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Most people think they know what a nursing home is, but they’ve never heard the voices inside.
The quiet moments of compassion. The stories of resilience. The people who show up, not just because it’s their job, but because it’s their calling.
Brought to you by Majestic Care, Hearts of Excellence shares what it truly means to live and work in long-term care. Through real, unscripted conversations with our care team members, leaders, and resident families, we reveal what excellence looks like in action, and, most importantly, why it matters.
Behind every resident is a family who wants to know they’re cared for. Behind every caregiver is a heart that chose this work for a reason.
Long-term care isn’t the end of the story. It’s just the beginning.
Jerald Cosey (00:00):
I just think about the fact that administrators on call 24/7. There are no safety nets. It's you. It's your team, it's your community, and you're driving a business. When we're talking to our younger AITs, I'm like, wow, think about this. You're operating a multimillion dollar business.
Chelsey Gheyara (00:21):
You are listening to Hearts of Excellence, brought to you by Majestic Care, where real stories from long-term care come to life.
(00:29):
Today we are joined by Jerald Cosey, a seasoned nursing home administrator with years of experience in the healthcare industry, starting his career in pharmaceuticals, Jerald transitioned into the senior living space where he has made a profound impact. Currently, he serves as an independent consultant and leads Majestic Care's administrator and training program, which prepares the next generation of leaders in long-term care. All right. Well, Jerald, thank you so much for joining us today, Mr. Paul Pruitt. Thanks for being back with us. Welcome.
Jerald Cosey (01:04):
Thank you. That sounds so nice.
Chelsey Gheyara (01:06):
Yes,
Jerald Cosey (01:07):
I receive it. And thank you very much.
Chelsey Gheyara (01:09):
You're very welcome. And I have to say, I'm very excited Today we are back in our podcast studio space. We did some renovations, so welcome back our CEO of Majestic Care, Mr. Paul Pruitt. I'm so glad to be back.
Paul Pruitt (01:25):
Oh, so am I think it's awesome. I've drank the Kool-Aid. I'm a podcaster now.
Chelsey Gheyara (01:31):
I love it. And this episode today, we are going to explore your unique journey and how you got from pharmaceuticals into senior living.
Jerald Cosey (01:42):
That's a very, very important question for me because my background is really what got me to this point. So let's talk about it. I started in pharmaceutical sales and loved it, enjoyed it. During that time, I also started volunteering in a nursing home in pharmaceuticals. You get downsized. So the first time I got downsized, I'm meeting with my pastor. He says, well, now you have time to volunteer in a nursing home. You've always talked about serving seniors. And I did. It was a way for me to make emotional deposits when I was dealing with emotional withdrawals. See, if you've been downsized, you're starting to wonder, well, what am I going to do with my life? I was a performer wise, this happening to me. But then you start realizing when you're engaging with others that there's other ways that you can contribute and contribute regarding minimizing isolation specifically. So what I wanted to do was take that time when my ego was a little bruised and start volunteering in a nursing home just to spend time with people who didn't have someone spending time with them. Well, that is how I ended up being exposed to the senior healthcare industry. And we did that for five years, visiting two gentlemen every Saturday.
Chelsey Gheyara (02:56):
And how did that impact you? Had you ever spent time in nursing homes
Jerald Cosey (03:00):
Before? I hadn't seen my grandparents had raised me. And so when I was speaking with my pastor about my situation at that time, he knew that I had an affinity for seniors. I've always enjoyed loving those seniors. My grandparents raised me. So when my mom died, they died when I was less than three, my biological parents. And so when my grandparents died, my mom, she was 92 years old, so they were born and they lived through the depression. These are the people who raised me. So I've always had connection with elders. So guess what? I'm learning. I'm growing in my life. I'm starting to see that isolation is real in the world. And I decide, Hey, if I'm going to be downsized, let me start volunteering and maybe I can take a bite out of that isolation. Well, I didn't know that that would end up being a career later down the line. It's interesting how things work out, right?
Chelsey Gheyara (03:56):
It sure is. You've mentioned before that you actually got your CNA license. So walk me through that and what made you want to do that?
Jerald Cosey (04:05):
Well, the interesting part was coming into this industry, I didn't know a lot about it. So if I'm going to be leading people, I need to figure out and find out who I'm leading. So I had a preceptor, his name was Ryan Lood. He's a phenomenal leader, and he was a CNA. So he said, Jerald, I think you should become a CNA. And I did just that. And we enrolled in a course and it was a six to eight week course, and we went through the program. One of our AITs, now David up in Bloomington is completing his CNA program at Ivy Tech. And I'm very, very proud of him. And I will say that our other AITs at Majestic Care, all of them are CNAs.
Paul Pruitt (04:49):
So critical about that is to really understand the foundation because that's really where it matters the most. I mean, those are the people that put their heart and soul in it, not that nobody else does, but they're the ones that spend the most intimate time with our residents, bathing, dressing, helping them eat that social and emotional component. And again, to know that your leader has walked in those shoes. So now one question, Jerald, because I can't remember, is that a requirement to be licensed in Indiana?
Jerald Cosey (05:18):
No, it's not required that you become a CNA, but it's a best practice because I'm not going to ask an AIT to do anything or any less than what I did as an AIT because I felt as though it was beneficial. When you're leading in the pharmaceutical sector, you're out visiting doctors with your sales rep. So imagine I resigned from that and six weeks later I'm in A CNA course. I'm not just going through the motions. I'm talking about six weeks dedicated in the outside CNA class. It was amazing. It speaks volumes within the community. As we're teaching our AITs, I have a tagline, model the behavior and magnify the, and so when you think about it, you're modeling the caring behaviors as a CNA. What's so interesting is I remember being in the hospital and I had an accident because I had ulcerative colitis.
(06:11):
I was in the process of going through a surgery and I remember the nurse looking at me after pooping on myself and saying, Mr. Co, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You're a very sick man, and I'm here to serve you. I remember specifically sitting in my bed and saying, Lord, when I get through launching this ADHD medication, I said, let me launch this drug and then I'm going to resign and I'm going to become an AIT in six months. And I sure did. And the reason was to serve others the way I have been served. So what I want people to know in my mission as a consultant serving Majestic Care is that what our leaders are doing is special. It requires unique individuals who are strong, competitive, smart, have that stick to itness, that drive. I'm able to tell our professionals in our profession, don't just look at the folks in pharmaceuticals and think they're doing something special.
(07:04):
Let me tell you about the caliber of leaders that we have in this industry. So there is no difference. It's all people who are contributing to mankind by serving others. So I get a little long-winded about the CNA experience because let me tell you this one, and it's a little funny, but why not have some fun? I'm answering the call light because you know, can't walk past the call light. And as I'm going in, the gentleman is trying to get his penis in the urinal and he can't want to look at me and ask. And quite honestly, I don't want to ask him, but we do. I say, Mr. Smith or whatever his name was, do you need any help? He said, yes. I helped him. As I walked out of the room, I felt like God was the hands and feet. I felt like this was a 360. This was paying it forward from that same nurse who said, Mr. Cosey, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. So if any of our CNAs are listening to this podcast, I want you to know that what you do is valuable. What you do is important, and we appreciate you. And that's coming from your CNA brother over here,
Chelsey Gheyara (08:12):
CNA, brother. I love that. Jerald, I love your energy. Thank you for being here. And thank you for bringing your whole heart and your whole self. And you mentioned serving that is being the hands and feet and it's servant leadership, and that just gave me chills and I love that story. So Jerald Majestic Care's Administrator and training program is unique. So we do offer that different hands-on approach. What sets our program apart from others that you know that are out there.
Jerald Cosey (08:43):
Absolutely. So the first thing that I'm really proud of is that our program is paid AIT program. So our AIT is a full-time here at Majestic Care. That's a very important fact because that requires an investment, a full-time investment. The program generally runs six to 12 months, but the target is around a nine month mark. Okay. The key with our program is the preceptor. Just like any traditional AIT program, the preceptor drives a learning at the community. It's a special bond. It's one that'll never, never go away. Now, in addition to that, we have a cohorted experience where we bring our AITs together and then they're able to build upon their leadership knowledge in addition to what they're learning at the community level with their preceptor. That's been a great experience. So we'll touch upon topics like building trust. We touch upon topics like how to build a mission statement with your team.
(09:39):
That's important when you're taking over a newly identified team. We even entered predictive index at Majestic Care and where we're moving with that predictive index this year is impressive. And so again, we'll have a chance to teach leaders how do you use behavioral science in order to make sure that the people you're impacting, that you're meeting and providing them with the experiences where they can experience satisfaction in the workplace. People are unique and the more skills that we're able to develop, the more we can increase our income for our families and our outcomes for our organization and for our residents.
Chelsey Gheyara (10:18):
I love that you mentioned you have them do a mission statement for their teams. That's really, really cool. Was that something that you thought of or how did that come about?
Jerald Cosey (10:25):
Well, the key is we have to define who we are if we're going to be a leader in this industry. So the importance of the mission statement is learning how to define who you are as a leader, but then how do you learn to bring your team together to say, how do we define who we are? See, that's a little bit different. And what we find is that the mission statement the leader is creating at the facility level is going to always compliment the Majestic Cares mission statement. But what it allows is the IDT team to take some time to process. Who are we? It allows the IDT team to take some time to process what are our values. It allows the IDT team to decide what vision do we have for ourselves? Paul's going to recognize us at the end of the year. What's he going to say about us?
(11:10):
Well, he's going to say that we paid attention to detail. He's going to say that our quality measures must have been impressive to hit our quality measure numbers. He's going to say that we don't quit. So what we're hoping is that maybe the social services director will bring a component to that mission or that vision, and then maybe the housekeeping leader will bring a component. What we're trying to do is shake up the IDT team and say, we need everybody all hands on that to come on board. Because think about this, we're in an already demanding career space. Second to what nuclear. So at the end of the day, what we're doing is already difficult. So the key is how do you help improve purpose? How do you help improve ability, skillset development?
Paul Pruitt (11:55):
All of our AITs except for one, have graduated and most of them are now running their own buildings within our own company. That's
Jerald Cosey (12:04):
Awesome. Yes, yes. That's amazing. So of the three that we have right now, one of them is ready to test, but he was in Ohio and it was a lot of things that had to happen in order for that to come. But the other two have completed, and they are Darren and Abigail, and they're both out running communities and they're doing exceptionally well and they're growing. And what we want to stress with them is perfection isn't necessary. We just want to keep growing and keep developing and taking it one day at a time. And I'll tell you, when you talk about what we're doing here at Majestic Care, it is tremendous. Let's talk about AITs. In this world out here, most people call around looking for someone to serve as their preceptor. People want to have an AIT experience, but they can't find a location.
(12:55):
So there's one or two ways you can do it. You can luck up and find a place that'll have a paid AIT position, or you can go like Paul did and find someone who says you can do it, but you have to do it on your own. So what I want our listeners to know at Majestic Care is you have an organization that says, we're going to invest in this. Now, when you make that decision, the key is you can't have as many people as you may have if it were free. So sometimes when folks aren't selected, like, oh, well, what about me? So they have to understand when we're making decisions, it's based upon operational needs. So sometimes there's a part of the organization that needs to have AITs right now and that's going to receive the watering, if you will at this time. So since this is for our leaders, I want them to know because we often get calls. And so now I know that David Alexander and his team are processing to see what are the needs, and then they'll come back and see what we'll do for the next class. And we're really excited about that because we've learned a lot and it's time to take it to the next level.
Chelsey Gheyara (13:55):
That's awesome. Jerald, you mentioned earlier that when you went from pharmaceuticals to long-term care, That was a little bit of a stretch in a different world. Tell me now looking back the skills or just the new perspective you have going from long-term care, what you've gained the other way around. Because speaking from experience, it was like the Hunger Games and long-term care, right? I love it. Best decision of my life. That wasn't an
Jerald Cosey (14:27):
Accident,
Chelsey Gheyara (14:28):
And I felt like I learned so many skills because you've got these people that are your people, they're your family that you're watching out for. So I felt it taught me personally how to prioritize. And there's just the list goes on. So asking you as our guests now.
Jerald Cosey (14:46):
Absolutely.
Chelsey Gheyara (14:47):
What did you say? Now
Jerald Cosey (14:48):
I'll give you an answer, an unedited, and the first thing is what did I learn that I did not get in pharmaceuticals? Number one, how to operate a business. I learned how to drive revenue, how to manage expectations, how to create policies and systems, how to have operating procedures, how to lead a community of 150 employees from various backgrounds as opposed to my 10 specialty cardiovascular representatives that cover two states. You follow me? So there was a lot to learn. The second thing that I learned, you walk into a room with meetings and you're amazed by the level of intelligence. And I'm thinking to myself, here I am thinking it was all in pharmaceuticals and I moved over here to healthcare and I'm sitting back in this room with brilliant minds, another compliment that this industry has given me, this is real. Now, on the other side, emotionally what is giving me, I'll be forever a servant of senior healthcare.
(15:54):
I'll be forever looking for ways to help our leaders grow so that our residents can get the best, but also so that those who are serving our residents can experience the best type of lives that they can possibly experience, both financially as well as emotionally. And I believe when you put skillset development as a priority, it allows people to experience that personal satisfaction and it allows them to do something different. What did I miss from pharma? It took me starting my own business to realize I didn't learn as much as I did in the last 10 years in senior healthcare as I did in pharmaceuticals because I was constantly being invested in regards to skillset. And when you come over to senior healthcare, quite honestly, it's a demand. Your day is intense. There's not always a time for you to check out and go off to a training because you have to plan in and serve.
(16:56):
So our unique industry requires a unique perspective and it requires us to do things differently in order to make sure that we're giving our leaders what we believe they need in order to be successful. And this can come off as arrogant on my part, and please forgive me, but I'll put a DNS against any administrative nurse in any hospital any day of the week. I'll put a nursing home administrator against a hospital administrator, a small regional hospital. I just think about the fact that administrators on call 24 7, there are no safety nets. It's you. It's your team, it's your community, and you're driving a business. When we're talking to our younger, I'm like, wow, think about this. You're operating a multimillion dollar business. That is so significant. And then when I listen to Paul and your experiences and I'm thinking, wow, either the CEOs of our industry, I wonder the unique perspectives that all have gained in their careers. You coming from therapy, you becoming an administrator, that's a lot and that has helped you to drive, I'm sure. Has that helped you in your role as A CEO?
Paul Pruitt (18:03):
Yeah, of course. Because again, you don't want to ever lose sight of what we're here for, which is ultimately the care of our residents. And at the end of the day, that's what it's about. And we're talking about 24 7. Again, I'll get calls even as a CEO from care team members.
(18:21):
I don't mind. I'm always going to be very clear though. Okay, well, I hear what you're telling me, but is Jerald aware of that? And if they say no, then we can handle it a few different ways. Either I can go and let 'em know, but I'm going to let 'em know we talked, or you can go let 'em know or we can go together. But if any of those three can't happen, then I'm just going to chalk it up as a concern and then we're going to move forward. Because again, at the end of the day, our residents deserve transparency. They do deserve the leadership to really move us forward as a company. And if we can't have that, they're the ones that are going to be left. And that's the piece that we have to keep driving forward. But that's where the level of engagement of administrator has to be out on the floor, and that's what we need to show our AITs. Yes, there's time behind the desk. Yes, there's time in a boardroom at a meeting. Yes, there's time, but you have to be out on the floor. You have to know what's happening at the foundation of your building. If you don't, the decisions you're making will be band-aids and they won't last.
Jerald Cosey (19:28):
When in doubt go to the floor. Correct. I love that. Go to the floor.
Chelsey Gheyara (19:32):
I love that. As someone who's been in the industry for so long, Jerald, what are the most significant changes you've seen and seen your care, and how do you think we can best adapt to those
Jerald Cosey (19:42):
Changes? Well, you know what, there has been a lot of positive change. And so what I want to do is kind of talk about the environment. I think post COVID, the environment has sometimes senior care doesn't really get the respect, in my opinion, that traditional healthcare institutions do. We didn't have people clapping hands when we walked home after COVID like they did in New York City. Nothing wrong. I want all healthcare employees to be recognized. But the point is that the industry now has an awareness that stakeholders are needed people with skin in the game. And so in order to make sure that we always have stakeholders, I see this shift moving towards making sure that we're developing our workforce, making sure that we are tying into skillset development in order to help people feel as though they're equipped to grow further. That's the beautiful thing about senior healthcare.
(20:41):
I always tell people tough times. They don't destroy us. They galvanize us. We're senior healthcare professionals. We got that. Stick to it when we talk, when I'm bragging on the DNS and I said, I'll put them against, think about it. They're working with the medical director. They're always trying to figure it out. They're engaged. Not only are they managing systems and et cetera, but they're also managing the largest department. It's called a nursing home. That's the largest department. That's a huge responsibility. And on the weekend, I'm connected with my DNS, and it's the two of us, and that's an important relationship. I only mentioned that to say there's no time off. It's okay. Our people sign up for this. And that's something that I'm very proud of. So when people ask what industry am I part of? I'm part of the healthcare industry, but specifically the senior healthcare industry.
Chelsey Gheyara (21:39):
Jerald, what's a moment from your career that really tested your leadership and your resolve and how did you navigate through it?
Jerald Cosey (21:47):
Well, the first one is just going to be COVID period,
Chelsey Gheyara (21:50):
Period.
Jerald Cosey (21:51):
It was a time in my life where I never really imagined that I would be putting my life at risk every day going to work, and we didn't even think twice about it. I remember my immune system is compromised because I have ulcerative colitis and medication I take, and I remember my nurse leaders being very adamant about, no, you cannot go on that hallway period. We're not discussing this anymore, Jerald. And to have people care about you meant a lot. To walk into a community and see nurses saying, we got this. To see teams coming together saying, we can get through this to lose so many people. It was just a major, major challenge. However, it was one of the greatest contributors to my development. See, when I'm speaking to leaders from stage, I always want them to know that tough times, they help grow us. They help develop us. We just can't lose the leader to the tough time. Everyone's a better leader as a result of leading through tough stuff.
(22:57):
So I'm bad, I'm a bad boy now, but I just don't want to lose that leader to another industry. I don't want to lose that leader to say, I'm going to take this skillset somewhere else. I want those leaders to be able to take what they have here and contribute to this industry and continue to grow. So that was the toughest challenge. And it showed me the power of teamwork. It showed me the power of systems. It showed me how you need everyone. It showed me this. Sometimes at the community, you may think that you're the tip of the spear, which you are, but you may think, oh, it's all on us. It's all on us. There's times when I thought that as a leader. However, when you go through COVID and you get to see the power of your organization, regardless of your role here at Majestic Care, I don't care what role you're in, you are contributing to the care that we're giving our residents each and every day. I may be at the tip of the spear if I'm an administrator at a building, but everybody, and so what I learned during that time was how dependent I was on excellence from peers within the same industry.
Chelsey Gheyara (24:07):
So the administrator in training program is all about preparing that next generation to run their own building. Right. When you are teaching the AITs, how do you help them stay grounded to their human side of things?
Jerald Cosey (24:22):
Our program is designed with, I'll just break it down. So there's nine basically months of training, and then there's an additional nine months of training. So it basically comes down to leadership training once a month and then operational training once a month for our AITs basically. And so at the end of the day, they're able to learn administrative specific, but then on the other side, they're able to learn leader specific. I hope I'm answering your question because that's the direction. So the goal is to bring it all so that when we finish, we have leaders who understand the role. They've developed relationships with senior, they meet Paul when they're interviewing,
(25:08):
And at the end of the program they present to Paul. So you're already introduced to communicating with senior leaders, which is going to help you grow as a professional. Then you're in a cohort, so you're not by yourself. That contributes to your emotional drive because you aren't navigating this AIT experience by yourself. You have others. Alright. Then we also try and include training that'll help them grow. For instance, we talk about confront, compete, and conquering the three C choice mechanism. And that's important because now they're learning how you can take a proven process and you can apply it whenever you have a difficult challenge. Is it perfect? No. The whole goal is just to introduce as much as we can, and if you can grab from it and it makes you better, wonderful.
Paul Pruitt (25:59):
Well, I think I go back to, and I'll share a personal experience that because as I've shared, there's so much coming in at us as administrators. So whether it be, again, all those other financials qualities and so on. Then you throw in falls with injury pressure, ulcers, all those things. I'll use Chelsea again as a nurse leader. As a nurse leader, what's important to you? What's important to me is I still have to get this building out of this situation and I'll use the personal experience. So that story I just shared was what was going on in the building. I I was at my limit. Emotional intelligence was gone. All I knew is in my foresight. I had an immediate jeopardy. The building was in crisis and I had to get it out, walked in the room while I was home. I actually got the call driving in, walked in the room, and I looked and I said, where's the nurse leaders? They're on their way in except for this particular nurse leader. I said, where is she? Well, she's home. So the other nurses are chiming in. She's home. And I'm like, okay, so why isn't she here? Well, if you were to know her personal story, she was a mom. Her and her husband adopted 12 children.
(27:17):
So that was their journey into their calling is to take care of children instead of being sympathetic and understanding and say, okay, what's our plan and our strategy? But I said, well, that's not my problem because I kissed my wife on the forehead and came into work. So she better get her into work. Or she's fired.
Chelsey Gheyara (27:33):
Yes.
Paul Pruitt (27:34):
Now again, recognizing that was not her intent. She would've been there if she could have been and so on. But again, that side, that recognizing what was important to this nurse leader was being home with her kids and keeping them safe. I lost sight of it. So how do we, again, go back to teaching our leaders those type of skill sets. So when they are in crisis, when they are driving down that road and they're ready to lose it, two things have to happen. Either one, how do you get out of that mind or two, who's your safety?
(28:06):
Is it your DNS that can pull you out of the room and say, look, you're going over the edge and trusting that relationship to your point, or being able to tie in something that will, cause I call it the shock factor. Who's going to put the paddles on my chest? Give me that shock. I need to pull back and say, oh my gosh, I'm crossing a line. I can tell you any good leader, how many nurse resignation notices I were getting, I was getting had to personally not had to. I chose to. I wrote a personal note to every one of them and a personal note to all their families because it meant so much to me, and I know that I crossed a line that I should never have crossed. And I went back to them and I said, I am so sorry. And I wrote one to their families because they didn't just take it home or leave it at the door. They took it home with them. Yeah, it's a hard job. It is a hard job.
Chelsey Gheyara (28:57):
Well, kudos to you for being self-aware still. I mean, we have colleagues out there that are not, and they'll find their way someday. But to your point, we all want safety. If we don't bring that psychological safetiness, then I can't go to Paul and say, Paul, my baby's at home. I got to go. If you don't bring that safety that you can bring your whole self, they're not going to say that. What are they going to do? Quit. And then we're stuck with a hole with nothing. Right. That's a great story. Thanks for sharing
Paul Pruitt (29:37):
That. I think it goes back to teaching our AITs. You said we're the spear, right? We're the head of the facility. Sometimes that becomes arrogance.
Chelsey Gheyara (29:48):
Yes,
Paul Pruitt (29:50):
I can. Again, I have my building. I'm all that in a bag of chips.
Jerald Cosey (29:54):
Not everybody's a great leader. Let's be real. Can we say that on here? You can say,
Paul Pruitt (29:59):
But the other thing is they're not great leaders. But the other thing is recognizing I have to go and recognizing someone has a child at home and by you saying, well, I'm sorry, but you're mandated to stay. But again, these are all my lessons learned by baptism, by fire, nobody came beside me and taught me I had to learn these the hard way. I had to learn these by sitting because that side where you're all at a bag of chips and then you walk in, you're watching, because I wasn't the one that had to deliver the message to Chelsea. It was other people. But then when I walk in the room and I see Chelsea falling apart because she's like, I don't have anybody at home to take care of my kids, and you're having this wake up moment like, oh my gosh, what are we doing here? But it goes back to how do we continue to teach our new leaders coming in those skill sets?
Jerald Cosey (30:53):
So as we're growing our AITs, yes, we want to teach them as much as we can to give them an opportunity, but we also have to make sure that we're selecting the right people. Because some things I can't. It's just some things you have to, when I started as an AIT, a few things that I learned. First one is bad things happen. The kids, what do you do when they happen?
(31:17):
That was something that I'll never forget that my preceptor taught me. Period. You never stop. You never go by a call. That's just, you learn that from working. My first abatement plan was when you know you're in trouble and you're talking to your folks, and you got to figure out when state comes in, we want to have this laid out. What are we going to do? Or you learn to write your first appeal. That's all in experience. But picking up the phone and calling, I remember missing my financials and having to pick up the phone and call another administrator who was excellent in financials and asked them to mentor me. And that's what we want to teach our leaders as well. Your development is your priority. So when I'm identifying my weaknesses, then it's my goal to figure out who can I go to that can help me grow this? Everything starts with people.
Paul Pruitt (32:09):
It does.
Jerald Cosey (32:10):
Everything starts with people.
Paul Pruitt (32:11):
It does start with people.
Jerald Cosey (32:13):
I'm so encouraged as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking about you are modeling Paul continuous improvement.
Paul Pruitt (32:20):
Correct?
Jerald Cosey (32:21):
Now here you are as a CEO and you're still learning and growing. And so one of the things I like to talk to leaders about is we are always developing. Everyone should have a developmental plan. And so you've got to be able to grow that skillset and then convert it into income for your family. And so I just want to thank you for setting that example because it's clear and it's appreciative and appreciate it, and it's something that I think our leaders should be able to model or emulate because it's important.
Paul Pruitt (32:51):
Well, Jerald, I really do appreciate the compliment, and again, years and years of my own internal journey. And I think as we continue to move forward as leaders, something that we all have to recognize is especially as administrators, because you start looking at others, right? Well, why is Chelsea's building doing so well and so on and so forth? So then you start comparing yourself to Chelsea, not the outcomes, but to her, look, Chelsea got there. Going down plan A doesn't mean you have to go down plan A because that's not how you're wired. And that's okay. So how do you go down plan B? Because that's how you're wired, and that's okay, because your uniqueness can help broaden our company even wider, and you are going out to get resources versus putting it solely on me. It's something I have to do.
Jerald Cosey (33:38):
Yes.
Paul Pruitt (33:39):
Well, you've identified, and maybe it's not an area I'm strong in, so I'm going out and get resources to bring in, but we have to teach our leaders that a sign of weakness or a sign of I don't know what to do. Maybe that's what it is. I know I need to do something different, I just don't know what to do. That's not a sign of weakness.
Jerald Cosey (33:57):
No,
Paul Pruitt (33:58):
That's a sign of strength. The strength is identifying, I don't know what to do with this, but I need help in reaching out because again, we talk about it. At the end of the day, we as leaders think we should have all the answers.
Jerald Cosey (34:10):
Yes.
Paul Pruitt (34:10):
We don't. We don't have all the answers. In no way we can have all the answers. That's where you pick up the phone and call out Jerald. That's where you pick up the phone and call out Chelsea. That's where you pick up the phone and call me whomever. You need to say, I need help. And that's where then I may not even have the answer to tell you, but you know what? We're going to figure this out. So I may have to say, Hey, Chelsea, can you jump in? This is your area of expertise and you do better at
Chelsey Gheyara (34:33):
This than I do
Paul Pruitt (34:34):
It, right? So Chelsea, I jump in or hr, I need you to get involved because you're better in this area than I am or whoever. And that's where again, we have to train our leaders, because again, we try as leaders, we want to be the best. And sometimes the hardest thing is to recognize the areas that we're not strong in.
Jerald Cosey (34:51):
Exactly. And the ecosystem, if you will, is similar to professional football. You have your skill coaches and you have a skill area
Chelsey Gheyara (35:01):
That's good.
Jerald Cosey (35:02):
You know what I mean? So for me as a operational leader, I'm the administrator, but guess what? I have a skilled therapist. I have a skilled dietician, I have a skilled nurse leader. I have a skilled maintenance director. These people are the tip of the spear. My job is to hire the best people, give 'em the best resources, make sure I'm not the reason why we fail and make sure that they're able to bring the best that they can to the table. So if I'm in an IDT meeting and it's a social services issue, I'm not the expert there. I'm going to ask my social services expert to reach out to her consultant or consultant and come back to me with the expert. The point is understanding that you don't have to run every lane,
Chelsey Gheyara (35:42):
Right? And that's the most beautiful thing. One of the most beautiful things about leadership is you do lock arms with each other because not one of us is going to get there alone.
Chelsey Gheyara (35:54):
No.
Chelsey Gheyara (35:55):
And if we do, it's not going to be great, and it's going to last for that amount of time. But you do have to, and you mentioned being humble
Chelsey Gheyara (36:03):
Earlier,
Chelsey Gheyara (36:04):
You have to be humble enough to say, I trust them and they have what I lack, and we need each other because we will not make it out by ourselves.
Jerald Cosey (36:16):
And nobody is bigger than a building.
Chelsey Gheyara (36:19):
That's right.
Jerald Cosey (36:19):
Nobody's bigger than to be replaced. That's the mindset that I took to keep my humility. You aren't the super leader, okay? Your job is when this under your leadership to do the best that you can in order to drive the outcomes, drive results for the organization, et cetera.
Paul Pruitt (36:37):
But it's a culture to drive in the organization of safety. Because to what you said earlier, yes, we're all dispensable. I know that. I know that any given time they could find somebody else to come in and do this job. However, how do we as an organization make it safe? So that's not always at your top of your mind to where you feel safe to one, you can fail, and I'll use the term Dr. Russell uses fail fast. Because again, you learn best by your failures. I say fail forward, fail forward
Chelsey Gheyara (37:11):
Fast, fail forward fast,
Paul Pruitt (37:12):
Fail forward and fast. There you go. I like it. But that's how we learn. But again, I can't learn and I can't feel where I can challenge my skillset if every time I turn around, I feel like I'm going to lose my livelihood for my family.
Jerald Cosey (37:27):
I agree. It has to be modeled in morning meeting. I want to model when I make mistakes. I want to model when I'm wrong. I'll have an AIT class and I'll say, Hey, I'm wrong on that. Let me go back and figure it out. That's okay. We want to teach leaders that you can be genuine. People respond to genuine.
Chelsey Gheyara (37:47):
Absolutely.
Jerald Cosey (37:48):
The key is do you always have excuses or are you following up? Is it a crutch? So we want to confront our reality, and then we want to compete by taking action, doing something to overcome that challenge. So if you find out, I remember one time I missed financials and it had a personal stake in it that cost me some happiness. And I remember reaching out to the head of financials at the time and basically just hearing that, Hey, Jerald, you made decisions. You're doing the right thing, but you missed it this month. But you knew that was going to happen when you implemented this, but guess what? You made the right decision. So keep pushing. Well, guess how we got to that phone conversation from reaching out to other leaders who helped me to learn the financial component for continuing to attend time and time again, whenever the organization had financial meetings, not to go in there. And people say, well, Jerald's here again, Jerald's here again because he wants to become an expert.
Paul Pruitt (38:46):
But what's interesting is if you think about what you just said, what they refrain are they referenced back was you missed it because you made a decision and it was the right decision.
Jerald Cosey (38:56):
The right decision.
Paul Pruitt (38:57):
And where I give you kudos is during your training, during your leadership development, whatever that was, you made the decision for the best outcome for your building and your residents, not for your financials, for you personally.
Jerald Cosey (39:13):
Yes.
Paul Pruitt (39:13):
And I think that is so important for us as leaders to remember is the money will follow.
Jerald Cosey (39:19):
Yes,
Paul Pruitt (39:19):
You might hit a bump. You may hit a little niche in your belt there, but the fact of it is don't ever let the money make the decision for you.
Jerald Cosey (39:30):
Exactly.
Paul Pruitt (39:30):
Because at the end, it compounded and it just exponentially blew up. And now you're even getting paid bigger dividends on that decision.
Jerald Cosey (39:39):
Yes. So
Paul Pruitt (39:40):
Don't look shortsighted, look long-term.
Jerald Cosey (39:42):
And that's that CEO mindset, and that's something we offer to the curriculum this year is going from where are we at today? But then the CEO mindset is looking ahead as well. And so that's the key.
Paul Pruitt (39:55):
It is the key.
Jerald Cosey (39:56):
And I remember on a specific, we had raised CNA prices, CNA wages. And I remember my mentor saying, Jerald, your overtime is at 18%. So this is a building I acquired. So what do you think is going to happen when you lower it to 3%? Folks are going to be upset. You just changed how people are earning. But he at least was able to introduce me to the big vision. So I was able to break it down by explaining to my team members why we were making the decisions that we did, et cetera. The impact only affected me negatively because the building was doing incredibly well. As a result, we raised wages, we were able to minimize our overtime. The only negative was me personally, which was not a negative. So you want to, that may. Thank you for sharing that. Too much information.
Chelsey Gheyara (40:43):
My last question for you, Jerald, is what does excellence mean to you?
Jerald Cosey (40:47):
It's more of a mindset. To me, excellence is taking on a project and making sure that you do it. First class from beginning to end. Excellence is making the decision and standing on that decision because you base it upon facts and not just talking about it and shooting from the hip. Excellence means having receipts for your decisions, having receipts for your effort, and being able to have others recognize your excellence without you saying anything by them engaging with you. I think that speaks volumes to this whole process of developing. Don't be embarrassed because you accepted the challenge to on a new skillset. No, be confident because eventually that skillset is no longer new. And pretty soon you're going to be catching that ball going in the end zone. So as you are defining excellence in your life, please don't think it means that you have to be what someone else is. Comparison is a still of joy. Second thing I would say is do what they tell you to do. And the third thing I would say is always look to get better. Period. If you follow those three, I bet you'll end up on the excellence podium somewhere. In some category. It is not rocket science. We just do the best we can and we take it seriously.
Chelsey Gheyara (42:12):
Paul, what does excellence mean to you,
Paul Pruitt (42:15):
Chelsea? It's such an open question that today I even challenge myself. What does excellence mean? Because at the end, and again, whether I read conversations, podcasts, sit on committees with aca, so on and so forth, a whole new term, ageless limits.
Chelsey Gheyara (42:36):
That's awesome.
Paul Pruitt (42:37):
It's better than majestic thrive because ageless limits means there is no limit because of an age
Chelsey Gheyara (42:42):
Gives the definition.
Paul Pruitt (42:44):
So then what does that mean for excellence? Well, excellence is, well, Mrs. Jones, your level of excellence of your life is this. He goes back to what we talked about, care team members. What means most to Mrs. Jones isn't the same for Mr. Smith. So what is excellence for you? And then how do we fill in those gaps as leaders to help bring that forward for you? What's excellence for David Fry? Our AIT could be different than one of our other AITs, but that level of excellence can't be just one stop shop. It has to meet people for where they're at.
Jerald Cosey (43:16):
Wow.
Paul Pruitt (43:17):
And I agree with you. Never stop learning, never stop reading, never stop talking. Never stop sitting on a, and again, the drinking, the Kool-Aid podcast never stop. Because at the end of the day, you can always learn. And maybe that's what it is. If I focus on what I'm looking to the future is workforce, right? Work on developing your workforce so they can do what they want to do. Developing the excellence for me right now is how do I bring all the resources? Your level of resources and what you want to strive for is going to be different than Annas. But that means then what do we give you to help you raise your level of excellence where you want to continue to go, because then you'll be shown up better to drive your team and lead your team. So right now, I don't know if I can give a clear definition
Chelsey Gheyara (44:07):
That was beautiful,
Paul Pruitt (44:08):
But I know at the end of the day, I want to basically walk into a company where I know people feel valued, they feel heard, they may not like the answers, and that's okay, but we can agree to disagree. But they feel heard. They feel valued, and they feel like they're part of a bigger cause. They're part of a bigger solution. And cause of bringing that care to our residents. So when they go home and let's say that night where you're working late or that night you're on the computer working late, you can look at your family and say, you know what? You know why I did it for tonight? And that's why, again, I mean so much to me with my family is you know why I do what I do. Right? Checking in with them. My level of excellence is knowing that my family's cared for, knowing that my family knows there's a greater cause of what we're doing than just Paul being away from the home four days a week.
Jerald Cosey (45:04):
I do too. And as I'm listening to you, I'm thinking that's the beautiful part of our industry is it's mission driven. At the end of the day, there's no margin, there's no mission. But that mission is what we chase. You chase the mission and trust the margin of follow when you're chasing the mission with excellence.
Chelsey Gheyara (45:23):
Beautiful. Well, thank you Jerald.
Jerald Cosey (45:25):
Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. And thank you for partnering with me. I enjoy working with Majestic Care and I just can't thank you all enough. This has been a pleasure today. I really appreciate it.
Chelsey Gheyara (45:39):
Thanks for listening to Hearts of Excellence. To learn more about becoming a Care team member or how we can support your loved ones, visit majesticcare.com. And don't forget to follow and share because every story deserves to be heard.