A Medical Group Management Company in the Northwest.

It occurred to me today how much I have accomplished this week on the road.  By ‘on the road’, I don’t mean work that occurs from a location remote from my primary residence in Boise.  I literally mean ‘on the road’.  I left Boise on Tuesday morning for the Tri Cities and have burned up the highway between Kennewick and Prosser all week.  I’ve had more things to accomplish this week than hours available and so I’ve maximized my road time with a little GTD tip that I learned from our own Brad Turpen.

Each morning, I have taken an inventory of the priorities on my @Calls list in Outlook.  That’s where I store the tasks that I am responsible for completing that require me to use a phone, but not necessarily a computer.  Brad taught me to put the telephone number in the subject line of the task so that as I pull it up, I need only click on the 10 digit number (which Outlook recognizes as a telephone number) and it automatically asks me to confirm that I want to call.  My Bluetooth allows me to keep my hands on the wheel while I conduct business from behind a windshield instead of a desk.

So this week I’ve initiated a special meeting of our Board, conducted a reference check on one of our recruitment candidates, done a screening interview with another potential candidate, negotiated details of the compensation package that our client is offering one of our candidates, and more.  As a matter of fact, I didn’t get in to my car one time this week without the name and number of my next call already prepared on my smart phone.  As I arrived at my hotel room each night, I could at least feel good that the work before me was work requiring me to use a computer – the person to person stuff was already out of the way.

Technology isn’t making my workload any lighter but it sure is helping me to get stuff done.

Sometimes you need someone from outside your circle to come in to your world and remind you how good you have it.  When I first ‘met’ MedMan I was working in an independent medical practice here in Boise.  We were one of the biggest games in town and the management team that had been formed to run this enterprise was smart and diverse.  Still, we had our share of challenges to face and obstacles to overcome and I distinctly remember not really having anyone outside of that group to reach out to.  As much as I hate to admit it, there were times when I felt like we were isolated (either by geography or competition) from a bigger world out there that had the knowledge and experience to deal with the issue at hand.

One of our newer MedMan colleagues visited Boise recently.  It was gratifying to hear him talk about how impressed he was with our business model and how excited he was to have instant access to over thirty years worth of resources, knowledge and experience.  I guess I took notice of this because his words sounded so familiar.  I remembered having that very same sense of amazement and wonder when I joined MedMan.  I’ve been with MedMan long enough now that I’ve grown accustomed to the power of our network, the accessibility of information, and the willingness of my colleagues to aggressively transfer information amongst the team.  It is quite amazing that almost 30 people in 4 different states can liberally share information with absolute confidentiality and trust.  So, it is no accident that Sharing made the short list of core values.  But seeing it through someone else’s eyes last week reminded me not to take it for granted.  I don’t want to ever step outside of this family to know what it’s like to go home.

What a great couple of days. I got to fulfill my job description to a T. Working for MedMan I get to utilize a passion passed down from one Boggess to the next. I was raised in an aviation family with the joy of flight embedded in my DNA. Combine that with a creative artistic side and you have a pilot with a laptop who can get stuff done just about anywhere. It’s hard to believe my Monday morning started at 7am in downtown Boise for a management team meeting and the day ended in Whitefish, Montana.

The perks of corporate aviation. Considering Jim and I were able to be in Boise for a meeting bright and early, work til 2 o’clock and then be airborne and heading for Montana paints a pretty good picture of how a company like MedMan can use a tool like Columbus. Such a trip on the airlines would have been an all day affair with a pretty good chance of a significant delay in there somewhere. We even arrived in time to accomplish and afternoon meeting at the hospital in Kalispell followed by a dinner with doctors.

The second half of a 33 hour and 47 minute tour of the Northwest started bright and early today with breakfast, a meeting with senior level management and  a CEO who we wanted to impress, a hospital tour and a then nice flight over to Moses lake. Non-stop 1 hour and 18 minutes at a cruising altitude of 12000 on top of a cloud layer in the crystal clear blue sky. On the ground by 1:45pm.

So, now here we are in Moses Lake, WA. This stop is a quick one. Long enough for a bite to eat at my old stomping grounds, Big Bend Community College. Jim and I seemed to accomplish a lot over a turkey sandwich and a salad. Out come the Blackberry’s and we have ourselves a productive session about up coming projects and what I have on my plate.  He goes one way and I go another.  I take off for Boise after the C-17 clears the traffic pattern. Crazy to see one of the biggest airplanes in the world doing touch-and-goes.

1 hour and 20 minutes later I touchdown in Boise with a decent landing by pilot standards. The airplane gets put away and I take a minute to reflect on a productive round trip via Montana and Washington. No luggage lost, no stale peanuts you had to pay for and no unexplainable delays. Columbus treats us right again with an efficient, productive and safe trip through familiar MedMan stomping grounds.