What will your legacy be?
The only advantage of losing my mother and father to the
I had the opportunity to say thank you and explain, "I am the man I am today because of you."
I also got to hear their advice for me as I continued life without them. Both told me: "You can do anything you've always wanted."
This was the biggest influence on my thoughts around legacy — until meeting Harris Rosen.
Over the past year, I've seen life at Rosen Hotel & Resorts up close and personal in partnering to expand RosenCare, a patient-centered onsite medical home model that has set a gold standard for delivering
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It's been nothing short of jaw dropping. The stories, energy and feeling of WWHW (What Would Harris Want) is real. From the housekeeping staff to his senior leadership team, everyone loved Mr. Rosen and worked to ensure they were expanding his impact.
He called every employee on their birthday.
He walked down hallways giving hugs.
The guy was legendary, especially in his impact on the
Mr. Rosen was a pioneer, a trailblazer, someone who was not scared to take chances and push the industry to do better. More than 30 years ago, he led his company away from the health delivery status quo. That meant moving to a self-funded plan from the BUCAHs (Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, Aetna and Humana), creating direct relationships with the local healthcare community, and building the Rosen Medical Center to ensure all employees had access to free care.
No transportation? No worries! The security team at each hotel property will drive you to your appointment with the medical center. Whether you were part of the C-suite or landscaping team, Mr. Rosen had it right: make sure employees can access care and they will be healthier. This impacts productivity and claims cost and makes employees feel cared for. Mr. Rosen knew this would be a recipe for success — and boy was he right.
The stunning results:
- More than $540 million in cost savings
- Less than a 15% turnover rate
- Employees with 30 and 40-plus years of tenure
- A microscopic workers' compensation experience modification factor
- An environment where employees love to come to work
And these results aren't even the biggest impact to the legacy he has left.
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Tangelo Park was an underserved neighborhood in Orlando with high crime and low graduation rates — clearly an area in need. Mr. Rosen saw those needs and stepped up in a big way. He decided to take some of the savings from his health benefits and "adopt" the community, providing free child care, community resources and college educations for teenagers who graduate from Tangelo Park High School.
The result: Crime rates are low, property values skyrocketed and high school graduation rates are almost perfect. Students who have graduated from Tangelo Park went on to attend prestigious colleges and built amazing careers. Some even landed jobs at Rosen Hotels & Resorts.
Mr. Rosen lived with an abundant mindset. He was always trying to help people be better. He generously shared the "secret sauce" of his health benefits success. From employers to advisers to conferences across the country, the Rosen strategy has been shared with all who have asked. This helped spark a movement for change and fueled success with employers big and small.
One local success story is the School District of Osceola County (SDOC) in Orlando. One of the poorest school districts in Florida, SDOC was facing financial struggles and needed to find cost savings. SDOC implemented the Rosen strategy and saved more than $40 million in the first few years while improving their benefits, implementing their own medical center and giving their employees more access to care.
Additionally, many organizations of advisers and employers wanting to drive change have modeled their programs after Rosen. From Health Rosetta to national and state-based alliances, the industry has forever been impacted by Mr. Rosen and his leadership.
Mr. Rosen's passing on Nov. 25, 2024 has left a huge void that will never be able to be filled by one person. It will take a village to sustain his legacy. His passing has left me motivated to continue to make him proud. I keep thinking how, when he started 30 years ago, there were no examples of success. No path to follow, no momentum, no case studies. I keep telling myself "there's no excuse."
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As I sit here typing, I can't help smiling with pride at the thought of being able to carry on his legacy. He was quoted saying, "I want my legacy to be education and healthcare — not just hotels." I don't know about you, but I cannot think of two industries more in need and more impactful for the nation as a whole.
Mr. Rosen's legacy will be felt in better benefits, greater access to both education and healthcare, lower cost, health improvement, lower turnover, higher tenure, lower workers' compensation losses, partnering with the local healthcare community, supporting the community and caring about people.
Read this list again. I want my name attached to the legacy that has these results, don't you? Will it be easy? Nope. Will it be rewarding? Heck yeah!
Mr. Rosen, thank you for your leadership, passion, tenacity and willingness to blaze a trail. Thank you for your selflessness and leaving us with both a path to follow and huge shoes to fill. I am using this tribute as my promise to carry your legacy and to allow impact to fuel my every move. I also will continue to live with an abundant mindset and recruit others that want to carry your legacy.
If you – yes, you – want to make your pledge to continue to carry on Mr. Rosen's legacy and push to create change in the current health benefits system, please
WWHW? Remember this next time you have a moment of doubt or insecurity. I will forever hear this message in my head:
What will your legacy be? I'm not sure about mine, but if it's an ounce of Mr. Rosen's I will consider my life a huge success.
