In this episode, Sandra Braham, President and CEO of Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services, discusses her journey from a career in higher education to leading a large nonprofit organization. She talks about hiring people whose skills exceed her own, the role faith plays in her decision making, and how she approaches mental health innovation within her community and across the wider organization.
Listeners will take away lessons on trusting a team's expertise and honoring the people doing the frontline work. This conversation offers mission driven leaders a look at how humility, delegation, and a clear sense of purpose can help an organization grow through economic and community challenges over time, without losing sight of the people it exists to serve.
More on how behavioral health teams stay in contact between visits
FRANSiS builds AI Powered Helper messaging for mission driven teams. If this conversation resonated, these resources go deeper:
[0:00] Trusting Others to Execute the Vision
[3:25] Moving to Texas for Federal Programs
[6:45] Feeling a Calling to Lead
[8:23] Leading a Jewish Institution
[10:00] Supporting Holocaust Survivors and Refugees
[13:17] Taking Time to Appreciate People
[18:16] Planning a Large Celebration Event
[21:29] Strengthening Services That Have Passed
[26:24] Reading and Watching to Stay Current
[28:01] Acquiring a Partner Organization
[33:03] Making Sure Others Stay in Their Lane
[37:55] The Instant Gratification Trap
[41:13] Learning From People Who Know More
[44:28] Wishing to Have Slowed Down
[0:00] have you ever struggled with that mindset of trusting and relinquishing the execution of your vision to the other people in your organization you know it's funny I never have and maybe again that that's a little bit different but I have always tried to hire people who I think are smarter than me I've I've I've tried to hire people who I know uh have much better skill sets in certain areas than me and again I think we're all uniquely gifted my gift may be leadership and pulling it together and you know leading the charge but but when it comes to education I may have a doctorate degree in education but
[0:46] this is my educator they're and they don't have a doctorate degree but that's the number one person that I'm going to for this education piece because they have worked in the field and and they've become experts at it and so it's a difference to basically giving others their just rewards and that recognition that they've worked hard to get and I think it's because of a willingness uh just a dogged mission to put people in high places who have those skills and to be able to honor them in leadership amongst their peers that makes me
[1:48] better all right everybody welcome back to a brand new episode of the heart and hustle podcast now today is going to be an amazing conversation with another amazing leader who sits across this digital table with me today now we are talking today to the CEO and president of the Gulf Coast jfcs sandre welcome to the show thank you so much it's great to be here with you Kenan you know in today's conversation we're going to talk about your personal journey to being the amazing leader and the vision Caster if you will for jfcs we're going to talk about you know your Innovative approaches to mental health serving the community we're going to talk about some of the economic challenges that naturally we face when organizations come to combating these macro issues and our society and our communities we're also going to talk a little bit about leadership today but before we dive into that how did this amazing person who
[2:37] sits across the table for me here today do the work that she does let's go back into your origin story and give everybody a little bit of flavor about this awesome person wow thank you so much Kenan I originally uh during my I guess school days uh wanted to go to medical school and majored in Biology with that thought but decided um as I nearly finished my bachelor's degree that med school wasn't for me and I found myself working uh helping students at the University get ready for college which led into uh my first uh job which was in higher education working for a two-year technical school and helping helping uh non-traditional students to uh find Success Through non-traditional
[3:25] careers that led to uh me moving to Texas and taking on federal programs many of whom are many of which are pretty popular Upward Bound uh these types of programs that help lowincome first generation college students to go to college be successful working with migrant and seasonal Farm Workers and that grew into multiple promotions and I eventually over my career became the um associate Vice Provost of undergraduate uh programs overseeing University Admissions and financial aid and entering student programs and that's when I felt a shift in my life where did that shift come let's talk about that a
[4:13] little bit you know it's interesting growing up I came from a family that was grounded in faith uh we are um a Christian family and really learned to pray and try to listen to what God God and the Bible directed us to do so I've I've LED with that throughout my whole life having spent some time in foster care um because my mother had schizophrenia and that really helped me to Hon in my faith just through prayer and asking God to direct my path on where I where I should be and so despite that difficult upbringing there were always people in my life to um help me to focus on Direction where I'm going to
[5:05] open doors Etc and so it was at that time uh in higher education after 17 years where I felt a calling to go and Lead this very large organization in the nonprofit sector and it came in the way of a vacant position after I was serving on this board of a YWCA and the CEO who had been there for some 30 plus years announced her retirement and we put together a profile collectively the board did on what our next CEO should look like and the search firm compiled all of that from about 35 women and gave us a profile and it was
[5:54] the next day um in reading that that I felt this like woo and I said oh my gosh that's me they want me but they don't know it and it was a very spiritual experience where I Heard a Voice as clear as day that said it's not your time and it shook me um but I didn't apply for the job I went on and pursued my doctorate degree in education because I was working at you know in higher education at the University there three years later after receiving my doctorate and receiving this great promotion the CEO who had been hired for three years basically decided to resign and at that moment I knew that it was my
[6:45] time because I felt my spirit being restless and that it was time for a shift after 14 years with the university did you have a moment of losing confidence when you saw the profile that was created it basically articulated your Genius then you said you know what I'm going to step away from this and if the time is right later the opportunity will represent itself what was it like when the opportunity represented itself and you knew that this was your time to take action it was surreal very emotional I remember calling a mentor um who had retired years prior from healthc care and he was some 70 years old at the time and we met for lunch and I just cried because I I couldn't
[7:35] believe how clear it was that when I walked away and said and and said and the voice said it's not your time I said to myself I will know when it is time and it was because of that promotion that I'd received that really wasn't settling uh in my spirit that I knew it was time and the minute that I opened my heart to whatever God had for me it was three years later and this position a availed itself again and it was clear to me that it was my time but it was emotional I could imagine I mean what was the process like of taking that taking that leap of faith to now work and lead
[8:23] organization you had mentioned some things like you know this organization a Jewish institution is not where your background comes from and so you being the leader who comes into this organization now you have an opportunity to lead and impact this amazing organization what was that like did you have any hesitancy in that process so that is another shift forward 10 years after leading the YWCA for 10 years I also reached that point where I knew it was time to move forward and to take the next step it was very clear again following my faith and following what I feel like um God is leading me to do and my pastor my pastor told me I was getting an interview and this search firm reached out to me trying to find the next CEO of Gul Coast Jewish Family
[9:12] and Community Services which is the organization I currently lead and I thought Jewish I'm like they must be talking to the wrong person because I'm not Jewish and it was you know in Florida and I'm in Texas and I I said this can't possibly be the case but that Friday I went home and found an email from a local job I'd applied for basically saying we're moving forward with other candidates and it forced me to research this institution and its history and I discovered an incredible organization that had experienced tragedies in the CEO office where there were backtack tragic deaths within a five-year period and then I saw the programs that they do
[10:00] supporting Holocaust Survivors refugees children in foster care um mental and Behavioral Health and I thought wow this is like my life full circle working with all of these different populations and the Foster Care Mental Health really drew me and I realized this is a real opportunity and they're clearly looking for the best person for the job and you don't have to be Jewish and so after a few conversations with the firm and a couple of interviews and flying back and forth to Florida I was offered the position and eight and a half L years later I'm still here and we're doing great and doing great work and it's really been a gift how does it feel to
[10:48] have such a fundamental impact in the community in serving so many different service lines and uplifting so many people who need help how does that kind of reinvigorate your spirit to show up and do the work that you do every day well I tell you um it's not always invigorating it's not always invigorating for sure um that's where that you know heart comes in and just taking a deep breath because there are when you're working with such a large organization we we are about $60 million with some 650 employees and more than 50 distinct programs with such a complex organization it certainly is not um without its ups and downs but that being said the bulk of of the days are the
[11:39] celebrations of children being adopted children being reunited uh with with their parents you know Holocaust Survivors that are able to you know live independently and seeing folks with mental health issues especially those with pervasive issues being being able to live as comfortably as possible in a least restrictive setting working with elders and seeing people get housing it's very rewarding but I'm inspired by the success stories and I am motivated because I know in my heart that I am doing what I've been called to do you know one of the things that we talk about often is when we get our goals wrong they turn into Horizons so when we're serving the
[12:29] Community we're helping so many people one of the biggest challenges that we face is not appreciating the small wins along the way how are you making sure that the accomplishments and the lives you guys impact every single day are things that you can celebrate in the opposite side of just thinking about this is another check mark that goes along this long journey does that make sense yes it does and I I have to tell you that I have to remind myself to stop to stop and smell the roses because I really am quite um not driven in a in a in a perilous sense but I can go go go go go go go and I don't expect others to have that same wiring um and I acknowledge that my wiring may be a
[13:17] little bit different but uh I do have to remind myself to stop and smell the roses but I do appreciate people I take the time to appreciate those who um work within the agency those who volunteer those who are donors um trying to ensure that uh the general public is aware of the tremendous work that they are doing I have the blessing uh of being the face of the agency out in the corporate sector and in the community but they really are holding it down they're the ones who are doing the work helping people to survive holding the children's hand hands and and and making sure that they're safe and so um I am driven uh by their their need to continue to do this
[14:09] work and by the community's need to have us because we are filling a gap that others and typically we're in spaces where we don't find other nonprofits $60 million organization you know thinking about not only how much revenue you guys make but how many lives you guys impa you guys impact on a daily basis you know I've really been thinking a lot about the form of gratitude when you've been doing work like you've been doing for eight plus years as a CEO of the organization you've accomplished a lot of things along the way that have been celebratory how are you thinking about really trying to ground yourself in a a practice of gratitude because you know CEO burnout especially in human services community- based organizations is a huge Challenge and I feel like often when we feel feelings of burnout
[14:57] we don't have enough time to really appreciate the things that we've accomplished I know this might be a little bit kind of like off our framework but when I sit across the table from great leaders like yourself I'm always wondering how do we kind of ground ourselves in that sense of gratitude in that sense of impact that we're making because it's easy to get lost it is easy to get lost and I also think that it's easy to get caught up if you're not focused on why we're doing what we're doing and if we're not focused on you know the ultimate purpose so for me I am continuously reminding myself of why I'm here so I feel that I am on a Divine Mission and and so it's that Divine Mission it's in approaching work
[15:46] that way that I am reminded that this is not about me it's really about what we're called to do at for Humanity what we are called to do in helping the world to be better helping families to be stronger helping our neighbors you know treating others as better than ourselves and not expecting others and people in general to rise to some artificial standard that we you know tend to set for ourselves and so I'm I'm grounded by that I'm also grounded just in the reality that we have so much need as a nation in this area of mental health and this is the Horizon that we are seeing our largest
[16:35] growth um opportunities it's in this space of Behavioral Health and so we're celebrating our ability to open doors to keep people safe to provide engagements with with residents and liaisoning with you know police where people are safer in these mental health spaces when they're calling for help and um and we're also taking a moment this year to celebrate our 50th Anniversary uh which is an incredible accomplishment and so for the past 18 months we have been taking the time to to pull together our
[17:25] history to research and to curate this history that had not been gathered because of these tragic deaths in our CEO office uh one who was here for 30 years who I'm certain you know had there been awareness of impending doom uh relative to his life we would have had a written history far before then but we really had to start from scratch and pull together our history do a lot of research and honestly we've been taking the time to reconnect with those people whose families and whose who are legacies from families that started this organization more than more than 50
[18:16] years ago and so we're gonna have a well pending uh pending the weather we're GNA have a huge celebration this week and we're expecting some 1,000 people to join us in celebrating I know in our previous conversation you were saying I'm right in the midst of writing this book about our 50-year history what is some stories or some things that you maybe have discovered in your own research about the organization that have really kind of inspired you to be in the seat that you're in well one of the things I was surprised to learn was that our organization was on the Forefront uh when when when when there was an effort to deinstitutionalize uh adults with mental illness and to basically say we are no longer going to
[19:05] keep adults with mental illness you know in these hospitals settings and institutions against their will and our organization was one of the first to establish residential homes uh where adults with mental illness can live with support uh sharing resources while adjusting back to the community um another thing that I was surprised to learn is during the early days of the AIDS epidemic our agency was the first in Florida to begin um and to be especially in t in the Tampa Bay area to begin working directly with AIDS patients um and these all of these are things that tie back to the
[19:53] organization's Jewish values of you know providing you know respect and dignity and honor and helping to repair the world and helping you know uh the neighbors and helping to heal and basically ensuring Justice you know helping others to gain Justice and so these values of justice and respect and dignity and you know generational support and respect they run through our work and these are things that we've continued today I often as I get older I think about my ultimate sense of accountability is to do right by the people who came before me in my lineage now my grandfather was a sharecropper in Arkansas or my great-grandfather my
[20:41] grandfather was born in the 1930s and was discriminated against because of the color of his skin my father was the first entrepreneur in my family who made took incredible risk to give me opportunities that I have and when I was listening to your story there 50 years of Heritage of leaders who came before you how do you kind of deal with the weight and the responsibility to be able to kind of push forward the continuous message and the great work that you guys do does that ever weigh heavy on you or is that the same way it does weigh heavy on me I don't take it for granted I don't take it lightly and I am humble to a fault of acknowledging that it's because of others I am here it's because of those who preceded me that I have this charge to
[21:29] uh strengthen the organization to ensure that we are able to continue those services that are needed um Sunset services that have you know that have pass uh their their time thoughtfully and while looking to the Horizon to ensure that we are meeting emerging needs and the people who built this organization the family legacies who continue to support this organization I feel personally responsible and that is a burden I feel personally responsible to make sure that our Workforce can continue to provide the services to the tens of thousands of
[22:18] families that we are serving every day and it is while it's a burden in some respects it burdens it feels like a burden and it's a weit I also am lifted by the fact that I know that I was called to do this and so I believe that there is nothing that I can't do with those surrounding me without the help of God and without the support of this Almighty you know being and deity that is helping me to see where to go um helping to guide my steps and helping to guide my heart to see those things that I need to see I feel like you're in a beautiful position to continue to innovate and lead the
[23:05] organization towards the future because very frankly often what got us here is not going to get us there so how are you thinking about your long-term impact and being able to meet the needs of the community in our last conversation we talked about your neighborhood hubs we talked about responding to you know nonviolent calls to 911 these are all things that I don't think were forecasted 15 20 years ago so how are you thinking about innovating as a leader when it comes to serving your guys' community I tend to be a trend Watcher and I try to see what's on the horizon I watch lots of news I read I attend uh meetings in the community especially uh meetings about the economy meetings about education and and I think
[23:55] uh because I'm always looking forward and trying to see what's happen happening I'm connecting the dots with where we are with layers of perhaps things that we can add um to begin transitioning to the next thing to make sure that we're ready when the when the time when the time calls um I also think you know that just in in Innovation thinking about how we innovate you we we talk about Innovation and it sounds so complicated oh my gosh how do you innovate and it really is is is I think it's small steps it it's not necessarily something huge it could be something huge but I found that when you
[24:46] are innovating by constantly taking one step at a time forward and and making those those steps meaningful by adding that's this next thing that's going to make this better you know we didn't start with with cameras and cell phones right and I remember thinking why would I ever need a phone with a camera on it you know and now we can't live without it it does everything right so it's these Innovative little things that that help us and then you look around and you say wow now we are responding to nonviolent 911 calls with social workers instead of having the police who are not trained mental health professionals to
[25:36] go and respond and maybe not necessarily responding in the best manner that could lead to unintended consequences what I hear you saying in those statements is that you have a healthy relationship with the skill set of curiosity how do you think about curiosity in your personal and professional life what you thinking about you know I am very curious I am a deep thinker um I I think a lot and I tend to um to hear things and read between the lines and so I ask those questions that fall at the margins to try to see you know what am I not hearing uh but I am definitely curious
[26:24] that's what keeps me uh reading and learning and watching you know uh television shows and things about the past things about the future um you know things that uh help us to uh dream I guess for lack of a better better word um but yeah I definitely have a a healthy curiosity and that's why I love talking to CEOs like yourself it's you know we have to think about the landscape of our communities as one that is changing consistently when it comes to meeting the mental and Behavioral Health needs of the community we often hear from other organizations that reimbursement rates continue to get cut Staffing is a challenge being able to
[27:13] meet the rising demand of people who need our services is really tough so how are you kind of thinking about meeting the needs of the community when we've also got some of these socio and economic pressures that kind of continue to push on us well the realization Keenan is we can't do it all uh by ourselves and I think any organization in today's climate that thinks it can be all things to all people uh as much as we do we are doing so much of it in partnership with other nonprofits we've um in some instances we've acquired smaller nonprofits because after covid they faced um going out of business and and it's like this is a needed service in the community don't let it die out and
[28:01] so um we partnered with them um to acquire them at their request not at us going out seeking but at their request because so much money in nonprofits is spent on overhead trying to write grants trying to manage this trying to respond to the IRS and if you can have one organization doing that and let you know those volunteers and staff f focus on doing the work that is so important that's how we are able to uh keep cost down we are able to continue to provide services but it requires again it requires a humility a collective humility that I may have been a founder or I may have started this 15 years
[28:52] ago but um it's important that the service and the work continue so if a person retires if if it's dependent on me and I have to retire what's going to happen to these services to the community that makes it so much bigger than me it might have been my vision but it's got to be sustainable without me um and that is what we are wanting to build you know programs and services that are tied to secession planning knowing who the leader is coming down the road it's not all about me I might be the orchestrator of the vision but I am not you know uh you know the conductor you know and
[29:44] everyone else you know in in the in their various roles how did you come to that mindset because the other great leaders and CEOs who I sit across the table from often say that at some point in time in order for this Mission and this Legacy to grow on we have to take ourselves out of being the the person in the spotlight if you will and I need to put trust into other people to be able to execute on this Vision but sometimes a lot of our leaders are I would say microcontrollers we like to make sure that we're controlling everything I'm reading a book right now by Dan Martell where he talks about Poo's principle of 8020 now the pros principle is 20% of the work you do gives you 80% of the results but he puts a little twist on this he says if you can find somebody who is 80% at good at executing on the vision that you
[30:32] outlay that's 100% awesome because you can now pull strings on the higher leverage task to push the mission forward have you ever struggled with that mindset of trusting and relinquishing the execution of your vision to the other people in your organization you know it's funny I never have and maybe again that that's a little bit different but I have always tried to hire people who I think are smarter than me I've I've I've tried to hire people who I know uh have much better skill sets in certain areas than me and again I think we're all uniquely gifted my gift may be leadership and pulling it together and you know leading the charge but but when
[31:21] it comes to education I may have a doctorate degree in education but this is my educator they're and they don't have a doctorate degree but that's the number one person that I'm going to for this education piece because they have worked in the field and and they've become expert at it and so it's a difference to basically giving others their just rewards and that recognition that they've worked hard to get and I think it's because of a willingness uh just a dog get mission to put people in high places who have those skills and to be able to honor them in leadership amongst their peers that
[32:11] makes me better there's a there's an amazing quote that I want to bring into this there's an author by the name of Kevin Kelly he said you lead by letting others know what you expect of them which may often exceed what they expect of themselves provide a reputation that they can live up to what do you think about that I love that uh provide a reputation that they can love up love up to that's interesting live up to I guess they're loving up to it also I I think that's uh that's 100% true and certainly I think um with with leaders so many leaders in a room you have to also sometimes play traffic cop where uh people are allowed to do their
[33:03] do their jobs and that means making sure that others sort of stay in their Lane and so uh there there is that need sometimes to to play traffic cop but most of the people when when they see that they've been empowered to do more they've been given the opportunity to grow and shine they grow in their own way they grow their own area areas they're not looking to grow and take on somebody else's responsibility but but because you've provided a road map and a vision that's big enough for them to walk into with you alongside them let's talk about your ability to cast that amazing Vision right I think in our previous conversation I talked about leadership
[33:50] 101 being being able to cast a vision so large that highly skilled people can find themselves being successful in the Vision that you cast how are you thinking about your ability to cast The Vision with this next generation of great leaders who are coming in that might want to work in this space but also have so many other competing priorities like Instagram and Tik Tok and YouTube and all these other things how we thinking about attracting that next generation of amazing leaders like yourself you know that's a a great question and I spend a bit of time uh not as much as I'd like but a sufficient amount of time mentoring upand cominging leaders and these are both young professional men and women who are trying to find their way uh in their particular career fields
[34:42] and trying to navigate some of the social uh social relationships around work and management and place and roles responsibilities and oftentimes I think uh with this fast sort of Instagram get your message out today get it here today there's a programming where we want we want what we want and we want it now we want instant uh feedback we want to know that you see me and I want my promotion you know in you know one year if I don't have it but it really takes time despite the fact that technology has moved us
[35:32] along very quickly that has not moved our individual Minds as humans and the development of our brains and bodies and just that maturity that comes with leadership that comes with working side by side with people that even that has taken a step back because of covid and this hybrid Workforce and so it's more challenging and it's and and so I'm trying to help the Next Generation really understand that there is a time that no matter how good you are or you
[36:20] think you are there's a time that you still have to earn and spend to get that level of allaround respect because it only comes with being in space um and and you might grow fast you might make a ton of money but at some point you find yourself trying to figure out how did I get here and what am I doing and where's my help and why are you know why why and it's because you got to slow down and understand that the world isn't out to get you but we need leaders who can
[37:07] discern you know there's a discernment there that comes with only lived experiences and that's time that discernment to lead the discernment to make the right decision to be able to read the room and answer the question before putting your foot in your mouth I've tried to reframe this entire idea as in a reframe from the objective that I'm trying to get out which is the investment that I'm putting my energy into instead of the objective I'm putting all of my energy into building the future version of myself because when you invest into yourself when you have sunk in time when you have lived experience the skill sets that we develop through these micro moments and interactions and different experiences
[37:55] that we have all of a sudden someday come into the light and that skill set performs incredibly well and that's that instant gratification trap that I feel like so many people especially younger in their careers are kind of caught in it's we've spent so much time waiting for our opportunity that we feel like we need it now instead of realizing that if you give yourself 10 years to be a well-rounded leader the opportunities you come across in the future will be so much more exponentially worth it and valuable that I don't think it's really easy for us to quantify do you think that you would have been ready to take this job the responsibility and everything else the first time you passed on that email that came into your inbox well let me clarify that when that email came into my e uh inbox I was ready and that was I think I went from
[38:43] that email to being in this role but I had gone through 10 years as a CEO I'd gone through 17 years in higher education and and but if I think about that first job in higher education absolutely not not if I think about even when I started my first CEO position at uh at the YWCA to be in the position that I am now absolutely not I was not ready I had to learn you know to work with a board of directors I served on Boards of directors it's very different to be a member uh of the board and to be the employee of the board and that took growth it took humility it took learning to recognize that hey you may be smart
[39:35] but you don't have all the answers and you have smart people who have your back it's a partnership it's not you directing and telling everybody else what to do and those things take time you don't know that until you're in that role so I see resumés of people who've jumped I'm in this role and then six months later I'm in this role and six months later I'm in this role and and and 12 months later I'm in this role and now all of a sudden I'm a vice president and I've been able to go from a Frontline employee to a vice president in three years now I want to be your vice president for this huge company and I'm like there is no way you've done all of
[40:23] this and this and this and this and this that your resume says in three years time there is no way and so so there's no way around it you can move forward but eventually it catches up with you and so take the time learn you know to be you know I think there is um a Bible verse that says consider all others better than yourself and if we go through that approach in life if I'm considering everyone that I come in contact with in this sort of learning environment better than myself in a cleal environment better than myself then that means there's something I can learn you know from them
[41:13] and so until you show me something different that's our relationship I'm here to learn I'm here to gather um what's going to help me to be better in the future we've seen so many something that's popularized right now on social media is the difference between a season of earning and a season of learning when you put yourself in the seasons of learning where you can just be humble enough to say everybody is better than me here I just want to absorb as many knowledge and examples and use cases and Frameworks as I possibly can that help me navigate my decisions in the future that seems like a beautiful recipe I want to I want to rewind a little bit and ask you a question if you had to go back let's say 20 years to your younger self and you had an opportunity to have a
[42:01] conversation what would be one piece of advice you would give yourself as you were navigating the next 20 years I would say that's a great question I would say make sure that you understand the full picture before stepping out and making a about what you think is happening uh many times there are these quick responses and folks think that they have all the answers because they've read you know this and they've read that and next thing you know you're jumping out and you haven't taken the time to say have I really captured all the story and it and and I promise you
[42:52] there's more to the story if you just take your time and start asking questions before jumping out on a limb so take the time to to see the full picture to ask questions and to learn um also don't be afraid to say yes to Opportunities when it's going to help you uh to grow and learn don't make excuses um for saying you know yes to Opportunities because you're afraid of stepping out uh on faith oftentimes people pray for something and then it doesn't come the way they think it should and all of a sudden that's not what I want and I don't want to do that
[43:39] and D I don't want to do that and it's like didn't you ask for an opportunity it's not the way you wanted it but maybe you've got to step into this spot so that you can learn and then you'll be really ready you know to earn down the road I love that my uh me being selfish here my biggest piece of advice that I would give to myself um 20 years ago now would be to enjoy the process you know the biggest thing that I think about here today is in my last 10 years of my professional maturation process I've been in such a rush to get from here to there that I do worry that in the future
[44:28] someday when I'm in my 60s or my 70s I'm going to say man kid you really wish you would have slowed down to enjoy it more because now we're here all the stress all the worry all the conversations where we felt like we weren't enough or we weren't going to make it everything panned out and the one thing that we wish we would have done more was enjoyed the ride and I think we could all use a little bit more of that in our lives absolutely absolutely I'm just now you know really learning to enjoy it MH so one of the traditions we have on here as our as we kind of put the the wheels down to land this is a question who came from our previous guest now the previous guest on the podcast wanted to ask what will be the Legacy that you leave behind a legacy that I leave behind I will leave a legacy
[45:24] of of love I know that sounds a little cliche but um I think when I sum up my life people will say she loved um I loved you know my work I loved the people that we've been able to impact you know I've Loved God I've loved my family um and I've left you know this place where people can see uh a heart that comes alive um through all of this work and all of this um effort so a legacy of love I think it's fair to say
[46:14] that you are the perfect definition of that intersection of heart and hustle we can tell for everybody who's tuning in and listening today how much you care about your mission all the things that you've leaned into Faith to find yourself in The Amazing position that that you are today to be the leader of such an amazing Organization for everybody who's tuning in today watching and listening thank you so much for coming on the podcast once again I really appreciate this has been an amazing conversation thank you so much Kenan it was a real pleasure and thank you for the honor and the opportunity to share so much about Golf Coast jfcs
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