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- upper right.
- Welcome to this episode of Leadership Unscripted, a
- Becker's healthcare podcast. I'm Chris Sosa, your host.
- And I'm doing I'll be joined today by
- Joe Avellino,
- who, of course, is CEO of College Medical
- Center in Long Beach, California.
- Joe, thank you for joining us today.
- Excited to be here, Chris. Thanks for the
- opportunity.
- Awesome, Joe. Love the enthusiasm and love that
- you're on board for this conversation. You know,
- as you may know, Leadership Unscripted's a little
- bit different. We like to dive into the
- health care journeys of leaders in the industry.
- But before we get too far into that,
- just please, just introduce yourself a little bit
- more and let us know a little bit
- about your background.
- Fantastic.
- My name is Joe Abelino. Again, CEO of
- College Medical Center. I will be in my
- twelfth year here as CEO.
- My background is a nurse and also,
- twenty seven years in the US Army,
- special forces,
- airborne,
- and
- really enjoy being in the military,
- which has helped and provide some of the
- guidance I have as an executive.
- And, also,
- my facility is a 221
- acute care bed hospital
- with a specialty in behavioral health services
- and also addiction medicine.
- And, we have an affiliation with USC Keck
- School of Medicine on internal medicine,
- and we are also
- ACGME
- accredited
- with our,
- psychiatry residency program.
- We see about 500
- plus admissions on behavioral health a month,
- approximately about 250
- acute care admissions,
- of which 50 is about
- detox admissions,
- and approximately about a thousand to 1,100
- ER visits a month.
- Excellent. Thanks for providing that background on yourself
- and your
- organization, Joe. I love learning all about College
- Medical Center. And in addition to that, your
- military career, I'm sure, is gonna play a
- a pretty big role here in this conversation.
- So then without further ado, let's start here.
- So my first question is, what is something
- you've learned outside of health care that you've
- applied to your career?
- I think going back to my previous comment,
- Chris, being in the military
- has
- certainly taught me the importance of discipline
- and also
- being a nurse,
- being able to
- clinically have a conversation with physician staff,
- have a empathy with patient care
- with physicians,
- and,
- the interactions from a business development
- standpoint
- and strategic planning.
- All that has helped me quite a bit,
- in in health care,
- particularly the the military
- in terms of,
- organization
- and also just, strategies such as in strategic
- planning.
- Joe, when you're interacting with your staff or
- even patients, as you said, you've been a
- nurse for some time as well,
- does that military
- training and
- attitude and
- strategic organization,
- does does that often come through? Is is
- that obvious when you're interacting with others?
- Not really. You you have to keep,
- military
- so so structured
- that
- in the in the civilian world, you have
- to have more flexibility
- and and certainly
- more,
- professionalism.
- Not that they don't have that in the
- military, but
- you don't have that structured discipline.
- And you have to be a little bit
- more customer service oriented,
- more,
- direct upfront,
- and have the
- flexibility,
- especially dealing with doctors with, behavioral matters and
- egos in line. You just have to be,
- congenial
- and provide
- fellowship
- and collaboration
- in that approach.
- That makes total sense. Thanks, Joe. I'm I'm
- sure that any number of your colleagues would
- agree that flexibility in particular
- is a great trait to have when you're
- just trying to lead a health care system
- or hospital.
- Changing gears slightly here, Joe. So my next
- question for you is
- so as you're going through your day to
- day as a leader, right,
- what do you need to do to keep
- yourself healthy? And that's physically,
- emotionally,
- mentally. I mean, you gotta be at your
- top of the game if you're gonna be
- CEO. So what would you do
- to keep yourself in tip top shape, so
- to speak?
- Oh, well
- well, I believe in a work life balance.
- Totally,
- really very, very important.
- Just as I make appointments with business development,
- with physicians,
- with marketing,
- with colleagues. I make appointment with myself, whether
- it's a morning or in the afternoon, to
- work out.
- I have what they call,
- fitness
- exercise.
- And,
- just
- love to share with you my my routine
- and what they call
- HIIT training,
- which is a high intensity
- interval training,
- which,
- I do that,
- quite often
- about two to three times a week.
- I also play competitive tennis.
- So with the competitive tennis,
- just
- really enjoy the competitive
- tennis complement
- that with the HIIT training, which is the
- high intensity interval training, which I do two
- to three times a week. So it's I
- start out with,
- seven series of exercise,
- thirty seconds each
- and then fifteen seconds rest,
- and I do three sets.
- And the first one I do is squat
- taps,
- then second set of exercises, push ups,
- then third is mountain climbers,
- Then, a stand up, what they call elbow
- to knee, then kneecap stand up sit ups.
- Then,
- the fifth exercise is
- high knees with arm movements.
- And the sixth is jumping jacks.
- Then,
- seven is alternating lunges.
- And then after that, I'll follow-up with,
- ten minutes on the rowing machine.
- But the,
- the the biggest thing has really been doing
- sauna.
- Sauna at least three or four times a
- week. I do it for twenty minutes, 190
- degrees,
- and I do about twelve minutes of yoga
- of that twenty minutes in the sauna. And
- I tell you, complementing that with, three to
- four days of tennis,
- in a week has just been phenomenal
- in terms of my exercise.
- So that that's the, physical part. The emotional
- part is keeping balance with family, making sure
- you're there for dinner.
- I have
- this is my second round. Even though I've
- been married, near twenty six years now,
- second time around with,
- I have a a nine year old, eight,
- a three, and a two. They're my grandkids,
- but I have custody of the four of
- them.
- So making time, you know, taking them to
- their swimming lessons, taking them to the park,
- ice cream, being home for dinner,
- taking the opportunity to drop them off to
- school,
- that part is just as important as doing
- your work
- and keeping your stability
- at home and at work and having that
- work life the work life balance. And,
- the other important part that that you know,
- don't wanna throw religion
- here, but my faith has keep me,
- pretty strong,
- and and just and at least,
- at least three to four times a week,
- saying a prayer, passing by church. And,
- you know, a lot of CEOs ask for,
- yeah,
- do well and make money and but for
- me, I I ask for wisdom. I pray
- for wisdom.
- So those are those are the things that
- I would say keep me healthy physically, mentally,
- and emotionally, Chris.
- Thanks so much, Joe. I love the detail
- there. I think a lot of, whoever listens
- to this podcast can just, you know what?
- Joe said, do this. I'm gonna copy and
- paste those exercises
- and see what I can do with that,
- and the sauna and the yoga.
- Very detailed blueprint there. I love that. I
- do wanna dive into the tennis, though. I
- mean, Wimbledon just happened. You know, we're in
- the middle of, you know, the majors of
- tennis. That's what I'm looking for. So is
- there a player that you admire or players
- where you say, you know what? I I
- wanna copy this, that, and the other because
- I think that can help me.
- Oh, yeah. There's
- several of them.
- Definitely, on the men's side, Djokovic is,
- his resilience,
- his fitness, which, emulate.
- And,
- women's side,
- love the forehand of,
- Naomi Osaka.
- Right.
- The the serve in Volley by Caroline Mejova.
- And, my I can't forget my my Philippine
- tradition will with Alexander Yala, an upcoming Filipino,
- sensation.
- But, yeah, I just love the game. I
- love to compete.
- Won the championship three years ago,
- in my league, hoping
- with my new strategy, better forehand, better serve,
- to win another one. And we'll we'll win
- another one before the end of the season.
- So very excited about
- the the the tennis,
- balance in my life as well.
- Well, good luck with that, Joe. And congratulations
- on your success in that league so far.
- I mean, certainly from what I know of
- Djokovic and Osaka,
- and they're they're not young up and comers
- anymore, far from it. So they've obviously displayed
- a tremendous amount of resilience to just be
- back to the level of tennis or in
- Djokovic's case, it's just maintaining that for nigh
- on two decades, really. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
- Present.
- Alright.
- So you're gonna have tough days as a
- CEO, Joe. That that's just
- part of the deal or in any job,
- really. But what I wanna ask you now
- is just simply on those tough days, the
- toughest days,
- who are you gonna turn to to help
- you move forward? What do you do to
- help you get over the hump, so to
- speak?
- Well, it goes back to my previous comment
- on my faith
- that having that
- praying for wisdom,
- going to church, and and just,
- you know, may just even be, like, five,
- ten minutes just saying a prayer.
- This pastor,
- in Saddleback, his name is pastor Rick Warren,
- wrote the number one bestseller,
- The Purpose Driven Life.
- And, I love his quote. And he says
- that
- your most profound and intimate experiences of worship
- will likely be in your darkest days,
- when your heart is broken,
- when you feel abandoned,
- when you're out of options,
- when the pain is great,
- and you turn to God alone.
- So
- prayer
- and faith in my darkest days and my
- toughest days,
- That is my ammunition.
- Well, it's clearly been coming in handy, Joe,
- just considering where you've been and and, you
- know, how you've gotten to where you've you've
- been or where where you are now, I
- should say.
- You know, it's interesting going back to the
- faith. And I tell this because I I
- love to do leadership lecture.
- And one of those that I like to
- share about is the story of mother Teresa.
- You know, when when you think of mother
- Teresa, you think of someone who's authentic, who's
- genuine,
- and one who has tremendous amount of faith.
- But yet after her death, in her private
- papers revealed that she had suffered
- from incredible doubt. And for long periods of
- her life,
- she even felt that God was absent.
- So using words
- in her,
- autobiography,
- darkness, torture, loneliness,
- She wrote about the spiritual agony she often
- experienced and revealed that at one time her
- doubts were so great that she even questioned
- the existence of god.
- So even mother Teresa, who had a tremendous
- amount of faith,
- but yet struggled and wrestled with doubt from
- time to time. So my message is it's
- important not to lose sight of the fact
- that even in your toughest days,
- it's okay to be
- natural, normal, and healthy
- just as mother Teresa was.
- I think relatable
- quotes and
- thought process from mother Teresa there. And just
- in that, hey. You know,
- as we've just said,
- not every day is gonna be easy. Not
- every day is gonna make sense to you.
- Okay. I need to do this, this, and
- this. I'm gonna be successful. There's gonna be
- doubt. So, yeah, I think it's very relatable
- that even someone like her said to herself,
- you know what? I'm not sure this is
- this is going the right way, but she
- found a way through it as well.
- Absolutely.
- Joe, so
- I love that you mentioned,
- you know, the pastor that you turned to
- and listened to
- and mother Teresa and what you've gained from
- her and what you've gained from your family.
- Considering your health care journey as a whole,
- what's something you've learned about yourself
- since you've been working in health care?
- I think you you have to not take
- things personally.
- You're gonna have those difficult conversations,
- such as what Brene Brown says.
- And with those difficult,
- conversations
- and the power of vulnerability,
- You can't take it personally,
- whether you're talking to
- staff, to patients, to physicians.
- And, you have to be at peace
- because you're gonna have some tough days.
- You you got tough days where you're not
- gonna make the the avatar,
- not to stay as high.
- You're not able to make budget,
- and you have some financial challenges.
- And and what do you do? What do
- you do? But despite being at peace at
- that moment,
- always be grateful.
- Always be grateful.
- And and those moments, you have to be
- and I tell my staff this because it
- is difficult in in these adversities is you
- try to be kind to everyone. You know?
- Give everyone the benefit of the doubt instead
- of taking something they say or do personally.
- Remind yourself that you don't really know what's
- going on on their life
- or in someone's life. So don't take it
- personally
- and trust that they're going
- they're doing the best they can in the
- best possible way.
- Certainly great advice that I can definitely find
- in my life. There's always gonna be times
- where even, you know, I run into someone
- who I think I know what they're about.
- Chances are I probably do not. So giving
- them a bit of a grace is is
- gonna be the way to go for sure,
- Joe. And another note, Chris, on that, you
- know, I I always say practice the pause.
- Someone shared with me this. Practice the pause
- when in doubt.
- Pause when you're angry.
- Pause when you're tired.
- Pause when stressed.
- Pause when you pray.
- Love that, Joe.
- Well, one last question for you, if you
- will. So
- you've done a lot in your career as
- we've discussed.
- What would you say is one risk that
- you've taken that has paid off?
- One risk that I've taken has been so
- growing up, my mom put this,
- dream in my heart that I will always
- be a CEO.
- The only part of my career back in
- I'm an old guy. Back in 2007,
- it was my first position as a CEO.
- However, in July 2010, my position was eliminated.
- I was
- given the position as vice president of business
- development,
- having the fact that I built a cardiovascular
- institute,
- neurosurgery
- center, had great relationship with physicians.
- But that wasn't my dream.
- I wanted to be a CEO.
- I give gave them a six months notice
- at this,
- at that time.
- However,
- my position was eliminated,
- and,
- I was unemployed for ten months.
- And someone once told me,
- sometimes life is about risking everything
- for a dream
- that no one no one can see but
- you.
- And like I said, I
- I I I, I lost everything.
- If you wanna understand about so short sale,
- foreclosure,
- bankruptcy,
- I know it all.
- Because during that difficult time, you know, interview
- after interview, no job offer, you know, I
- hit rock bottom. You know?
- And I understand that I learned to give
- not because I have much,
- but because I know exactly how it feels
- to have nothing.
- And,
- so instead, I accepted a interim vice president
- clinical
- operations position
- from California all the way from Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
- So I was away from my family, no
- support system,
- and I was the only Asian
- at this hospital
- in, Hopkinsville,
- Kentucky.
- And then, I just remember that two things
- define you. Your patience when you have nothing
- and your attitude
- when you have everything.
- So once again, you know,
- rejection after rejection,
- I felt very much alone, fleeting aimlessly,
- looking for direction.
- But here comes the power of social media.
- My colleague,
- becomes a regional CEO back in Los Angeles,
- and I caught up with him in LinkedIn.
- I said, hey. If you have an opportunity,
- think of me.
- So, you know, I was provided
- that opportunity.
- It was right before Christmas
- in, 2011
- and,
- became
- and bounced back in that CEO position.
- But it was nearly a year and a
- half when I took that risk.
- So John c Maxwell says that the cost
- question.
- Are you willing to pay the price
- to pursue your dream?
- So, you know, life goes on.
- And this is what I say is that
- the opposite of faith is not doubt.
- It's certainty.
- And I was certain that despite those challenges,
- despite the adversity,
- rejection
- after rejection,
- that I would bounce back to be a
- CEO.
- So,
- pastor Joel Olsteen once says that every setback
- is set for a comeback.
- Joe, thank you so much for sharing. I
- mean, I I feel you almost buried the
- lead there just given the the struggles you've
- had. But but, obviously, the story is more
- about where you are now and how you
- got there as opposed to, you know, the
- the bottom
- parts of the roller coaster, let's say, to
- use a very tired cliche. Mhmm. But but
- you're here now. You're you're here at College
- Medical Center and and thriving and hopefully that,
- you know, your patients and and everyone is
- and your staff is too. So, Joe, thank
- you so much for being a part of
- this podcast. We can't wait to share it.
- And no doubt there's more that you can
- and will share next time we're past cross
- or in some other format or circumstance.
- Love it, Chris. Let me just close with
- this final quote from Robin Sharma.
- He says, when you were born, you cried
- while the world rejoiced.
- Live your life in such a way that
- when you die,
- the world cries
- while you rejoice.
- Thank you for the opportunity, Chris.