Humanly Possible
As humans, we tend to focus on our flaws or look negatively at the things which make us different. Humanly Possible is a podcast that reminds us that being imperfect humans is our greatest competitive advantage. Listen in as host Bryan Kramer engages in rich conversation with other humans who have taken missteps and experienced failures of their own, and recovered by making small “one-degree” shifts that made a massive difference. Listen in and be inspired by others, connected back to your own stories of human imperfection, and reminded that taking small risks can lead to big rewards in your own life.
Humanly Possible
The Little Things with Vern Smith
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Bryan Kramer
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Season 2
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Episode 15
Vern Smith is a nationally lauded expert in Medicaid, Medicare, state budgets, and trends in the healthcare marketplace. He has authored numerous reports on current issues in Medicaid and state strategies for containing health care costs and improving quality.
In this intimate interview, Bryan’s father-in-law Vern shares incredible stories of what he calls "the little things" that happened throughout his years that contributed to him living a life he never could have imagined.
In This Episode:
- The shaping of self-image at an early age
- The impactful examples set by his parents
- The importance of travel to a person’s education
- Growing up and experimenting in a different era
- Ten cans of Spam
- Changing college majors 5 times
- An unexpected medical diagnosis that actually opened the door to his lifelong career
- Serving the public as a health economist and Medicaid Director
- Continuing his service in a consulting role after retirement
- The significance of the words on a plaque that used to hang in his father’s office
- The little shift that led to Vern meeting his wife of 55 years, Paula