Feb 12, 2019
A couple fun facts about Michael is that he hates the sound
of
quitting and he’s a rock n roll drummer, being in a band since he
was 15.
He started working when he was 10 yrs old for his father’s family
business. He was the only 10-year-old
that he knew that had a paycheck and business cards. Early on in
life his father instilled in him a strong
work ethic and imparted to him that no one is going to hand you
anything; you must go out and get it.
He worked all positions in the family’s communications support
company. He later went on to manage
all positions and then became CEO of the company. He transitioned
the company before leaving to a
marketing company. He then took a position at the Tri-Cities Cancer
Center that he was qualified for, but
it wasn’t what he wanted to do. He requested a position be created
for him on the senior leadership
team, and, given his past performance, it came to fruition. His
marketing background was a huge asset
to TCCC, and as a result there was a 54% growth in patients in a
4-month period. His advice to the
listeners is be bold, be confident, be courageous, do the work and
make your way! Why not you?
His advice to his 20-year-old self would be 3 things: invest early,
surround yourself with influencers and
network and volunteer in your community. Through his volunteerism
he met Tim Doyle and Jennifer
Tuttle. Both of these relationships were built through
volunteerism, and when he was vetting the TCCC,
he called upon Tim Doyle who was a board member and was already in
his network. Jennifer had just
left her position as the foundation director and Michael was able
to reach out to her as well.
Relationship building is a strength of his as well as vision,
looking at the big picture and strategizing. He
is not afraid of risk and often surrounds himself with people who
challenge him. As a TC Influencer he
errs on the side of action to avoid analysis paralysis.
He is an early morning guy! He and his wife, Shannon, start out
their day every morning at 4:00am. They
have 2 boxers that they walk with every morning after having their
Americanos, it’s a great time for
them to pray, talk,and envision goals. He then makes another
Americano, starts answering and sending
emails. He will also find the most challenging thing he has for the
day and does that first.
He stays out of ruts by utilizing the energy God has blessed him
with. In a conversation with the interim
CEO of the TCCC he learned how to stay out of ruts, which is to
always be innovating and creating.
Michael believes his greatest challenges as a leader are finding
ways to stay fresh while innovating and
managing expectations. The challenge is getting staff to remember
the yes’s to projects and not just
hearing the no’s. Managing expectations takes good
communication.
Failure is just an opportunity to grow your skill set and add tools
to your tool box. There are two ways he
explains failure to his team: it’s either an expense that he and
the team member are frustrated with, or
they can look at it as an investment in their future.
As a leader in the Tri Cities we are uniquely positioned in
authority and in our networks. We have access
to resources that other people don’t. He volunteers for the
Kennewick School District, Tri-tech, church,
Back the Blue law enforcement appreciation and he plugs into a lot
of one on one endeavors.
You can reach Michael on LinkedIn or email him at
Michael@visttri-cities.com