Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Woman Kristin Rodriguez. Kristin is many things, and one of those things is funny. Don’t confuse her quick wit and humorous approach to career trajectory (a winding path indeed!) with anything less than her seriousness in how she expects to help heroes. Who are the heroes? The people who are trying to improve their health while often taking on more financial risk, navigating new places to receive care, and sorting through a complicated system.

In this episode, Kristin gives us a view of her original career plans. Plan A: Run a Coffee Shop. Plan B: Go to the Naval Academy and then into military service. Seven colleges later, along with a “bohemian walk about,” led her to fall into healthcare sideways. This is where she fell in love with serving customers and meeting their needs.

As Kristin works to support heroes in their healthcare journeys, she considers these key trends:

1. Shifting risk to the healthcare consumer. A worry that it is just too complex for people. This type of risk is as complex as the tax code and Kristin feels it is important to bridge that gap.
2. The important race to new sites of care delivery – telehealth, more care at home, remote monitoring, more virtual care. Kristin believes we should lean in more here.
3. And social determinants of health. Where healthcare payers are being asked to influence and quantify nonclinical interventions.  It remains important to have a focus where well-being meets care.

Kristin also discusses some great choices she has made along the way, including getting her advanced degree, even while working full-time and with young children. She believes the network she has found professionally with WBL is second to none.

Best professional habits for staying sharp? Kristin is a huge believer in the power of sleep. As a recovering overachiever, she has learned to put her energy into the right things, which does not mean all things. She finds that she has to continuously work on protecting her time for “deep” work. Her best advice for others is knowing that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, which has been key to her own growth as a leader.