STAR Rtn. Sean Rodriguez: A Maverick and Change Agent Who is Living His Life Fully

In this interview, Rtn. Sean Rodriguez shares his unique way of looking at and experiencing the world. As President & COO of Iridium Asia Holdings, Inc., Rtn. Sean has a lot on his plate. Yet, he believes dealing with many things at work and other aspects of life is not so much about having a work-life balance. Instead, it’s about understanding the concepts surrounding a healthy work-life blend.

Rtn. Sean is one of the pioneers in the field of Human Experience and a recognized leader in this arena. He served as Executive Director and Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at several healthcare institutions in the United States where he played an important leadership role in driving a relationship-based culture and bringing together quality, safety and experience innovation to enhance care delivery.

Read this insightful interview and discover the five primary concepts to building Professional Resiliency which he promotes. He also talks about the value of being truly grateful, the importance of learning to listen, and how Rotary gives him a “sense of fulfillment in being able to give back to the world.”

Rhea Vitto Tabora (RVT): What’s the most powerful motivation that gets you out of bed each day?

Sean Rodriguez (SR): Gratitude. Aside from love, there is no higher example of joy or happiness than being truly grateful. Appreciating the many gifts life gives us on a daily basis gives one purpose and starting the day choosing to be thankful creates a positive mindset. It also makes any load we carry lighter. It lifts us up and it lifts up those around us. I believe we must embrace gratitude and show gratitude especially when things seem most difficult.

RVT: With your full schedule and many responsibilities as President & COO of Iridium Asia Holdings, Inc., how do you maintain a healthy work-life balance?

SR: Due to our evolving culture, technology and communication, these days it is not so much about work-life balance, instead we need to understand the concepts surrounding a healthy work-life blend. Filipinos are among the most ravenous of social media users and we openly embrace a digital lifestyle. This means anytime, anywhere communication for both work and play. As leaders, we need to be aware of how this might impact us, our families, and those we work with.

Setting priorities helps guide us through the day (and the night). This makes it easier to meet our objectives. It is also important to set boundaries, both for oneself and for others (no meetings/calls past a certain time, don’t email or text direct reports after work hours, etc.). Check-in with yourself regularly, be mindful of how you feel and whether these systems are working well for you or for the people around you. Seek feedback and friends, family and coworkers and continually adjust accordingly.

Aside from Work-Life Blend, I also exercise and promote the five primary concepts deployed to build Professional Resiliency. I was the executive sponsor for, and participated in developing, a program (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24022286/) for BJC Healthcare and Washington University Medical Center. This was accomplished with the help of master traumatologist, Eric Gentry, and Patricia Potter, a former colleague of mine and the coauthor of the Fundamentals of Nursing textbook (used both in the United States and the Philippines).

Healthy professional resiliency includes:

Self-Regulation: mindful relaxation of your body; learning techniques to keep oneself in the parasympathetic (vs. sympathetic) nervous system. Periodically scanning your body for muscle tension and relaxing.

Perceptual Maturation: Attend to what you can control and accept the rest. Self-validate, give yourself acknowledgement and validation for the work you do — don’t expect to get this from your colleagues, your boss or your family.

Be Intentional: Follow your Mission or Code of Honor, bring into alignment any transgressions (even small ones). Improve your ability to recognize and follow the path you have chosen for yourself as opposed to letting the rest of the world choose for you.

Connection/Support: The enlistment of three or more peers to serve as a support system for you. This is about building your own personal support network following specific ground rules. Be open to sharing your difficulties and getting support.

Self-Care: Participating in activities that “re-fuel” you. Activities like relaxing vacations, being around nature, spiritual retreats, hanging out with friends, reading, art or music, exercise, having a healthy diet, getting good sleep, etc.

Of the above listed methodologies, self-regulation is the most important. It is also the one that most people have the least knowledge of.

RVT: What are your success habits?

SR: For brevities' sake, I will focus on one that I believe is extremely valuable and often overlooked — Learning to Listen - learning, because developing this skill is a lifelong process. I believe it is the most important skill for both our personal and professional life. Listening requires:

Patience

Having an open mind and not being judgmental

Empathy and compassion

Emotional intelligence

Critical thinking

Focus or paying attention

Responding appropriately

Providing valuable feedback

Humility — the world is our teacher and there is always something to learn for from the person in front of you

RVT: What is the coolest thing you have implemented across your career?

SR: I have been very blessed to have been one of the pioneers in the field of Human Experience and a recognized leader in this arena. Human Experience in the professional environment is a highly integrated approach to customer satisfaction, employee engagement, quality management, and leadership & organizational development. I served as Executive Director and Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University Medical Center and several other BJC Healthcare institutions, and also as Vice President and Advisor, for the Office of Experience, Engagement & Organizational Development at Hartford Healthcare. Due to my success in this field, I was also invited to sit on the executive board of the Beryl Institute, the premiere Human Experience think tank and the only certifying body for people who work in this profession. Beryl is a well-respected organization with thousands of member hospitals/healthcare organizations across the globe, including the Philippines.

The recognition I received in this field was due to the success of the programs I implemented at these various institutions. The success measures (metrics) for this are publicly tracked and reported in the United States using the mandatory CAHPS Surveys (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems). There are several other metrics (some also publicly reported) that are tracked that complement this.

During my first Chief Experience Officer role, I took a large academic medical center (one of the largest hospitals in the United States with thousands of employees, occupying several city blocks) from a 2-star rating to a 4-star in less than two years. When this was achieved, there were only two large hospitals in the entire country that attained the coveted 4-star rating — Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University (where I worked) and the Cleveland Clinic. This dramatic improvement entailed the development and deployment of a large-scale, multifaceted program that changed the culture, systems and processes of a large, complex and multidisciplinary environment.

Cleveland Clinic was the first institution to employ a CXO in the entire world of healthcare. It took many years for them to gear up and earn their 4-star rating. Under my leadership, as the organization’s first CXO, Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University did this in extremely short order. This was quite an achievement considering that the Cleveland Clinic is run more like a boutique hospital designed for the patient experience, while Barnes-Jewish operates as a high-volume, inner-city hospital. Both organizations share the distinction of having the top 10 medical schools, while also being listed on the US News and World Report’s Honor Roll of top hospitals in the United States for over two decades.

Rtn. Sean has been invited to speak at numerous conferences and has also had the opportunity to share the stage and co-present with the CXOs, VPs, and Presidents of some of the top healthcare organizations in the world.

RVT: Who inspired you to become who you are today? How did this person influence your life?

SR: I had been blessed with a life rich with experience across a broad spectrum of events and circumstances. I would say the three most important groups of people that have made me who I am today are:

My family, especially both my parents. They are unique individuals, sometimes on the opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. There is so much I have learned from how they brought me up and from just watching them. They both have the wonderful capacity to see possibilities where most people see dead ends.

My teachers, besides our families, we spend so much of our time at school during our early years. I remember the teachers who were truly passionate about their work and their students, that come through and it has impact. These individuals peaked my interest in many subjects like: science, economics, geometry, information technology, music, art, etc.

My spiritual teachers, this group has had a tremendous impact on me, especially in the more subtle aspects of my being. I have been very blessed to have met, become friends with, and to have studied with some of the best spiritual teachers of this age.

RVT: What do you feel most grateful about?

SR: Wow, there is so much on this list. I will mention two things:

The unconventional upbringing I got from my parents. This has much to do with who I am as a person. I am very thankful for the experience of growing up living in various parts of the Philippines and the world and all the adventure and learning that came with that.

Nature. I believe it is the root of our humanity and our best teacher. We have to be good stewards of our planet and take care of our environment.

To all of the above, I am extremely thankful.

RVT: What’s the best thing about joining the Rotary Club of Manila? How has the Rotary journey changed you?

SR: I became a member during the COVID pandemic via Zoom from Davao City. I have been here since the beginning of the lockdown period. Unfortunately, I have not been able to experience the usual fellowship most members get when the club has in person meetings. Despite that, it has been gratifying because of all the work we are able to do via Zoom and other platforms. Rotary gives me a sense of fulfillment in being able to give back to the world. Despite the limitations COVID has imposed on us, I am very glad that I am able to participate in projects related to improving the environment, our COVID relief efforts for different communities, the work I did to initiate our sister club arrangement with the Rotary Club of Washington DC, etc. Another great aspect of Rotary is that it has also given me a new group of respectable people that I can build friendships with. If you are reading this, please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn by going to: www.sean.uno

RVT: What is your favorite weekend activity?

SR: My two favorite things to do are to hang out with my loved ones and to be around nature. A perfect weekend is when I can enjoy activities where I am doing both. This includes activities like going to beach, going hiking, riding a bike, swimming, etc.

RVT: What’s the most important thing that people should know about you?

SR: I have a unique way of looking at and experiencing the world and I want to understand things fully and live life fully—physically, mentally and spiritually. Please allow me to get a bit philosophical and give perspective to this statement. I will use the first commandment as an example: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”

I have heard many interpretations of this commandment, but none seem to work well. To a Christian, not following any of the commandments is a mortal sin and I believe this is the first commandment for a very good reason. So what does this commandment mean? For me, it means that one must not hold on to any fixed concepts of the divine. With humility, we must recognize the limitations of our capacity to comprehend the divine, while also being open to experiencing it as a never-ending revelation. We must also recognize that this revelation will be different for different people, different cultures, different times, and different parts of the world. The differences are based not on there being different gods, but the different perspectives and capacities to comprehend that are shaped by each period and the individual person’s experience.

Here again, learning to listen is critical, but it must be coupled with an additional skill or a sixth sense. That sense is the sense of sacredness. We all have it. Some know how to use it, like one might use a compass, and some don’t even know it exists. There is a certain spiritual liberty to this, because in many ways it sets us free—rather than putting us (or god) in a box.