00:00:00:00 - 00:00:16:18 Jennifer Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of CEO and Executive Thought Leadership. I am your host, Jennifer Klug, and today we have a very special guest, Jean Bourgeois, president and founder of Excelas. Welcome to the program, Jean. 00:00:16:20 - 00:00:19:18 Jean Thank you very much. I'm honored to be here. 00:00:19:21 - 00:00:55:07 Jennifer So let me tell everyone about you. With a vast amount of leadership experience in health care and medical litigation consulting. Jean founded Excelas in 2005. The company provides consulting services to health care organizations, law firms, and insurance companies across the nation. And you do this by focusing on medical record retrieval and organization analysis, compliance and software solutions. 00:00:55:07 - 00:00:57:23 Jennifer So it's a pleasure to have you on the program. 00:00:58:00 - 00:01:00:19 Jean I appreciate it. Thank you. Happy to be here. 00:01:00:21 - 00:01:12:03 Jennifer So Jean your company's very unique. So give the audience today a feel of the overview of the services you provide in a little bit more depth than I just explained. 00:01:12:05 - 00:01:44:23 Jean Okay. I'm happy to do that. Excelas a medical legal consulting firm. We're made up of primarily medically trained individuals, medical record professionals and nurses, and we help defense attorneys and health care organizations respond to claims and litigation that are brought against them. And we do that by analyzing medical records and then providing reports in specific formats based upon what they need. 00:01:45:00 - 00:01:58:18 Jean So we really work in three spaces for health care organizations, for defense attorneys, and then for insurance companies. Their most often the people handling the claims in litigation against a healthcare organization. 00:01:58:20 - 00:02:23:11 Jennifer I bet that's interesting and rewarding work at the same time. So thank you for for sharing that a little bit more in depth for us. Now you're the founder, and I always like talking to founders of the organization because there's there's this leap of faith to jump into starting the business. Everybody has their own story. Sometimes it's a garage, sometimes it's a basement. 00:02:23:13 - 00:02:32:01 Jennifer That people start their companies saying, could you tell us your journey on why you made the leap and how you made the leap to start this organization? 00:02:32:03 - 00:02:35:23 Jean Yeah, I was thinking about it. I'm like, how much to share? I'll stay at a high level. 00:02:35:23 - 00:02:37:02 Jennifer The bad and the ugly. 00:02:37:05 - 00:03:04:11 Jean My background was in hospitals, in medical record departments, and so I worked in several Cleveland area hospitals. And then I my background also was in for profit for a medical transcription and medical coding companies. And then I had a change in my personal situation. So I had some risk tolerance. And I decided to give this a try. And so I had the idea to start the business. 00:03:04:13 - 00:03:38:23 Jean No. No website, no clients, nothing really. Just an idea. And I declared us in business in May of 2005 and then started on the journey of developing the business. And interestingly, I was thinking about it when I started. There's a lot of things I didn't know I had experience in businesses, but not running one. So I really got into my network and used the expertise of primarily other small women owned businesses for human resource consulting, marketing, website development. 00:03:39:00 - 00:03:48:06 Jean And so I really tried to do that. And it worked out great because I just met some amazing people that helped me along the path to just getting started. 00:03:48:06 - 00:04:09:11 Jennifer That's wonderful. You know, looking back at that story and literally you just had an idea and sweat equity and you created this booming business. Now, some 20 years later, you get to reflect on it. What would you have changed in in that journey of starting to where you are now? 00:04:09:13 - 00:04:33:01 Jean Well, now it just I think I was slow on the uptake. I got to where I should be, but we were in business for three years and we, I was using consultants, not employees. And in 2008 I decided to really dig in, to hire the people as employees that I had been working with to start providing benefits like I wanted to this business. 00:04:33:03 - 00:04:59:15 Jean Now, you know, that's expensive. So people would challenge you and say, really? Is that what you needed to do? But we opened an office and then we also started working with some companies that had ideas about what they expected from us and working with us. And that's really when we started to develop our technical platform. So we got started using the tools that were generally available and then really started building our technology. 00:04:59:18 - 00:05:21:17 Jean I was seven years in, and then I realized, like, I don't know what I don't know, and I'm running on instinct and experience and just doing what I think is right. And then realized I needed some more formal help. So it's the seven year mark. I got involved in a peer review organization. Yeah. Now a peer group. Yeah. 00:05:21:18 - 00:06:09:01 Jean And it's international organization. And it was through those years when I was involved with other CEOs and business owners, that I really learned the best practices in running a business. So I would say to start out, I was just lucky. And but you learn all the lessons the hard way. And then when I got involved in, in this peer organization, just best practices from everything from, you know, the metrics that you use, the technology that you develop, human resources practices and procedures, the, the whole that and I so I feel like through that education, I became a much better leader because I actually was learning and maybe knew better when I was doing. 00:06:09:03 - 00:06:36:22 Jennifer We hear that quite often that CEOs need other CEOs to talk to and share stories, and odds are somebody in the group has been through something similar and can offer some advice. Worst case, a group to vent to because there's no one to vent frustrations as a leader. So some like that, your instinct and an elbow grease is what really, really helped you in this scenario. 00:06:36:24 - 00:06:38:03 Jennifer Well, I get you. 00:06:38:04 - 00:07:01:18 Jean You're kind of alone where you are. And so other business leaders, what you find. We were in completely different industries, but the issues that you face are the same. And yeah, and to rely on people that are working with you is really not fair because you alone are responsible for the decisions and the things that happen in the business. 00:07:01:20 - 00:07:11:04 Jennifer Well, most of the best leaders out there are humble and they seek input in and usually the ones that don't have to have some of the problems. 00:07:11:04 - 00:07:12:24 Jean Right eye problems. Okay. 00:07:13:01 - 00:07:36:24 Jennifer So this year's very interesting. We have a very interesting year in front of us coming up here, as well as the world's a little wonky right now. We're hearing from other leaders. You know, there's talent issues or skill gap issues. Maybe the tariffs are impacting them or government is more involved in their business than normal. And there's uncertainty. 00:07:37:01 - 00:07:40:08 Jennifer What are your most pressing issues right now that you're facing? 00:07:40:11 - 00:08:05:19 Jean Well uncertainly uncertainty. It certainly throws a wrench in in your plans. I think when your clients are confident, folks know what's going to happen, you just you see what's coming. It makes things easier. So I think there's hesitation on the part of folks in the industry that we serve and what's going to happen next. And and so we're facing that. 00:08:05:19 - 00:08:32:08 Jean And then I've listened to some of your other interviews, the the promise or threat of AI certainly weighs in in the space that we're in. We're we're working on that ourselves in terms of our technology development, because we know innovation is going to happen and we need to keep pace with that, but also seeing what's happening in the industry and how we might use things that are already developed. 00:08:32:08 - 00:08:48:04 Jean Health care. Who are our clients that certainly, you know, the insurance aspects, the health care reimbursement and regulations impact our clients heavily. And and a lot of that is up in the air now. So that. That's right. 00:08:48:06 - 00:09:17:16 Jennifer Right. And I'm sure this isn't your first time where there's been some pressing issues as a leader over the past 20 years. So obviously it's a different gear. And it sounds like you're just pressing that button and rolling into it. But I particularly is a hot topic, as you mentioned. And you control data, right? So I would imagine that you could have some pretty, pretty cool AI solutions for your clients so they don't have to invent it. 00:09:17:16 - 00:09:22:21 Jennifer You could provide that solution. I'm I'm guessing that's what you meant by that. 00:09:22:23 - 00:09:45:13 Jean You know, it's interesting because we're in a unique space where we're using people's we're receiving people's medical records or clinical information, and that's protected by HIPAA. And so when you're working on processes or accounting principles or finance or everything, and you can put your data up there and see what happens and what kind of results you get back. 00:09:45:15 - 00:10:17:13 Jean We can't do that because the information that we receive is protected. So we have some kind of unique challenges in terms of using AI for that purpose. And medicine has its own language, and that also is a complicating factor when you're asking AI to help you interpret clinical information. It'll it'll come. It's not if it's when but, we're in a little bit different situation because of the security issues around the the clinical information we receive. 00:10:17:15 - 00:10:44:10 Jennifer Yeah. And a lot of executives are going to that decision of when do we jump in and how do we jump in. And we're hearing a lot that people are hiring VP of AI so that you're at least in the game what the game is. You can figure it out as you go, as you talk about good instincts and talk about gut instinct and just elbow grease, that that's going to be an interesting journey for you. 00:10:44:10 - 00:11:06:11 Jennifer You know, we we all experience monumental moments in our careers. Some of them are oh, I'm so glad I made that decision because it took us to the next level. Others are. This happened and it hurts and it hurt bad. And this and you look at it from a year later and you look back and said, I'm glad we went through that because it forced growth. 00:11:06:11 - 00:11:13:06 Jennifer It forced change. Could you share 1 or 2 monumental moments that stand out in your career? 00:11:13:08 - 00:11:31:12 Jean It's funny because you go from the worst thing that could happen to like the best thing. So and that's happened several times, but I'll I'll share one with you. So was February of 2020. We know what happened in March 2020. There was apparently right. I think he was Saint Patrick's Day when Cleveland shut down. I know he was right. 00:11:31:14 - 00:11:49:15 Jean But anyways, it was February of 2020 there. We had two major clients that actually got out of the business they were in, and so we didn't. It was something beyond our control. And so I had to make this the extraordinarily difficult decision to kind of I laid off my entire team. 00:11:49:21 - 00:11:50:13 Jennifer Oh, wow. 00:11:50:19 - 00:12:18:02 Jean Because we didn't have work. And then we, as so would they, were regular employees. I rehired that the ones who would stay as variable so that we could have so that I could control the the spend of our, you know, for our salary. So then in March so this happened in February and March, Covid hits. And so then I had a large office, had to send everyone home. 00:12:18:02 - 00:12:43:08 Jean But, you know, the great thing about that is we had been building our technology all along. So there was only like one piece that had to be done in the office that we figured out could be done at home. And then when Covid was happening, the industry was still meeting, and I was part of those meetings and some ideas came up about developing timelines of the Covid guidance and things. 00:12:43:08 - 00:13:10:21 Jean And I was thinking, timelines is what we do. So during that time that we were shut down, we started building new technical applications that I never would have thought of or dreamed of. And so I came out of that, that situation to pivot and actually use that use the opportunity money to keep people busy. And then we had a tool that we could that we could, that we could present to our clients. 00:13:10:23 - 00:13:18:13 Jean That was a new solution. So the worst thing that could happen turned into a like a really crazy time. And then and something great came out of it. 00:13:18:15 - 00:13:49:24 Jennifer Oh my gosh, that's such an excellent example of you take the adversity, you take your core skillset and you apply it in a different way. I wish we all had that button to press, whereas, okay, we don't need a crisis in order for us to focus on a new market or a new product or whatnot. But unfortunately, that's usually what it takes is a crisis or an emergency for us to see things differently, to look on the business versus in the business right now. 00:13:50:00 - 00:13:51:12 Jennifer So congrats on. 00:13:51:12 - 00:14:21:01 Jean That. Yeah, something. The other thing that happened during that time is we were used to being a 80% home based business, and a lot of the folks that we worked with had never done that. Every, you know, especially law firms are in the office. And so I felt like I experienced it really helped our clients because they could rely on us to keep that, keep the train on the tracks, because we didn't have to change everything and really got an opportunity to coach up some folks that didn't, hadn't dealt with that situation before. 00:14:21:03 - 00:14:23:02 Jean So it was it was cool. 00:14:23:04 - 00:14:50:10 Jennifer Well, let's talk about that. You have an award winning culture. You're one of the best and brightest companies to work for. Congratulations. I know it's a hard award to get and to get it year over year is not easy. Your role as the CEO, the founder. What is your expectation of the culture at your company, and what is your role in the culture as far as engaging and retaining talent? 00:14:50:12 - 00:15:24:16 Jean We started out years ago really engaging the entire team on our mission, vision and values. And so we we separated into groups and we we wrote our mission statement and we wrote our core values. And it's funny because that was probably 15 years ago, and we've only tweaked one aspect of our core values. And I think as the CEO and leader, you have to set the example of the behaviors that you expect from your, your team. 00:15:24:18 - 00:15:34:24 Jean And so and I that's really important to me because even when I started I'm like, I had an idea, but I was like, we're going to do great work and have some fun. I mean, that's really not enough. 00:15:35:01 - 00:15:35:23 Jennifer But. 00:15:36:00 - 00:15:37:21 Jean I still say it every year at our anniversary. 00:15:37:21 - 00:15:38:20 Jennifer Party, kind of. 00:15:38:20 - 00:16:03:19 Jean The basis of what we're doing to to discuss the core values in the mission and vision to review it. But we also, even in our weekly meetings, talk about what happened, you know, what impact did we have, what were the issues and what were our actions, and how did they relate to our core values? Like what what was presented in in that solution and what we did? 00:16:03:21 - 00:16:26:17 Jean So especially when it comes to engaging with our clients, and I think communicating on an ongoing basis what those are. And then someone once said to me, someone that's always watching you, everything you say, everything you do, the way you behave and it's true, people are looking. And so if you're saying one thing about your expectations and behaving in another way, I think there's inconsistencies. 00:16:26:19 - 00:16:32:01 Jean And that's really important to me that that's that the case for me. 00:16:32:04 - 00:16:58:00 Jennifer Yeah. Or something. Walk the talk. And in your example, which is a really good example. And a lot of leaders get this wrong, but you're doing something that others could learn from. And that is infusing your core beliefs and values in meetings and discussions. It's part of always talking about it, engaging it, living by it. Where did we go wrong? 00:16:58:01 - 00:17:24:15 Jennifer How does this affect our values as an organization? So that is 90% better than the most companies out there, because most companies, they put that committee together, they put the core values and the hanging on the wall. They put it on their website and that's it. It's not infused in everyday life. And that is, I feel truly the responsibility of the leader to drive those forward. 00:17:24:16 - 00:17:27:11 Jennifer So congratulations on doing that. 00:17:27:13 - 00:17:49:09 Jean Other thing we do is we do engagement surveys and so get feedback. I'm like, are we are we getting it right? You know, are we communicating well? Do you feel like you have the support you need the tools. I mean, so those kind of questions we're asking for opportunities like the best and brightest survey and then measuring ourselves and then also engagement survey that we do at the staff every year. 00:17:49:14 - 00:18:08:17 Jean And then we talk about it where I just skip level meetings with different groups of in the company. And we we took the best and brightest responses and said, you know, how do you think we can do better on these areas that where we were below the average really have a conversation about it? So we get it right? 00:18:08:19 - 00:18:30:06 Jennifer Oh, that's good in things. Thank you for that. You know, we have a lot of other leaders listening to the program as well as future founders. And you're a founder of your organization. So is there a formula for success or what is your secret sauce in in running a successful company. 00:18:30:08 - 00:18:54:16 Jean Unless you're a sole proprietor? For me, it's all about the people. I mean, it's really all about the people. And it was really important to me when I started the business to to treat my colleagues really well, our clients really well. I mean, to, you know, this this idea of mutual respect. And we so there's a couple things we've done. 00:18:54:16 - 00:19:15:11 Jean First of all, just believing that that's the most important aspect of the business. But we also people are the most important thing. But having the right people in your organization, and you mentioned at the beginning it's we have kind of a niche company. And so when we're hiring people, they likely not done what they're going to do with us before. 00:19:15:13 - 00:19:44:23 Jean And so having someone be a great fit for a position, but also a great culture fit because we've had, you know, when we're when we're hiring people, when we're interviewing them, when we're onboarding them. Really having a good culture fit is the most important aspect. So we also have real specific profiles of our top performers. And so we're trying to match those capability and skills through assessments with folks who are coming into the organization. 00:19:45:00 - 00:20:00:12 Jennifer How do you explain to your team members how it's rewarding being part of your company? You know, an onboarding process? What's what's the for lack of a better term, higher purpose or higher calling of the organization that they can rally around? 00:20:00:15 - 00:20:26:11 Jean I think that our emphasis on high quality work and the important work we're doing to help health care, because our our employees are all health care, and I think that they believe in is maybe what I say, but it's more what they say about the importance of the work they're doing, the value that they feel like they're adding, and the way they believe they're helping our, you know, our clients and client organizations. 00:20:26:13 - 00:20:48:14 Jean So they're. Yeah, right. And so yeah, and I think on an ongoing basis, we, we provide feedback, performance previews give feedback. And our metrics are pretty clear. And we have very low turnover. So I think our team knows what to be, what they expect. And they it's all really important to them to do. Yeah. Great. 00:20:48:20 - 00:21:11:08 Jennifer So let's say you have low turnover these days. This is pretty incredible. So congrats on that. And again for those just tuning in. Jeans company is an award winning culture. They're one of the best and brightest companies. And let's shift gears. So Jean so we know about you as a leader. We know your style. We know your company. 00:21:11:10 - 00:21:42:21 Jennifer But we don't know about you as a human. And on this program, we'd like to demystify the seat of the CEO. Sometimes we can be scary. Sometimes people are scared to tell us their truths or whatever it may be. And I'm sorry, you're just a regular person, right? Making big decisions. Right? So regular. So let's talk about what keeps you going as a human, do you have any daily rituals that help you be sharp as a leader? 00:21:42:23 - 00:21:44:04 Jennifer One. 00:21:44:06 - 00:22:04:14 Jean I have my daily rituals and stuff. I usually start out in the morning with a workout, so I was told I'm an in the body person, so I whether it's working with my trainer or going to a class in my neighborhood, I practice yoga for a long time and I've just been too busy to do that. But I think that those kind of activities are important to me. 00:22:04:20 - 00:22:13:13 Jean And then and that gets me going. And then I would say to relax. I read and listen to music and what that's. Yeah. 00:22:13:15 - 00:22:18:20 Jennifer Who's your favorite artist? Who you listen to when you're walking? Oh. 00:22:18:22 - 00:22:22:09 Jean I don't know. That's hard. I like so many Ed Sheeran. 00:22:22:11 - 00:22:24:22 Jennifer Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's great. 00:22:24:24 - 00:22:28:18 Jean I'm like a tiptoe around it. But I saw him in concert, like six years. 00:22:28:19 - 00:22:33:03 Jennifer You tell him it's great. He was great. Chosen guitar in him, right. 00:22:33:03 - 00:22:40:19 Jean And bottles of fresh guitar and bottles of water. And I was I was at the Rose Bowl. It was. It was crazy. Earlier. 00:22:40:21 - 00:22:51:16 Jennifer That's great. That's great. Is there a particular book or speaker that spoke to you that you still think about what they said in your daily life? 00:22:51:20 - 00:23:23:24 Jean I when I was in my the one peer group I was in, we had two speakers and I think one one speaker wrote the book The Blue Ocean Strategy. And I think that was really impactful for me because I was kind of thinking out of the box, like how to look at things differently. And so I thought about that and then, traction, which is the entrepreneurial operating system, we use it even though we're a small company in our in our business, in terms of our meeting cadence, our strategic planning, our goals setting and monitoring how we're doing. 00:23:24:01 - 00:23:43:12 Jean And then the other one, that I it's the secret. So I mean personally expecting the best having faith even thinking about this interview today like just picture yourself doing it. Well. So those are those are the things I thought of two business and one personal. 00:23:43:14 - 00:24:02:15 Jennifer Yeah. Well, a lot of companies use EOS and it it really doesn't matter your size. So and then Blue Ocean Strategy is what we were talking about before being forced to make change into a new market and not having the emergency to do it. And that's what the Blue Ocean strategy is about. I know I'm a big fan of that as well. 00:24:02:17 - 00:24:26:11 Jennifer Is there everybody kind of has their internal motto or tagline or theme line theme that they live by, and it's how they show up. Is there an underlying motto or words that keep you motivated? You know, where do you cheer for yourself day in, day out is there's something that comes to mind. Well. 00:24:26:13 - 00:24:50:12 Jean I have a little mental break in my kitchen that says everything happens for a reason. So when the chips are down, you're like, there's something. There's something I need to learn in this. There's something I need to decide upon. I need to deal with it. So I think that's one. And recently, someone said to me, Jean, you don't learn anything by talking like. 00:24:50:14 - 00:25:05:07 Jean And I thought that was funny because the other way that was presented to me is like talk last. So when it comes to your staff meetings, your strategic planning meetings, listen and and and speak last, that's that may be a little bit hard for me. 00:25:05:09 - 00:25:14:12 Jennifer For a lot of us. I mean, right in there too. So it's, you it's on your to do next lists for business and your life. When do you. 00:25:14:16 - 00:25:41:23 Jean I have three granddaughters. And so I always anticipate going to see them and I and I do love to travel and so personally and then for the business we have a strategic planning session coming up. We're going to bring in some outside, thought leaders to help us with that. So I'm really excited about you. Send some expertise with my own team to see what our plans look like for next year. 00:25:41:23 - 00:25:48:00 Jean So I, I think that, you know, in the midst of outside, things I'm excited about and that have one. 00:25:48:00 - 00:26:10:22 Jennifer Thing I know is that whatever is in that strategic plan, it's going to be bright and you're going to keep shining bright because you've you've done an amazing job with your business over 20 years and taking that leap of faith to start it. So, Jean, let me leave you with this. Keep shining bright. And, thank you for your time today. 00:26:10:24 - 00:26:15:06 Jean My pleasure. I really appreciate the invitation, and I'm on it. 00:26:15:08 - 00:26:20:01 Jennifer So that's a wrap, everyone, and we'll see you next time. Everyone, have a great day.