Speaking to hearts and minds in healthcare
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Welcome. You're listening to the McKinsey on Healthcare podcast. If you're looking for insights into the issues that matter most in healthcare right now, you're in the right place. Explore wide-ranging conversations with leaders, problem solvers, innovators, and professionals who are at the heart of healthcare today. I'm Dr. Pooja Kumar. Let's get started. Today's guest is perhaps, on the surface, a less obvious one for a podcast about health. Sekou Andrews is an actor, writer, producer, and someone often referred to as a changemaker thanks to his creation of poetic voice, a style of public speaking that infuses inspirational speaking with spoken word poetry to make moving and memorable messages. Most of us are familiar with the rhythms of the medical space, the regular beeps of a heart monitor, the rise and fall of the chest, the circular wheel of life that ebbs and flows to constant beat.
Poetry similarly allows us to use cadence to create human connections. My colleagues at McKinsey spoke with Sekou earlier this year, and I was delighted to be able to listen in on a recording of the conversation. Sekou regularly speaks about this idea and the importance of putting human connection at the heart of all caregiving. I'm delighted to share some of the highlights of Sekou's conversation with us. First, I wanted you to hear about his work in healthcare before we move into his creation of the poetic voice. Much of Sekou's work is focused on health. Here, he outlines why he chose the industry as his focus, what he's seeing in the industry, and why it matters so much to him.
I got engaged by healthcare and inspired to inspire folks in healthcare very early in my career. And I'm a very purpose-driven person. So one of my biggest fears when I was thinking about creating this public speaking category, I was very concerned that am I just going to become the corporate guy? Am I just going to be, in a sense, selling out for the highest bidder, right? So I was very conscious of wanting to make sure that I pick and choose where it is I want to use my voice. And I started to realize very early on some of the paths that I would always stay committed to. One of them was education because my last job was a fifth grade teacher and both of my parents are educators. And so I maintain a commitment to education.
But then I began to encounter some healthcare clients at some of these events. And I found myself going, I really enjoy using my voice for this audience. It feels meaningful. It feels purposeful. When it's nurses, when it's researchers and scientists, when it's physicians and surgeons, when it's community health organization, when it's any of these types of hospital systems themselves, I feel the impact is so much more direct.
Who is Sekou Andrews and what is his contribution to healthcare?
And I feel like the ripple effect that it's making in the world is so much more direct. And so that's really why I began to push my voice into health care and ultimately Over many years, I would say probably 40, 50% of my clients have been healthcare in some way.
I completely understand what Sekou means about being driven by a sense of purpose. For me, my interest in health stemmed originally from working in refugee issues and medical humanitarian relief. This morphed into a love of medicine, a career as a physician, and a desire at a broader level to help address both global and domestic health needs. I think many of my fellow doctors, nurses, and caregivers are also purpose-driven in this same way. And what's interesting is that Sekou highlights some of the challenges of this approach, while still acknowledging that inspiration is beneficial under the circumstances.
It's the people that care that are constantly plagued with, am I doing enough? So I say healthcare folks are riddled with that double-edged sword. You're in the most impactful work, but you're only in it because you're the kind of person that would commit your life to that. And that means that when you wear your heart on your sleeve or on your scrubs, in a sense, that means that you also carry that burden.
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