Who You Are Matters One of the people who taught me the most about being a heart-led leader was a man named Anthony D''Aquanni. Anthony was a hair stylist in White Plains, New York, just across the Hudson River from my hometown, Suffern. Anthony wasn''t wealthy, and he didn''t have a high-profile public career. He spent much of his life as the owner of a small business that he and his wife, Helen, opened not long after they were married in 1940. The two of them were seldom apart. For decades, Helen would wash and color the hair of their clients, while Anthony cut and styled. They worked hard, bought a modest home, raised four daughters, and, later, doted on 14 grandchildren. They somehow made every one of them feel like the most special person in the world.
Anthony and Helen never missed a school play or a sporting event or a Scouting ceremony. Their grandchildren grew up watching the two of them hold hands, kiss, laugh, and dance in their kitchen. At Christmas gatherings, Anthony always gave the same toast. "Never forget the three most important things in life," he would say. "Family, family, and family." That was the measure of Anthony''s success, the love of his family. Then one day Helen had a stroke. She survived, but the doctors told Anthony his wife would never walk again.
They suggested moving her into a nursing home. The two of them had been married for 55 years, and Anthony couldn''t bear the thought of being without the love of his life. So he visited Helen every day and worked tirelessly with her on her physical therapy. He was the first visitor to arrive each morning and the last to leave every night. Eventually the staff gave him his own key. Anthony was the only non-employee in the nursing home''s history who could come and go as he pleased. After months of determined effort, he proved the doctors wrong. Helen walked again.
Their elation was short-lived, however. Three months later, his wife suffered a second stroke. Helen never walked or talked again. But, remarkably, if anyone sang "You Are My Sunshine" to her, she was able to sing along. It was, after all, Anthony''s and Helen''s song. Two years after Helen''s first stroke, Anthony learned he had an inoperable brain tumor. He died at the age of 82, leaving behind his wife of 57 years (Helen would live to age 89 before passing away). Before Anthony died, a long string of family members came to say goodbye and to tell him they loved him.
"Everyone keeps telling me that they love me," he said to one of his daughters shortly before he died. "Show me!" Those were his very last words: "Show me!" Don''t just tell me you love me, show me. Anthony could utter that message because he had lived it. He had shown Helen he loved her by being present for her every day of his life. He was always there for her, always in tune with what she needed, even in those final years when she could give very little back to him. But his love and devotion were never about what she could give. For Anthony and Helen, it was always about what they could give to others--to their children, their grandchildren, their clients, their friends, their community, and, most of all, each other. That''s how you build relationships that last forever.
Through his words and his example, Anthony taught me invaluable lessons about life and leadership. And I was lucky enough to be able to spend many years absorbing these lessons. That''s because Anthony D''Aquanni was my grandfather. What I admire most about Anthony is that he took what he was given in life and made the absolute most of it. And isn''t that what we should all aspire to do? Whether you''re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or the sole proprietor of a small business, an award-winning journalist or the secretary of your church newsletter, an Olympic athlete or a stay-at-home parent, all we can ask of ourselves is that we try to live our lives, at work and at home, as a true expression and reflection of who we are. My grandfather wasn''t wealthy or famous. He didn''t have political power and he didn''t run a large corporation. But he knew exactly who he was and what he cared about.
As he showed me through the way he lived his life, it doesn''t matter what titles or awards or accomplishments you''ve accumulated or placed on your mantel. Success is about building hearts, not resumes. Success fulfills us only when we focus on our passions, when we care as much about others as we do about ourselves. When we lead with our hearts. Because who you are matters. Rule #45: Do Right "All we have are our hearts and minds. If these hearts and minds aren''t taken care of, what kind of company are we going to be? We need to create an environment where people''s hearts and minds can thrive." That statement, for me, is the epitome of heart-led leadership.
It was spoken by the CEO of a billion-dollar company who is committed to growing profits, expanding market share, and satisfying shareholders. A CEO who is committed to accomplishing these things as a heart-led leader. The individual who said those words to me is Tee Green, one of the most authentic, humble, and service-oriented leaders I''ve ever met. He is the CEO of Greenway Health, a medical software company based in Carrollton, Georgia. Over the past several years, I have spoken in various venues to the company''s executives, employees, and customers and have gotten to know the organization fairly well. Greenway is not just an industry leader in the field of electronic medical records; it is also known for its exceptional service and its caring attitude toward clients, employees, and communities. I experienced this firsthand when I was at the company''s annual conference recently and saw Tee speak to 3,000 Greenway customers. After introducing a new product line, he said: "Look, I''m the CEO.
The buck stops here. If anyone here has a problem with our software, or a question about it, call me. Here is my cell phone number." And Tee then gave his personal cell phone number to the 3,000 attendees. That is putting yourself on the line for your product. That is caring about your customers. Tee founded Greenway with his father in 1998. The company provides software to physicians, pharmacies, and other health care providers so they can electronically manage medical records and revenue cycles.
Greenway also specializes in health care analytics--the use of software to interpret clinical studies, analyze the efficiency of care, or utilize genetic information to develop better treatments. His father is now retired from the firm, but Tee has helped Greenway become one of the country''s top providers of medical software. For a while, the company was growing at a rate of 30 percent a year, and although that rate is not sustainable forever, Greenway is still growing rapidly--just last year the company hired 450 new personnel, and now it has 1,700 employees. Greenway went public in 2012; two years later it was bought for $644 million by Vista Equity Partners, to merge it with Vitera Healthcare Solutions, another medical software company. At the time, Greenway was working with 15,000 health care providers in the United States; Vitera had a client list of 85,000 providers. Mergers take place all the time in the business world, but there is an aspect of this deal that is not so common: the new company is called Greenway Health, the software products are marketed under the Greenway brand, and the new CEO is none other than Tee Green. Now, how many times do two companies merge and retain the name and the management team of the smaller company? Not often. When I asked Tee about this, he was his typical humble self.
"Well, I think Vista Equity just liked our road map," he said. "They liked where we were driving the company." But mergers are about hard-nosed business decisions. Even though Vitera was six times the size of Greenway, Vista Equity was not just giving preference to Greenway''s products or "book of business." It was buying into the Greenway brand and into Greenway''s concept of heart-led leadership. It was buying into the who, not just the what. I don''t have any particular knowledge of medical software, but I am passionate about people and servant leadership. And, based on my experience in working with hundreds of companies and thousands of executives, I can tell you that Greenway is run by some special individuals.
For one, I don''t think I''ve ever been greeted more warmly by staff members at any company than I have been at Greenway. But the distinctiveness of the company''s culture goes beyond mere friendliness. It''s apparent when you walk into a meeting with Greenway executives how much they care about each other, and that they are dedicated not only to growing their company but also to ensuring that the organization maintains its character for the long term. "We wanted to build a generational company that would be around for decades and be able to make a true impact," Tee told me. "We wanted to fundamentally change how health care was provided. At the same time, we wanted to attract people who would build a career here, not just stay a few years and move on. I wanted to build an organization that employees would be proud to be a part of. "Look, anyone can build a company and then sell it a few years later and make a lot of money," he said.
"But is that really what it''s all about? I''d rather do something for the long term and build something that lasts." Mike Hairston, executive vice president for sales, and Eric Grunden, vice president for professional services, have worked with Tee f.