Home › Posts tagged #networking

#networking

Some thoughts on our newsletter and our networking philosophy…

Posted on by

July marks one year of publishing our very first monthly HLSA newsletter. It has been challenging, a great learning experience, quite a bit of fun and very rewarding. It would also not have been possible without the inspiration and guidance we received from our mentor, Michael Loschke of Arista Advisors, to whom we are incredibly grateful. We (our board) had been talking for some time about doing a newsletter to expand our community outreach, and Michael was the catalyst that made that happen. We wanted to provide added value to our sponsors while also sharing some great information from some of the very smart and experienced individuals we have met through our networking events.

We have been hosting our monthly mixers and special events for well over a decade now with one mission in mind, to thoughtfully connect healthcare professionals as a means to grow connections and opportunities. Most people think of that when they think of networking- you’re looking for new business, new clients, maybe a new job- and those are reasonable and practical goals. But over the years we have also forged some very meaningful connections and friendships, and learned a lot about business in San Antonio.

If asked to point to one source of inspiration for starting a networking group, I would have to point to Johnny Johnson. His real name was Phil Johnson, but I always remember him being introduced as “Johnny” at our regional ACHE conferences in the mid-90s when he was the CEO of what was then McKenna Hospital in New Braunfels. Johnny was of course a fellow in ACHE and had also enjoyed a distinguished health administration career in the US Army, rising to the rank of Colonel before returning to civilian life. He was also a huge proponent of networking and always brought very sizeable stacks of business cards in rubber bands (this was in the earliest days of the internet) to the conference podium to drive home his points when he spoke about its importance to our careers. He would say it is something you have to do continually, a career discipline that can  be rewarding in ways beyond the next job lead.

He was right.

 

David Neathery

HLSA Founder

 

Healthcare Leaders Enters its 11th Year of Forging New Connections

Posted on by

Healthcare Leaders celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. Back in 2014, we were a small handful of acquaintances, some of whom had experienced position eliminations, were transitioning out of the military, or just plain looking for new and better opportunities.  We were meeting twice a month, early in the morning, at a coffee shop on 281 trying to help each other make connections and identify opportunities. Over the course of a few months, we developed a little email following of two or three dozen people, many of whom had never been to our meetings. “We’d love to attend,” they would tell us, “but can’t make mornings, can you do something in the evening?” 

At that point, we started doing an evening mixer the second Thursday (so as not to coincide with our friends at San Antonio IT Networking Group on the first Thursday) of each month. We’ve been hosting our networking events ever since. Like everyone else, we had an unwelcome hiatus forced on us by COVID. We even had a newly launched and ultimately short-lived Houston chapter that was closed after only two meetings due to the lockdown. But, as things returned to normal, we concentrated on rebuilding our San Antonio group. After about a year, we were back to where we had been and beginning to grow even larger.

Over the years, we’ve had a lot of great sponsors, venues and speakers for our special events. As most of our regular attendees know, for many years we were at the Sustenio Restaurant at the Eilan Hotel. They were great and gracious hosts, but, sadly, we outgrew the space they could offer and set off exploring other locales. Our very first special event sponsor was the South Texas Spine & Surgical Hospital for a luncheon hosted by the Bexar County Medical Society.

Although we began as a small group helping each other with job leads, over the years we have probably been more prolific in connecting people with new clients and new business. However, helping people connect with someone who can point them to a new job remains near and dear to our hearts and we are delighted if we can offer help in what can be a very trying and stressful time.  We are dedicated to fostering business connections, and our goal is to do this in an atmosphere of community and familial support.

If you haven’t already done so, please join us sometime. Come and connect.