Yo DaVitans !

A couple more factoids from the Tour DaVita, and the 585 riders !

1. 48% female
2. 54% first time Tour Riders
3. 59 riders over 60 years old !
4. Leading states
   1. Colorado                         105
   2. California                        85
   3. Washington                    55
   4. Texas                                48
   5. Tennessee                       27
   6. Pennsylvania                  25
   7. Florida                             23
   8. Indiana                            21

Next year, consider joining in!

KT

“Depends on the curve ball; reflecting & surrounding with love and people that care for you.  Regrounding in all things that are going on.” Javier Rodriguez

“Exercise, breathe, meditate, play with my children.” Jonathan Lujan

“I struggle sometimes with this.  It’s hard.  I have to vent it out sometimes at home, or on my own… and exercise helps me a lot.  When I’m stressed, I schedule time for a hard run or bike ride to help release that energy, wear down my body, and purge the bad thoughts, stress, or negativity.” Dave Hoerman

“Time outdoors does it the best for me.  Also, interacting with my family—those I love and who love me.” Yoda

“Take accountability, learn and review what I can change or have done better .” Allan Cullop

“I pause and understand the global impact.  Many things that have seemed terrible at the time are very small compared to the overall scheme of things.  Also, I try to remember to remind myself of two positive events for every one negative event.  In most cases, life is pretty well balanced.  We just need to remind ourselves of that occasionally!” Mandy Hale

“Remember what’s really important and be thankful.” Barbara Atkins

“Remind myself of everything I have to be thankful for.” Deborah Burt

How do you “bounce back” when life throws you curve balls? Reply below.

Good Morning DaVita !!

It is Thursday am.   Yesterday I started in Denver, with a few meetings after my workout.  Then I flew to Chicago for a couple presentations at the Northwestern Kellogg School of Business.  I wish more of you could be with me at these, it is so cool that these MBA professors and students want to learn more about how our community first/company second/DaVita Village concept and dreams work.  Or how we try to make them work!

I finished that stuff about 9 pm, and headed to a hotel for some email and phone calls.  I stopped working at midnight but was too wound up and so pulled out my Grapes of Wrath book by John Steinbeck, and read until 1:15.  It is an amazing book about the great dust bowl era, and the stunning hardships so many American farmers faced.  Humbling.

I got up at 6:15 and had a below-average workout.   I felt lucky, however, because when I went down to the fitness center every bit of equipment was being used except one.   If there had been no equipment available I would  have lost the workout, and my body is so accustomed to a morning workout that I feel very our of sorts when I do not get to do one.   25 minutes on the bike and some stretching and push-ups, then I felt pressure to get to the airport.   I had one long call and am now on a plane to Washington DC.  When I land I will do 2 hours of phone calls and then about 6 hours of meetings on federal policy issues.  Then I will fly to New York for my Friday meetings.

I am getting much better at the stretch breaks during the day.  Both during conference calls and live meetings.  It really does always make me feel looser, more relaxed, and better.  Good idea by the MTM administrators!  Now I need to work more on deep breaths at regular intervals, and during stretching – it also is quite powerful.

I was happy with myself in another way – I had been given a lot of bad news thru the course of the day, and in that case I will often treat myself to unhealthy food for dinner.  Last night I stayed healthy with chicken and spinach.  Good boy.   Having said that, I did have a couple glasses of wine …. Oh well.

How are you all doing?  I love picturing a couple thousand good teammates out on a single field, all exercising and stretching together.  That image gives me energy and encouragement. 

Tis better to light a small candle than to curse the darkness.   (Confucius) 

And it is amazing how much light a single candle brings into a dark room.

One for All & All for One.  Thanks for taking great care of our patients!  And each other!  And be sure to take great care of yourself!!

KT, Your Mayor

Yo DaVitans!

It is Monday morning, time for a quick download.  Plus I have to try to update my daily scores.  Yikes.

We are up to 44 MTM participants from outside the US !  The clear leader is Brazil with 21, Germany in second with 9.  Go Brazil !!  We also have 135 family and friends, which is great when they partner up and join in. 

I had a glorious weekend.  I did Hot Yoga both days, 75 minute classes.  I really need to get back into that, I pretty much stopped when we moved to Denver 8 years ago (wow, time flies).  My body is very inflexible, and yoga is a great gift.  I also did stretching outside of class, in part defensively because the Tour DaVita  (both the ride and the 4 hours at the finish line jumping around and dancing) re-aggravated my Achilles tendon issue. 

I had some very nice quiet time, taking some beautiful walks and looking at the fall colors, two alone, one with a friend having troubles, and one with my spouse. I also did some quiet sitting outside, just 10 minutes but very soothing.

I had one 90 minute conference call on a hot issue for the Village, and one 30 minute review call with an executive.   Plus an hour or two  of email (needed to do more!), and 90 minutes of scheduling with my assistant.

Got to Run!

All the best, KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita!!

It is Saturday am, and I am at home!!  Wow, does that feel good.

A couple quick facts on the Tour DaVita – 585 riders, including 5 from International, the most ever.  3 were from Saudi Arabia, 1 from Germany, and 1 from Poland.  I got to talk to each of them except the teammate from Poland.  Fun!  Also 15 patient riders, the most ever!  Also 17 PCT’s, for whom we provide special financial support, they are each Shining Stars!  I want to have more PCT’s next year.  We move the Tour to a different spot each year, MANY riders are first-timers that are NOT regular bike riders, so please give it some thought.  We have little vans that pick riders up on the course, so you can stop whenever your body says that is the right thing to do.  We also had 96 teammates from local clinics and our big Tacoma neighborhood office at the finish line, cheering teammates on as they triumphantly rode, or walked, across the line.

We also did a Village Service Day right before the Tour,  where we packed and sent 600 Holiday stockings with notes to military folks overseas (part of our Star Troopers Village program), and also 400 packs of essential items for Dignity for Divas, for homeless women transitioning to housing.

Thursday night was a solid sleeping night, man did that feel good. It was only 6 hours, but a step in the right direction.  And last night, Friday I managed to hit the big 7, the rally continues!

I did not gain any weight during my month of almost constant travel, still at 191.  That is good.  I am getting better at the 5 minutes of meditation and deep breathing.  I still would not really call it meditation because my thoughts are so active and scattered, but by the 3^rd or 4^th minute I am taking much deeper breaths and it is quite striking how soothing that is.

There was a preceptor class in the Casa this week, so I got to meet several of them – which is always a treat for me, I get to say thank you to field teammates in person, live.  Always a gratitude moment for me. 

I hope each of you is finding Match the Mayor to be helpful in our shared journey towards healthy and fulfilling lives. 

“Be a person who not only lives the length of your life, but the depth and breadth as well.”

One for All & All for One.  Your Mayor, KT

Leaders from across the Village shared their personal mission statements.

” To value everyone.” Alan Cullop, Chief Information Officer

“To be a competent, confident and compassionate leader in my profession and in my home.” Mandy Hale, VP of Nursing

“I am a bright and playful gift, soaring with love, compassion and enthusiasm!” Dave Hoerman, Chief Wisdom Officer

“Anything is possible.” Barbara Atkins, People Services Manager

“All you need to do is focus on two things in life…improving yourself and improving your relationships.” Jonathan Lujan, Lifeline

“To live with grace and generosity toward others.” Traciee Huff, Facilities Administrator (FA)

Yoda, Senior Vice President & Chief Wisdom Officer, Emeritus

• Love God – Be His Instrument
• Truth
• Do Good (“Love”, “Servant”)
• Family Before Self
• Experience, Discover, Learn, Teach
• Give It Everything (“Leave NOTHING on the field”)
• Be the Enemy of Fear
• Be Happy – See the Best

We would love to hear from you. Share your personal mission statement in the reply section below.

Yo DaVitans!

It is Thursday afternoon, I am in the Casa del Mundo in Colorado.  It has been an eventful week since my last blog which was Monday.  I did get a workout in on Monday afternoon, which brought me fresh energy after the 14 hour flight from Dubai.  I had several conference calls, including prep for our upcoming quarterly earnings call. 

Tuesday morning was Tour DaVita day!  585 DaVita teammates riding many miles over 3 days, to raise money for our Medical Missions, which are run by our Bridges of Life team.  It is a beautiful event, for a wonderful cause.  We raised $1.2 million dollars !

But what I love even more is how it puts us all together, doing something healthy and lively, for a good cause.  Tuesday was Day Three and I joined in for the 58 mile ride.  For the first time ever I missed last year’s Tour because I was recovering from a big surgery – so getting back out there felt amazingly good.  The tradition is that when I finish I stay at the finish line to greet others – me along with a couple hundred other teammates from local DaVita neighborhoods, and other riders.  It makes for a glorious finish, live music, people yelling and clapping, quite special.

On Tuesday night we have a closing ceremony where we see a video of the ride, we have some We Are Here contests, and a number of riders get up and share why they are riding, and what they will remember from the Tour.  An almost spiritual evening, after an event in which hundreds of teammates ride more miles than they ever thought they could, or would.  I hope many of you consider trying it in the future — please know that we provide special support to help Patient Care Tech Shining Stars join in.

Then I flew back to Denver, and got home about 1 am.  It was another terrible sleep night, unfortunately, the jet lag is wreaking a bit of havoc.  So I actually skipped a day of exercise to stay in bed one more hour.  Darn!  Then I was off to the Casa, my first time there since September 28.  I had meetings on forecasting, public policy, and some strategy issues. 

Last night was another terrible sleeping night, but I still got up and got a solid workout in.  I will end up having some extra caffeine today, but fortunately the work is engaging enough to help keep me going.   My morning was filled largely with clinical and financial reviews, as well as getting a wonderful thank you call from a US Congressman.  We let him and others hold a meeting in the Casa a month ago, and he was very impressed by the look and feel of our Casa and the culture within it.  That was awfully nice to hear.

On the scores front I am doing pretty well except for the sleeping thing.  My gratitude and connectedness was off the charts on Tour DaVita Day, and I will carry that glow for several more days.

I hope each of you is making good progress towards leading a healthier, more mindful life!   Picture how you are being encouraged by the other 2300 teammates who are in MTM !!   47 states and 9 countries represented.  Let’s do it, together!!!

“Most people go to their graves with their music still inside”.  Don’t do that!

One for All & All for One !      Your Mayor, a most lucky man …….

“Thank you notes and small gifts of appreciation.” Traciee Huff, FA

“I have a reminder on my calendar every Monday morning to “show someone appreciation”.  I do not allow myself to commence my work week until I have planned who to acknowledge and how to do it.  The individuals I recognize are at work and in my home/personal life.  I like to send flowers, thank you notes or pick up fun things at farmers markets and craft shows.” Mandy Hale, VP of Nursing

“My wife recently gifted me a journal in which I can write one sentence daily as an expression for something(s) for which I am grateful.  No matter how difficult of a day I may have, I always find more than one sentence that expresses my gratitude, which helps to keep me in good spirits.” Patrick McKinnon, President of Rx

“Thank you notes, emails. Wrote a thank you note on linkedin recently.” Jonathan Lujan, Lifeline

“For me, gratitude is captured in moments.  I do a LOT to stay present in the moment, half-smile to myself when something wonderful is happening, either on my own in nature, with my kids, wife, or with teammates.” Dave Hoerman, Chief Wisdom Officer

“Consistently thank teammates for a job well done every day.” Tim Greene, ROD

Share how you express gratitude by posting a picture or comment below.

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita,

It is Monday morning, I am on a 14 hour flight back to the US, from Dubai.  I get huge amounts of work done on these flights, so part of me likes them.  Part of me, that is.

I got to bed about midnight, by the time I flew in from Saudi Arabia, had dinner, and did a couple phone calls.  I got up at 5:30 so I could get my workout in, so important before these marathon flights.  I recognize that leaves only about 5 hours of sleep, but I will get more on the flight itself. 

Unfortunately my sleep was terrible the night before.  I had a couple phone calls late that night (because the US was 9 hours earlier), one with bad work news, one with good.  This got my mind going, and so it took me a long time to get to sleep, and then when I woke up at 3 am I was never really able to get back to sleep.  I got up 5 different times to write down some ideas I had, I was worried I would not remember them otherwise.  Finally at 5 am I just got up and started working, despite not getting to bed until midnight.  This is why I let myself sleep in an extra hour the next night, and why I missed a day of exercise.

I had fantastic town halls with one of our clinics in Riyadh, and then with our home office folks in the same city.  We ended both with One for All & All for One, and threw in a bit of Yo DaVita along the way.  

I am getting better at going over some of my gratitudes while I am stretching in the morning, in addition to getting better at thinking of my gratitudes when something bad or stressful happens during the day.  I am also getting better at stretching periodically thru the day, and am quite struck by how good I feel after. 

I am hoping that each of you are hitting your Match the Mayor goals !  MTM is a team sport, just picture a couple thousand teammates standing behind you and cheering for your actions!!

“To affect the quality of the day, that is the art of life”  Henry David Thoreau

One for All, KT

Yo DaVitans !!

Greetings from Saudi Arabia!  I just got up from a 2 hour nap.  I had a terrible night of sleep last night, and after all the recent travel I was just crashing this afternoon, as we were doing an operating review.  I went back to the hotel, collapsed into bed for a nap (which is very rare for me), now I am about to head to dinner with the Minister of Health. Incredibly exciting, and the Minister is very intelligent and action-oriented.

Also exciting in the Kingdom (Saudi is a true Kingdom) is that they recently announced that women will be able to drive, which is a HUGE and wonderful change.  We were a tiny part of provoking this change as we have promoted women into many management spots, and we hired drivers to take them around to make that possible.

I hope you are each on the way towards living a healthier life!  We have 4 weeks together to build new habits, experience new approaches, to care for ourselves with the same intensity we bring to taking care of our patients.  If you review my log you will see:

1. I continue my normal routine of exercise every day, usually in the morning.  In fact I have been getting in a full hour each day on this trip, because with all the jet lag if I do not do more it is hard to keep going
2. I am having a hard time building the 2 minute Timeout muscle.  I think I will do better when I am back in the US in more of a normal routine, and I am in my own office and home for several days a week.  People look at me pretty funny when I start doing big stretches in the middle of a meeting or public place.
3. On Friday I was only with a couple people each day.   I think I was a pretty good human being all day, but I am trying to set a pretty high bar for the connectedness and gratitude scores.  I need to find out if those answers are yes/no or a number.

I also want to find out how many DaVita Village Citizens are in this year’s MTM so far.  With the new and more complicated regiment, it will be interesting to see the sign-ups.

Another highlight of my week is that I did a town hall in our Malaysia home office, with the 40 or so teammates there.  And today I got to visit one of our Saudi centers, and visit with the teammates and the patients.  Wonderful!

I wish each of you much happiness, and hope that you are savoring the adventure of life.  A man I have never heard of, Ralph Gardner, originated one of my other favorite quotes in the world “There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy. “   I try to remember to say this every day when I am stretching in my normal workout.

I am grateful. For my family, my health, my friends, my job.

All the best to you, Your Mayor, KT