Shane Voshell
Episode 183

Narrator: Welcome, friends, to another episode of The Story and Experience Podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira, with his guest today and discover the moments that shape us, our families, and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, welcome, friends, to another episode of Story and Experience Podcast. I am delighted. It has been a journey to be able to get this guest, but I'm delighted to have this guest. We actually are recording in Roseville, California, even though they're from another place, which they'll share soon. If you're brand new to the podcast, we have 100 questions. They give out stories and experiences that turned this leader into the leader that they are today. I'm excited about asking them the questions and hearing their answers and you will be as well when you hear them speak. So let me begin with the first 10. Can I just ask you your name and does anybody ever mispronounce it?

Shane Voshell: My name is Shane Voshell. And yes, the last name in particular.

Japhet De Oliveira: Voshell.

Shane Voshell: Voshell.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Shane Voshell: Yeah, that's pretty common.

Japhet De Oliveira: And what do you do, Shane? Do you correct it or you just let it run or ...

Shane Voshell: No, I let it run.

Japhet De Oliveira: What's the weirdest version of it?

Shane Voshell: Voshell.

Japhet De Oliveira: Voshell. Voshell.

Shane Voshell: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: And did they say it emphatically?

Shane Voshell: No, I just think when you're places where they ever have to say your last name, they ...

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, introduce you on the stage.

Shane Voshell: Yeah. Well, you hope that doesn't happen, but, yes, that's the most common. Voshell or Voshell.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Shane Voshell: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. Shane, what do you do for work?

Shane Voshell: I am currently the network HR leader for the Oregon network.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, all right. The Oregon network encapsulates what?

Shane Voshell: It encapsulates three hospitals. Home flagship hospital where I'm operating out of is in Portland, Oregon. We have a critical access hospital in Tillamook, and then we have a smaller hospital, medium-sized hospital, and The Dalles.

Japhet De Oliveira: Fantastic. And how long have you been involved in HR?

Shane Voshell: Over 25 years. Let's go with that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow. All right, quarter of a century.

Shane Voshell: Yeah, a little while.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now, when you were a child, where were you born, first of all?

Shane Voshell: Baltimore, Maryland.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really? And did you grow up there?

Shane Voshell: Ish. Yeah, I grew up in the Northeast, at least in those early years. Baltimore, Virginia, Kentucky, and then migrated west along with my family.

Japhet De Oliveira: A lot of movement.

Shane Voshell: Yeah, yeah. My dad worked in high tech. He worked in IBM when I was a kid and then high tech took him to different places. We migrated across the country and eventually landed in the Pacific Northwest.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's fantastic. Good. So when you were a child growing up, what did you imagine you would've grow up to be? Was it HR?

Shane Voshell: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: No?

Shane Voshell: No. I don't know. What did I imagine growing up to be? I probably imagined growing up being something connected to something related to sports.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Shane Voshell: Yeah, because I was very much into sports-related things when I was a kid.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, hey, that's fantastic. I don't know how to pull this out, but at some point I hope that people will go to the website just to see your photo. I mean, they can hear you, but I'm just looking at you now and they need to see the style of your hair and the look. Shane is unique. Unique, brilliant, brilliant. I love it. So Shane, where did you get your style from?

Shane Voshell: I don't know. It's kind evolved over time. You kind of grow, you mature, you go through phases. You just kind of learn what works and doesn't work. And sometimes you look back at those old pictures and those old things you're wearing and you're like, "My goodness, what was I going through at that time?" But I don't really have any particular inspiration. I think it's just an age and an evolutionary thing that happens with me.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. Now, how did you end up in HR?

Shane Voshell: Well, I guess the short story is I had mentioned that sports was kind of a background for me, athletics, that kind of thing. And I think some people would go into post-secondary education, start thinking how can I do athletics and get paid for it? And I wasn't good enough to be paid for playing a sport, but I figured, "Hey, what about phys ed or something like that?" But I was fortunate to have some professors that recognized and could tease those people out and make sure that you want to make sure you're in these classes and pursuing this journey for the right reasons. And I appreciated that because I pivoted. And then stock market was a big deal back and the tech boom, leading up to the tech boom.

Japhet De Oliveira: Apparently it's still a big deal.

Shane Voshell: Yeah, apparently. Yeah, right. On everybody's minds. So I thought I would go down the finance path and I kind of hit a wall in some of those upper division accounting courses. And so I thought maybe I need to look at something else under the banner of business and happened to know some people that were taking some HR classes and I thought I'll give it a shot. And so kind of got started on the journey that way.

Japhet De Oliveira: Did you work for Adventist Health your entire career or you've been in other places or?

Shane Voshell: No, I didn't start with Adventist Health. So I went to Boise State and then job market wasn't good there. At the time I was finishing up, so I went to Southern California. My wife has family down there, so we migrated down there and kind of got my career started down there. And then migrated back up to the Pacific Northwest when just before the housing market kind of came crashing down in California/ and then was in Walla Walla, worked at Walla Walla University. College at the time, was the HR leader there. And then somebody, one of the executives, former executives from Adventist Health Portland found me on LinkedIn. Asked me if I was interested in talking about a position they'd been trying to fill for the better part of a year and the rest is history.

Japhet De Oliveira: Voila.

Shane Voshell: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. And what do you love about it the most?

Shane Voshell: Being with Adventist Health?

Japhet De Oliveira: No, in the role.

Shane Voshell: The role?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah.

Shane Voshell: I think what I like most about the role, and it's kind of the thing that inspired me to get into it in the first place, is that when you're in HR, you're kind of touching all aspects of the business because you have to understand the business, but you're also very much influencing and framing perspective of the people in the business.

And so how you interface with people, the way that you impact them through the different situations that they might be experiencing, some of the business challenges that we're having. I think just working with people, you can impact their trajectory, you can impact decision making, you can impact culture. There's just so many different things you can impact in this work and so I think it is very rewarding and fulfilling. It doesn't always work out great because you've got situations that are untenable at times, but I think you always look for the silver linings. What can I do? What can I impact? Recognizing that not everything is going to be a success story in the end.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hey, I love that. That's fantastic. All right, now practical things. Are you an early riser or late night owl?

Shane Voshell: I feel like I am evolving a little bit. I think I have my moments where I can stay up a little bit later if I need to, but I find that I'm preferring to get up earlier in the morning.

Japhet De Oliveira: And what's early for you?

Shane Voshell: 5:30, 6:00.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right.

Shane Voshell: 5:30 to 6:30. It just depends on how the day went the day before.

Japhet De Oliveira: And this morning when you got up early, what was the first thought that went through your mind?

Shane Voshell: This morning?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, this morning.

Shane Voshell: This morning, I was wondering if my wife texted me because she's out of town. I'm out of town. She's out of town, too, and I was just wondering. She went to Walla Walla to see her family and I was just wondering if all was well and was hoping that I would've gotten a text from her this morning.

Japhet De Oliveira: And did you text her?

Shane Voshell: I did. I texted her last night before I went to bed, but I think I might've caught her at a time where she was either with her family or might've already been in bed herself. Yes, I did have a text message from her this morning.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great, man. All is well.

Shane Voshell: All is well.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. That's great. All right, now personality. Would friends describe you as an introvert or an extrovert and would you agree?

Shane Voshell: I think it depends on the setting. I think if I'm around people that I know them, they know me, we're comfortable, I would probably be viewed a little bit more on the extroverted side. But I think when I'm in a situation where I'm not as don't know people as well, I'm not the person that's going to go and strike up conversation with people. I probably on the middle of that spectrum between introvert and extrovert. And I think what comes out more sort of depends on the environment that I'm in and the people that I'm around.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. That's great. Now, in the morning when you wake up, first drink of the day. Water, liquor, green smoothie, the coffee that you have in front of you right now? What do you have first?

Shane Voshell: It's probably going to be coffee.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. And how do you have your coffee?

Shane Voshell: Black.

Japhet De Oliveira: Black straight up.

Shane Voshell: Straight up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Drip or ...

Shane Voshell: I've got a variety of methods.

Japhet De Oliveira: Right. All right.

Shane Voshell: Yes. I think I unashamedly view myself as a bit of a coffee snob.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, coffee connoisseur.

Shane Voshell: Coffee connoisseur. There you go. Yeah, I've got a variety of methods that I like to use. Drip is fine, but I have some other methods I like a little bit better.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Hey, before I hand you over to you to pick a number, I've just got one leadership question for you. Are you a backseat driver?

Shane Voshell: Very good question. Depends on who you ask. I don't think I view myself as a backseat driver. I kind of view myself as more I'm not often in the backseat, but I try to view myself as being helpful. Now, how is other people receiving it? I'm not sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Hey, that's fair enough. All right. Hey, that's fantastic. Let's dive in. Where'd you want to go from 11 to 100?

Shane Voshell: Let's go 15.

Japhet De Oliveira: 15. All right, here we go. What's the one thing that you always misplace? That was too instant. That was too instant, your eyes.

Shane Voshell: Some of my colleagues who will probably listen to this later, my Yeti coffee mug.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah?

Shane Voshell: Yeah, that thing ...

Japhet De Oliveira: Just disappears?

Shane Voshell: Yeah, I walk around the hospital and meetings in other places and I'll set it down and I'll forget to bring it with me. They'll take pictures of it and send it to me and almost like Where's Waldo?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's brilliant. I love that. Right. Hey, that's 15. I want one of these photos. Okay, where next?

Shane Voshell: 19.

Japhet De Oliveira: 19. All right. What's your exercise routine?

Shane Voshell: Well, I'm not a morning exerciser.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really? Okay.

Shane Voshell: No, it's probably make good sense to do that, but I'm not in the habit of doing that. I'm more of an evening exerciser, at least when it comes to strength training. Kind of do that a few days a week. And then I've got volleyball that I do on the weekends.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice.

Shane Voshell: On Sunday mornings with some friends.

Japhet De Oliveira: In sand or on a ...

Shane Voshell: No, indoor.

Japhet De Oliveira: Indoor. Okay.

Shane Voshell: Yeah, during those non-summer months there's a gym that we rent, Northwest Portland. There's 12 of us that split the cost and we've been playing for the last 10 or 12 years.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really? So good friends.

Shane Voshell: Good friends. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's fantastic. Good. Good. All right, where next?

Shane Voshell: 21.

Japhet De Oliveira: 21. All right. Share the best compliment you ever received.

Shane Voshell: I'm not good at receiving compliments.

Japhet De Oliveira: I know this about you, Shane.

Shane Voshell: I think the best compliment I've ever gotten is when you hear back from somebody that you might've interfaced with, where they feel like there was something that inspired them to better themselves in some way as a result of some interaction that they had with me. Because in the work that I do, oftentimes you're dealing with some of the more difficult things and you don't always get to hear what the outcome was or what the impact might have been for the person that was being helped. But in those moments, when you actually get that feedback, it kind of validates and reinforces that what we do matters and it makes a difference.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's good. Beautiful. All right. Where next?

Shane Voshell: 25.

Japhet De Oliveira: 25. Share the most beautiful thing that you've ever seen.

Shane Voshell: My granddaughter.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah?

Shane Voshell: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Aw.

Shane Voshell: If I didn't have a granddaughter, probably say one of my kids, of course. But I've got a granddaughter that's almost three and there's just something that you can't describe about that.

Japhet De Oliveira: I'm very jealous

Shane Voshell: And so when you see that for the time and you experience that for the first time, there's just something that it's almost indescribable, the beauty of that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do you get to spend a lot of time with your granddaughter?

Shane Voshell: Not as much now as I was before. My daughter and her husband were living in Portland, then they migrated to Southern California and now they're in Georgia. And so don't get to see her as much as we'd like, but of course we're going to travel as often as we can because they grow up so fast.

Japhet De Oliveira: They do. They do.

Shane Voshell: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Fantastic. Hey, happy for you guys. All right, where next?

Shane Voshell: 30.

Japhet De Oliveira: 30, all right. Tell us about something you're really looking forward to.

Shane Voshell: What am I really looking forward to? Well, I've got grandbaby number two coming.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Okay.

Shane Voshell: Yeah, same daughter. She's due October. Super excited about that. We already know it's going to be a little boy and so that's really ...

Japhet De Oliveira: They've told me that they shouldn't announce it, but it's fine. No, I'm kidding.

Shane Voshell: I got permission from my daughter. It's okay to share.

Japhet De Oliveira: I'm kidding.

Shane Voshell: Don't want to break that rule. No, but I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah, it's just such a blessing.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hey, that's good. That's great. All right, that was 30, so where next?

Shane Voshell: 33.

Japhet De Oliveira: 33. Tell us about the best gift you've ever given someone else.

Shane Voshell: It's going to sound a little cheesy, but the first thing that came to mind was the gift of time to grandparents. When they start to get older and you want to relish the time that you can when they're still around, I have fond memories of just holding hand, being with a grandparent that you know that you're not going to have them for much longer. And so I think it's something that makes me feel good to know that I was able to because that's all they want, is they want time. They don't want anything from you other than just your time, your presence. And I think being able to give that to somebody, especially as they're kind of on the end of life, it's probably the best gift you can give.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's a good reminder for all of us.

Shane Voshell: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. All right, where next, sir?

Shane Voshell: 40.

Japhet De Oliveira: 40. All right. Tell us about a time where you failed.

Shane Voshell: How much time do you have here?

Japhet De Oliveira: I know, I know, I know.

Shane Voshell: I think that probably what comes to mind for failure is not necessarily being the learning from experiences that I had as a new parent. I have three of them and so the first one's sort of an experiment. I remember thinking back on times where I wish I would've done better as a parent.

Japhet De Oliveira: We all do. Yeah.

Shane Voshell: And In those moments, I felt like I probably failed because just didn't do something the way I wish I would have, could have, should have. And so you carry that, but what's beautiful about seeing children grow up is that they help let you know that, "Hey, you did okay." Even though you might carry some guilt of just maybe not being quite there or showing up in the moments the way you wish you would've. And so it's sort of a failure when you look back, but then it's also a blessing because you recognize the learning that comes from it. And that you didn't break anything in the process, but you might've felt like you did in the moment.

Japhet De Oliveira: Shane, you're in HR, so you're dealing with people all the time. This is a bonus question, 40A. Just thinking about failure, how failure can be crippling to people. Someone comes to you and they feel like, oh, done this, failed. How do you help them through that?

Shane Voshell: I let them know it's okay. I think in this work that we do, people are going to make mistakes all the time. We all do and I think we don't want to feel judged. We don't want to feel like there's not any opportunity to make things better, but we also want to give people space to recognize that that failure doesn't mean you're a failure. It means that there's a mistake that you made, but that doesn't define you. And so I think you want to not try to talk people out of feeling bad about it, but you also don't want them to get stuck in that feeling because that can be debilitating.

And so I think you meet people where they are. I think you listen. I think you give them that space and help them to feel like it's okay that you made a mistake. And really help them get to a place where they can be focused on, well, can I learn from this and how do I do better going forward so that I'm not being stuck on beating myself up and doom and gloom and that kind of thing. And so I think we have to do that as leaders because if we don't do that well, we run the risk of people being stuck in a place that we don't want them to be stuck. And then they're not the best version of themselves that they can be and they're not able to learn and grow as effectively because they're stuck.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yep. Good word. Good word. Thank you for taking 40A. All right, where next?

Shane Voshell: 45.

Japhet De Oliveira: 45. All right. When people come to you for help, what are they usually asking for?

Shane Voshell: Can I make more money? No. Well, I think normally it's various shades of issues with a leader's having an issue with another leader or they're having difficulty with some sort of an interpersonal or issue with another individual. And what I've learned is that my job is not to try to fix it. My job is to try to listen and ask good questions, be curious.

And try to help people get to a place where they can recognize that there might be a different way that they can be looking at this. So I tend to get a lot of questions and have a lot of conversations with leaders who are going through a difficult time with something, whether it's their own leadership or how they're leading other people or something that they're not sure how to manage it. And they're just looking for a listening ear. They're not always looking for somebody to solve the problem and I think we do them a disservice if we try to solve the problem for them anyway. I think we want to try to help them better understand their problem and how can they best respond to it?

Japhet De Oliveira: Good. Good. All right. Where next? That was 45.

Shane Voshell: That was 45?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Shane Voshell: Let's go with 50.

Japhet De Oliveira: 50. All right. Share about who's influenced you professionally.

Shane Voshell: Who's influenced me professionally? Lots of different people. Can I think of just one person?

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Shane Voshell: I guess if I just go with something most recent, we work with Kyle King, president for the Oregon network. One of the things that I've always appreciated about him that kind of reinforces a really important thing to me is that we're constantly going to be dealing with difficult things, uncertainty, ambiguity, those kinds of things. And I'm always amazed being able to watch people like him, Joyce Neumeyer's another one, being able to watch people and how they maintain composure and optimism and also lean into curiosity. They don't have all the answers. And I think contrary to some people might believe, the higher the level, the position doesn't mean the more answers that you have. It maybe is how you deal with uncertainty and things that you don't know the answer to.

And I am really inspired by the fact that I get to work with leaders like that, where you can just watch them in action when things are really hard. And how do they ask the right questions and how do they lean on the expertise around them? And I want to be that kind of person.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, good. Good. All right, where next?

Shane Voshell: Was that 50?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Shane Voshell: 55.

Japhet De Oliveira: 55. It was funny actually how you mentioned more than one, that I could see you was struggling just to keep it to one. Share about something that actually frightens you.

Shane Voshell: Being alone.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Shane Voshell: Yeah. I mean, I think ...

Japhet De Oliveira: Common for a lot of people.

Shane Voshell: Yeah. I mean, I think you want to be around people that know you, care about you, accept you for who you are, flaws and all. And so I think being alone would be a difficult thing for me. I treasure the people that I have in my life, my family, close friends, colleagues, and I think we need people like that in our lives. People who understand us, people who inspire us, people who help us along through the normal journeys of life.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's true. That's true. Actually, I believe with you we were made for community. Yeah, yeah, for sure. All right, where next, sir? That was 55.

Shane Voshell: 60.

Japhet De Oliveira: 60. All right. When in life have you felt most alone? I did not choose this.

Shane Voshell: I think probably where I felt most alone was probably during a really difficult time in my leadership journey, not long after I had joined Adventist Health. And I think part of it was a maturity thing. How we choose to think and how we choose to view the world around us really can significantly impact the way that we show up and be our best selves and that kind of thing. And I found myself for a period of time in a dark time where I just felt like I wasn't being that level of leader, that quality of leader, that being able to manage adversity well and that kind of thing. And so you start telling yourself stories and it starts to become self-fulfilling prophecy.

And you start looking at everything through a tainted lens. And I was doing my job, but I was sort of feeling alone because it wasn't something I really wanted to talk about. It was something that you kind of keep to yourself and it's like this own battle that you're having with yourself and it wears you out. And so when you get worn out and tired mentally, it just doesn't allow you to be the best self that you could be. And I think I went through one of those moments. And the interesting thing as I look back on it, the thing that snapped me out of it was actually the pandemic of all things.

Japhet De Oliveira: Which would've been the opposite, right?

Shane Voshell: Which would've been the opposite. And I look back on it now, and I think there's something about that triggering event that helped snap me out of this funk that I was in internally and really helped me to not only have a better attitude and perspective about myself, but it also put me in a place of being able to guide and support and meet people where they were who were going through very difficult times during that period of time in our history. And so I'm grateful in some ways for that's a silver lining for me because it allowed me to not only get out of my own funk, but also get into a place where I could be helping other people in ways that they needed to be helped. And that was therapeutic for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Wow.

Shane Voshell: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. All right, where next?

Shane Voshell: 65.

Japhet De Oliveira: 65. Yeah, share one word that you could describe your entire past, then unpack that word.

Shane Voshell: The first word that came to mind is maturity.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Okay.

Shane Voshell: I think looking back on just the evolution of being a young father, raising children, growing the career, going through all the challenges that come with that growth journey, there's maturing that happens all along the way. The missteps along the way, the enduring the challenges of wanting bigger and better for myself, but not having 100% control over that. It's takes time. You got to be patient. You got to put in the work. You got to trust that things are going to work out, faith in God that you're going to make the right decisions, you're going to meet the right people, the right doors will open so that all these things that you're trying to grow and mature and do better kind of fall into place. And I think this, looking back, I think when you're in those moments, you're like, "How is this going to work out? Is it always going to be this way?" But I look back on it now and I think God's hand was in every single step of it.

There's no way I would've gotten to where I'm at right now if God wasn't planting seeds and nudging me along the way. But when you're in those moments in that growing and maturing journey, you don't necessarily recognize it and feel it at that time, but you can look back on it and recognize it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Hindsight's really good.

Shane Voshell: It is.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. It's good to analyze ourselves and reflect. And yeah, it's good. Great. All right, where next?

Shane Voshell: I guess we're just going to keep going fives, so 70.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right, tell us about one thing that you're determined to accomplish.

Shane Voshell: One thing I'm determined to accomplish.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Shane Voshell: It's a lofty thing I guess, but I'm really wanting to see that the contributions that I'm making, the work that I'm doing, I really want to see not just on my own but in partnership with other people. I really want to see us moving more toward optimal performance, optimal efficiency and effectiveness as an organization because we've made a lot of decisions along the way that ... And we've figured out what's working and what's not working. And the landscape of healthcare has changed a lot and we're all sort of trying to figure out how to navigate through in the best way and adapt to what's going to be most effective for us to be thriving. And I really want to be a part of this, of getting us there. And I know that that's not a destination, but it's certainly something that we sort of know it when we see it.

We know what it looks like and we're not there right now, but I feel like we're committed taking the steps to get there and I really want to see that through. And I want to do it in partnership with great people. And I feel like that's what we're doing, but it's slow and it's sometimes painful. And it's hard to be patient with those things, but we know we have to be. And not everything's within our control either.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's true. That is true.

Shane Voshell: So yeah, I think that's what I really want to see through, is just being that beacon of light in the communities that we're in and the beacon of light to the people that we have, delivering on that to our communities. And I think we can strive to do better and I think we will do better. I think it's just a matter of time.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like it. I like it. All right, Shane, time for two final numbers. Can't believe it, right? Where do you want to go?

Shane Voshell: Well, I'm going to be courageous. I think I'm going to jump ahead. What number was that, 75?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Shane Voshell: Let's go with 85.

Japhet De Oliveira: 85. All right, here we go. Describe a role model you aspire to be like.

Shane Voshell: Well, I'm sure this is cliche. I want to be more like Jesus if I can be, honestly. And I know it sounds super cliche, but it's true. I mean, I think that's what I want. I want to be that person that people feel loved, people feel supported, people feel accepted, people feel like they belong. I want to be that approachable person. I want to be that trusted person. And I know that if I'm going to be the hands and feet of Jesus, it's got to be evident, not just in my words, but also in my actions. And I think I don't always get that right, but that's what I aspire to be able to do, is to just be that kind, loving, supportive, approachable human being.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. I like that. We should all aspire for the same thing. Hey, it's good. All right, final one. Where'd you want to go?

Shane Voshell: 95.

Japhet De Oliveira: 95. All right. This is actually perfect for you. Tell us about how you see your faith and life intersecting.

Shane Voshell: That's a really great one. I believe that we all have a purpose here. I believe through this life journey that I've been on so far that God has been with me every step of the way. And that irrespective of my level of investment, he's been invested in me. And I feel like my responsibility is to maintain my commitment to that and to try to be that best person that I can be, emulating Jesus as much as I can, knowing that I'm not going to get it right all the time. And so I want to bring that desire that I have for that into the way that I'm relating to colleagues, to random strangers that I don't even know. I never want anybody as a result of interacting with me to feel like they weren't valued, that they were somehow less than.

I want people to feel supported, valued, heard, that they belong. And that's not just a work environment thing. I think that we never know what impact we're going to have on other people around us, the kind word that we can say, the helping hand that we can lend, even if it's to a perfect stranger. I think you just never know what kind of an impact you're going to have on somebody else's life. And I think we've seen time and again in the work that we do that there are moments where we impact people in ways that go far beyond we ever would've imagined. And I think if we know that that's the impact we can have, I feel like we have a responsibility. I have a responsibility to make sure that the way I'm interacting with people is with that in mind.

Japhet De Oliveira: Shane, it's been privilege. I knew it was going to be good. And we tried a few times, but our calendars didn't line up.

Shane Voshell: True.

Japhet De Oliveira: So I'm glad. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing. I encourage people and I say this at every time, every episode, that the stories that we share, they shape us, they change us, and they transform us. They make us better people. So I encourage people to sit down, ask a good friend some good questions, learn their story as you do because you're curious and you're asking people all the time. And I think we are better people for it.

Shane Voshell: Yeah. Well, thank you for what you do with this.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, no worries.

Shane Voshell: Really appreciate it. It's a pleasure.

Japhet De Oliveira: My honor. My honor. So God bless and we'll connect the game with another amazing guest, hopefully as brilliant as you.

Shane Voshell: I don't know about that.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, it'll be great. Thanks so much.

Shane Voshell: Thank you.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for the Story and Experience podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at adventisthealth.org/story. The story and Experience podcast was brought to you by Adventist Health through the Office of Culture.