind goes to family and history. Family history and what's important there, so I think that anything that relates to my family history and memories. Now we have the iPhones, but before that probably pictures of my mom who passed away when I was young, and maybe even myself and my siblings when they were younger. So some of the pictures that are meaningful in terms of family, right, the why. That would be something. I don't really have in top of my mind three things.

Japhet De Oliveira: I'll just have lots of photos.

Greg Schwarz: Yeah, I mean material-wise I'm not sitting there going, "Oh God, I can't lose that."

Japhet De Oliveira: Right, sure.

Greg Schwarz: We have material things, but for me it's more about the relationships and-

Japhet De Oliveira: The people.

Greg Schwarz: ... and the depth in terms of life. Don't get me wrong, I like material things, but to hold on to my-

Japhet De Oliveira: We all like a good chair.

Greg Schwarz: Very good, right.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, I'm with you. All right, we have time for two more. So where would you like to go?

Greg Schwarz: Well, let's go to... two more... let's get in the 90s here, 93.

Japhet De Oliveira: 93, oh, paint a picture for us of success. What does success look like?

Greg Schwarz: Success is happiness and being able to ensure that not only of my own happiness but my family's happiness. And I think wealth to me means, there's many different ways to say you feel you're wealthy, right, it's not the monetary, it's not the material. To me it's my family being, as I've mentioned before, happy, comfortable, safe, healthy. So really for me, that picture would be me with my family around me, probably outside playing at the beach or something.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. Love that image. No, that's really good. Good, all right, last one, sir.

Greg Schwarz: 100, why not? Let's do it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, Greg, all right. So this is question 100, could you tell us about one question that you don't want to answer?

Greg Schwarz: Tell you the question or give you the answer to the question?

Japhet De Oliveira: Give me the question first.

Greg Schwarz: Give you the question first. I think it's probably around pain in my life.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, sure.

Greg Schwarz: So there's been some tragedy in my life growing up, starting with my mom passing away when I was 10.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh my.

Greg Schwarz: From cancer, and she was 32 years old. And then more recently I lost a brother in a motorcycle accident, so I think that's the pain that I probably try and put in a compartment that, yeah, tucked away.

Japhet De Oliveira: So what advice would you give to someone who actually is going through loss like that, of loved ones?

Greg Schwarz: Don't internalize. Make sure you surround yourself with people who are going to support and love you and communicate your feelings out.

Japhet De Oliveira: Pearls, that was pearls. That was great wisdom. Great wisdom, Greg.

Greg Schwarz: It will get better.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, no, it will, it will.

Greg Schwarz: It will get better.

Japhet De Oliveira: Greg, thank you for taking the time. I say this for every episode and I really do believe this, that it really makes a difference when you sit down with someone and you ask them questions and you learn a little bit about them, it changes all of us. It speaks volumes into my own life. And for people who know a lot, I lost my wife last year and so I understand. And so you speaking great words of wisdom into my life right now, it's a providential God thing that I feel. So it's good things. But thank you again for the time.

Greg Schwarz: Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: And blessings to you and blessings to everybody else and we'll connect again soon.

Greg Schwarz: Fantastic. Thank you.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for the Story & Experience Podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at AdventistHealth.org/story. The Story & Experience Podcast was brought to you by Adventist Health through the Office of Culture.