The Surprising Journey of a YMCA CEO: From Sports Director to Community Leader

[0:16]  Welcome back to the Heart and Hustle Podcast. We got Mr. David Osborne, right? Osmore.

[0:21]  smoking.

[0:22]  my God. Listen, it's it's ca you did that. It was your fault. We were just talking about this whole thing, and then I just did exactly what everyone was doing to you.

[0:30]  Just call me last.

[0:30]  Oz. The Wizard of Oz. I love it. I love it. What listen, I I actually enjoy that movie. Was that a movie that you enjoyed watching as a kid?

[0:40]  Yeah, as a matter of fact, I it was one of my first movies that I vividly remember and I I loved it. And and of course my friends started calling me The Wizard of Oz when I was a kid just because they couldn't they couldn't pronounce Ozmore. The ironic piece is that my wife hates that movie.

[0:55]  What? Why?

[0:55]  It it's the it's the flying monkeys that she just came in the word.

[0:58]  man, man, I love me some monkeys. When I went to South Africa, that was the thing I wanted to see. They said, Hey man, there's these monkeys and you can go in there. And they were so great. You go in there and they tell you keep your bag though, like in front of like inside this cage, because if not, they'll go into your bag and they'll start taking stuff. And I just remember them snatching one of the earrings off the girl's ears. Like, these monkeys were not playing, you know, they're savages, but they're so cute, David.

[1:25]  My wife thinks they're evil, so we'll yeah, she thinks they're evil.

[1:26]  I am the weirdo, David, that I would get me a a little monkey man. my wife won't allow it either, but you know, one day, man, one day I I had to just kinda get her to buy in. David Manson.

[1:36]  One day. Only pot the only podcast in America with an with a monkey perched on your shoulder.

[1:42]  hey, come on now. That definitely could be me. That could be me. David, what organization are you representing to today, man? And I know there's so many of them, so let us know the location as well.

[1:50]  Yeah, so the Harrisburg area YMCA, I've been in YMCA work for thirty three years. started in nineteen ninety three, fresh out of grad school, and it's been a wonderful journey the entire time.

[2:03]  You gotta tell me how you got there, man. Thirty three years into a YMCA, you never left.

[2:06]  Well, I grew up as at the age of five, I learned to swim at the Y in Petersburg, Virginia, suburb so south of Richmond. And I never stepped foot in a YMCA again until it was my job interview. I was finishing grad school at Appalachian State University. I wanted to go into radio. I was the voice of the Mountaineers, I wanted to do football, basketball, baseball, I wanted to minor league baseball, whatever I could piece together to pay the bills. I wanted to Be around sports and I wanted it to call the action. And a great friend of mine from undergrad called me and said, There's a youth sports director position open at the Raleigh YMCA. You would be perfect for it. And I said, Thank you, Sharon. I will put it on my list. I have all these other interviews lined up in radio and sales and ads and those types of things. And she said, I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you that you have to call my boss tonight. And so she pushed me through the door. Two weeks later I was interviewing in Raleigh, North Carolina. Two weeks after that I started my career. That was the summer

[3:17]  Wow.

[3:17]  summer of ninety three.

[3:17]  You know, I always say, David, it's very and I was having this conversation with someone earlier, not earlier, but yesterday. She's she's putting together this stage play, and this is her second stage play. I've seen her write books, and I was like, What is the dream? What is the vision? And she says, you know, one day I want to be a director and I wanna give people opportunities and all this stuff. And I thought about my life as well. I've always growing up thought to myself, one day I'm going to be in entertainment, I'll be on a stage, and I'll be hosting. And a lot of the times when we Put that out there. God has a funny way of how He gives it to us, right? This is the stage. Here I am hosting. Here I thought I was going to be like a Ryan Secret. And I can imagine, David, you thought you were going to be a sports agent or maybe a basketball player. But God put you in this place, man. Did you realize that at some point?

[4:06]  I I think I realized it during my interview, Ephraim. I interviewed with a gentleman named Tim Joyce and and I consider him a mentor to this day. And I sat down in a chair directly across from him, and he pulled uncomfortably close to me to start an interview. And he put his elbows on his knees and his hands out and he said, The only way to begin this relationship is through prayer. And it was at that moment That I said, I want to work for this man and I want to work for the organization that allows him to be a faithful leader. And it was, it, it it drove impact into my heart, and I was hooked. And ever since then, I my father was a minister, never felt called to church ministry at all. In fact, I ran from it. But this is community ministry, it's the ability to impact lives, youth and teens and families and adults. and seniors and and just love and care for and and

[5:06]  Yeah.

[5:06]  it's you know, that's that's a God ministry.

[5:09]  Man, I love it. We're going somewhere right here with this, David. So you you start off as that sports coordinator, how long before you see yourself in a CEO C?

[5:19]  Yeah, it it it was a journey. I was a sports director, I became director of operations and I learned the gritty piece of ri running facilities. I was in charge of maintenance and custodial staff and the business operations, you know, the money and the customer service, the first impression, all of that lumped into what was called the director of operations. And that was a six-year journey to go from youth sports to director of operations. And a great f another great friend, Cameron Corter, called me and he was a wide director in another community in North Carolina and he called and said, Hey, I need a number two person. We're we're expanding. Would you like to be a branch exec? And so, executive, as ambitious as I am, I took the opportunity to go interview. It had absolutely no raise attached to it. it was dollar for dollar. He said, What are you making in Raleigh? I'll match it. and I I was so ambitious, I took it. single at the time and just loved my work and I was there for another eight years before I became a CEO. So probably was that fourteen years, fifteen years b to become a CEO.

[6:29]  Up against the organization it should run today. I know the YMCA is all kind of varies in sizes.

[6:33]  We do, we do. When you've seen one why, you've only seen one why because we're all so unique and so different. we are six facilities, six branches that we call them, and twenty two million dollars of annual sales. just four years coming out of COVID, four years ago we were five branches and twelve million. So we added a facility and we've exploded in growth and so feel very blessed. My role a lot of times is just how to keep the lights on and build capacity so that we can serve. The mi the many people that are coming in our doors.

[7:05]  Do you feel I mean, there's so many organizations nowadays that are just kind of feeling the rift, right? And and they're all panicking. Do you feel like you're in a good place, man, because of the leadership that you've kind of built over the years?

[7:16]  Yeah, we have focused on the people. We have built an incredible leadership team. And now we're pouring into the next level of our organization, which is the branch operations team, the forward operating staff, making sure that they have the tools and resources that they need, making sure they're well compensated, making sure that we have retention tools in place to keep them around after we train them,

[7:39]  Hundred percent.

[7:40]  and we've been able to meet the growth pattern or the growth trajectory. and we're raising more dollars, more members than ever. And we've we've just hit a thousand kids in our summer camp program. We've never done that before. we're serving more kids in the water, we're serving more kids on our competitive swim teams, youth sports, flag football, volleyball, all growing and and every number that we look at is showing an upward trajectory. And we're doing a tremendous amount of work in chronic disease prevention. We'll I know we'll talk about that. a little bit later, but all of that combined, when I look at our financial report every month, there are a lot of green indicators, not red indicators.

[8:24]  That's a good thing, man. you know, right now with nonprofits and the healthcare and all these things, they they can't really say the same. But I really want to know what to what is that, man? Like what leadership skills you think you bring to the table that allow you to really see that? I know you talked about the people and and making those those moves, but it's really to you, man. It's really the way that you probably think the business mindset of being in all these different chapters of your life.

[8:51]  Well, I think number one, this is a vocation, not an occupation. And the difference to me is I wake up every day and say, They really pay me to do this? You know, I'm having such a joyful time and it's impacted my my spouse and my children and now my grandchildren. it's just been a lifestyle for me. And so the love and passion that you show up to work with each and every day, I I I don't want it to be I'm an optimistic person, my glass is full, it's not even half full, it's full. and so I want that joy to come out each and every day. And so do I provide clarity to the organization? Do I provide vision to the organization? And do I provide discipline to the organization? And so if I can lead and and paint a picture of what five years from now looks like, if I can. Organize the resources and have the discipline to meet budgets and do those types of things and and then hire great people around me that can lead the day-to-day. This is the first job in when I was when I moved here. It was 29 years in the movement. It was the first job in my career where I was not expected to be a CEO strategy wise, but also an operator and keep the white clean and keep the snotty noses wiped in the child care center. I had to come combine those two skills. Now I'm in a position where I can be strategic, where I can be a partner in the community and work with other nonprofits and churches and and government agencies. and this feels like a true CEO position and it's been it's been impactful.

[10:31]  Who you who do you think for that, man? I know that you probably had a lot of mentors, a lot of people that poured into you when you talked about your cup being full, not only because of the work that you do, but there was people pouring into that cup along the way. Who do you think for that?

[10:43]  Yeah, so each and every day I think about the word gratefulness. You know, how do I wake up and be grateful to to my wife for giving me the the lane to do this and the and and the support for my kids for being a cheerleader, for my dad setting that example. ifrain my my family I did an inventory of my immediate family and cousins and and and stretched out. I'm amazed at the number of givers. I'm surrounded by people who are teachers and educators and pastors. my sister worked for the International Mission Board and placed min min missionaries around the globe. I am my my young oldest daughter works for a cancer startup, a research facility. my I'm just surrounded by people who set the bar incredibly high for me. And so when I I leave the house every morning, it's I need to serve. I need to serve to catch up to them because they're serving in such an incredible way. I keep a a little block on my desk, and we did this as an exercise in in my in a training course 25 years ago, and there are five names listed on this, my five mentors that started.

[12:00]  Wow.

[12:01]  Tim Joyce that I mentioned is the gentleman that hired me back in '93. Cam Corter, old college buddy that became my boss and gave me my first exec job. Doug McMillan was our CEO in Raleigh. Doug would actually pick you up and take you to Krispy Kreme Donuts. And he would just give you time. And we would talk program and we would talk life and strategy. Steve Tarver, who was the C just retired as the CEO of Greater Louisville, and all of the the the the mentoring that he did for me through COVID, he helped me through a very, you know, a difficult time

[12:37]  Top time, yeah.

[12:38]  for all of us. And then Rosemary Cease, who actually worked for me. But I learned more from her up and down the organization than having the authority to she didn't have the authority over me, but she set such a great example of balancing family and faith and work. And she had such clarity in the way that she made decisions that I always tell her, even now she works for the YMCA in Lynchburg, Virginia, Rose, I want to grow up to be like you. And

[13:06]  Is it

[13:06]  all of these people, and I it it sits on my desk and it has for 20 plus years.

[13:30]  So cool, man.

[13:58]  So just a reminder, to be

[17:00]  Yeah.

[17:36]  grate to be grateful to the people that poured into me.

[22:41]  And a perfect example of surround yourself with people you want to be like, right? Show me your five friends, I'll show you your future. And it didn't just start with those mentors. You're talking about your family. And what was so cool about your p family is that they probably didn't realize they're doing passion purpose work. It was never about a paycheck. And who you are really following in line with that. You're not doing this. You just mentioned I took a I took another job that ideally should have paid me more, but I wasn't about a paycheck for me. I really did it because I truly loved it and I realized what I my purpose was. I realized what I was doing. I was pouring into others' cups. I was planting seeds. I was watering seeds. Whatever that may look like for you. so yeah, man. Kudos to you, David.

[27:29]  So a real quick, I told you I was gonna tell stories offline and I'm gonna tell I'm

[32:35]  Tell me store, tell me store.

[32:41]  gonna tell a quick story online. My father, a phenomenal minister and a great teacher, he's he's passed. He passed about 20 years ago. However, he was not very good at managing the household. That was my my mom's gift. But I remember this interaction around the kitchen table in March or April as tax season was upon us, and my mom was doing the taxes like she did, and dad was clueless. But my mom was very angry as she was put putting the taxes together and she looked at my dad, and my dad's first name was Ernest, but everybody called him Ernie. mom always called him Ernie. but in this moment she was mad, so she called him by his first name. Ernest, do you real do you do you realize that we gave 32% of our income to that church? And I I'm 17, 18 years old. I didn't know what that meant, but I'm listening because the Voice level, the noise level was rising. And she said, We gave 32% of our income to that church, not our church, that church. She was ticked. And my dad, just as calmly and coolly as he possibly could, looked at her and said, Katie, I love you with all my heart. I did what it took. And I had no clue what that meant until I became a nonprofit leader. He did what it took to pay the bills of the church first and the household. The household came last. And that that frames nonprofit leadership, that frames ministry so succinctly, because it's not about you, it's about others and it's about giving.

[37:33]  Yeah.

[37:34]  And so while my dad wasn't great at the household administration, gosh, he was really good at at giving and sacrificially giving.

[38:56]  And planting seeds, man, I always say you'd never know when someone would take that with them, right? And David, all these years later, you were able to realize it. But if dad never planted that seed or watered that seed of curiosity, you would have never realized it. You know, and I I that's what's so special about showing up authentically us. You talked about the pastor showing up authentically him. Like it allows us to be authentically us because why not? It always wins when you are authentically you. You do the things that you know are right. You know, and that you truly believe in. I I love I love these stories, man. You got another story for us, man? I'm I I love stories.

[38:58]  Yeah, I there's there's an example, you know, I talk about s selfless leadership or servant leadership all the time. It it references to a Bible scripture in Philippians chapter two verse three. Do nothing out of selfish amb ambition or vain conceit, but consider others more important than yourselves. And I'm I'm a cyclist or used to be. I'm fifty-nine, now I can't ride as as long or as hard as I used to on a bike, but I would ride with the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, weekend warrior kind of thing, and I'd ride fifty miles, sixty miles. I always admire the professional cyclists because of the shape that they're in and the and and the absolute I think it's the most grueling sport. The Tour de France is twenty-two days. those guys give everything they have. before Lance Armstrong had his moral issues or or scandals, he cycled for the U.S. Postal Service team. That was his sponsor. And every team is made up of nine riders. And there's a there was a gentleman named George Hencappy. And if I asked a hundred people, 99 are gonna say they've never heard the name George Hencappy. But George Hencappy was a domestique in cycling terms. The Domestique's responsibility was protecting the superstar. And so when you're cycling The person in front is carrying all of the bloat. The person in back is just there for the ride. And they can spin and they're using about 60% of the effort. And so the leader, the domestique, is protecting them from wind, it's protecting them from other teams. It's protecting them from they feed them. They literally will get the feedback and bring it to the superstar and then pull them up the hill. And so Lance Armstrong's peddling at sixty percent the effort. But you'll never hear of George Hencappy. When you get to the finish line or the finish line is in sight, the Domestique's job is to purposefully peel away and let the superstar launch the superstar to the finish line. Tell me that's not selfless. Tell me that's not it's it's

[39:05]  I didn't know that was the thing, baby. Yeah.

[39:05]  the thing and it it requires such humility to be able to do it. You know, man, I can see the finish line, but it's not my job to cross it. It's my job to launch Lance. It's my job to lay to launch my COO. It's my job to launch my my wife or my daughter. it's a great, it's a great story that helps others, helps you put in reference. You know, sometimes it's not about you. You have to launch you have to launch other people.

[39:05]  That's the the beauty of it. I was talking to a pastor earlier today and and she was just saying that, like, you know, I do the work because I love to pour into others and allow others to see how good they truly are. You know, where they actually are. And she says, I I just cry when they finally get it. Because it was never about me. It was to allow someone to know that they too have it within them. You know, because David, let's be honest, where else do you go from here? Right. Like at this at this time is is no longer I want to go elsewhere. I want to truly develop the next generation. I want someone to take my seat. So you're going to pour into that individual because you're not wanting to sit at that seat forever. Right. You want everyone else to win as well because you won. And that's really the beauty of life, man, when I think about it. I I actually would give you even a a different story. My biological mother, I have no convers like I don't have a relationship with her. And but I always pray that she finds purpose in her life because I was able to see the other side of life. You know, I was one of 17 kids, the adoption, the sexual abuse, all these different things. And and I had choices in my life, right? Just like she has choices. I just feel she had the wrong people around her in her life. Just recently she this was actually like two weeks ago, I found out that she got hit by a car, that she had internal bleeding and ICU. And I remember trying to research like exactly what happened. But It was like the uncontrollable. All I could do at that moment, David, is that she found purpose through this. That if she makes it through, she realized that God has something in store for her. You know, so when we think about the selfless work, man, it's always happening around us and sometimes in tragic ways for someone to really realize, like, wait a minute, I do have purpose. And we continue to just water that seed. We continue to just plant those seeds and allow and and hope that others could do the same, you know. in that journey. So man, what a crazy story. I they actually learned something new about cycling today because I knew nothing about cycling. I knew who Lance Armstrong was.

[39:06]  Don't mistake, don't forget it. Don't forget it.

[39:49]  you guys are really special what you guys are doing. You talked about you see one Y C A, you've seen one Y C A. What makes you guys so special?

[39:51]  Wow, Central Pennsylvania is a beautiful community. I'm my office faces the Susquehanna River. I can see the mountains around me. we feel like we're we're placed in this beautiful pla spiritual place, if you will. our YMCA, yes, we provide fitness and you can come and exercise if that's what you need in in in this moment in life. Yes, you can provide child care. We're the largest child care. Provider in Central PA. But we do chronic disease prevention work better than any Y in America. Ten years ago, a lady named Susan Jacobs worked for the Y, and she worked for our Y here in Harrisburg for 38 years before she retired. And now her daughter is leading this work. They created entrepreneurially, they went to the boss, Rich Curl, who's the CEO at the time, went to Rich and said, Hey, we have this idea. We'd like to take Our cancer survivorship program, which is called the Live Strong W Live Strong at the Why program, our diabetes prevention, our blood pressure self-monitoring, our arthritis management, all these evidence-based programs that we do to prevent disease, chronic disease, we'd like to make it a branch of the YMCA. And they started with about $200,000 a year in seed money, and it's now over $2 million a year in grant-funded partnerships. We provide all of the programs that Y USA asks us to do as chronic disease prevention programs or or evidence-based programs. We do all of their programs plus three or four more. So we're venturing into Parkinson's work and Alzheimer's work and we do tobacco cessation work and we do do them at for a completely at no cost. No one, whether you're a member of the Y or you're just, you know, you're in a rehab center, we'll go into the rehab center. and teach tobacco cessation. we'll go into churches, we'll go into parks, we'll go into health departments, we'll go wherever we're we're actually working in partnership with Penny. Penny is the state insurance exchange. So we are in low-income housing communities in Pittsburgh and Philly and Scranton teaching residents how to access health insurance. It is it it it is a model that is difficult to replicate but For ten years now we've just gotten better and better and better at it. And do you need

[40:12]  So special for you guys to be in this space as well, right? Something a little different than you've heard. Cause I've I truly have spoken to different YMCAs. And it's always cool to see how you guys really cater to your communities, right? As as well. and how you guys just care. Care at different aspects. I guess the question that I really ask is how do you communicate some of these things? You got so many programs going on, you got so many locations. How does communication, especially now with something like AI, is that something that you guys tap into to kind of spread the word or what does that even look like for you guys?

[40:13]  Yeah, that's a loaded question, Ephraim. There's a couple levels levels to that question. so let me begin with the end and we'll work backwards. AI, it's ironic that you mentioned it because our board just r received a policy update yesterday. we want to put guardrails around AI. We are dabbling in it, but we do not have a strategy. And so we're we're building capacity to be able to use it. But we're human services. We we can't get over the fact that we are built for relationships.

[40:14]  Mm-hmm.

[40:14]  That's what God put us on this planet to do with each other. And so it can be a tool. It cannot be a leader

[40:14]  Placement.

[40:14]  for what we do in terms of relationship. And so AI has to find its role. We do it in market, you know, marketing. We do it in a little bit of HR, a little bit of finance, really data, you know, in terms of if can we be more efficient in the back office? If that's the case, then yes, we'll use it. we outsource a lot of things in order to be more efficient, but AI is part of that. you know, so we have strategies for marketing. We do a lot. I let me begin with this. Our market penetration is only about seven percent. And we think that the Y is this big monster, but we've got competition too. We're competing against for profits. we don't like to call them by name, but those purple people over at you know, Planet Fitness that do it for ten dollars a month. call them the purple people. the purple people do it very in very effectively. very small footprint and in in terms of where they rent and lease their space. You come into a YMCA, it could be a hundred thousand square feet with pools and gymnasiums and locker rooms and child care centers. It's a very different model, but we still compete on price. And so we have to tell our story. we sometimes call ourselves the best kept secret in town because The thing that you can come to the Y for a transaction like childcare or or a fitness class, what's gonna keep you are the people that you meet in that class or the people that you meet around a cup of coffee in the lobby. It's the it's the interaction, it's the experience, it's the friendships,

[40:16]  It's the experience. Yeah.

[40:16]  it's you know, one of the things we're facing as a society is isolation. Seniors are experiencing it, teens are more interested in gaming and and and and cell phones. We've got to get back to the face-to-face interaction with each other. It's the only way to to bridge the divide and become a more unified community is to spend time with each other and listen and respect. And those are core values of our YMCA. Unfortunately, I think our society is losing some of that those core values. but we're gonna we're gonna thread the needle politically. We're not gonna take sides on anything because we love. We love. Period. End of end of sentence. And the only way we can interact with you is if we don't judge you. And so you come into the Y, you you make friends. I mean, there's so many things the Y has invented because our members were so creative and innovative. we invented the game of basketball, we invented volleyball, we invented day camping, we invented Father's Day, and just gave them away. No patents, no no stipulations. The Y is just such a in an innovative innovative organism.

[40:18]  Didn't know that. You're educating me today, David.

[40:18]  Yeah, yeah. institutionally this is hundred and seventy five years we're celebrating t this year in America. And Harrisburg area Y is the eighth oldest Y in America and we've done some incredibly innovative things.

[40:18]  Man, amazing story. Yeah. You don't know what you don't know. Right. And that's what it's so important to share those stories and to just have conversation because kind of going back to what you said at the YMCA, those people that show up and have those conversations and take the time to learn someone really truly leave there inspired, empowered, motivated, right? And wanting to come back because they felt good. I would tell you I went to the Platinum Fitness, the Purple People, has we we won't too many the names many times here, give a plug, shameless plug here. But I remember going to the purple brand and it was great. Don't get me wrong, the ten dollar or whatever, I don't know what the price is nowadays, but I always felt like it was also you couldn't do this. Don't drop the weights here, don't do that. And you know, it there wasn't an experience there. I would tell you that I've had my daughter go to the YMCA and also learn swimming, right? 'Cause I I I almost feel like that's what the Y is kind of known for is the the swim classes. But you swim in gym, you know, but

[40:20]  Yeah. Swimming gym. Swimming gym.

[40:20]  walking through and and ours is kind of an older community, so it's not as as as you know, broad as yours. But yeah, man, from the front person that just truly cared, that took the time to hey, do you want me to kind of show you around? You just don't get that everywhere. You know, and it it it it takes a special person, it seems, to be at the YMCA. Is that correct? Like when you hire, is there a special person? Is there characteristics that you look at?

[40:21]  You know, I am so glad you say that. There are behavioral based questions that we ask in the interview process and we're looking for the spirit of the person. We're hiring you for your attitude. We're hiring you for what you bring interpersonally to the job. The mantra around our wise, hire the attitude and train the skill. And so we want to get the attitude right. We and and then in the very first training when you come to the YMCA, I lead all of the new employee orientations at our YMCA. It's just something I feel passionate about. and we we try to drive that hire we've hired you for your attitude. Now unleash it. Turn it loose. We trust you to be caring and respectful and responsible and honest and faithful. We want you to be who God made you to be. there is no script for interacting with with someone at that front desk to give them a tour. the script is listen. The script is respond to that individual. you know, care for them in a way that will make them feel like, wow, that first impression was off the charts. I gotta, I gotta join, I gotta I gotta come back. So yeah, it's that it's that human connection that we want to unleash. so it's not a robot, it's not a again, that that's part of the AI. We we have to avoid that as much

[40:22]  Yeah.

[40:22]  as we can, use it as a tool, but we still have to remain in human relationships.

[40:23]  And you talked about you having a passion to be the first face on the onboarding process. How many employees do you have, first off?

[40:23]  Seven hundred, I think the last payroll report was about seven hundred and ten. And the

[40:23]  So that means you've seen seven hundred and ten people day one.

[40:23]  Well it yeah, it yes and no. a hundred and nine of them are full time. So we are very heavy on the part time model. I have relate direct relationships with a hundred and nine every day, right? I see all of our full time all the time. I don't get to

[40:23]  Got

[40:23]  see our part time staff the way that I would like to. some work evening shifts, some work weekend shifts, and so it's random that I get to interact with them. But so that new staff orientation is a way for me to try to connect to them and at least plant seeds, as you were mentioning earlier. Yeah. What seeds can I plant?

[40:23]  Why why is that so important to you, you think?

[40:23]  it's it's just I want to set the example that first impression. I want them to know that I'm passionate about the mission of the YMCA. I want them to know the values that we we stand for, and so what better person to learn from than than from the CEO? there's a little trick that I use in new staff orientation and I tease them with this. We memorize our mission statement. To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. It takes four minutes to memorize that statement. We do it in deathly silence. And then I tell them, if you have the confidence to see me in the branch one day and quote that mission statement, I carry a $5 bill in my wallet at all times. That $5 is yours. And a few people have taken me up on it, and a few people have said, I don't have the confidence to quote it word for word yet. But it is a challenge. You need to live that mission to put Christian principles into practice. My favorite two words of that are the last two words, which are for all, for everyone. Everyone's welcome at the Y And so I lead new chef orientation to drill that into people, that they are here to serve other people.

[40:23]  I mean, a great leader, man, a great leader shows up. they get involved, right? Those little small little things of hey, you meet me and and you quoted five dollars, that goes such a long way because it just shows that you're engaged. And I haven't been in leadership, I would t or I guess I am still in leadership, but really running a location in a very long time. But it was those things that I enjoyed is really allowing them to know I'm there with you. I am I'm willing to wrap up, you know, or roll up my sleeves and get on a sandwich line if that's what I needed to do. Go clean a bathroom if that's what I needed to do. And it takes a good leader, David. It seems like y that's why you've been doing this for so long, man. You're just amazing at it.

[40:23]  So I go back to this this this little tool here. TJ, Tim Joyce, who hired me, he and I would have our weekly one-on-one meetings and he'd say, Okay, let's let's get up and let's walk around the the property, let's walk around the ball fields, let's walk around the basketball courts, the day camp facility. And we he would pick up trash. He would literally, as a leader of the organization, would bend down and pick up trash because he didn't want members to see that. And so I do that to this day. People laugh at me because I'm you will always see me with a piece of trash in my hand. But it's it's that little care for those little details that send the message that every we're we're in this together.

[40:23]  Yeah.

[40:23]  I it's the attention to detail that we try to and and and by you know two things. One the trash, that's important to me. I want first impressions to be phenomenal. Secondly, I want staff to choose the furthest parking spot from the front door.

[40:23]  Okay. Yeah.

[40:23]  That sends a message. It sends a message that members are more important than we are. And I'm I'm challenged. I'll go visit a branch and my COO is parked way over there and I'm I'm like leaning into this space in the middle of the parking lot. And I think to myself, No, no, no, no, no, I can't do that. I've got to I've got to go park next to him because he set the bar pretty darn high.

[40:23]  Yeah, yeah. Lead by example, man, is what I say. I love it. as we start to wrap this up, man, you talked about having a plan. What is the plan, David? I mean, looking two, three years out, what is the plan around innovation, maybe technology of growth? What does that look like for you? Cause I love to be the accountability partner. So next time we talk, David, I'm gonna ask you, Hey, you told me this is what got you got going on. Are you actually executing?

[40:23]  Yeah, so I love strategic planning. I'm one of those few nonprofit nerds that actually enjoy the process because I love the execution side of it. And so I think it's the discipline of the organization. If you have a plan, are you working that plan? we're a leader in transitional housing. We're a leader in keeping men sp in particular off the streets. We don't want, you know, but yet we still have homeless issues in Harrisburg. We are trying to build a coalition right now. And it's new and it's innovative for us. We've never done this before. We we're trying to build a nonprofit and church coalition that will improve the humanity of service to homeless individuals, unhoused individuals. We want to bring multiple nonprofits and churches under one roof and each play a different role. So one nonprofit could be the emergency shelter and the intake, if you will. One nonprofit is the counseling wing. One nonprofit is the transitional housing, one nonprofit is the job training. And it's challenging because nonprofits live in silos and they like their fiefdoms and they like their territory, they like their funding streams. And it's trying to convince others to say, you know what, I think there's economies of scale here that we can do this work together cheaper, more efficiently. If we're under one roof than if we're trying to manage four, five, eight different sites. we're competing for the same philanthropic dollar, we're competing for the same grants. and so how do we build a coalition of willing nonprofit leaders that want to do this work? And the byproduct is the perception of crime in Harrisburg goes down because getting these people off the street and into a home humane home or humane village, if you will. and it it it leads to economic development. and so while nonprofits don't like to lead with economic development, we're two pie in the sky. If we lead with humanity, the byproduct will be economic development. And so it's a challenging venture. I think it's gonna take a couple of years for us to even get on the same page. But I'll We have volunteered to be the nonprofit to write the strategic plan. And so

[40:24]  I love that man.

[40:24]  I ca I came full circle for you there, but that's the next challenge for us is staying in this housing space, but finding a humane way to serve our homeless population.

[40:24]  I ask you to leave us with some words of wisdom for those leaders that right now are probably panicking when they need to be pivoting. And probably at the YMCAs, other nonprofits we just kind of talked about. but there's so many people right now that are really panicking and not taking the time to pivot. What are those words of encouragement to those individuals?

[40:24]  Yeah, my entire career, there are two things that I've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to say yes. never cower from from the opportunity to say yes. And the second is run to the challenge. Sprint to the challenge, if you will. it will help you in your career if you're the yes person and you are a solutions driven person. It'll help you in your career if you run to the next challenge and say, I love this organization. What more can I do? My dad was always famous for saying, son, you never want to leave any talent on the sidelines. Put it in the game. And I don't want to retire in six or seven, eight years. My wife tells me I need to keep working. She's retired, so we can't be at home at the same time.

[40:24]  Yeah.

[40:24]  So I'm going to keep working, but I'm energized by it. And I don't want to leave any talent on the sidelines. I want to put it in the game. And so You know, I say yes a lot and and then we figure it out as we fly the machine. and we we're always running to the challenge. My our our team mantra right now is how do we boldly show up in in in partnership.

[40:24]  I love it, David. I appreciate the conversation. I appreciate the education. Where where can people visit? Is there a website, any socials that someone can tap into just kind of see all the work that you guys are doing, David?

[40:24]  Yeah, YMCA Harrisburg dot org is our website. we're on all the socials, Instagram, Facebook. I'm on LinkedIn, David Osmore O Z, O R E. follow me on LinkedIn. Not Osborne. Oz

[40:24]  Not Osbourne.

[40:24]  Oz with a Z. So Osmoore on LinkedIn. Follow me.

[40:24]  I love it, David. you so much. If you guys are still watching, these are the conversations that we love to have with our leaders. Transparent, authentic, just giving back, doing the passion and purpose work, not chasing a paycheck. This has been David. I'm Ephraim, and I'll catch you on the next one. Laters.

[40:24]  Yeah.