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Join my email list where I will lift you up, and send tactile advice weekly to support you to grow your experience in your senior living career.
Welcome back the aspire for more with Aaron podcast. I have a treat for you today. And what I want to say to you is. Are you ready to go to church? Are you ready to go to senior living leadership church today? Because that's where we're going. I have Gerald Cozy as a amazing guest on this podcast. Gerald, thank you so much for being here today.
Jerald:Thank you, Aaron. As, as they used to say in Chicago, we're going to go to church
Erin:and I asked Gerald Cozy to sometimes I say people's first and last names. I hope that doesn't bother you, but I asked him, I wanted to reach out to him because he is. Someone that I saw on LinkedIn that was further down the road than me, that is traveling and inspiring me and speaking and pouring into leaders cups. And that is my goal. And people I want on this podcast to, to literally pour inside the leaders cups that are dry. And he does that. And I love that mission. And Gerald, you said to me that you are a motivational teacher. And. That really struck a nerve with me. So tell us about your business, what you're doing and how you. Motivationally teach us.
Jerald:Absolutely. So Aaron, first of all, it's a joy to be on your podcast. I love what you're doing in a senior living senior healthcare space, and I encourage you, to continue going. I'm Gerald Cozy, owner of Jay Cozy Speaks, which is a leadership development company. I consider myself a motivational teacher because I like to believe that I inspire and educate within a 60 or 90 minute session. And my entire goal is to honor and inspire healthcare professionals, but I also want to ignite or reignite their purpose and also help them to develop the skill set in order to maximize that purpose. just to condense how I got to this point for the past 10 years, I've been leading in the senior healthcare space before that, 18 years in pharmaceutical sales. And so over the past 10 years, I've operated 2 facilities and in the last year and a half. Did leadership development for American senior communities. The reason I share that background is six months ago on my 10th anniversary with American senior communities, I resigned, which is crazy. I still can't believe I did that my entire life. I've had direct deposit until I resigned. And I love it. I love it. It's scary as heck. And you'll see in our meeting today, I'm fully transparent. So if I feel it, I'm going to say it, but I believe that we can learn from it. And six months ago, I made a decision to speak full time because it was just too difficult serving two different masters. If we're going to go to church. And, and so I made the commitment that I'll honor and inspire my peers. I'll help my peers to grow skill sets. I'll continue to develop my skill set. And now for the second half, I'm going to serve for me. I serve Christ by serving seniors. I'm going to serve Christ. By serving seniors, by serving the leaders who serve seniors. And that's what brought me to this day. So to answer your question on why I consider myself a motivational speaker is because I want to bring a one two punch. I want to grab your attention. I want you to pay attention to me because I'm one of your peers. But I also want to bless you with something that you can take with you and repurpose time and time again. And thus we started the consulting company. Because what was happening, Aaron, is I go in and motivate and inspire, and then I don't have any other opportunities to touch my clients. And I want to systemically touch them. I want to have a relationship with them. I want to grow and develop, and I want to help people to grow and develop. So that's the journey that we're on. And that's what brought me to your podcast today. So thank you for the question.
Erin:Yes, I, I wish, so you're, you come from skilled nursing and I come from assisted living and memory care and there is nothing more than I wish to have had a motivational teacher, a place to learn and develop, than inside my community. Because as a leader, we're asked to do so many things and to make so many people happy and to spread yourself out amongst 24 hours a day, 365 days a week. And it's a constant thing. Where is. The water in the garden, in the cup, in the everything that's going to keep a leader inspired and motivated, especially the passionate ones, the people pleasing leaders, the ones who want to serve, right? Where is that support? And just the same way that you saw that deficit and potentially felt that deficit, I did too. and. I do the same thing is I want to inspire people and, and hopefully this conversation between the two of us can double the inspiration today.
Jerald:I would agree. what our people deal with is an emotionally demanding space, period. We're on call 24 seven. There's high stakes. We're caring for people's loved ones. I mean, come on. You want somebody to fight food with somebody's mom or daddy, food with your children, we're caring for people's revered elders. So at the end of the day, it's a very demanding job. We have excellent organizations and excellent senior leaders and regionals, but at the end of the day, they also have a workload capacity. You follow what I'm saying? it's many of us who have had challenges. One of my greatest joys in the past couple of years has been 1 on 1 coaching with executive directors and directors of nursing and what it allows for me to do is 1 go on a journey with someone and not be their direct boss, which allows me to be very vulnerable as well to allow somebody to feel like there's someone else going through this with them and they aren't nuts. And three, if nothing else, it's a sounding board to help process. Now, you'll hear me talking about my development a lot because I don't believe there's a leader in this world who isn't developing. And oftentimes we paint this picture like we have it all figured out, but we don't. I don't have all the answers. All I know is that when I work with people, we can figure a lot of things out together. And we're also able to share best practices. And what we want Aaron is the same thing. We want leaders to feel prepared, equipped, highly motivated, highly skillset it, and ready to go get it. And that's it in a nutshell.
Erin:Yeah. I never really understood what coaching was until last year. And I bought into a coaching program to help me understand social media and podcasting a little bit better.
And
Erin:what I got was a complete life changing experience. And it was literally group coaching. And I heard other people, like minded people talk about the things that were holding them back. And I realized I wasn't crazy, just like you said, I wasn't alone. And then I watched the coach. Coach them through it. And I thought, Oh my gosh. And then I constantly was around it. And then I constantly realized I had the same fear and that same fear was holding me back. And then we worked on how to overcome that fear. And it was just, and I thought, why don't we have this? If we can have this for people who want to do a podcast or want to be an entrepreneur, why don't we have this for senior living leaders where it really counts?
Jerald:Yes. That's a legitimate question. and I'm happy to say that Jay Cozy speaks is addressing it. And I'm sure Aaron, that you have a motive addressing it as well. And as we continually align, we're going, listen, the future of our industry, both senior living and healthcare. Will depend on having human beings leading, serving and caring. And with the past two years, folks are worn out. So why not leverage the purpose that we all experienced from serving others and then take it to that next level by continually challenging us so that we can grow. We can learn and we can develop, which is something that I mentioned in my book and something that we'll get to, before this podcast is over, but people want to feel like they can serve here. They can earn here. They can grow here. They can develop here. And when you have service driven people, we've got to give them the tools because what we're trying to do is 1 re, re, hydrate. Kind of refurbish, if you will, and then to, gather a new
recommitment.
Jerald:Now, I'm going to ask you something, Aaron. If I get to run in my mouth on your podcast, you're going to have to bring me in because you know how sometimes the pastors can talk. So you said we're going to go to church. Slow me down if I'm running my mouth too much. I don't want to blow up missiles.
Erin:Okay. Ask me whatever you want. I am open book and I believe the true power of coaching and the true power of leadership lies in vulnerability and the courage to answer it, appropriately. there's appropriate times for vulnerability and then there's not, but true vulnerability is the courage to be able to say, What is authentically holding you back? You made a comment about your list. Grow here, serve here, earn here, develop here. If I could talk about what was my biggest roadblock and resentment towards the end of my career that I think ties in beautifully to everything that you represent in your book and everything is. I wasn't developing here. I knew I could, I knew the next phase was not appropriate for me because I can't travel the way that regional directors needed to travel and there was no one that was Intentionally, specifically pouring into me in ways that I was sincerely struggling with, and it was a constant pull of, you got to do this, and we're changing this, and this is changing. And the burnout That I hit was due to the energy inside of me. And I didn't realize that until I had this coaching session, that a lot of the mindset, a lot of the work, a lot of the sentences, the stories that, that have plagued me for a long time came to a head, but that's burnout. That's every leader inside. Most leaders say inside senior living. why do you become an entrepreneur? And all of a sudden your mindset becomes important when you're dealing with people's lives and the fam, the lives of people they serve all this. And that's not important. So when you understand emotional intelligence, when you understand the root cause of a lot of different things, you become more self aware and then you can handle things differently. But if we don't constantly develop our leaders, not in processes. But in becoming the person, the best version of themselves that can then continually develop other leaders, we lose it and they will find the next best place that will do that.
Jerald:Yeah, it's, said it's, it's a tough scenario for all involved. I believe to my core that our organizations, are doing everything possible, to deliver excellence in a tough time when all eyes are on us. We also have the challenge of caring for people, which takes our primary focus. it may be easier to focus on leadership development if you're IBM, as opposed to, a senior living community where everyone's time is so pulled and stretched in all different directions, but we both know at the end of the day, we've got to find a solution. All right. So everything that I've done in my life, I've always found mentors, basically coaches, and I have done what they tell me to do. The worst thing I can say is mentoring somebody, you give them some advice and they don't do what you want them to do. So I've seen that model for me. I know that I cannot be successful unless I align myself with people who do the job well that I want to do. And then I reach out and ask them if they will mentor me. And I've been very fortunate in that regard, but not everybody has that opportunity. And so what I hope your listeners understand, and which I know you clearly understand, when you're in a situation like you just expressed, And You have to find a way to go represent yourself. You have to go find a way to reach out to a leader and say, Hey, I'm struggling in this area. Can you help me process, or can you help me figure out a solution? And you're right. Sometimes we're hesitant in sharing how we truly feel because we don't want to make ourselves vulnerable. But we work in a vulnerable business, isn't that interesting? This isn't a normal marketplace. This is a human marketplace. So the thought process is if we can find a way to inspire our people and develop them, help them to develop, help them to continually grow their skillset. Let me ask you a question. Do you think people respond to leaders today the same way they did five years ago?
Erin:No, I know they don't. I know. Yeah, I know from the bottom up they don't and I know from my way up they don't.
Jerald:Today's a leader saying you do this or else stakeholders are like, okay, or else I'll do the, or else no one is limited in how they can earn. But what I love about our industry is it attracts people who want to be here. I left an 18 year pharmaceutical sales manager position. In order to serve in senior health care. This wasn't a, Oh, I don't have any other choice. This was a desire to want to take my skillset to a marketplace that can benefit from it. So the whole thought process is let's continually build our skillset so that we all can advance this industry and we can all remain in the industry and not lose folks.
Erin:Yes. And you did that. You have created and pioneered a path with a book, five star leadership. So impressive. So impressive.
Jerald:My first I'm sorry, I get excited. I'm like a kid this show it
Erin:off
Jerald:It was my bucket list. Believe me. I started writing it during COVID and I was thinking to myself, okay, there's got to be some lessons that are coming out of this ugly event that are going to help my people. And then when all the folks start coming at my community, which was, Akka NKAL Quality Award winner, great community. They were still coming out. So I'm like, okay, I'm just taking notes. I'm just taking notes. And then a couple of years ago, I made the decision. You know what? Forget the COVID pandemic. I want to focus in on a leadership development book, a book that can share my life story, so it's an autobiographical kind of, but then to drop some nuggets in there for senior healthcare leaders specifically. So the book is called becoming a five star leader. Life's journey to senior care excellence. And so what we talk about in this book is a five star mentality, which is. Five star leaders are strategically transforming, this is a T, actions to achieve, so the A is double duced, to achieve results. So five star leaders strategically transform actions in order to achieve results. And the thought process is, think about COVID, think about all the challenges that we deal with prior to COVID, even today. In senior living, senior health care, we are always strategically transforming our actions in order to achieve a different result. Have you ever noticed in senior health care how we don't really beat each other up when a mistake is made? If you really think about it. Sometimes we do. You catch a tag when states in, you may lose your mind a little bit, but then you eventually come back to it because you realize that one, we're all in this together to perfection doesn't exist and bad things happen. But the key is, what do we do when they happen?
Erin:Yes.
Jerald:So think about that young leader who has a horrible event occur in their AL or SNF. And they're terrified to call their regional. I remember those days. And I remember the AIT, Ryan Levingood, shout out to Ryan Levingood, one heck of a AIT preceptor. Ryan said, Gerald, bad things happen. The key is what do you do when they happen? That is a separator of a phenomenal leader, a five star leader versus a average show. The mindset
is
Jerald:what is so critical here. And then how do we enhance the skill set to maximize the mindset?
Erin:Yeah, it is true. I've had some things happen at my community and, You do get lost. not that people expect really bad decisions to be made inside your community, what they do expect in the leader is how you own it. Respond to it and communicate to it. I do some expert witness stuff and I've spoken to lawyers inside the industry and you're most legally vulnerable during those transitions and during those moments. And it is all hung on, does the leader own it? Does the leader take accountability for it, and then how do they respond and how do they communicate that and if that's anything, any, anyone can get is you don't own internally, the bad decision that somebody made. Although it hurts and it feels Oh my God, what did I do? What did I not do for this decision to be made? But it's how you respond that's what the leader owns.
Jerald:Exactly. Because we serve people and we depend on people to care for people. Bad things can happen. I didn't do the bad thing. But I'm glad that I'm leading here when this bad thing occurred, because now my mindset is telling me, how do I make sure this doesn't happen again? And when surveyors come in, they welcome that mindset, because that's the end of the day. I, now, if it continually happens, or if there's things that I could have put in place to eliminate it from happening again, then come on, girl, you got things to figure out. But the point is, understanding as a leader. Perfection doesn't exist. When you're caring for people. And at some point in time, what we learned in church, grace and mercy, grace, getting what you don't deserve and mercy, not getting what you do deserve at the end of the day, we got to extend that grace and mercy, but we have to learn from it. We have to grow from it because people are depending upon us to care for them. There is a, if I could add this one other point, I know I'm lengthy with my words here, but there's a leader, David Alexander. He's now the CEO with majestic healthcare. He was my senior VP when I was with American senior communities. I referenced him in this book. I had reached out to him and we were having a conversation about decision making. And he says something that I'll never forget. He said, what I hope that leaders embrace is. Stand on the decision that you make, but back it up with reference points. What is the impact on the residents I serve? What is the impact, on the people that I serve along with my professionals? And what is the impact on the financial responsibilities or the financial stewardship that I have to the organization? He says when a young leader or a leader period can make a decision and stand on why they made that decision, even if the decision proves to be wrong I appreciate the fact that you owned it and that you had a thought process behind, yet your intentions were followed with good receipts, if you will.
And
Jerald:so that really stuck with me. So as we make decisions, again, leaders have to know, I don't have to always be right, but let me have a strategy. Let me have a plan of attack. Let me be able to communicate my thought process. And guess what? The people that we lead are often sizing up whether they trust us. And one of the three tenants of trust is logic. Not do you have it, but can you communicate it?
Erin:Yeah. And if you can own your own mistakes and be vulnerable with it and communicate why you did it, why you made the decision, why it didn't work and what you'll learn from it, and you do that in front of your team will do the same thing.
Jerald:And it should align with your vision, it should align with your values, and it should align with your mission. And when it does, it's magic.
Erin:Yeah, it really is. a lot, there's a lot going on in in the world, especially like in marketing and senior living stuff where it's know your story, tell your story, sell your story. And you wrote a book. Yeah. your story, it's an autobiographical story in leadership. Now that your story. And you probably knew your story before, but now that you know your story and it's in black and white,
Jerald:yes, does,
Erin:does that offer, like knowing your story as a leader, does that ground you in confidence and purpose more than it does before you knew that you knew your story?
Jerald:Interesting. So Aaron, wow. You have some great questions. my confidence is rooted in my faith. My story is simple. Embrace the mission and trust that the margin will follow.
Erin:Yes.
Jerald:The story to leave pharmaceutical sales 10 years ago. I was a district sales manager. 18 years, 15 of which was as a sales manager. That was to pursue the mission. The mission to serve others in the book. I talk about being sick, having my colon removed, pooping on myself, believe it or not. And the nurse helping me and how I sat in a room that night and said, Lord, I'm going to do something special. I had been volunteering for five years and I made the decision I'm going to do this full time. So be careful where you volunteer. But the point is, the mission was the story, the mission of following the heart. So guess what? In September, when we're coming up on our 10 year anniversary, we knew this time was going to come. And it's very difficult to say the time is now, but the mission called. So when you say the story is written, the story is written at the mission. Is what must be the drive and force, Gerald, because when the mission is pure and when the mission is about more than just you, the mission is always blessed. With time margin, with financial margin, with emotional margin and with people margin, people who can be around you that can help you achieve those goals. we're a work in progress. So even though the book is complete, I don't have all the answers, but I will tell you this, Aaron, as we continually write books and we continually write chapters in our lives, the foundation is going to be the same.
Erin:Yeah.
Jerald:Advanced service. Visionary mission as your priority, but align it to a margin that if successful will align with your life. I don't apologize for anyone out there listening. I do not apologize for enjoying to serve and earn. I enjoy earning in the marketplace.
I want to
Jerald:have leaders who are well equipped, you have to pay for that. Okay? But I love serving more than earning. So when you're able to join Senior Healthcare, it was a chance to serve and earn. So when it's time to resign, I can't give up the serve and earn. I'm still serving earn. I'm just serving earn without direct deposit. It's so
Erin:true, and it's
Jerald:Go ahead. But I'm trusting.
Erin:Yeah, it's important
Jerald:Trump's the money.
Erin:Yes. It's there's so many things to unpack there because when you're a servant leader, sometimes you feel guilty for liking to earn because you are mission minded. And so I'm glad that you said that I want to serve and earn, and I don't apologize for that. like that's a big deal because. A lot of people will really leverage your desire to serve. And if you're not careful, you're going to forget to leverage your desire to earn.
Jerald:Yes. Yes. It's a one, two punch.
Erin:Yes. It's
Jerald:a one, two punch.
Erin:I, you like, when you know your story, what you can deliver. And then you can really say, I love to serve and I'm going to deliver this based on my history. And I love to earn too, and so for that servant leader who may struggle, cause I know I did for a little bit of, what my service is worth, That whole concept, you putting that out there is great because servant leadership deserves to be. You deserve to earn inside senior living share. You're not a missionary unless you're say that you're a missionary.
Jerald:Exactly. And missionaries still need margin. I support missionaries that are in other parts of the country and they still need margin. I enjoy going to church. And I remember my mom when she would live in, she'd go to church where she said, I don't know how y'all drink coffee in church. And I'm like, mama, church is different nowadays. It's okay. See, I like coffee. I like air conditioning. I like heat. So I want to go to church. Where's air conditioning or something heat in the winter?
Erin:Yeah.
Jerald:I got to give. There is no margin. There is no mission without margin. So when we look at our senior living communities, we look at our skilled nursing communities. These communities are needed. They have a purpose. They are loaded with people who care. That's half the battle. Isn't it?
Yes,
Jerald:that is half battle. And so how do we continually leverage the purpose that we have and continually advance the skill set? One of my mentors and I shared this in the book. His name is Walter bond. he says the organization pays us a percent of what's made off of our skill set. And if you really think about it, that's business. And when I'm out speaking and training, I like to share that quote. And I want people to give people folks a reference point. that doesn't mean someone's using you. That's not a bad situation. That's called the marketplace. A nurse can't, write up a sign and get on the side of the road and say, Hey, I'll triage you on the side of the road. Just give me some money so I can feed my family. No. We need the hospital to convert that skill set into an income for our families. So I want leaders in our industry to understand that your skill set has a value. And so let's continually build that skill set so that you can continually leverage it in the marketplace in your home. When I'm learning predictive index and behavioral leadership, I'm not just using that in the marketplace. I'm using that at home as well.
It's
Jerald:me to grow and become the best version of me. And so that I guess it's coming out in our conversation, Aaron, I guess what I'm trying to get to is helping people to become the best version of themselves. I think that's what I was both are trying to get to.
Erin:I love another thing that you said that. Reminds me of this realization that I just recently came to. And when you say trust the mission, if you're a service based, mission driven leader and you're, you do want to please people, like people pleasing can certainly be very difficult. Very dangerous. But when you're a servant leader, you want, that is to some extent, an element of your leadership. I've been through many phases of my life where you fight for the validity and you fight for the success. And you, you fight through the tough times and you become this fighter with this grit and you need it. But then there's times where you trust the process. And as a leader, you have to understand when to fight and when to trust and how trust brings more peace and more grace, as long as you're doing the right things at the right times with the right intent and. That's the thing. If you're fighting for things constantly, it's a much bumpier ride. But if you trust the process, trust the mission, know your story, know your intent, then you can fight less. And trust more,
Jerald:and if you think about it, Aaron, that's why we run systems and senior living and senior healthcare is processes and systems. That's why we have copy. We're always digging in and looking at what's wrong with our symptoms. How can we make it better? So you're right. Systems are important and it's natural in our space.
Erin:Yeah. One of the things that you talk about, a lot is. Wanting to add value to every position. And I think that's, do we train enough people below us in leadership levels that could replace us, or if we don't. Why? And if we do, we have a much better time off when we know that somebody else can step in, what are your thoughts on that? What are you seeing?
Jerald:it's the million dollar dilemma. every organization, every community needs a strong bench. Every winning team has to have someone that can come off the bench and step in, make a play. when the team really needs it. we have a lot of folks within our communities who are multi, multi trained, but my area of focus is on how can we intentionally develop a plan. Where we can identify high potential, high performers, emerging leaders. how can we focus on a developmental plan that will align with their growth? Because what I found, especially in my years in pharmaceutical sales leadership, that you can have career growth opportunities within every bandwidth of a job. So no matter if it's a entry level position in culinary or a senior executive director of a community. That there will be different price points in regards to salary based upon, your skill set development. And so I don't have the answer to that. And companies are trying to figure that out everywhere. But at the end of the day, what's important and what I want to teach leaders is having a teachable point of view on leadership, something that you can communicate with others. That is consistent. That aligns with your purpose that speaks to your values. Often when training young leaders, we referenced the book by Noel Tichy and Eli Cohen called the Leadership Engine. And one story in this book that really resonates with me is how Jack Welch, very much known for his time with GE as, their CEO, probably one of the most esteemed CEOs or well accomplished CEOs in our history. For 15 years, every week he would go back to the home office. And conduct leadership training. I don't know if it was weekly or monthly, but there was a content, a consistent cadence to where he was speaking into the lives of his leaders on a continuous basis. So the thought process is taking that. that mindset and attaching it to emerging leaders within the organization, people who have expressed the desire to do well have demonstrated excellence in their performance and have, have a desire to grow and to develop. And so with that. It's imperative that we begin developing those leaders slowly, but surely putting them in situations where they can stretch themselves and put themselves in a position. Now, why is this important? Because oftentimes in our industry. We hire promoted positions from outside. It's not, it's no pace placing blame. It's a tough job. And sometimes you may not have the inventory in house and you need to go outside, but the challenge is leaders don't see what it took in behaviors in order for that person to grow and get promoted. So when I was in pharma, We saw people who internally promoted with every promotion, you can mentally go back and see what were behaviors that you observe from this person. And then you can clearly say, I'm not surprised. we missed that opportunity, obviously, folks that are higher from outside and brought in and have achieved great things where they were. The only thing and the only point I want to mention is. We miss that internal systemic. Opportunity to reinforce, how good things can come your way if you follow the plan within our organization.
Erin:Yes, so good.
Jerald:So that you can see, I'm not just going to lead buildings for the rest of my career. It's nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all wrong with that. I'm speaking to that person who can contribute to another level. I'm speaking of taking what we have and allowing it to grow. our industry and when I'm out speaking, I tell people about COVID conviction. And, I hate talking about COVID, but it's one thing we're not going to give up, and that's the lessons that we learned from it. I owe it to the people who passed on my watch. I will not give up my COVID conviction. And at the end of the day, I believe that COVID conviction makes us better leaders. You're a better leader today than you were before COVID. But the key is we cannot lose a leader to COVID. We can't lose a leader to the tough time. The leaders are developed from the tough times. We just can't lose that leader from the tough time. So the last thing we want to do is lose seasoned leaders who have navigated through this pandemic. Cause y'all some bad boys and girls, period, bad boys, girls, and others for they, them. I want to make sure I'm learning how to make sure we do this the right way. but at the end of the day, I want you to be the best version of you. And if you want to grow, I want you to have that opportunity to grow. I want you to be fulfilled. Because this job is emotionally demanding and all the emotional deposits we can make to offset those emotional withdrawals is just what our industry needs in order to advance forward, putting that in the next book.
Erin:That's so good. So good. The COVID conviction. I did become a better leader, because of COVID. In fact, it through every insecurity, it through every, Thought process. It threw everything away. It allowed, it, every expectation was gone. You took sales out the window, basically, for the first few months and you focused on fighting fear. And that was by far the most leveling up I have ever done inside of my leadership skills. No one was coming to save me. No one was coming to help me. It was literally. And having all those eyes on you who are looking at you scared, and I'm scared, I don't know what to do, and I had to make a decision, do I leave, or do I strap in and here we go, and I'm not going to leave. Those people, and then I had to figure out how to motivate my team to, to work in fear and to trust the process and to trust me. It doesn't matter if the community down the street didn't have what they needed. We do. Yes. We do. So here it is. You have me. And I've never let you down and I'm not going to ask you to do something that I wouldn't do myself. So let's go and let's do that. So yes, the COVID conviction, it changed me in remarkable ways because all of a sudden I found out how to motivate myself. I found podcasts. I found motivational speakers. I found things that I didn't even know were out there and I, in my mind made them work for me. They weren't talking about healthcare, but I made them in my mind, talk about healthcare, and we are losing leaders with that COVID conviction and how do we get them back? how do we keep them from feeling the same way? And, there's so much that can be done there. And what you just said is so powerful. So good.
Jerald:Thank you. And I'm trusting the mission because that's why I resigned in September to be quite frank is I feel as though it's my responsibility to rehydrate my people. With the gift that God has given me,
Erin:yeah,
Jerald:when the naysayers were attacking my community. All I could do was stand on what we had achieved in regards to quality. What we achieved as far as Baldrige criteria, quality awards, what we achieved as far as our. Our survey performance in the past, all I could do was stand on that because everyone was coming at us. And as we were going through COVID, I remember telling my team, they don't know who they're fooling with y'all. Cause I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell this story all across the country. I tell DNS is all around the country about Shirley Lindsey and how she managed that billboard the day, the day we had our first COVID positive. I want people to know that our story is real. And oftentimes Aaron, people stand up and give a standing ovation. It's no, you're not standing up for me. You're standing up for our story. I just have the privilege of being the one to deliver it. And the reason why it's important, our leaders. We need them. We've got to honor them. We've got to inspire them. We have to find a way to wrap our arms around them and keep them in this industry.
Yeah,
Jerald:it's imperative. And I'm, I just had a birthday pretty soon. I'll be living in a facility and I know all the answers. So you all better treat me right. But at the end of the day, this is real. I want to have a facility available in the event that I may need it in my life. And I want to have the best, highly talented people running them. So if our industry is hard to attract talent, we must take the talent that we have and build it
Erin:period.
Jerald:And that's what we're doing. that's what we're trying to do. I hope your podcast really speaks to leaders. That want to grow, that want to develop, that have some of the emotions that you share, the emotions that I share, because we're all one team. And the whole purpose of me joining your podcast today and you having it is for a mission to achieve something special. And Again, shout out to you. I really love what you're doing here.
Erin:Thank you. I love what you're doing. And I hope that it's also a, we could potentially be classified as competitors or whatever, but what I want, what I'm intentional about is for people to see that we're better together. It doesn't matter. we are better together and when there are people who are on a mission on the same mission to achieve the same goal, then we need to unite and we need to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly so we can, like you said earlier, so we know. That we're not crazy and that we're not alone, but we all are a little crazy. You have to be a little, just a tad bit, not, and not that crazy is. But it's just, sometimes we feel maybe that we're alone in this. and I just get so jazzed and so inspired when there are people like you out there that I can look at from behind and say, that's my dog. That's my boy right there. I appreciate that. and I'm behind him, supporting him and hope to be there one day and that the missions can work together. All different levels, male, female, black and white, Chinese, American, all of it that we are all together in this mission together.
Jerald:you know what? We're senior healthcare, senior living people. So we're used to working as teams, tough times. They don't destroy us. They galvanize us. We bring a lot of emotion. Yeah. We got different things in this world that separate us. They do race, gender, politics, you name it. But in senior healthcare, senior living, come on, You have to show up when you're caring for others. You don't have time to, to marinate, if you will. And nonsense, you got to move forward. yes, this is a collective. One thing I've learned about speakers are so generous. I can't tell you how many times I've reached out to someone because I'm learning and I'm growing,
I'm
Jerald:learning and I'm growing. So I have questions all the time. And people are always so willing to help or reaching out to industry peers. And I had questions and they're like, Gerald, this is what you do. And I'm just, my heart is just refreshed by the generosity. yes, the mission requires, having people in community with you. So I appreciate your support and, and I support, support you right back. I can't wait to sit in the audience and see you, take care of business and, and advance senior living, from your platform.
Erin:That's the goal. And we're united in that mission. So you have a book. Let's show it one more time. Give me the title one more time. Five star leadership, but it's the Becoming a five star leader, a life's journey to senior care excellence.
Jerald:Yes, and you can find it on Amazon. it's available. You can reach out to me on my website and I'll, I'll be able to send you 1 if you want to sign, copy, or you can see me when I'm visiting your town and speaking. And, I just have the, I've never done this before, but I've started to sell books at events now. I'm like, wow, this is interesting. And I didn't even think of it. A client said, Gerald, a lot of people are asking about your book. Are you going to bring your book? I'm like, ah, I do have a book. And that makes me feel pretty good. But at the end of the day, it's not about me. It's about the mission.
It's
Jerald:about having a book that is speaking to senior healthcare that is attempting to advance through skill set development, attempting to advance through sharing a story, attempting to advance senior healthcare by being vulnerable. And hopefully it's well received. I wrote it for our professionals and I also wrote it for our families. If I could, I want to take time to thank all the family members who are supporting senior care professionals from around the world. When we see tragedy hit certain cities, and we think to ourselves, man, having wildfires in Texas, having wildfires in Texas, then you immediately started thinking, I wonder what's going on with any nursing homes or assisted livings or home health or hospice in those areas. And how are those people, the leaders. The care providers, how are they managing tragedy personally and professionally see we care for our professional families and we care for our personal families and we embrace it and we love it. We are used to doing it. But there's something that I'm always doesn't that amaze you like we don't have snow days. We had go days. So when tragedy strikes, we show up.
Erin:That's right.
Jerald:That's right. And it just amazes me. The level of commitment I interviewed a guy feel Sterling I think was his name he at the time he worked at Regency and he was a regional vice president of operations, and it was doing one of the big hurricanes and he was saying with me. And That he was focused because he had five buildings. He was a new ops VP. his wife had just moved to Texas. She was at home with the children. She was dealing with a hurricane herself.
He
Jerald:said for 24 hours, he was just nonstop. But the day his wife and his children showed up in his hotel room and he knew they were safe, he said he was then able to get four hours sleep and he was ready to go. He was ready to go now that he knew that his personal family was taken care of. He had to finish the job with his professional family. And that is how we all roll. And that's something that we all can relate to. And so I just want to again, thank all the family members who support their loved ones. When a shift may need covering in mom or dad has to say, Hey, I got to go in. I know I promised I would do this, but it's people depending on me. Those are the days, when you come home from COVID, your wife makes you get naked in the garage because she don't want you to bring COVID in the house on your clothes. these are the stories that our family members present us with. So I just want to say thank you all. Give your wives, your children, your husbands, your significant others, give them a hug and let them know how much you appreciate them.
Erin:Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Gerald Cozy, for being with us today, inspiring us and enlightening us. It's important. And if you know that he's speaking at your event, go see him, give him a good old handshake, maybe a hug and let him know that he inspired you. It's always nice after a presentation. Aaron,
Jerald:I'm not going to let you have the last say. You can have the last say. Not that I can let you because this is your show. But I'm going to thank you too. And that is thank you for starting this podcast. Thank you for your attention to senior living specifically. And senior health care, but I specifically want to go into the senior living. I think you, I know you're doing something special. I love your work and it's an honor and a privilege to be on your show. And I know 1 day soon, I'll see you at a conference where we'll both be speaking in some type of capacity. So you keep persevering and keep moving forward.
Erin:Thank you. That's, that, that will be the goal, won't it? to be there together. always for my listeners, aspire for more for you.