Dr. Raul Ruiz has three degrees from Harvard – MD, Master’s in Public Health, and Master’s in Public Policy – the first Mexican American to achieve that. That’s on top of his undergraduate degree from UCLA where he graduated magna cum laude. Quite an achievement for the son of migrant workers that had mediocre grades and no money.
As a boy, he practiced typing with the phrase “all things are possible.” He asked his community for help funding his education and promised them he would return to serve them when he finished. He could practice medicine anywhere, but he kept his promise and now practices medicine at Eisenhower Medical Center, a not-for-profit hospital in his home community of Coachella, CA.
Dr. Ruiz’s perseverance and passion for long-term goals is a great example of both grit and leadership. We need more leaders and role models like him. I encourage you to take the time to watch this short video about his story.
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Thanks for sharing this inspiring story, Bret. There are lots of them out there.
I have a dear lifelong friend who came from a very broken and dysfunctional home in my own hometown. In trouble in high school, goof off, poor grades,party boy. But with tons of grit. I always knew he had something many weren’t seeing.
We were shocked at his SAT scores. They were high. He just wasn’t applying himself in school. He couldn’t get into the college he wanted to attend because of his grades.
Something changed in him his senior year in high school and he became a young man on a mission to work in the field of medicine. He decided to “convince” the college of his choice to accept him conditionally (that he got good grades etc.). They did. They weren’t sorry.
His freshman year in college, he published a book (another shock for his hometown friends), and began his major in pre-med. He spent his summers delivering babies for the poorest of the poor in Africa. He went on to medical school, and came back to practice medicine in Michigan.
He remains an inspiration for me, in a different way than Dr. Ruiz, but in some ways the same. He shows that we can overcome our background and upbringing to make a difference in the world. He continues to practice medicine and has deep conviction and morals. Without going into detail, he is giving back and making a difference, and always on the lookout for new ways he can do so.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 8:20 am
That is a great story, Mary Jo! Giving back and making a difference – the pinnacle of leadership in my opinion. Thanks! Bret
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Mary Jo Asmus Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I agree. But I also think its more than that.
To me, it is also a story of human potential. Although I don’t know for sure what released the potential in my friend, I suspect it was a high school English teacher we had.
The power in releasing our potential often comes in the form of someone who believes in us. Dr. Ruiz seems to have had an entire town of somebodies who believed in him!
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
October 27th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Concur, Mary Jo. It is easy to pinpoint when an influential person comes into our lives – I know I can identify them in my life. But we all have to find the potential in ourselves and be prepared to leverage it even when we stand alone. Thanks! Bret
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