October 17, 2008

Yo DaVitans!

Special Yo to the 583 who have banded together in this partnership for healthier living!

It is Friday morning and the 90 days ends today. I am not at home, and have not been for a couple days, so I don’t know where I stand. I will find out tomorrow or Sunday morning!

It has been a wonderful week. On Wednesday night I attended the Justice League’s annual Award Dinner (the Justice League is our Legal Department). They are a wonderful team, built by Joe Schohl our General Counsel and his team, and they honored some of their teammates as well as the Mission and Core Values of our fair Village in beautiful ways.

There were about 70 of them there, and over the course of the four hours I was able to mingle with almost everyone. I believe it is important for as many teammates as possible to get an opportunity to ask the Mayor a question, or to tell him/her something … so I try hard to have good conversations but at the same time keep moving around.

I did some email and called home when I got up to my room, so it was a bit after midnight when I turned off the light in the hotel. We were in Colorado for this event.

On Wednesday my breakfast, lunch and dinner were all healthy. I probably had a little more wine than I should have within the context of this diet and the imminent deadline, but nothing decadent.

Thursday started with a healthy 7:30 a.m. breakfast with five of the senior attorneys in the Justice League. We had a great conversation on important Justice League and company issues for 75 minutes. Then I scooted 30 minutes to the airport to fly to Las Vegas, with Dennis Kogod (a senior vice president who runs a bunch of the company) and I in the same car so we both listened to voicemails without talking so we could both get good work done. On the flight he and I went over a long list of issues, it was nice to have quiet time together.

Once I landed it was a 30 minute drive to the hotel outside Las Vegas — the primary reason we have meetings in this city is that there are lots of cheap air fares from almost everywhere in the United States, and there are lots of reasonably priced hotels. For this meeting of 80 of the top field executives, we were staying 30 minutes outside the city in order to get low rates in a quiet setting, and be far away from the big casinos so no one would stay out too late! I did phone work in the car and then had a series of meetings throughout the afternoon, including an interview with a potential executive. We had him prepare a case study of some work he had done for his current employer. He presented it to five of us, and we peppered him with questions and comments. Great sport! We are going to make him an offer, and he has become so impressed with everything he has heard and seen with the DaVita Village (he even attended half of an Academy) that he said he very much wants to join.

My lunch was healthy salmon and veggies, with a tiny bit of bread. Further good news is I snuck away between the last meeting and the dinner to get in a short but gratifying workout in the hotel gym.

I mingled with teammates for an hour. When they all started to move into the dining room to eat, I snuck into a side room where wonderful Marcia Benedict had a room service dinner sitting in a warming oven. This way I could wolf it down in five minutes and head to the airport. It was a healthy chicken and veggie dinner with wild rice — although the marinara sauce was a bit decadent for marinara sauce and I used every ounce of it!

Off to the airport I went to fly to Los Angeles, talking to my wife during the drive. How did we get by without cell phones? No other DaVita people were on the same flight so I got a lot of email done. Once I landed, I got 25 minutes of voicemail done in the car before I got to the hotel. I resisted all the room service urges, despite being hungry. I did email until midnight and then hit the sack.

I started this morning, Friday, with a 7 a.m. phone call about an acquisition we are working on. At 8 a.m. I spoke to a DWOL class (DaVita Way of Leading). These classes are great! This one had about 20 directors and vice-presidents. The class helps people become more self-aware as to how other people experience their leadership, as well as helping them think about what their personal vision for their workplace should be. I spent an hour with them, they gave me several good ideas and I hope I returned the favor. These classes are one of the most powerful and pure expressions of our dream of a special workplace, where teammates care for each other with as much intensity as they care for our patients.

After this meeting it was back into a car to head back to the airport to fly … home of all places!

On two of the days this week I actually went another belt hole forward — meaning a two hole change from where I started with my belt holes. But all the other days were still at the one hole change from the beginning of the Match the Mayor Campaign.

Once I land I will head home for several hours of phone calls, BUT I have reserved the time starting at 5 p.m. for a good workout before a dinner party at my house tonight. Then tomorrow or Sunday will be the big weigh-in! I will let you know, on Monday most likely. I will do DaVita work for about four hours tomorrow, and half of Sunday so I just don’t know if I will have time until Sunday or Monday night for a Match the Mayor missive.

It has been great fun to strive for better health with you! Many teammates are doing great things … for themselves! And others of course, as many of you know, I love the Buddhist quote “One cannot pour from an empty cup.” Keeping healthy is one way of keeping our cups reasonably full. And this campaign has been just another example about how we can help each other realize our full potential, and lead more Fun and fulfilling lives.

We will do some sort of summary announcement after the Campaign is over, so please let us know how you did and how you feel about our collective campaign. Should we do it again sometime?

As always, I am in awe that so many of you can do the demanding jobs you do and still be so kind to others. So please remember to take care of yourselves too!

This is not a dress rehearsal this is our lives! And remember, DaVita does dialysis, but it is not about dialysis. DaVita is about life. We don’t want to grow business leaders; we want to grow Life Leaders. If we do the business will do just fine. Our patients will do wonderfully. And we will have a true community. A Village.  No brag, just fact. We Said, We Did.

Forever New, Ours and it could be Special. If we make it so.

This is KT, from California … and I am going back to work. And I am working for you.

One for All & All for One.

KT.  Your Stunningly Flawed but Ever-Striving Mayor.  (He ain’t much, but he’s yours)