Who is your "G.O.A.T." in Senior Living?

The term “GOAT” has been used to spark many debates over the last decade. The term, “GOAT”, stands for “Greatest Of All Time”. According to Dictionary.com, the term originated from Muhammad Ali’s wife, who began calling her husband G.O.A.T after he was nicknamed, “The Greatest.”

Nowadays, it seems like every industry and every category within an industry debates who is their GOAT.

Many times, this conversation turns to an Old School vs. New School debate. Sometimes the conversation gets heated. Sometimes it remains amicable, but if you are ever having a slow day at the office and want to spark passionate conversation, mention these names: Ronaldo vs Messi, MJ vs Lebron, Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg vs Tom from MySpace (millennials probably only understand this joke).

The list can go on and on, but I’ve listed a few notable people that I personally believe are the GOAT.

Inventor: Thomas Edison

Mr. Edison owned 1093 US Patents including, the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone.

Athlete: Michael Jordan

We know MJ’s accolades, but here’s a stat that blew me away. The Chicago Bulls were purchased in 1985 for $16.2 million. In 1987, Chicago drafted Michael Jordan. 33 years later, the Chicago Bulls are worth $3.2 billion. MJ not only redefined basketball, he redefined sports.

Religion: Jesus

Without getting too deep in the topic of religion, you should watch the new show, The Chosen. It gives you a visual of how Jesus came to the world and disrupted “religion” as the world new it. It even got 100% critic review on Rotten Tomatoes and I cry at about every episode.

Modern Technology: Steve Jobs

Look around the room next time a commercial comes on television when you are with a big group of people. My guess is that at least half the people in the room will be looking down at their smart phone shopping, browsing social media, or anything other than looking at the television. Thank Steve Jobs for disrupting the universe with these pocket-sized computers.

Online Shopping: Jeff Bezos

Me: “Oh crap! I need a ______ by tomorrow.”

Jeff Bezos: “Don’t worry. I got you.”

From Amazon’s beginning as an online bookseller, Amazon has changed the world of shopping.

Social Media – Mark Zuckerberg

From his dorm room at Harvard, Zuckerberg created Facebook, which currently has 2.85 billion active monthly users, roughly 37% of the world’s population. Facebook would be the largest country in the world even if it lost half its users.

Mother – Donna Jones Between her cooking, love for the Lord, and embarrassing dance moves, this one isn’t even up for debate. She is my mom.

Each one of these people changed the way the world views their category, but not a single one of them invented their category. Each GOAT saw a product, an industry, or a tradition that could be better and needed to be better. They also all had others before them that they looked up to and learned from to ultimately mold them into the person they were intended to be.

When you read about each person, his or her road to becoming the GOAT did not come easy. Failures, betrayals, and heartbreak were all a part of the journey. The difference was how each of them responded to the adversity and believed there was a better way.

After 5 years of working in the senior living industry, I’m not sure you could label one “GOAT” for our industry. Since Assisted Living was introduced in the mid-1970s, there are hundreds of leaders who have consistently raised the bar for improving the quality of Senior Living communities.

However, we all have someone in Senior Living who stands out in our mind as someone that we saw push the limits and inspired us to continue moving the needle forward in building environments where older adults can thrive.

With new professionals beginning their careers in the senior living industry every day, it is important to have someone you can look up to, learn from, and be inspired by.

So, to all of you senior living professionals out there, who has inspired you and is considered the “GOAT” in your eyes? Share in the comments!