How to Build a Movement | Michael Levy at DHIT

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Michael Levy 0:00
I will not wait until the end of my life to have these conversations with myself. Every single day, I will challenge myself to figure out is this what in why I’m supposed to be doing what and why I’m supposed to be doing and think of life as a lattice, not a ladder.

Alexander Ferguson 0:24
In part one of our conversation with Michael Levy, he discussed his nonprofit organization, the Digital Health Institute for transformation. And its efforts to build a public health utility grid. In the second part of our conversation, Michael Levy, makes an impassioned case on the keys to starting a movement, which he says begins with discovering your deepest motivations and developing a clarity of purpose. To realize this five year vision, what do you see as some of the hurdles you’re going to need to overcome to make that happened?

Michael Levy 0:54
Sure. You know, namely, the the deployment and testing and validation of the culture, the people, the process, and the technology that underpins this community hug. But more specifically, the validation models have the economies of impact the health outcomes that are striven the the overall value of the hug has to be demonstrated, it has to be documented. And that’s going to require, you know, state government, local government to be involved. You know, the first version, a value proposition I’ll state is, we’ll be utilizing a tool out of the Center for Applied genomics called Dmitri. Dmitri is a family health history tool, that with three generations of health history information, this tool can map an individual into one of 70, clinical preventative pathways that should be a human right? It should not be a commercial proposition. Every union every individual should have that level of insight. And then do you not think that the healthcare system in aggregate would be able to operate more efficient, efficiently if they understood that this person or that person was pre pre disposed to or had a pre pre existing condition to based off of their family health information? These are the types of tools that are sitting on on shelves dying because it’s not welcomed into a health system as a commercial proposition. Yeah, okay. We need to free this and bring it to the people to improve our lives.

Alexander Ferguson 2:38
You’re almost like a Robin Hood of healthcare, trying to bring a transformed healthcare opportunities to everyone even in the rural economy.

Michael Levy 2:49
Well, I feel as though the you know, the, the pain of the world burns inside of my soul. So, you know, it’s, you can you can call you can you can call me what you want. But, you know, I I’m a bridge to those who who do not have. And I feel that it’s my responsibility every single day to hold myself accountable to the privilege that I have, that others don’t

Alexander Ferguson 3:16
tell me about this, this journey been on? What’s a nugget of knowledge, tactile knowledge that you can share with another leader out there, if they wanted to do something similar and start a movement like this?

Michael Levy 3:27
Well, I’d say, you know, where we are in time, the 21st century, the age of digital allows us to be stubborn on what we won’t do and very flexible on what we will do. Okay, that allows us to ask one question that is so important, that gets undervalued is why do I wake up every day? What’s the purpose of my life? Instead of asking that when you retire at 65, in the American dream, ask that now as part of the American desire, focus on your purpose, my purpose is to serve and enable the world without health inequity. So as I work through my maturity as a human being and my career with a level of stubbornness, to that mission and vision, I have matured in my operating model in my operating mindset as a human being of how and what I spend energy and time on. I will not wait until the end of my life to have these conversations with myself. Every single day, I will challenge myself to figure out is this what in why I’m supposed to be doing what and why I’m supposed to be doing and think of life as a lattice, not a ladder,

Alexander Ferguson 4:47
right to make that first leap. What did you do? Did you started your consulting group first. And because you had that experience set, what was that first couple steps of okay, you have that working you have that business going, but to then start a movement, you had to make a lot of connections. How did how did you make that happen?

Michael Levy 5:05
The this is where the word collaboration comes in. And and why purpose is so critical to collaboration? What is a collaboration if you don’t align on purpose? What are we just collaborating to collaborate.

Alexander Ferguson 5:23
So it’s okay for others who have that same vision and that same purpose in their own

Michael Levy 5:28
heart. That’s right. And so once once you become very clear on who you are, and why you get up in the morning, that becomes your call to action. And you ring that bell daily. And it’s amazing the type of people you find, and the type of people that will come out and arm and glove with you. ARM and ARM, I should say with you, as you beat to a similar beat. It’s about finding those people that get it with the same frequency. And you cannot find those people. You cannot build those collaborations without being very clear on what your purpose is.

Alexander Ferguson 6:04
So clarity comes first to have first have your own clarity in your vision. And then in your own mind, and then be able to articulate that to everyone around you will bring the other folks to you. How do you go about fundraising for this movement and nonprofit?

Michael Levy 6:19
Yeah, well, again, it starts with the call to action. And then it moves into who’s coming to the table when you make that call. And for D hit this entire healthcare ecosystem of providers, payers, health tech entrepreneurs, investors, that wanted to solve human problems came to the table. And so once you have eyeballs are at the table.

Alexander Ferguson 6:50
So the first step is getting eyeballs,

Michael Levy 6:52
right. And then you have to package that up to those who want to speak to those eyeballs, this is what’s most critical. And I kind of frame it like this. To create a movement, you need a heartbeat, that heartbeat has to be constant and frequent. And it has to build. And so you can’t just do something once and expect it to take shape. And you have to understand that that heartbeat starts in diapers. This is about going from diapers to adolescence to college and, and and total adulthood, there’s no difference as a company, you have to look at it as such. And a movement is the representation of a heartbeat that that forms around connected people that together create the adult movement that will become in time let’s say in five years from you know, where I hope the hit will be is a millions and millions of people connected into a a unified vision of supporting a new world.

Alexander Ferguson 8:03
Well, I’m excited for this vision where you’re going. You personally have to continue innovating, can you just share any books or audiobooks or podcasts that you’re listening to right now for ideas and inspiration that other leaders might get value from as well?

Michael Levy 8:17
Oh, it’s broad and wide. I generally pull from the World Economic Forum, they’ve got a phenomenal digital transformation or digital enterprise report that I highly recommend everyone reading and it really sets the stage for the gaps that we’re experiencing in transformation, namely people and culture is anchored to McKinsey, Deloitte has fought you know, from their global institutes have have tremendous, you know, insights, but also pull from, you know, the New England Journal of Medicine, the The Lancet, just produced a digital health arm in the Lancet. And that’s fantastic. And it goes much broader than just technology it gets to culture and gets to talent and operating models as well.

Alexander Ferguson 9:12
I’m excited to learn more and watch as you go, where can people go to learn more and what’s a good first step that they can take?

Michael Levy 9:19
I you know, Dhitglobal.org is where you can find information on D hit, engage within our events. Donate if you’d like sponsor and seek, you know the community hug in your community.

Alexander Ferguson 9:37
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