Foreword

We were just coming for a short visit.

My wife, Cheryl, and I arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, to spend a few days with some friends of ours who had recently started a new church. ey had arranged for us to stay in the home of a family that was one of their members: a cardiologist, his wife, and their three children. Dr. John Hodgson and his wife, Dinah, warmly welcomed us into their home. During those few days, we enjoyed some wonderful hospitality and great conversations about things that were mutually important to us, our families, and the world around us. Little did any of us know that those few days would launch a friendship that is nishing up its third decade! Over the years, our kids interacted at youth camps, while John and Dinah joined us in several opportunities that our leadership group o ered. ey participated eagerly in events designed to build character, relationships, and leadership skills. As time passed, I learned more about my friend John. Between the depth of his education and the breadth of his experiences, he was certainly one of the smartest and most accomplished men I had ever met. Since graduating from medical school in 1978, he has served tens of thousands of patients in ten states around our country, worked for a year in Germany, been a volunteer physician in countries around the globe, and been a guest lecturer/proctor in many more settings.

John and I o en nd ourselves in deep and meaningful conversations. It may be about places in our lives where we need to grow and develop. At times, it is about how to be better husbands and fathers. Other times, it is about our vocations and a desire to make a real impact—a generational di erence—where we nd ourselves working in society. e latter brings me to this book.

I’ve heard it said by leaders around me that if you put good people in a bad system, the system wins every time. In my own experience, working with leaders in various vocations, I’ve found this to be 100 percent true! A bad system minimizes people’s value and their unique contributions, reducing them to feel like they are just part of a machine. A bad system hinders healthy relationships and e ective teaming toward one purpose. e system’s red tape becomes increasingly frustrating and demotivating, and it remains hopelessly stuck in a scheme and structure that produces the same results year a er year.

So how is it possible to change a system, making it more productive when it comes to its products and services and more life-giving for the people working within it?

Wisdom.

One of the things both John and I have learned over the years is that we need wisdom when it comes to leading our families, the life challenges that we are facing, and guring out solutions within our vocations. We have both discovered that our good educations and broad experiences can only take us so far. To go further, we need wisdom. e basis for John’s wisdom is founded on Judeo-Christian principles and practices that can bring about genuine transformation. Over our years of working together, I have watched John gain wisdom. In my own experience of four and a half decades working to create transformation on local, national, and international fronts, I have found that people are the key to change!

John understands this core piece of wisdom. In the pages of this book, John uses words like community, connectedness, teaming, honor, humility, integrity, and accountability—all of which have to do with

the quality of one’s character and a focus on one’s relationships. People with good character who tend their relationships well can be fully counted on and trusted! People serving on teams using their unique strengths and pulling together as one can transform systems so that everyone can bene t.

As you read Healing the System, I’d encourage you to be open to laying aside what has already been tried and consider instead what still can be done. ink where you have found yourself snagged by the system and how the solutions John is proposing could be implemented where you work. Most importantly, be honest and re ect on where change may need to come within you or within your relationships. In doing so, you can be part of the solution, leading the charge toward change!

Dave Buehring

Founder and president, Lionshare Leadership Group, Brentwood, TN