MGMA Early Careerists: Resilience, Risk, and Purpose with Shay Eskew
Download MP3Hello, everyone. Welcome to the MGMA Early Careers podcast, where we explore the steps, shifts, stories behind purposeful careers in health care. Whether you're just beginning your path, exploring new directions, or sharing wisdom from experience, this space is for curious minds shaping what's next. I'm your host, Melinda Mastel, and today I'm joined by Shay Eskew. Welcome, Shay.
Melinda Mastel:It's a pleasure to have you here.
Shay Eskew:Hello, Melinda, and it's great to meet everybody. Glad to be with you today.
Melinda Mastel:Lovely. So just start us off, can you introduce yourself, maybe a bit of your background, what you do professionally today?
Shay Eskew:My name is Shay Eskew. I'm vice president of sales with Kodiak Solutions. We are a data and tech healthcare company based out of Nashville. I'm the father of five. You heard that right.
Shay Eskew:Five kids under 19, married twenty one years, and weekend warrior triathlete on the side and been in healthcare now for over fifteen years.
Melinda Mastel:Fantastic. And would you mind sharing a little bit, how did you end up in healthcare? Was this something that you chose from the start or did you kind of end up there through a different path?
Shay Eskew:You know, I'd love to say something I had planned out from the beginning. My undergraduate degree was in wildlife biology. I spent six months living in the woods trapping bears for a living, doing research for the US Fish and Wildlife Services. And after six months in the woods, you kinda realized it was more of a hobby as opposed to a career. I was making $75 a week, sending half that money home to my grandmother to pay to feed my dog.
Shay Eskew:And I said, you know, I really need to get a professional degree. So I went back to the University of Tennessee, got my MBA in finance. And then strangely enough, I was in insurance business. I had owned a distribution company, sold that in 02/2008, got into insurance. The market was getting hard in 02/2010.
Shay Eskew:Things were dramatically changing as we know the big collapse in o eight. And then living here in Nashville, a friend of mine was like, hey. I need you to meet this company. Long story short, I got introduced to a health care company that specialized in workers' comp billing. And through my insurance, you know, commercial property and casualty, I was selling workers' comp insurance to big corporations.
Shay Eskew:And so that was my entree into health care. And then in the last fifteen years, really have worked in every side of it, front, mid to back end revenue cycle and just love it. And it's one of those things along the way, I kind of felt like this is where I was meant to be. We'll get into it more, but as somebody spent a lifetime in and out of hospitals, it was really a blessing to be on the other side and be able to help them by helping them recover revenue that they had missed or were denied through a payer. So it kind of felt like it was my mission.
Shay Eskew:This was my purpose. It just took me thirty years to get there.
Melinda Mastel:That's fantastic. Kind of bringing it full circle, sounds like.
Shay Eskew:So
Melinda Mastel:speaking of that personal story, would you mind just giving some overview of that for those that are not familiar? Because you have an incredible and unique life story.
Shay Eskew:Sure. Let me preface this by saying I think all of us have a story. And so my goal is never to compare. It's always like I'm here to share and just kind of tell you what I've went through. But at the age of eight, my mom had asked me to warn my neighbors about an aggressive yellow jacket nest they had in their yard that had swarmed to my bicycle the day before.
Shay Eskew:So I recruited my friend who was seven, again I was eight, we walked across the street, we knocked on the neighbor's door, the dad's not home but the 15 year old daughter is. We started to tell her about the yellow jackets and she asked us if we would show her the nest and if we'd help her get rid of them. And I preface this by saying I had the most conservative parents you've ever met. Didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't cuss. I wasn't allowed to go to spend night parties.
Shay Eskew:I couldn't go to firework shows. If there was any chance of me ever getting hurt, wasn't allowed to participate. And so this 15 year old girl asked us to help her get rid of the nest, and we said, what do you need us to do? She goes, I just need you to stand here and watch them to make sure they don't leave. She walks up.
Shay Eskew:She drops a match by the nest, which is a hole in the ground. And we're standing like 15 feet away watching these yellow jackets fly in and out of the nest. And without saying a word, we feel something splashes. It hits the right side of my body on my face, neck, and back, hits my buddy on the left side of his body, then it hits that match. And it's in that moment we realized she threw a cup of gasoline.
Shay Eskew:So as soon as that gasoline hit it, we blew up. We were engulfed in flames head to toe. And luckily, had the wherewithal to run into my yard, stop, drop, and rolled, and put out my flames. Then I looked over, I see my buddy standing there screaming just covered in fire. So I ran back across the street, got a water hose, put him out, and then just stood there with a hose pouring the water over the top of our heads.
Shay Eskew:Our body is charred, blackened, our clothes are melted to our body. I touched my head, all of my hair came out. And I remember looking at him and I was like, oh my god, what just happened? Right? Like, in an instant, our entire life was changed overnight.
Shay Eskew:And we shortly found out that we had no health insurance. My dad was insured, but neither my mom nor I recovered. And the girl who had set us on fire, her homeowners insurance denied liability. And so we were now straddled with a $2,000,000 plus hospital bill. We were taken to Grady Hospital Atlanta at first.
Shay Eskew:And then fortunately for us, the Shriners heard about us and they specialize in pediatric burns. And so I spent the next three months up in Cincinnati. So they relocated my mother and I from Atlanta to Cincinnati. Spent three months there. My right arm was physically melted to my body.
Shay Eskew:It would take three years for me to lift my arm over my head. My neck was melted at a 30 degree angle. My right ear had to be amputated. Gangrene had set in, they'd amputate that. Before it was all said and done, over 65% of my body was permanently covered in burns and burn related scarring.
Shay Eskew:The Shriners would treat me from the age of eight to 21. They covered all of our expenses. It was quite a process, as you can imagine. I had to learn how to write left handed just to go back to school to finish. I was told I'd never play sports again.
Shay Eskew:Luckily, we'll get into it, but all that really did was motivate me. I'm one of those people when you tell me there's something I can't do, I'm gonna spend every waking moment trying to prove you wrong. And that's where my journey started. It's been a long journey. I've had over 43 surgeries now over the years, still having some.
Shay Eskew:I need to have another one now. And that's just part of it. As part of a burn patient, there really never is any. It's just how much can you live with, right? And that's where you got to figure that out.
Melinda Mastel:Wow, that's just incredible. And I've never heard it all detailed in that way. I So appreciate that so much. And just, I think you're humble about your story, but truly it's a testament to resilience, to persistence. And it's just amazing to hear from someone like you who's been through all of that.
Melinda Mastel:And like you said, what a firsthand interaction with the healthcare system to then be able to really understand what it's like on the other side of that. So just getting into your story a little bit, you have since written a book, you're on social media. I love following you on LinkedIn and seeing all of your adventures you speak. What was that journey like to decide that you wanted to be more public about your story? Because that's something really personal and vulnerable.
Melinda Mastel:And I imagine it maybe took some time to kind of process or decide how you could how you could share it.
Shay Eskew:You know, it's funny, Melinda, you say that because for years I never talked about it. I don't want to say I was embarrassed, but it's one of those I never wanted sympathy, right? All I've ever asked for in life is just give me an opportunity. I don't want any special treatment. So I never really told anybody what happened.
Shay Eskew:And when I moved to Nashville from Atlanta, one of the first things I did was sign up, join Rotary. I by far was the youngest person. Here I am 34. The average person is like 60, right? I signed up to be the person that would recruit speakers every week to come and share their story.
Shay Eskew:Well, one of our speakers backed out the last minute, and I couldn't let the group down. So I said, you know what? I'll just fill in and share my story. What the heck? Standing ovation.
Shay Eskew:It's gut wrenching. Right? It wasn't what I expected and very emotional, very raw, and somebody's like, dude, why are you not sharing your story? Said, it's not really worth sharing. I'm like, no.
Shay Eskew:And so I spent a couple years speaking at rotary groups nonstop about it. And then several years later, fast forward, I'll never forget, I reached out to this guy named Jack Daly. And if you look this guy up uber successful, he's ran a 100 marathons, marathon every continent. Jack's in his seventies now. And one of my prior CEOs had said, you need to reach out to this guy.
Shay Eskew:He's gonna talk you out of doing what you wanna do. I was looking to make a career change, looking to get into leadership as opposed to being as an individual contributor. And he said, look. Reach out to this guy. He's gonna talk you out of it.
Shay Eskew:You're making a big mistake. So I reached out to this guy, Jack. Just emailed him through LinkedIn and said, hey, Jack. From one Ironman to another, because I mentioned to him I had done, you know, 40 something Ironmans. He goes, hey.
Shay Eskew:Let's meet. I see you've got Atlanta phone number. I'll be there next week. I wasn't gonna tell him I lived in Nashville. So I drove to Atlanta to have dinner with Jack.
Shay Eskew:And he's he's one of these guys. He's just very direct to the point. Right? Former army captain, just no thrills, tells you what you need to hear. And he said, Shay, why are we here?
Shay Eskew:Because honestly, Jack, my boss was hoping you taught me out of doing what I just did. I quit my sales job to pursue a leadership role. He goes, I absolutely think you're doing the right thing. I get it. You and I are built just like your board.
Shay Eskew:You need the next challenge. He goes, the bigger question is, when are you writing your damn book? I said, Jack, I've got five kids. I train fifteen hours a week. I race in four ironmans a year.
Shay Eskew:I travel every week for work. He's like, that's crap. Those are all excuses. I guarantee you I'm just as busy as you are. And he said, here's what's gonna happen.
Shay Eskew:When we leave this dinner, I'm gonna introduce you to the CEO of this of my publisher. Here's how much it's gonna cost you. In eight months, I guarantee you you're gonna have a bestseller. And if anybody knows me, I'm a big person in the moment. I feel like God places people in front of us for a reason.
Shay Eskew:And so I called my wife on the way home from dinner. I said, hey, babe. Guess what? I'm writing my book. She goes, book?
Shay Eskew:We haven't even talked about a book. So you understand? I just had dinner and Jack's telling me. Said, I gotta do it. And she's always extremely supportive regardless how crazy some of my ideas are.
Shay Eskew:And she goes, can we afford to do this? And I said, we can't afford not to. Fast forward eight months later, my book, What the Fire Ignited was out, made an Amazon bestseller, and it's one of the best things I've done because one of the things I realized is over the years, none of us have shared our stories, and so many people could benefit from it. Right? They could learn from all the hardships, the setbacks, the shortcomings we've faced and realize what an amazing life we've had because of what we've been through.
Shay Eskew:Because so many people look at things I'm doing now. It's like, but you don't understand. You know, it took three years just to lift my arm over my head.
Melinda Mastel:Mhmm.
Shay Eskew:Right? I was the last kid picked on the playground for years. People laughed at me, they made fun of me. They called me Freddy Krueger. I mean, there's so many things that I've went through to get to where I am today, but I wouldn't take any of that away.
Shay Eskew:That's what made me who I am today, and I think that's one of the biggest challenges. And today, people wanna remove hardships. They tell you, oh, that's too hard. You shouldn't have to face these setbacks. Right?
Shay Eskew:Everything should be positive, and we should tell you how good you're doing. And and I was like, these are the things that made me who I am. Had I not gotten burned, there's no way I would have the life I have today. And so that's what convinced me to write the book. Again, it's one of these chance encounters, but I'm one of those people that when I meet somebody like a Jack, I act on it.
Shay Eskew:I don't dismiss it as coincidence saying, hey. What are the chances somebody that's this successful engaged with me out of the blue when I reached out? I think so many of us, we overthink things. Right? When somebody mentions something, we're like, that's crazy.
Shay Eskew:Like, Melinda, one of the things that you might have seen it, but two years ago, I was offered a chance to do what's called the human performance project. It was me and a group of special forces to raise awareness for veterans mental health. We were going to either skydive or base jump or run a marathon and then do a swim. Seven continents on seven days. And this Navy SEAL reached out to me and said, hey, are you in?
Shay Eskew:I was like, hell yeah, I'm in. And then I started thinking through it a couple days later as I was telling my wife, she goes, you did what? I said, babe, how do you say no to something like that? She's like, it's easy, you say no. I was like, but how many people get a chance to see all seven continents in seven days?
Shay Eskew:You spend time sleeping on a plane with all these guys Navy SEALs, Delta Force, Green Berets, right? Like every day we're gonna go run a marathon, we're gonna skydive. I mean as part of this, we got to skydive over the pyramids. How many people in the world get to skydive over the pyramids? Very few.
Shay Eskew:And there's nothing special about me that says I should have been afforded an opportunity, but it was presented to me and I just said yes. And that's why I think life, if we don't start questioning everything, go with it and say, this sounds amazing. We're gonna be surprised what happens as a result of that.
Melinda Mastel:Yes. I love that mindset so much. It's going with the momentum, risk taking, and just the willingness to say yes. And I think so often we look at different paths and we wonder how did that person get to this cool, bold place? But it really is those yeses in those small moments sometimes.
Melinda Mastel:And I love that you said yes before you even thought it through too much. I think sometimes we need to just go with that and, like you said, not overthink it and see where that can lead us.
Shay Eskew:To that point, Melinda, it's so many of us start thinking about all the things that could go wrong Mhmm. As opposed to all the things that could go right. Right? If all I did was think about the consequences, would never do anything. I wouldn't leave my house.
Shay Eskew:I mean, we're much more likely to get in a car wreck within two miles of our house than we are traveling the world. And that's where things happen. But again, I've been fortunate enough to interact with some incredible people. And the more time you spend with those kind of people, the more you start seeing life differently. And that's kind of the biggest advice I give people is spend time with people that are living the life that you think you wanna live, and then they'll start removing the blinders for you.
Shay Eskew:Because what happens is, like, we naturally come with filters built into our brain.
Melinda Mastel:Mhmm.
Shay Eskew:And to give you an example, for instance, like, when you get a new car, all of a sudden, if say you went out and bought a a four Runner, a white four Runner. As soon as you get one, you're gonna say, oh my god. There's two four Runners in our neighborhood. I'm like, Jim at work drives one. Like, your brain has a filter built in says hey every time you see a white 4Runner let me know and it makes you aware of all those 4Runners the same thing as if you hear your name called at the airport they call thousands of names but as soon as your name's called out your brain filters out all the noise and says hey Melinda you left your package at TSA.
Shay Eskew:So the same thing is true for success so when you're around successful people you start to learn what filters can I apply to everyday life that somebody else may dismiss this as random coincidence and you may say, hey, that sounds like an obstacle but it's actually an opportunity because most people would never do this, right? That's kind of what I've done in life is the things that sound really hard, I've learned those are the best opportunities for me because most people don't want to pursue those. They're not willing to do the hard work. They're not willing to delay gratification.
Melinda Mastel:Yes.
Shay Eskew:But I know the most meaningful things are the things that take the longest and are the hardest to get.
Melinda Mastel:Awesome. So I have a couple of follow ups from that. One was on this idea of community. So you spoke a little bit about surrounding yourself with people whose perspective you can really learn from, right? And who push you and grow you.
Melinda Mastel:Could you just speak to that a little more? And I guess, how did you go about curating that or finding that community that could kind of push you and invite you to some of those amazing experiences?
Shay Eskew:Yeah. I mean, someone is getting outside your shell. So I signed up for an Ironman and it's one of those it's a very tight niche community. And once you go, you you're gonna find someone that you just cling with because every body type, every personality type is at these races, and you also learn everybody there is there for the same reason. They wanna find out what else in life can they do, right, if they're willing to just blank out all these obstacles in front of them.
Shay Eskew:But I'm also big into networking. Like, again, I joined Rotary. That was a big thing just to meet people. Any kind of social events, I just like go and tag along. I'm on a part of a lot of group chats with fraternity brothers from college, people from work, but it's also finding people on LinkedIn.
Shay Eskew:Like, you see them putting content out. Message them. Take a heartfelt message to somebody and say, hey. Is there a chance I could buy you coffee in here? Like, I've flown all the way to Utah to meet with the CEO of a large health system.
Shay Eskew:I messaged him and said, hey. I'd love to get your thoughts on leadership and how you got to where you are. If I fly into town, could I treat for breakfast and hear your story?
Melinda Mastel:Mhmm.
Shay Eskew:He responded, yeah. If you're willing to do that, come on. And you'd be surprised how many successful people will do that. Now a lot of them won't won't even respond. Right?
Shay Eskew:But the ones that do, I mean, are nuggets. Like I mentioned to you that guy Jack, we're like best friends now, right? He's the one that convinced me to write my book. He invited me to do the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim, South Rim, North Rim back to South Rim. The guy was 69 years old when we did it, 112 degrees, but it was just that one email on LinkedIn that started all this, and so that's where things go.
Shay Eskew:I've had somebody reach out in South Africa and say, hey, I see you're doing a race here. Would you be open to meeting for coffee? I'm like, absolutely. So, that's another thing is leveraging social media. Be vulnerable, tell people, hey, here's what I'm doing, and you'd be surprised how many people will help you.
Shay Eskew:Because what I've realized is so many people maybe don't have the opportunity to do things that you're doing, but they'd love to be a part of your success. And so if you invite them in and say, hey. Thank you. You'd be surprised. I mean, I did a Ironman event in Israel twenty twenty one November.
Shay Eskew:Keep in mind, the country had been closed for eighteen months because of COVID. I didn't realize they weren't even open so I signed up for a race because it was the last continent for me to race to say I've done Ironman on every continent and a month before I leave I find out I can't get in the country and so I put it on LinkedIn and said hey Does anybody have any ideas on how I can get in the country? Somebody, I don't know who it was, said, hey. The prime minister is gonna pass this bill on 10/01. It will be ratified by the assembly three or four weeks later, effective travel 11/01.
Shay Eskew:So based on that person who I didn't know, I bought a plane ticket that day, I booked a hotel that day, all of it came true. I flew November 3. I was one of the first tourists allowed in Israel after COVID all because I put it out there and said, hey, please help me. And that's what to me makes life so exciting, right, is these unanticipated outcomes.
Melinda Mastel:Absolutely. And the power of asking for help. Right? Yeah. And just putting it out there.
Melinda Mastel:I love that. So you touched on people maybe not seeing the work, right, that goes in behind the scenes, right? And kind of this delayed gratification concept. So you are quite the athlete, you've taken on a lot of physical challenges, and I would love for you to just give people a little bit of background. I mean, you mentioned the Iron Man on Every Continent, rim to rim to rim.
Melinda Mastel:You've done some other cool challenges too, I think Kilimanjaro is one of them, but a lot of times those are based around these big events, right? And it's so cool to say you've done these things, but going into that kind of day to day training and just the right, it's the endurance and the consistency that goes into getting yourself ready for those moments. Maybe if you could just speak a little bit to that, if there's any highlights, favorite moments, and then, yeah, how do you kind of translate that day to day consistency that allows you to perform in these big adventures and venues?
Shay Eskew:And let me back up just real briefly to say, so I got into Ironman racing 02/2008, and it wasn't something I sought out. My mentor, this guy was 65, Henry Forrest, was teaching this boot camp fitness class. And when I first joined the class, I was thirty five pounds overweight. And this guy came up to me in the dressing room and said, hey, tough guy. I said, you talking to me?
Shay Eskew:Goes, yeah. I'm talking to you. He goes, why don't you come in here and do this little boot camp class with me and all these women? Shouldn't be anything for a guy like you with all your muscles because I had the typical dad bod. Right?
Shay Eskew:Biceps, chest, belly. And I was like, whatever, old timers. I get in there, true to form. It's all women and just me. First ten minutes, I'm in tears.
Shay Eskew:It's all core exercise. I had no core. And then the last ten minutes, he drops down beside me goes, alright, we're doing 10 count push ups. Come on, Esq. I can't keep up with him.
Shay Eskew:And I was so embarrassed. I went home tomorrow. I said, this old man kicked my butt. He doesn't know who he's messed with. I was back in his class every day.
Shay Eskew:I lost 20 pounds the next two months. Fast forward, he got diagnosed stage four pancreatic cancer, and he would do chemo and then come yell at us in the class. He made it a year before we lost him. Right before he passed away, Grupo said, Henry, we're gonna do the next big triathlon. We don't care the distance.
Shay Eskew:We're gonna do it. He surely passed away, so we signed up for a half Ironman. I didn't own a bike, hadn't ran twenty years, hated running, and didn't know how to swim. Like I knew how to doggy paddle, but not freestyle swimming distance. And so based on that commitment to him, I started training.
Shay Eskew:I bought a $500 bright green bike off Craigslist, pair of running shoes, took lessons at the Y. Five months later, we did a half Ironman. And then after the celebration of the race, we're all sitting around having a beer and somebody goes, let's do the same race twice. The full Ironman five months from today. I went home and signed up.
Shay Eskew:Nobody else did. And so I I bought a book. I'm training from a book. And the day before the race, I'm doing my workout, and I run into Henry's daughter. They were very active in the triathlon IRONMAN community.
Shay Eskew:Henry was the gentleman that passed away. And his daughter said, Shay, daddy's gonna be watching you tomorrow. I said, yeah. I know. She goes, no.
Shay Eskew:Seriously. This is the one year anniversary of daddy passing away. I didn't even think about it. I just went with my gut, signed up, and it just shows that you were doing what you were meant to do. And it became a lifestyle.
Shay Eskew:Right? And so over the years, I've now done 54 of them on every continent. We got to do a marathon in Antarctica last year, and so we've done a marathon now every continent. People always say, man, I wish I could just wake up motivated like you. Said, are you kidding me?
Shay Eskew:I'm tempted like you. I don't wake up and go, what? Let's go. I mean, there are some mornings, but half the mornings like you, I'm like, I'm tired. I know what I have to do, but I keep reminding myself, if I wanna live like the top 1% in the world, I gotta be willing to do what 99% of the people in the world are not willing to do.
Shay Eskew:And that's just do something daily. It doesn't take two hours. Put in twenty minutes a day, and it will change your entire life. And so one of the things that's worked for me is, number one, I hired a coach because it became a goal of mine I wanted to be ranked top 2% in the world and so they tracked that and so I was like if I want to hit that I need some accountability so the night before every workout I go in down to my pain cave which is my workout room in my basement I write the workout on a whiteboard I lay out all my workout clothes I have my nutrition set out everything's there so that way when I wake up make my coffee add an extra shot it's ready to go. It's clockwork.
Shay Eskew:It's just automatic. And it's one of those where you start wrapping your identity around, hey, I'm somebody that works out. That's who I am. And so you're not being true to yourself if you skip it. Right?
Shay Eskew:It becomes a habit just like brushing your teeth. You're the type of person that brushes your teeth, so why would you skip brushing your teeth? Well, the same is true for working out. If you're somebody that works out, this is what you do daily. And I can tell you, as somebody with five kids, it's been one of the best things for me just for that mental clarity.
Shay Eskew:It's amazing how many problems I solve at work or just with parenting, but also I'm the type of parent that I don't want to tell my kids what to do. I want to show them because we all know they watch what you do as opposed to what you say. And so when they wake up and they see dad's already been working out for an hour before they even get up, they think that's normal. And so they go to me. They've traveled the world with me at these races.
Shay Eskew:There's nothing like it. And it's one of those things that also become another reason why when you're tempted to quit because trust me, anybody that's done Ironman, you're tempted to quit. Right? When you get deep into a race, but then you start thinking, how am I gonna tell my kids I quit? It was too hard.
Shay Eskew:So I just quit. I can tell you in fifteen years, I've never not finished a race. Never. Right? I've ran barefoot seven miles pushing a bike with my feet bleeding, but I kept thinking there's no way I could tell my kids I quit.
Shay Eskew:Right? I would do anything as opposed to have to tell them I physically quit. And that's what I tell myself. You physically have to drag me off the course if I'm unresponsive before I just quit and walk off. And I think if you approach everything in life like that, you realize there's so much more you can do if you just say, I'm not gonna quit.
Shay Eskew:I don't care if it takes me three times as long as it should, but I'm going to finish what I start. And that's what you realize is life rewards those who just finish. You don't have to be the fastest. In Ironman, we always say, it's not about who's the fastest, it's who slows down the least. And that's what I look at.
Shay Eskew:There are so many people I know that definitely smarter, more talented than me in high school. But if you look at where we are in our careers and family life now, I think things have switched, right? They kind of maxed out in high school, maybe even in college because they thought the race was over. But those of us who know, it's like, I'm gonna compete my whole life in business and personally.
Melinda Mastel:I love that. Can I ask about your process? How do you go about setting goals? Because it sounds like and I'm a I'm a similar way. When there's an idea kind of planted in my head, it is it's not leaving.
Melinda Mastel:I wanna go after that and work toward that. So how do you kind of set these new challenges for yourself? How do you go about that?
Shay Eskew:I mean, like, sports wise, it's wanna be ranked top 2%. And so that one's kinda easy. Like, you know what it takes. I've done it, many times, and I had a great coach and supportive wife. And then, like, professionally, it's I set certain things around, one, I gotta achieve the company goals.
Shay Eskew:Right? That comes first and foremost is what do they want me to hit that I can be successful. And then I have my own personal financial goals that I need to hit to provide my family the lifestyle that I wanna provide. But then I also look at personally, I wanna take trips with my family. So what do I need to do to be able to afford or provide the time away to do those kind of trips?
Shay Eskew:Because so many people said, I want a goal based on achieving this title, this amount of money. Well, that's great if you do that, but if you're divorced or your kids are estranged because you don't see them, was it really worth it? And so one of the things you gotta look at when you're setting your goals is what are you willing to sacrifice? And, like, for me, it's I'm willing to sacrifice TV, fast food, hanging out with the boys, having beers, and then identify what you're not willing to sacrifice. I don't wanna sacrifice time away for my wife and kids.
Shay Eskew:And when you can identify what you're gonna sacrifice and not sacrifice, it makes it really easy when you're presented with the opportunities. Like, hey. Will this advance my family? Or is it gonna take away from? Then everything becomes pretty black and white on what you're willing to do and not willing to.
Melinda Mastel:That's fantastic advice. And speaking of goals, obviously, sometimes in athletics, you probably show up and maybe outperform what you were expecting and are pleasantly surprised. And some days you might show up and things are a slop and chop. So you've talked about finishing every race, but can you talk a little bit more about just adapting to those different conditions and kind of, I guess, your mindset toward I don't know if you'd call it failure or learning from that or when things maybe don't go as planned.
Shay Eskew:Yeah. You know, I'll say, like in Ironman racing, a lot of it's math. Right? Like, you know what kind of training is required to be competitive. And that's why I hired one of the top coaches was I know if I do what he's prescribing, I'm gonna be in my best condition I can be in.
Shay Eskew:I also realized I'm not the most talented athlete out there. And so sometimes you're like, hey. I did the best I could, and I'm fine with that. If if I did my best and I still didn't have a competitive enough to get me on the podium, there's always gonna be somebody better than you. Right?
Shay Eskew:You can't control that. And that's why, at least at this stage of my life, it's more about, am I the best I can be as opposed to the best period? Mhmm. Because I can't determine if I'm the best period. I I have just control over me.
Shay Eskew:But I also always try to be grateful for, hey. I've got the opportunity to go do what 99% of the people in the world will never even attempt. Right? So that in and of itself, a success to say, I showed up. I did it.
Shay Eskew:And you just know that when you're in the game long enough, you're gonna have bad days. And if you think every day is gonna be a PR day, you're mistaken. And I go into the races assuming something's going to go wrong. When you do a long race like these, you know you're going to and so you're just mentally prepared, hey, if I get a flat, I can change it. I If get two flats, I can change it.
Shay Eskew:If I get three, like I had a one race, then I ran barefoot six miles. Right? And so, you just have to keep asking yourself, if this happens, what am I going to do? And so, it's not a surprise when it happens because you've already prepared. I will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes.
Shay Eskew:And I think that's the key. But I think so many people get wrapped around, I have to achieve this. And if I don't hit that mark, maybe it's get on the podium, then it was a bad race, then you're setting yourself up for failure and you're never gonna be happy.
Melinda Mastel:Absolutely. Kind of going back to that work identity and then just how athletics tie into it, I would say not to speak on behalf of early careerists, but it's really easy for really any of us at any stage to start tying our identities to our jobs and our career and titles kind of like you said. How would you say athletics has helped you create an identity outside of work or help improve your career or just teach you lessons about how to approach work?
Shay Eskew:It's a lot of things. One, it's goal setting. It's making commitments, sticking to them. It's time management, right? And it's also be willing to stick out because I can tell you in an industry like healthcare where not everybody is focused on fitness.
Shay Eskew:Some people try to bring you down and say, Oh, all you care about is working out and water off my bridge. So, if the worst thing I'm doing is because I'm spending too much time taking care of my body, which nobody else can do for me, I'm okay with that. And also willing to be the person that, hey. If everybody's going out drinking, I'll have a beer with you. But I'm not staying up late night to see how many beers are or, you know, shots I can put.
Shay Eskew:It's just not me. And so I think it's just being true to who you are and people respect that. Don't try to cave in and beat the person you think they want you to be. It's funny because, you know, people used to make look at that guy. He's wearing his little spandex biking shorts to go ride, you're like, okay.
Shay Eskew:Are you jealous because my shaved legs look better than yours? I mean, what's the problem? Right? It's just being comfortable in your own skin, figuring out who do you wanna be and make sure that what you're doing aligns with what you wanna be. If you say you wanna be somebody that takes care of yourself, then you gotta look at what you're eating, and are you spending time daily working out?
Shay Eskew:Right? But also keeping things in proportion, not going to extremes, and that's where sometimes I struggle. When I first got into it, it's I wanna be the best. Right? And luckily, I realized, hey.
Shay Eskew:This is a hobby. I'm not getting paid to do this. Let's be realistic about it, you know, and really focus on what's important, which is family and your career. Right? But I think when people see you're committed to a passion, whether it's gardening, exercise, whatever it is, people admire people that are all in.
Shay Eskew:You know, they don't say, oh, well, you know, she just planted a few little tomato plants just like, oh my god. She's got her whole backyard, these tomato plants, you know, all of this stuff. Go all out. Be passionate. Right?
Shay Eskew:Whatever it is. And that's why, like, I'm somebody I go overboard so I can only have one or two hobbies because I just go to the extremes. But that's the way I believe life is meant to be lived. It's be passionate. Whatever it is you do, go all out for it.
Melinda Mastel:Awesome. Kind of going back to this idea of you mentioned earlier you had that time where you knew that you wanted to pursue leadership and not be an individual contributor anymore. Was there a certain moments where you made that decision or do you remember what kind of factored into that? And then can you just speak to kind of that journey of what it's like to be a leader versus in that individual contributor seat?
Shay Eskew:Yeah. And it's it's interesting because it's kinda I've kinda went back and forth on it because my idea of being in leadership matched with what I saw my boss was doing, and he was what I would call a player coach. Right? Like, he's the guy that would go with you and say, hey. Look.
Shay Eskew:This is how we do it, but not do it for you. Right? Like, he was still out in the field. And some of the companies I've worked with in the past, the way they saw leadership was, well, hey, your job's just to run reports and report on how people are doing. I'm like, you don't need me for that.
Shay Eskew:I mean, I could get somebody half my age, a lot smarter, to run detailed reports. You need somebody, I believe, that's been there, done that, that can show people how to be successful in the market. Show them, here's how you build relationships because you know this. Health care is based on relationships. Right?
Shay Eskew:There's been so many companies make false promises and not deliver. At the end of the day, these finance and revenue cycle leaders make decisions based off the people they trust, who they know can deliver on the solutions they're offering. So that's why I love sales. Like you, I love nothing more than talking to people. Tell me your challenges.
Shay Eskew:Let me see if we can help. If we can't, I guarantee you I know somebody that can. And that's where I value myself being a connector. I would love to help you, but if I can't, I wanna make sure somebody else can because I know if I have a situation later in life, you're gonna try to help me. And likewise, if you have a need that aligns with what I'm offering, you're gonna like, hey, this guy has helped me when he wasn't going to benefit.
Shay Eskew:I'd like to bring him in to help him out. And I think this industry is great for that. I think people love helping each other. It's an industry unlike any other where people get into it because they love serving and helping others.
Melinda Mastel:Yes, absolutely. And then just going back to being on Rotary and being the youngest person kind of on the team, I imagine for some early careerists, they're in similar areas maybe in their careers or other pursuits where if you wanna learn or do something unique or be engaged in service or are taking those stretch assignments, you might similarly be that younger person in the room. Do you have any advice for, you know, people kind of just owning their space as being the youngest person in the room and then also just learning, you know, from all generations of people.
Shay Eskew:Yeah, I mean, to me it was amazing. There was this guy, Doctor. Boyd, here in Nashville. The guy's a legend. He's about six two, had this gray beard that came down to the middle of his chest, just a very intimidating but extremely witty guy.
Shay Eskew:And so I went up to him. I said, doctor Boyd, hey. New to the area. Can I buy you lunch and just hear stories? This guy loved it.
Shay Eskew:And so we spent years where once a month, we'd just get a hamburger. We'd try around and figure out who had the best hamburger. And he said, Shay, don't you ever call me doctor Boyd. I'm Luke to you. And I loved it because we'd go out to eat, people would come up Doctor.
Shay Eskew:Boyd. That's what they'd call him. And here I am calling him Luke. I said, Luke. And it was all because he just loved having somebody half his age to share stories.
Shay Eskew:And he had the most amazing life, tobacco farmer, right, from Mississippi. And I think you'll be surprised if you just reach out to people and say, Hey, I just want to hear some stories. I'm not trying to tell you how great I am, but I'd love to learn about your experiences and your family. What can I do to incorporate their past into what I'm doing now? Right?
Shay Eskew:And I think so many people are quick today to tell you how smart they are and as opposed to just spend time and learn other people's story, then you figure out how you can bring value to them.
Melinda Mastel:Looking back at your younger self, personally, professionally, if you could give advice to your younger self, what would that be?
Shay Eskew:It's hard. I would say maybe when I was younger, spend time more with people that were older. Because it wasn't until I got to be almost 30 that I started spending time with people twice my age. And my wife will even tell you now, she's like, do you have insider our age? Like, all my my really good friends are much older than me.
Shay Eskew:So that was probably it. But, I mean, I don't regret anything. I don't know if I'd do anything differently. I feel like the experiences I had, the good and the bad, were a result of living life, you know, like trapping bears. I can't say trapping bears prepared me for life, but but I've always been one of those people I value experiences because I kept thinking, how many people in life say I lived in the woods trapping bears for a living?
Shay Eskew:How many people have been attacked by a bear? I have. Right? Like, there's so many things. You can't take that away, so don't seek things out because of the money.
Shay Eskew:Seek them out for the experiences and the time with the people that you'll have.
Melinda Mastel:And if someone kind of summarized your story in a sentence or two, is there a certain message or takeaway that you hope people would bring out of kind of your life and your attitude toward it?
Shay Eskew:Well, things, you know, gritty, adventurous, industrialist, can do attitude. I'm just a big believer that life is not about who's the most talented. You know, I've got a lot of my friends are way smarter than I am, but they're just not as risk as much as a risk taker willing to do things. Right? They want assurances everything's gonna work out.
Shay Eskew:The people that I know that are extremely successful take those risks, they realize failure is a requirement. And just because you have one, two, or even 10 failures doesn't mean you're not gonna be successful. You know, it's kinda like when Thomas Edison was talking about the light bulbs. Right? I figured out 999 ways not to do it.
Shay Eskew:That's kinda the way my life's been. But we learn more from our disappointments than we do from our successes. And but one advice I would give is spend time with people that champion your successes as opposed to those that are always looking to downplay what you do or persuade you not to do it. I said, these guys that I traveled the world with for seven days, I don't care whatever you said you're gonna do. That's awesome, mate.
Shay Eskew:Let's do it. You know? And one of the guys I met on that trip, he and I went and spent a week together in Antarctica. He wind up climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with me. I told him, hey, buddy.
Shay Eskew:When you do sign up for your first full Ironman, I'm gonna do it with you. I'm gonna fly to Switzerland, and I'm gonna do it with you. And those are kind of people seek out in life, people that that are willing to get in the hole with you, endure whatever it is, just to be a part of that with you.
Melinda Mastel:Well, that's some organic type mentorship, right, too, to say, hey, when you do yours, I'm gonna be right there. Absolutely.
Shay Eskew:But hold people accountable. You know, I had a friend of mine, David Bittner was the CRO at Trinity. I told him, St. Anthony, was like, Hey, fuel train for an Ironman, I'll do it with you. And he trained up for a half Ironman.
Shay Eskew:I flew to Maine. We got our hotel together and we did the race together. And I was so proud of him finishing. Was like, and that's what it's about. Like, I was way more happier for him finishing than I was for myself just knowing what he did to get himself to that finish line.
Melinda Mastel:I love that so much. You know, I was recently in Colorado and there's the Manitou Incline. I'm not sure if you're familiar, but it's this crazy, basically just stairs up the side of the mountain on Pikes Peak and it's like 2,700 ish steps or something. So I had heard about this and I was like, I need to go do it. So I did it and it was so hard.
Melinda Mastel:And afterward, I saw this little mini documentary because there's regular climbers, there's people who do this multiple times back to back, like they go for records in a year, right? They've made this whole thing out of it. And it was so inspiring, but what you just said reminded me of one of the quotes that the guy said, I think he went for a record of like a thousand climbs in a year or something, right? So you're doing like, you know, on average a few a day. And he's like, my thousand is no more valuable than, you know, someone else's one climb, right?
Melinda Mastel:Like that may be a huge accomplishment for them. And I think that's such a great perspective that, you know, you bring. It's like we're all working toward our own goals and they can be equally as impressive, and we can cheer each other on through that. All right, so as we're wrapping up here, you've done a lot, obviously, in your life. It's been jam packed.
Melinda Mastel:Is there something that you have on your list for a next goal or a dream or challenge that you have that you're looking to do in the future?
Shay Eskew:You know, my biggest goal is just getting my kids out of high school into good colleges and hopefully all graduate. Like, I feel like when it comes to sporting events, I've done everything I've wanted to do. There's not nothing I don't feel like I haven't checked that list. It's not to say I won't add to my list. And that's what's crazy.
Shay Eskew:Like, when I set out an Ironman, it was never with, hey. I wanna do 50 before I'm 50. It's just one of those I kept signing up. I was like, oh, man. Only need three more before I hit 50, I'm there.
Shay Eskew:Right? So things just kinda present themselves to you as you go along there. But, honestly, I'm very content with where I'm at as far as that goes, as far as signing up for events. I'm just trying to be mindful. Again, I have to watch myself not overcommitting.
Shay Eskew:It's one of those you get invited to do a lot of really cool things, but I always have to ask myself, is this in alignment with my goal of getting my kids in college? Because these are really big expenses coming down the pipeline. So I've had to really kind of be mindful and cut back on some of these big adventures knowing that's a much bigger priority for me.
Melinda Mastel:Love that. Alright. I wasn't going to add another question, but I see the huge bookshelf behind you, I have to ask. It looks like you're a reader. Do you have any top suggestions or favorites or maybe something you're reading right now?
Shay Eskew:My biggest or my favorite book is Endurance, the story of Ernest Shackleton, you know, when he's stranded in Antarctica. Mhmm. I made my kids read it. I just think that embodies what life's about. It's like this guy that probably is not the most qualified person, but if you look at the kind of people he targeted when he was hiring, he said nothing about skills.
Shay Eskew:He's talking about how miserable it's gonna be, and people that knowingly sign up for something know when it's gonna be miserable. Those are the people you want in life at your side. And so all I read are nonfiction, as boring as that is. My wife's got the fiction books on the side because what I wanna do is program my brain that when something crazy happens, I don't freak out, and my first reaction is, oh my god. I'm gonna die.
Shay Eskew:I'm gonna go back to, hey. I read about this story. Here's what so and so did. Can I apply that to this situation? And so you're just programming your brain survival is a guarantee.
Shay Eskew:It's just what do we gotta do? Right? And I think that's what you need to do is constantly keep training your brain that obstacles are part of everyday life. We don't get derailed by them. We just evolve and move on.
Shay Eskew:And the bigger thing is no matter what we're going through, somebody else has always been through something worse. They've not only survived, but they've thrived. And I've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of these kind of special athletes and you hear their stories like, what? Really? Incredible.
Melinda Mastel:I love that so much. Well, it's been an absolute joy talking with you. I've certainly been inspired and motivated today. Any last words you'd like to share with our audience today before we sign off?
Shay Eskew:I would say whatever it is you've been thinking about, just sign up. Don't overthink it. Put it on the board. Tell everybody you know, and you'll be surprised that you're gonna make it happen. And then lastly, I do speak on the circuit.
Shay Eskew:So if anybody's looking for a speaker for their upcoming conferences, I would love to share my story.
Melinda Mastel:Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. Thanks to our audience for listening to the MGMA Early Careers podcast today. If you found today's conversation helpful, please share it with fellow traveler on the career journey. And until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and remember to enjoy the view.
