Built to Serve: How to Align Belief & Business to Make the Biggest Impact with Abner Mason
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In the search for our passion, we often look internally for who we are and who we want to become. It’s clear that passion doesn’t come from self-reflection, it finds us through the problems and hardships we encounter.
In my interview with Abner Mason, he recounts the highlights and the lowlights of his journey and shares with us how to align beliefs and business to make a dent in the world of health.
Abner is currently the founder and CEO of SameSky Health, a cultural experience company helping payers and providers engage and build relationships with their members and patients. Most recently he received the Joseph R. Biden, 2022 Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, a huge recognition of his contributions to his community. A dedicated public servant, he served alongside Massachusetts Governors Paul Cellucci and Jane swift from 1997 to 2002 and was appointed by President George W. Bush to be in the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS in 2001. He also served as a chairman of the international sub-committee and was also part of the Biden Harris campaign policy committee. His experience in HIV and AIDS led him to become a founder and executive director of AIDS Responsibility Project, where he created the first business councils on HIV AIDS in Mexico and Jamaica. He started his career as a Bain consultant.
In this episode, we cover off on a variety of topics:
The one advice that drove his entire career
Turning down an opportunity from the White House
Transforming the HIV AIDS landscape in Uganda
Reversing the repercussions of the HIV AIDS stigma in Mexico and Jamaica
The major pivot of SameSky Health
KEY LESSONS
Have an ear and an eye for opportunities
“Where you start in life have no bearing on where you end up” this was a lesson that Reverend Grady D. David, a mentor who was posthumously awarded the Joe Biden Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, imparted to Abner as a young man. Opportunities that come to us are typically not created by us and they usually show up in the most obscure and foggy of circumstances.
Abner believes that our job in life is to see each situation as potential opportunities and lean into them. This was especially poignant when Abner received a call from the White House to be part of the advisory council for AIDS and HIV. He initially declined the opportunity, but the Governor strongly suggested Abner take the role.
“I said thank you, but no thank you. And it was mostly because I was not a big fan of George W. Bush to be honest. I wasn't sure what he was gonna do. So I put down the phone and within 30 seconds, I get a call from the governor, my boss. Meet me in the office”. That meeting led to Abner sheepishly calling back and accepted the position and it turned out to be an experience that would change the course of his life.
The stories you encounter become beacons for life
There are certain experiences that shape who we become and some that spur us into action. Health inequities have always been a part of Abner’s life. It’s only in the past decade where there was even language to describe what these experiences were. Abner recounts his early experience with health inequities and pointed to his uncle, who was suffering from a severe stutter.
“My mother's brother had a serious stutter. He was otherwise an intelligent guy. He had never gotten the kind of treatment that you could get. Looking back now as an adult, that shaped the rest of his life and constrained the rest of his life, he was never able to achieve what he could have.”
Abner contrasted this with President Joe Biden, who was the same age as his uncle, was able to get care for his stutter and achieved great things. The loss of opportunity for people who have no chance to get the care required is very real. These stories built in Abner a purpose and a belief that health equity was something worth fighting for.
In Mexico, when Abner was running a HIV and AIDS non-profit, he heard a story from a woman with HIV that would point him in a direction to take action.
“She said, I was able to hold on to my ability to kind of live when my family abandoned me. When my church abandoned me, when my neighbors pushed me out, I was still able to hold on because I had a job, I had an income. But when my job and the people at my job found out and I lost my job because I had HIV, my whole life fell apart. I couldn't hold on anymore. And I remember hearing that and I thought, oh my God. And I thought I have this little nonprofit. I'm kind of looking for something a way for us to be helpful. I think I just found it”
If you want to accomplish “big” things, invite others to join you
Abner had always been about taking action instead of complaining about the situation. As someone who has done so many things, he is also someone who has a lot of wisdom to impart. The best data comes from action and this is what he has to say about becoming bigger than yourself.
“If you are willing to think big, be honest about the challenge, why you care about it and you go all in yourself… my experience has been that if you do those things and you just don't shut up about it, you have to talk about it. You can't keep a secret. You start out just talking about it and you're all alone talking about it. Before you know it, you turn around and there's like a whole army of people”
Abner’s recognition that he can’t accomplish big things alone is what makes him a super connector and aggregator of like-minded individuals. A super power that galvanizes people around a larger meaningful purpose.
To change the healthcare system, you’ve got to follow the money
When I asked Abner to reflect on a significant point in the journey of SameSky Health, he recalled an early incident that sparked a major pivot early in the company’s journey.
“The CEO said to me, Abner is great. I love it. It's just great. It really is what we need, but I can't use you <laugh> and it won't work. And here's why. I get paid when patients come into my clinic, your service is going to eventually be so good that it's gonna solve problems for patients before they come into the clinic”
The healthcare system CEO instead provided an alternative model for Abner’s fledgling business – engage his patients and get them to come in to see their physicians instead. This early encounter and Abner’s willingness to shape the product, while keeping constant on his beliefs and the impact he wants to make allowed the business to eventually pivot and start gaining traction.
Where you can find Abner
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