Mark Mitchelson
Episode 139

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, friends. Welcome to another Story & Experience podcast episode. I'm with my friend who is across another place in this same vicinity of this country. We're excited for that, but they're online. I'm online, so it's just good to you see technology working this way. If you're brand new to the podcast, we have a hundred questions. They're about stories and experiences that shape this leader into the leader that they are and I'll ask the first 10 and then they get to pick a number and we'll see where the conversation goes, but it's going to be loads of fun. So, let me begin with the first one. Could you tell us your name and has anybody ever mispronounced it?

Mark Mitchelson: Mark Mitchelson, and absolutely. I've gotten Mickelson. Michaelson a little bit. Anything in between for sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Is it because people just don't read it?

Mark Mitchelson: Yeah, I would-

Japhet De Oliveira: They just guess?

Mark Mitchelson: Yeah, absolutely. Totally.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. All right, Mark. Mark, what do you do for work?

Mark Mitchelson: I'm the patient care executive here at Simi Valley.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. And how long have you been patient care executive?

Mark Mitchelson: I'm almost one year anniversary, so I'm excited.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Mark Mitchelson: September 4th, so.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, so now patient care executive, unpack that for somebody who's not in the clinical world.

Mark Mitchelson: Sure. So it's Adventist Health's version of the chief nursing officer. So have that under my purview, but also radiology, pharmacy, kind of like a COO type purview underneath there. Especially a lot of our facilities based on their size, anything from 150 beds to less has this kind of a dual role for the patient care executives.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. And so you've done this for a year, what did you do before?

Mark Mitchelson: I was a CNO slash COO of a hospital up in Redding, the northern part of California. I was there for four years, had a great time. A little too hot for me, I think as we are in our heat wave right now it was about 119 degrees a couple weeks ago there, so I'm very happy to be here in SoCal.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's very rare when people say that, "I'm happy to be in SoCal." No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Hey, that's fantastic man. So Mark, where were you born?

Mark Mitchelson: Weisenbach in Germany.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really? No way.

Mark Mitchelson: I was on an army base. My parents lived in Ankara, Turkey at the time and they were in Germany when it happened.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's fantastic man. So now you grew up there a little bit?

Mark Mitchelson: A couple months there, a couple of years in Turkey and then as a military brat-

Japhet De Oliveira: Everywhere.

Mark Mitchelson: ...I lived all over. Yeah. Saudi Arabia, East Coast.

Japhet De Oliveira: So when you were growing up somewhere in the world, what did you imagine would it be? Usually it's like, one town and where did you grow up? No.

Mark Mitchelson: I always thought I was going to be either in some sort of medical profession, probably either paramedic or it was either going to be that or something in law enforcement. I have a lot of uncles, cousins and grandparents who were military, police, Secret Service, some stuff like that. So I always knew there was going to be a variety of options for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: You just wanted to be able to touch your ear, right? With a little earpiece?

Mark Mitchelson: Absolutely. I'm seeing all of the election stuff going on right now with Secret Service. I'm like, "Oh yeah, that would've been fun".

Japhet De Oliveira: I don't know anybody who would say, "That would've been fun," but okay, Mark, that's good. That's good. That's good to hear. Hey, are you an early riser or late night owl?

Mark Mitchelson: Definitely early riser.

Japhet De Oliveira: What's early?

Mark Mitchelson: If I can get there... Wake up 6:00. Well, 5:30, 6:00. Nothing too crazy. Just get in the routine of things before my kids wake up.

Japhet De Oliveira: How many kids do you have?

Mark Mitchelson: Three. 13, 11, and 9.

Japhet De Oliveira: I'm glad you know, you went there.

Mark Mitchelson: One just had a birthday, so I wasn't sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's awesome, man. Hey, so in the morning when you wake up, first thought that you had this morning?

Mark Mitchelson: It's bad. I feel like the hospital has ingrained in my head. I look at my health supervisor report.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Mark Mitchelson: Before I even get out of bed.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really? Okay. That's good. You have great eyesight early in the morning.

Mark Mitchelson: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: The phone's just fine. So are you an extrovert or an introvert? And would people agree with that?

Mark Mitchelson: Definitely introvert. I have very small meetings, very fast meetings. I like to get to the point very quickly. I am not one that's going to hold two to three hour standing meetings that I talk all the time. I've had bosses that do that and it's just not me.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, a three-hour standing meeting?

Mark Mitchelson: I've lived through it before and you start waking... You have to wake up after a while in the meeting. It's terrible.

Japhet De Oliveira: No kidding. No kidding. All right, all right. Hey, that's good. So in the morning when you get up after you've looked at your health reports, do you have coffee, tea, liquid green smoothie, water? What's your first drink of the day?

Mark Mitchelson: Black coffee in the morning, but then I definitely am a tea drinker when it comes to two o'clock, three o'clock in the afternoon.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice. What kind of tea do you like?

Mark Mitchelson: Earl Grey for sure. Something black and bitter.

Japhet De Oliveira: So no Earl Grey with water? Sorry, with water, with milk?

Mark Mitchelson: No, no. My grandma would kill me by saying it because she was an immigrant from Scotland and so she was very much a tea connoisseur. But no, just straight for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Right. God bless you, man. All right, that's great. Hey, leadership question here. Are you a backseat driver?

Mark Mitchelson: I try not to be. I try to be, what's a way I describe it is micromanage from afar. Really try to let the managers and directors drive the change, drive the operations day-to-day. But then for me to help as needed, depending on which area needs the most help. So if somebody is highly successful, just let them continue to be highly successful. And a course correct as needed, but my attention really is more so in the areas that may need a little more help.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. Like it. All right, so floor is open to you now. You get to pick between 11 and 100. Where would you like to go?

Mark Mitchelson: Well, I don't want you guys to see my soul immediately.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. That's fair enough, Mark.

Mark Mitchelson: Let's go to 12 just to see how things go.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. What's your favorite movie or book of all time and why?

Mark Mitchelson: Oh man. Okay. Book? Treasure Island. Robinson Crusoe.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mark Mitchelson: Absolutely. If I could do that. Movie? I think it depends on the day, kind of what I'm in the mood for. July 4th just happened, so I had to watch The Patriot.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Mark Mitchelson: Do that kind of stuff. Yeah, I think it just depends on... Christmastime, we got to do some sort of Hallmark thing and yeah, depends on what I'm in the mood for.

Japhet De Oliveira: I got to ask you, do you imagine yourself as Robinson Crusoe? No?

Mark Mitchelson: I'd love to live in that timeframe. Absolutely. Yeah. Oh yeah. Be an explorer. I think it comes to growing up and to move to these different countries and learning new cultures and learning, having new adventures with the family.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now, did you stay in any of those countries long enough to be able to learn a language or?

Mark Mitchelson: My Arabic is terrible. I can say, "Hi," maybe apologize for not speaking the language.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Mark Mitchelson: I can try.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's good. That's good. That's impressive. All right, that was 12. Where'd you want to go next?

Mark Mitchelson: Let's go 15.

Japhet De Oliveira: 15, all right. What is the one thing that you always misplace?

Mark Mitchelson: Car keys. Car keys for sure. I've got a routine that I always check my pockets for my wallet and my cell phone, but the car keys, especially now that I don't have to actually unlock the car, I can just press a button. It's lower on my priority list for sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. So you don't have any car alert on it or ringing device or?

Mark Mitchelson: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: No? You just lose them?

Mark Mitchelson: No, they're just lose them.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, just lose them?

Mark Mitchelson: I don't have a fancy enough car to have the smart apps where I can find it. I just have to remember where I put it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, good. All right. Hey, where next then? Not 15.

Mark Mitchelson: Let's go 20.

Japhet De Oliveira: 20. All right. Tell us about something you would rate that Mark would rate 10 out of 10.

Mark Mitchelson: What kind of thing are we talking?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, the world's your oyster.

Mark Mitchelson: I'm going to either consumers or hospital healthcare or?

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure. I'm just curious to see what Mark, your brand, what do you give 10 out of 10-

Mark Mitchelson: Okay.

Japhet De Oliveira: ...approval on?

Mark Mitchelson: Dang. I mean I'm a very critical person so [inaudible 00:09:15] this is difficult.

Japhet De Oliveira: Not easy for everyone.

Mark Mitchelson: Yeah, let's go with sports. I'm a lifelong 49er fan. I actually worked for them for three years and when I was going into nursing school and I was able to be a paramedic for them for their home games. And also, when I was a new grad nurse, I was there in the stadiums for two years. So yeah, no, I got to say if I'm going to rate something 10 out of 10, it's the 9ers and just hopefully they actually go finally and actually win something, win the Super Bowl this time.

Japhet De Oliveira: Did you say win something or?

Mark Mitchelson: Well, that'd be nice if they do. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow, that's harsh. Okay. All right.

Mark Mitchelson: Well, it's Super Bowl or bust this year, so what can I say?

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, good for you. All right. Where next then? That was 20.

Mark Mitchelson: Let's see, 25.

Japhet De Oliveira: 25. All right. Share the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

Mark Mitchelson: I would got to say... My wife would kill me if I didn't say her and the wedding, but-

Japhet De Oliveira: Which is what you wanted to say naturally. Not because she was going to kill you. Yeah.

Mark Mitchelson: Right. I would say probably two different ones. In Iceland, we vacationed there one time with my wife and I and we did a hike, well, a few hikes that were very nice, but then we also went to one of these beaches where the glacier breaks off and comes back onto the beach and it's pure black sand. And these pieces of the glacier actually look like diamonds and they call it Diamond Beach. So you're actually able to pick up these things that you think are diamonds, they're ice, but it just is different look of an area where you're like, "Oh my gosh, all this shimmering along the coastline," and you can actually sit there. I mean, that was one.

And then another one, we just did a trip over to the Highlands in Scotland and my kids were in front of us and then we were hiking and it almost looked for people that are a Game of Thrones people, it almost looked like Winterfell because we were walking to a mountain and it was just pure white. It was the coolest thing ever. And it was a great hike. The kids did great, but it was fun seeing that being in nature kind of thing.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, beautiful pictures. Thank you for painting those. All right, where next?

Mark Mitchelson: Let's go, 30.

Japhet De Oliveira: 30. All right. Tell us about something that you're really looking forward to.

Mark Mitchelson: Let's see. Okay, I'll flip one into work. I'm really interested and excited to see what we're going to be doing with our clinic.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really? Okay.

Mark Mitchelson: We've got about three or four areas in town that we have our clinics, and this next quarter and fourth quarter of this year, we're consolidating it all into one location, making a true medical office building. So it's going to be very convenient for patients, very convenient for staff and physicians. And then we're also going to build a specialty pharmacy that is going to be a resource in the community that we never have had. And you think about resources in Southern California, you think, "Oh yeah, they've got a million resources down there. A lot of people." This side of Ventura County, it's much less than what people would think. So for us to be able to provide these type of resources, things that the community has never had before. So I'm really excited to see as we build it this year and going into next year, how successful it could be.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. Well done. Love the vision. Love the vision. Love the plans in place. That's great. Good. All right, where next, sir?

Mark Mitchelson: Let's go, 35.

Japhet De Oliveira: 35. All right. Share a special interest, a unique talent that you, Mark, have.

Mark Mitchelson: Well, I'm not going to say it's a talent but interest. I love to hunt.

Japhet De Oliveira: You love to hunt?

Mark Mitchelson: I'm a hunter.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right.

Mark Mitchelson: And my brother and I go hunting every year, different areas around the country and it's really fun to just go out there and just be in nature. Whether you're successful or not, it's not why we do it. We go out there just to have good time with family, good time with nature. And it's actually interesting, our two new hospitals in San Luis Obispo area has amazing hunting in their area already. So I may have to pay them a visit just to make an excuse to go up there.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hey, that's great. Now when you go hunting, is it like a one-day thing? Is it overnight? Is it longer?

Mark Mitchelson: Variation.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Mark Mitchelson: Yeah. Sometimes I'll just do a little day trip to see how successful I can be. Then other times it can be two to three days. I'm not one of those spec out for an entire week-

Japhet De Oliveira: Just eating bark and grass?

Mark Mitchelson: It depends on who I go with. Sometimes if I just go by myself, it close to it, very cold food and I like very roughing it. But some other people may not be as comfortable being that rough with things. So we get pretty, the glamping can be pretty intense. Bring little portable stoves and hot food and-

Japhet De Oliveira: You are opposed to that?

Mark Mitchelson: I make fun of them a little bit on that one. Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. All right, where next then? That was 35. Yeah.

Mark Mitchelson: Let's go, 40. Well, increments of five.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Tell us about a time when you failed.

Mark Mitchelson: Just one time? Just one. Just one story. That's fine, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: We've all got lots.

Mark Mitchelson: No, that is a great question. With, as a new leader, as a new manager, I did a lot of growing up when I was at Sutter in Sacramento area, that's where I started my management career. And we had this project that we're tasked with for the hospital to start an ERAS program, enhanced recovery after surgery. A lot of facilities, a lot of systems are doing it now. And this was probably about 10, 15 years ago when people were just starting to talk about how to implement these things. As a new leader, I'm like, "Okay, no problem." Worked with a few partners, we had some vendors lined up because there's a nutritional aspect to it. There's deciding which kind of unit was going to be accepting these patients afterward. There was a preop clinic that we had to do and all that looked great until we began to present the program to our leaders. And they said, "That sounds great, it's going to save a lot of money. Which doctor is going to partner with you to do it, to actually experiment this with their patients?" And we're like, "Wait a minute."

So that was my first, "Aha," to, "No, if we're going to take care of patients and do projects to improve patient care, we probably should work with the physicians who are a very key component to anything that we do." So it was a failure, but a great learning at the same time.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. That's actually the best failures, right?

Mark Mitchelson: Absolutely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's good. Where do you learn that skill?

Mark Mitchelson: Honestly-

Japhet De Oliveira: You just always have it or?

Mark Mitchelson: No. Allowing yourself to fail. I never saying no to an opportunity and a project. I think that's one thing that I learned from my mentors and being able to teach other people as we're growing new managers, new leaders. It's like they want to be perfect and everything they do and say, "No, it's okay to fail. It's okay to try new things and not hit it perfectly out the park the first time. I know that's what you want to do to show that you can do these things. But no, try something that's out of your wheelhouse. Try something that you may not have exposure to in the past because that's going to give you a better understanding of how healthcare as a whole".

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic, man. That's really good. Good. All right. Where next now?

Mark Mitchelson: 45.

Japhet De Oliveira: 45. All right. You really are going in fives. All right. Here we go. When people come to you for help, what are they usually asking for, Mark?

Mark Mitchelson: Shoot. Right now? This might be striking a chord with some people. Right now it's space. Right now, office space, "Where can I move here? Where can I move there?" But let's see. I think it depends on which specialty is coming to you for an ask. Let's see. I don't know if I like this question.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, that's great. That's great. I love that you don't like the question. That's fantastic. It's good to struggle through some questions.

Mark Mitchelson: Exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: So space?

Mark Mitchelson: For sure. I think just we want to make sure that we have enough area for people to do their work. Either it's patient care or if it's office space or it's training space. Right now we have a luxury, and I say that kind of tongue in cheek in the sense that we have recently closed one of our units and that has allowed us an extra area for training. And so we've done a lot of training this summer around skills fair for ER and ICU staff. And it's one of those things where we may not have had that opportunity if we didn't close that unit. So it's definitely-

Japhet De Oliveira: It's a win on a difficult thing.

Mark Mitchelson: Exactly. No, that's a perfect way to describe it. If we didn't have that space, we would've had to find open rooms that we may not have had because our census is very high in July, which is odd. We typically don't see our census being so high in the summertime. You get that summer lull that historically we've always had, but we're bursting at the seams right now. So for people to find extra space for training, it's a luxury that I wasn't expecting.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. Well making the most of it. That's good. Well done. All right, that was 45. Where next?

Mark Mitchelson: Let's go, 50. Let's break even.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Share about who has influenced you professionally, which I think you're going to like sharing.

Mark Mitchelson: Yeah. No, I've definitely, a few of my previous chief nursing officers have been highly influential. One of the chief nursing officers that I had was a director when she hired me. And I was able to just learn from her as she rose in the organization I was able to use that as getting opportunities for myself to grow. And by the time she was a chief nurse, I was the director. So it's like we just rose together and she was able to teach me as we grew together, which was amazing.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's really cool.

Mark Mitchelson: And sometimes I'll actually reach out to her just to throw things by her. She's still in practice and getting close to retirement, but at least she's able to, "Hey, you've been doing this for 30, 40 years, please, I don't want to make an easy mistake, so what am I not thinking about?" So that's been great.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Mark Mitchelson: I was able to, if any of the leaders or new leaders, I would say in some of these professional organizations that we have ACHE, the American College of Healthcare Executives or any other professional organization, if there's a mentor program that they offer to take advantage of that, because I was lucky enough to get a mentor early on in that profession in the ACHE organization. And it was an individual outside of the clinical areas, he was more of a business finance guy and he was at a different system. And it was amazing seeing how other organizations do things very similar and very different at times. And it just gives you a different perspective. So when you're faced with challenges, you're able to say, "Oh, well actually this system is this way and it's actually probably a little bit better." So any of those mentor programs that you can take advantage of would be huge.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now you mentioned a couple of interesting things inside that answer there, and one of those that you brought out shows that you're quite a curious person.

Mark Mitchelson: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Is that something you had as a child, that something you've learned? Is that something you've grown over time or?

Mark Mitchelson: I think, yeah, it was definitely something that's just always had, I'm always curious. I'm always competitive. So I think this role that I have currently, it's a lot of fun and people ask, "How am I doing?" I think I take one back sometimes when I'm saying, "I'm having a great time, I'm having a lot of fun," because I'm able to do, of course nursing, which is bread and butter of the job. But because I have exposure to pharmacy, radiology, lab, they're all areas that I wasn't trained in and I'm learning. And they're so highly regulated that you have to understand these different dynamics of the hospital. And I'm having a great time learning these different areas that I may not have known in the past.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that is great. Loved hearing that. Thank you for sharing that. All right, so that was 50. Do you want to go to 55?

Mark Mitchelson: Let's try it out. Let's see what's going on.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Share about something that frightens you, Mark.

Mark Mitchelson: Oh, boy.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like going hunting.

Mark Mitchelson: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Not frightened, right?

Mark Mitchelson: Much easier that way. Yeah, I think change can be frightening. And knowing that the system as a whole is going through a lot of change, trying its best to systemize a lot of processes and I think it's going in the right direction, but it's definitely a journey. And so I guess frightening... Just not knowing the unknown, which direction we're going to be going to and how we're going to be getting there. I think we do a great job as the system messaging down in our mission meetings that we have as leaders and executive team is a lot of ability to share that information and how we're going to systemize. But it's just a very tough road to go from individual markets that have a lot of freedom and how they want to do things to being one system, one way of doing things. It's the right move. It's a very long journey.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hey, that's fair. That's fair. Now, when you've led change yourself, which I presume you've led a lot of change, what would be one of your best secrets of making change more palatable, more engaging, bringing people along?

Mark Mitchelson: Finding the audience and messaging it sometimes differently, but what affects them on their day-to-day life. So if you're talking to about change with a group of physicians, how is it going to benefit their practice? How is it going to benefit their patients? Finance? How is it going to affect the bottom line? You want to keep that core message the same, but how you deliver that message with each audience needs to be a little bit different. And that takes a lot of practice, a lot of failure, like we talked about. How can we message things better at times? But it's keeping that core message the same but different at the same time.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hey, I like that. That's good. All right. Where next sir?

Mark Mitchelson: We keep going more intense.

Japhet De Oliveira: Maybe. Maybe, what? 60?

Mark Mitchelson: Let's go 60.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. When in life have you felt most alone?

Mark Mitchelson: I think it was probably one of the times so I had the opportunity to be a chief nursing officer. My first time ever being a chief nursing officer in Saudi Arabia. I was... A local gentleman wanted his name on the side of a hospital and had $1 million to spend to get it there. So he contracted three Americans, myself included, to build the hospital, start operations, make it profitable. And it was in the southern part of Saudi Arabia on the border with Yemen. And we were a private hospital, so we were going to receive no government assistance. In that province there was a million people and only three Westerners. So not just three Americans, but three Westerners completely in the province. That's where my Arabic became decent ish, not really, but because of it, it was not international. So my family couldn't come with us. So my wife and kids were here in California and I think that's probably where I felt the most alone.

But you couldn't just live on that feeling of loneliness. You had to make the best out of a situation that may not have been perfect. And so, yeah, just learning a new culture, learning a new way of doing things, getting very creative because there was no roadmap for you to be successful with that job. So when I say it was a lot of fun, I actually in creativity, I had a lot of fun and creativity doing it. But then when you realize what your support structure around you, it was very lonely because you didn't have that ability to decompress at all and go see family. But it was, I don't regret it. It was a lot of fun, great experience and a lot of great learnings, but it was a little tough at times.

Japhet De Oliveira: I hear you. I hear you. All right, Mark, we have time for two more numbers. The final two numbers. Where would you like to go?

Mark Mitchelson: Okay, we'll go one easy, one tough. Let's go back down to 22.

Japhet De Oliveira: 22. All right. 22 it is. If you could be anywhere, anywhere right now, where would it be?

Mark Mitchelson: I'll go back to travel.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah?

Mark Mitchelson: Yeah. My wife and I have are planning currently a safari to South Africa.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice. Great.

Mark Mitchelson: If I could be doing that right now instead of being in the office, I'd be there.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure. Why not? Why not? That's good. That's good. Hey, are you going to take your kids with you as well?

Mark Mitchelson: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: Just you guys?

Mark Mitchelson: Just us. My kids are going to kill me for doing so, but we just wanted something to get away and just experience a new part of the world that we haven't.

Japhet De Oliveira: How long have you guys been married?

Mark Mitchelson: 15 years this year.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, fantastic. Congratulations. That's great. All right. All right. Last number, sir. Which you want to go?

Mark Mitchelson: All right, let's go, 85.

Japhet De Oliveira: 85. All right, here it is. Describe a role model you aspire to be like. This is great.

Mark Mitchelson: I can see why people don't like going up this high in the numbers.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's good. You want to try 95?

Mark Mitchelson: No, no, no. I'll go back to one of my first CNOs, not the one that I spoke of before, but she was probably the most impressive person I've ever met in healthcare. Where she was a chief nursing officer up in Sacramento for about 25 years, just in that role itself. And it was a very large organization, probably had about 4,000 employees in the organization as a whole. That person could name the first and last name of almost any employee that was in the organization-

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow. Okay. All right.

Mark Mitchelson: ...their backstory behind it and their families because she was so invested in the people. And I, first off, I'm terrible with remembering anybody's name, so it was definitely a skill that I've always wanted to have, but it showed how much that an executive could care with an organization and how could they drive culture. And when we talk about our mission about people and the community, it just ties into that type of person that you want leading an organization because they don't just lead the organization, they lead the people, they lead the town that they live in and they're invested in the community. It was impressive. And so every role that I've had, I've tried to mimic some of the actions to that person because it was so successful, such a long time for them. It can translate to anywhere in anything you do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Does she know that you learned this much from her and admire her this much?

Mark Mitchelson: I don't think so.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're going to have to reach out now, Mark.

Mark Mitchelson: No, that's a very good point. I don't think I ever said anything.

Japhet De Oliveira: Imagine the joy she'll have from knowing, I mean, you doing what you're doing right now and yeah, you need to do that, man.

Mark Mitchelson: Perfect.

Japhet De Oliveira: You need to let me know that it's done.

Mark Mitchelson: Sounds good. Good call.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. Mark, hey, it's been a privilege to be able to talk to you. Thank you for taking the time.

Mark Mitchelson: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, it's great. I want to encourage people listening to this to do the same thing. I say this every episode, it's great to sit down with someone, whether you know them or don't know them, ask them questions, learn about them, and we become better beings for it. We actually are better human beings just because we're learning stories from each other and your stories are transformative to other people as well. So thank you for the time.

Mark Mitchelson: Thank you so much. Take care.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. God bless, everybody. We'll connect soon.

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 bought to you by Adventist Health through the Office of Culture.