Steve Herber, MD
Episode 198

Narrator:

Welcome friends to another episode of The Story & 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 The Story & Experience Podcast. I am absolutely delighted with our guest today, and if you are brand new to the podcast, we have 100 questions, they are about stories and experiences that shape this person into the leader that they are today. I'm going to ask the first 10 and then I'm going to hand over to them and they're going to pick a number between 11 and 100, and the closer they get to 100, the more vulnerable and more open it becomes. So I'll dive straight in and I'll ask you the first one. Could you tell us your name? Does anybody ever mispronounce it?

Steve Herber:

Well, my name is Steve Herber and I don't think it's been mispronounced, but I do get a gratuitous T often on my last name.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, really? How generous. So Steve Herbert?

Steve Herber:

That's what people assume.

Japhet De Oliveira:

And do you correct them, Steve?

Steve Herber:

I say, you don't need to give me that T, I'm fine without it.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Without it, all right, that's good. Steve, what do you do for work?

Steve Herber:

Well, I'm privileged to serve as president at Adventist Health St. Helena in Vallejo.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, okay. All right. And you have a dual role, or I'm leading you there a little. Uh-huh.

Steve Herber:

I do, I have been a physician longer than I've been a hospital administrative leader and came here to practice medicine in 1998 through providential leading, I'm sure I ended up in an executive role in 2011 and that led to becoming president in 2013. So I just had my 12th anniversary of being president for St. Helena in Vallejo.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Congratulations. Congratulations. That's fantastic. Hey, that's really good. So physician and president leading the hospital. That's great. Now tell me, Steve, where were you born?

Steve Herber:

I was born at the White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, really?

Steve Herber:

I was.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Okay. Okay. All right, and did you grow up in the LA area?

Steve Herber:

I grew up in Loma Linda. My parents both were faculty members in the school of medicine and so I grew up in Adventist Healthcare and it's just what I knew, it was a normal environment. Mom and dad would leave early, come home late, be on call, and I just thought that's how parents were.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. So then when you were a child, did you imagine you were going to be in healthcare?

Steve Herber:

I did not. In fact, all I knew is that we were going to go to college. That wasn't even a conversation. So I went to Pacific Union College because that's where a lot of my friends went and in high school and then much more in college. I fell in love with biology and just felt myself being drawn to a career in healthcare. Even though I tried very hard every summer, I did different jobs, I thought of law, I did construction, all these things that convinced me, medicine's sounding better and better.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Okay. That is good. Well, some people are gifted in it, so that's great. I'm glad you found your gift, which is superb. Steve, are you an early riser or late night owl?

Steve Herber:

I'm an early riser. I love to get out on my bike before work. It just seems like healthcare is very stressful, particularly in a role like mine and to have a little time outside, it's almost like how people have described their meditation to me, being out in nature. I pick side roads where there's almost no traffic and I can think about the day and the challenges and the beauty where we're privileged to live here in Napa Valley and the whole day goes better. So I like getting up early, starting the day that way and it's like a devotional.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, no, I love it. So this morning when you got up early... And what is early for you by the way? Nine o'clock.

Steve Herber:

Is this question 78? That's pretty personal, Japhet. No, it's around six and then I can do a little initial devotional, a little coffee, look at the all-important emails and then get outside for a bit before I need to come into the hospital.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I was just going to ask you, what's your your first drink of the day and you told us coffee.Do you have it black or?

Steve Herber:

Coffee with oat milk creamer.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, oat milk creamer. Good for you. Good for you. Hey, that's good. Steve, if people were to describe your personality, would they say you were an introvert or an extrovert and would you agree with them?

Steve Herber:

I'm a secret introvert. My role doesn't let me expose that. I mean, I was terrified of public speaking as a kid. That was my most stressful class in high school, speech.

Japhet De Oliveira:

You did great.

Steve Herber:

The passion for what I'm doing and really believing in mission, I think about that and not about the group that I'm standing in front of, but when there are... I get invited to all these events, I want to stay home and curl up with a good book. I don't want to go out and... I'm with people all day, I need a little downtime.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, I hear you. I hear you. I understand. Hey, that's interesting, so how did you become a good speaker?

Steve Herber:

I would say the jury's still out on that, but it just really is a matter being passionate about what you do and knowing that you need to convey understanding to others. And I just focus on that, "Hey, this is a group who needs to hear what I'm sharing about the hospital, about the care we provide." And I think that gives me energy and the fortitude to be able to be with a group of people and share what I have to share and then I go home and I'm wrung out and exhausted because it takes a lot of emotional energy to do that. But it's something that I care so deeply about this community and our mission and what we're able to do for patients every day energizes and makes it possible for me to do that.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's good, that's good. Now, I didn't ask you this question, but when you get up at six o'clock in the morning, first thought that went through your mind today?

Steve Herber:

Oh no, I have to face, Japhet.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Thank you, Steve.

Steve Herber:

No, no, no. I was excited. I was excited. This has been something that I had an opportunity and something happened, maybe a fire, maybe an earthquake or I don't know, there was some act of God that kept us apart and then I've never had the opportunity since. And so yeah, it was pretty excited about this that I always think about the day and there's several things I'm praying for and then I think about, "Okay, what do I get to do for Adventist Health and for my hospital today?" And this was one of those things.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That is good. Yeah, it has been a long time coming, so I'm glad we were able to connect at long last. And it nearly didn't happen again, so I'm glad we made it work. Hey, last question in this section here, it's a leadership question, are you a backseat driver?

Steve Herber:

No, I would not... I would just say no to that question, but I feel like it needs a little elaboration. I love to see the team I work with succeed and I feel like I am an enabler and I love to support people in success. I love to... My greatest joy in leadership is when I see people succeed that I've worked with and maybe provided a little bit of momentum, a little nudge. And it's most fun when it's not even realized. When you have influence on people for good and they're not feeling it. So it's not a backseat driver, it's not overbearing, it's empowering. And I love that when I can see little things can have a big impact through a team member that I've been trying to support and I see their success and that's so satisfying.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's beautiful. I love that. The floor is open, Steve, where would you like to go?

Steve Herber:

Well, I feel like you've given me a lot of range, so I think we should work up to it, Japhet.

Japhet De Oliveira:

[inaudible 00:09:22].

Steve Herber:

I don't want to be too bold, let's go to 21.

Japhet De Oliveira:

21, all right. Oh, this is great for you. Share the best compliment you've ever received.

Steve Herber:

So this has happened several times with slightly different flavors, but we didn't go here earlier, but I am by training a subspecialty surgeon. I'm a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has a pediatric fellowship. And so when you're specialized, you normally get patients referred from other colleagues or from the emergency department. But when I see patients for a very specific problem, skin cancer, carpal tunnel syndrome, and at the end of our episode of care, they ask if I'd be their primary care doctor. That feels like a big compliment.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's good. That's true.

Steve Herber:

So they saw, my passion and what I learned at Loma Linda as a medical student is caring for the whole person. And I try to do that even though I have this little niche, it's a small niche in medicine, but I've helped somebody and I seem to have touched them in a way that makes them want to continue that relationship, and there's nothing more impactful than being somebody's primary care physician. That's such an awesome responsibility to help somebody on their health journey. And when they ask me if I could do that for them, that's a huge compliment.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That is really beautiful and I love that you're still practicing as a physician as well. And yes, that's a wonderful comment. Where did that come from, Steve? Is that like... Because you have a reputation for loving people. Were you born this way? Is this something you cultivated? Where did that love come from?

Steve Herber:

I think it was modeled by my parents, they loved being physicians. My mom knew she wanted to be a doctor from age 10 or something like that. And they were wonderful role models and I've had their patients and colleagues over the years talk about their caring and I think that was instilled in me. And then I had wonderful role models at Loma Linda.

And it's just when you start on a good foundation, you can cultivate from there. And it's been really meaningful to have relationships with an amazing spectrum of people. I mean, I'll never forget the World War II vets that I saw a lot of when I moved here first in the late '90s. And many of them lived at the veteran's home in Yountville and they were coming in for care and you're seeing them over and over for skin cancers they got from the sun exposure and the Pacific Theater when nobody had heard of sunscreen yet. And the stories they would tell, they were very taciturn. But when you get to know somebody and then they open up and you're doing a little procedure and they're just talking, it's been such a privilege to have relationships with extraordinary people who need care.

I've taken care of some of my mentors from college, moving back to where I did my pre-med. These people retired and they'd come see me as patients. And I've been really honored to have that opportunity.

Japhet De Oliveira:

What a privilege.

Steve Herber:

Yeah, now I've been in St. Helena so long that almost anybody I see on the street I've either treated them or a family member or sewn up their kids in the ER. And so that makes it really special. And to be representing the place where they come for care and be a caregiver, I think is a wonderful connection that I really prize, and I think the community values that as well.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right, this is a bonus question I've got to ask now. You've been at St. Helena, you said 12 years?

Steve Herber:

No, I came in 1998.

Japhet De Oliveira:

As president.

Steve Herber:

As President I've been 12 years.

Japhet De Oliveira:

1998, okay. Okay. All right. But then the president 12 years, what is the most significant change you have helped to make happen?

Steve Herber:

I know this has a wide audience and some people may not be familiar with the challenge is unique to this market. We're the oldest of the siblings. Actually, Adventist Health, St. Helena is the oldest operating hospital in the world. We were second Adventist Health facility after Battle Creek Sanitarium, and that closed many decades ago. So we've been going for 147 years and it's a place that all of us acknowledge we would not choose to put a hospital today, but it's been here.

And so I think the privilege I've had being part of the leadership team, is transforming some of our service lines. So we draw people from all over Northern California and even the west coast for some of our services where patients are passing many other hospitals to come here for the special care. They love the experience, they love the outcomes, and that's what's helped us stay going. I mean, we're a hospital that doesn't make any sense.

And I was privileged to serve on the system board, and 19 years ago I was sat in a meeting where a consultant was saying to the system board what hospitals Adventist Health should close, divest of and my beloved hospital was one of those. And so we had to do some extraordinary things to continue to be part of this hospital family. And we're still a work in progress, but some of these things that have been transformational and now making a difference for my sister hospitals here in North Coast Network, that's a real privilege to be part of that, and I think we're making real progress and it's been an honor and a challenge to be part of that.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's fantastic. Well thank you for sharing that bonus question. Yeah, that's good. All right, the floor is open. Where would you like to go?

Steve Herber:

Well, let's go to the next decade. I want you... What's your favorite question in the 30s?

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, so my rules, I don't pick the numbers and I don't share. I would love to, but yeah, I'm being faithful to the process.

Steve Herber:

All right, Japhet.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I know. You're welcome. You're welcome.

Steve Herber:

Thank you for keeping me on track. Let's do 37.

Japhet De Oliveira:

37, all right. Oh, this is great for you Steve, you talked about your parents and stuff. What do you love most about your family though?

Steve Herber:

We're all in healthcare. I mean, I've lost my parents now, but they were both physicians.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, I'm sorry.

Steve Herber:

We were blessed with parents. I have two sisters, I'm the oldest of three. We all went into healthcare. Susie, who married Doug Mace, for those in the audience who may know the Mace family, and he was a longtime pastor at the church in Loma Linda. So Susie's a dental hygienist and Sandra took business and she is the administrator for the medicine group at Loma Linda. So we have in common healthcare, we have a lot of friends in common, a really strong connection to Loma Linda where we all grew up and I'm really proud of my sisters. They've been a great success. And Susie has three great kids and Sandy has puppies and she's a great dog mom.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's cute.

Steve Herber:

Yeah. Love my family. Blessed to have the parents we did. And really feel fortunate to have the opportunities that our parents made possible and all of us have. I think we made them proud.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's fantastic.

Steve Herber:

Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Beautiful, beautiful. Love that. All right, where next?

Steve Herber:

42.

Japhet De Oliveira:

42. All right, on your phone, do you have a picture on the background of your phone? And I would love to know what's the story behind that picture?

Steve Herber:

I do not have a picture on the background.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, good. All right.

Steve Herber:

I have pictures pop up, so I have that functionality and a lot of pictures of family pop up, important events. I don't know how Apple knows how to do that-

Japhet De Oliveira:

Who knows?

Steve Herber:

But it's sometimes just the thing to put me in a good frame of mind.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Isn't it incredible?

Steve Herber:

And I love that it's dynamic because you don't know what it's going to be. And I was in San Francisco this last weekend and I had attended with my wife, her brother and his wife, a Giants game. And it popped up and it was like 11 years ago, but it was wonderful memories, we were in the city. So I curate my photos so I don't have bad photos pop up. I was a photographer early in life, I took yearbook photos for high school.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Oh, nice.

Steve Herber:

And so I've always... I worked in film for so many years that I really curate my photos because I don't want a lot of fluff in there. So every day I go through and I edit. And so the photos I have... And I've got a lot of them, but they're all things that I want to see again. And so when they pop up, that's fine.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I love that. I love that.

Steve Herber:

And I think about the stories behind them. So I guess I could answer your question and pull out my phone right now and see pops up.

Japhet De Oliveira:

See what pops up.

Steve Herber:

And it's actually a picture, my wife and I love to ski and we often ski in Colorado and there's a picture of my wife looking beautiful in Vail, Colorado.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's great.

Steve Herber:

And it reminds me that ski season is coming and it just made me a little bit more happy.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's right. That's great. That's so true. That's so true. Ski season does. All right. Hey, that's good. Good, all right, what next?

Steve Herber:

I'm feeling brave, we're going to skip the 50s and go to 67.

Japhet De Oliveira:

67, all right. Oh, I don't know how you picked this, but what's the best picture you've ever taken and why? Go figure.

Steve Herber:

Wow. It's almost like there's a thread running through [inaudible 00:20:30]. I think it would have to be a picture of one of my kids, or both, just because that's just, I can't think of any bigger privilege in life than being a parent and having kids that are healthy and thriving that I'm proud of, and so it would be a picture of my kids. We're now kind of separated as a family. My daughter's pursuing her internal medicine residency in Dayton, Ohio. So it's a pleasure when we get together. And so we really treasure the times when we can get together as a family or have a family vacation. We don't take that for granted anymore. So pictures kind of recording that are what I value the most.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Hey, that's good. And family is the best. I agree. I agree. All right, where next? That was 67.

Steve Herber:

Let's go 74.

Japhet De Oliveira:

74, all right. Oh, this is great for you, what gives you hope?

Steve Herber:

I love it that hope is in our mission statement. That's my work, but hope is in my personal mission statement and I just feel privileged... Sharing hope gives me hope. And this has been something that I've incorporated just out of necessity over my career. Like I said, I practice a very specialized surgical area, but from time to time I've seen the need and there's nobody else to do it, so stepped up and supported families with end of life care. And being there for people who are faced with end of life decisions and sharing things that give them hope is something very special. And sharing hope gives me hope. I don't know that sounds... Having it come out of my mouth makes it seem... That seems kind of preposterous to say, or there's something wrong with that, but-

Japhet De Oliveira:

It perpetuates it.

Steve Herber:

It does, that's how I feel.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah. Yeah, I believe that. You have a very strong faith life as well, right?

Steve Herber:

Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira:

I know this about you. And I love how you're describing your personal hope as well as your professional hope that you have. How do you blend those two together?

Steve Herber:

I think it's natural. I think part of my success is being very genuine at work and I feel a huge sense of humility as a leader in healthcare now. There's so many challenges. I don't feel like I have this amazing wisdom to know all the challenges, and so providential guidance is essential, I think in particularly our field of healthcare and our special, very special brand in Adventist healthcare, that's something that we can provide.

And I get feedback all the time from the community and from patients, there's something special about this place. There's something special about how you plural provide care. But that's what I bring every day, and I try to lead by example and model it. When I'm seeing a patient, there can be consultations that need to be seen and between meetings I'll throw on my white coat, run up to the floor. And it's not only connecting with a patient and showing that I'm hopeful as part of my professional demeanor, but showing that to a PUC nursing student that happens to be there that day doing clinical, showing that to the bedside nurse that I bring in to look at the wound together.

And so yeah, it's very integral to actually interacting with a patient, you've just got to incorporate that and have that be... You're almost like a diffuser. I know that sounds corny, but you've got to be showing that as part of going through your professional responsibilities. And I do that when patients aren't involved and try to incorporate that in my leader-up responsibilities because we may be in a serious meeting with our leaders and sharing a very frank and sobering message, but I pull out the things that make our leaders hopeful. I'll say, "Let me show you what your hard work has done to be improving this situation. And I'm hopeful that these steps are leading one after another to the goal where we all want to get to." And taking the time to connect those dots, I think helps our leaders be more hopeful too.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's great. That was brilliant. I appreciate that so much. Thank you, Steve. Amazingly we only have time for two more. So where would you like to go over the last two numbers?

Steve Herber:

Well, I think we need to get into the high... I'm feeling emboldened-

Japhet De Oliveira:

Okay. All right, all right.

Steve Herber:

So I think we need to go into the 90s for the last two.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right, which ones would you like?

Steve Herber:

All right, 93.

Japhet De Oliveira:

93, paint us a picture of success.

Steve Herber:

I think of success in life to be able to look back and say, I wouldn't change anything. Very few of us can do that. Success professionally, success personally, but they all blend together.

I remember being at a leadership meeting for executives at Roseville and we had an executive say, "Well, if you think of it as life work..." People were talking about work-life balance and how as executives, it's really hard to preserve that. And so this helpful person said, "Well, if you think of it as life work, it's all together and you can work as much as you want." So this was a person that wanted to squeeze the juice out of everybody and he's no longer with the organization, but he wouldn't be offended if he heard me.

But I do think there was something in that, and it's a continuum. I don't mind somebody contacting me anytime, if it's about advancing our mission or something that's urgent for our organization or our system, I'm there. That's what I signed up for. And success looks like, as faithfully as possible, carrying out your duties to the glory of God and to further the mission that we all signed up for and what we personally believe in. And I often see that when I look back and the steps, that I've come in and said, "Whoa," I see some providential leading it there. And I didn't perceive it at the time, but there really was a plan for me. And I just need to remind myself to have the thoughtfulness to listen to that still small voice and follow the plan and that leads to success.

Japhet De Oliveira:

That's good. That's good. I love that, Steve. That's beautiful. All right, sir, so last one, last number.

Steve Herber:

Because, I know you have lots of guests who say, "Bring on a hundred," but I'm conservative, I'm not a risk-taker. Let's take it to 98, Japhet.

Japhet De Oliveira:

All right. All right. This is actually great for you and it's a great way to end this as well. What is the one great thing that you are capable of achieving?

Steve Herber:

Only one, the one great thing.

Japhet De Oliveira:

The one great thing that you're capable of achieving, yeah.

Steve Herber:

Keeping my commitments. And I'm thinking in terms of, you brought a lot of things to mind I think of conversations with Carrie. I feel entrusted with a very important responsibility and I've made commitments to do things to the best of my ability. And keeping those commitments is a very important thing that I'm capable of doing and I enjoy being accountable to something that's important, to not only me, but a lot of others.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Dr. Herber, that was a fitting end. Thank you so much for that. It's a good word to end on, your word.

Steve Herber:

Thank you, Japhet.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah, yeah. No, thank you. Hey, I want to encourage people to do the same, meet with someone, ask them good questions, listen to their responses. We're changed for it and we're change for the better by learning from each other. So it's a good thing to do. God bless you and thank you again.

Narrator:

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