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- [00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the special episode of the Becker Business Podcast and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. We're recording live today at the McGuire Woods Healthcare Growth and Operations Conference. I'm joined today by really the driver and leader of that conference, the founder of IT and also somebody who leads the Charlotte healthcare practice at McGuire Woods, Bart Walker. Bart, we talked a moment ago. I'm going to ask you to do two things. One, take a moment to introduce yourself and two, your best advice for emerging professionals, emerging leaders. What would you tell somebody? I know you've got your first child going off to college. Also going off to college on a scholarship. Congratulations on Hayden success. You've just done a tremendous job with the family of raising a tremendous family. Tell us about yourself and then take a moment and give us your best advice for emerging professionals.
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B
Sure. Thanks Scott. Bart Walker, I'm a partner with McGuire Woods. I help lead the healthcare practice here in Charlotte. I do healthcare m and a predominantly about 90% of my practice is that in healthcare services. So physician practices, hospitals, health systems, ambulatory surgery centers and like the rest of my practice is healthcare regulatory advice and day to day outside general counsel work.
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A
Thank you. And I've watched over the last 20 years build this great practice and this great reputation and great long term relationships. You're about as good a lawyer and a person as they come. What advice would you give to emerging leaders or people trying to have great careers? Talk a bit about that.
- [01:24]
B
Yeah, the first piece of advice I'd give is always do excellent work. Whatever it takes. Whether if you're a lawyer and you, you track your time and billable hours. It doesn't matter. Work off the clock if you have to. Always do excellent work. You never know when someone's going to be looking and you never know who's watching when you're doing your job. So I think back to 20 years ago. I did my first project for Scott in the healthcare department. I started in the corporate securities Group with McGuire Woods. Was not going great. Picked up a random healthcare project because I was, I had the time and I wanted to be busy and I guess I did a good job and thankfully I was because it's now turned into a 21 year career at the same firm, which I'm extremely proud of. The culture here is terrific and that's, you know, it's the people that's the reason I'm still here.
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A
Well, and you've built a tremendous practice, tremendous drive, tremendous personal skills, tremendous intelligence. Just done a tremendous, tremendous job and integrity that's off the top of the charts. Talk about your wife's a veterinary surgeon, you're a lawyer, you've got this dual professional career and together with that you've raised eight children. What advice would you give to your kids? Would you want them to be lawyers? Would you want them to be veterinary surgeons? How do you advise the kids on what they should do?
- [02:37]
B
That's a great question. And I think technology in the pace of AI development is changing. My answer, I think I'd give a different answer today than I would have three to five years ago. I think today for each of our children, we try to instill in them certain values, certain principles, certain ways of doing things. And those are the skills that they'll apply to whatever they do now, whether it's something that's more manual or hands on or something more like thought work, lawyers, accountants, business, professional services, something like that, more white collar jobs or something else. You need to be resilient, you need to be adaptable. So whatever they do, do it 100%. And you and I have talked about this before, people are fond of saying, follow your passion. I think that's kind of bad advice. I think you need to find something that pays the bills. I think you need to find something that meshes with your life, is tolerable, and then also you can follow your passions too, but that shouldn't be the primary driver like that. That sounds good, I think, when you say it, but when it comes to a practical lever, you need to find a way to be a productive member of society. Support yourself, support your family, if that's what you choose to do, and then the rest will fall into place.
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A
Right? A constructive adult. Make a living and keep on doubling down on what you enjoy about that and grow and sort of develop those side by side. But this idea of following your passion, if, if your passion is that you want to be on the beach hanging out, God bless. I don't know how to find a living doing that. Maybe some people can, but I know how you're going to support a family and take care everybody while you do so. Sort of finding these things side by side with each other. Talk for a second. One of the things I've watched over the years is, is particularly your children involved in dance and I think Irish dance. Just take one moment on that and shout out to the kids that are.
- [04:21]
B
Involved in that, yeah, my kids are exceptional. We try to provide them with opportunities and we're very upfront with them. We say, look, if you're into this, we'll support you 100%. If you're not into it, then let's find something that you are interested in. We're not big fans of forcing kids to do things they don't want to do. We ask them every year. Okay. Dance went well last year. Do you want to continue it? Yes. Okay, then we're all in. And our girls are really accomplished Irish dancers and Scottish Highland dancers. So there's two different distinct disciplines. But that's taken us really all over the world. My one daughter has qualified for the world championships in Irish dance a number of years in a row. So we've been to Ireland, Scotland, uk, Canada, traveling around for these competitions. And it's hard. It's hard with a lot of. Of kids and a lot of people in the family. But it's opened up so many doors for us and I'm happy to ride on their coattails as long as they'll.
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A
Let me and tell us the name again of the. There's a troupe that you folks have too, right?
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B
Or. Well, so separately. Well, there's a number of things we have going on. One is our oldest. Three children have a band called Pick and Thistles.
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A
Yes.
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B
So they just released their first studio signal on Spotify or wherever you stream. Stream music. So look up Pick and Thistles and give it a download, give it a listen. It was a song that was written by my two oldest daughters, Josephine and Rosemary. So they wrote that song together and they got together and recorded in the studio with a couple of friends.
- [05:45]
A
We're going to have a single test for Bart today, and I know he's going to pass this with flying cars, but I know also a couple of kids are very involved in competitive skiing.
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B
Yes. They ski in the winter, so they do alpine ski racing. Hayden Meldus was the most. It was most involved in that. But they all. They all race on the team.
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A
Okay, so now you have now named three of the eight children and I know you can name the other five because even though you're raising hate, it's a lot.
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B
Yes, yes.
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A
Tell us just a bit about all eight we talked about. Hayden skis and going to college now. Washington Lee on a full scholarship. Congratulations. Just amazing. Josephine and Rosemary.
- [06:24]
B
Yep. Josephine's the next one. She's our primary fiddler and violinist. She is incredible musician. She has an incredible voice. She's involved in music. That's kind of her primary thing. So she's been to a number of music camps throughout the year that she goes to. And because we homeschool, we've got that Flexibility, like. She's going to Chattanooga later this week for the International bluegrass Music Association. They have a program called kids on Bluegrass that she's been involved in the last few years where they bring kids from all over the country that are interested in bluegrass music and assemble them into bands and have performances all weekend. So that she also dances as well. I don't want to downplay that. She's a very accomplished dancer as well. Then Rosemary, that she's our Irish dancer and Scottish highland dancer. She just got back from Scotland a week ago where she was competing in the world qualifiers there. The next down is. Is Patrick, our son. He's a bit more cerebral, a little bit quieter. He plays lacrosse. He does cross, cross country soccer, but he's our bagpiper. That's. That's kind of his main thing he's involved in. So he plays with the Grandfather Mountain Highlanders. We're extremely proud of him as well. Margaret, the next one down, she just had a cross country race yesterday and she finished very, very well in that. She also dances both Irish and Scottish highland dancing. She plays with the cello. We had too many fiddles in the band, so once you get down to number four in the birth order, you need to have a celloist. So we're like, Maggie, how about cello? Sounds good. Okay. And then Marianne, who's nine, she plays some fiddle, though she's recently taken up to viola just to round out the orchestra.
- [07:58]
A
Ask a question. As some of the kids get older, you've got a 19 year old going to college. You've got. You're down to nine months at the very youngest. 19 months at the very youngest. Does that open up some spots in the band as they go to college or does that mean. No, that person always has that spot in the band, so you can't really take that spot.
- [08:16]
B
That's an interesting question. We. We actually just got a. They got an offer for a gig coming up next month. And, you know, we're like, you know, hayden, are you going to come back and do this gig? You know, it's. It's. It's kind of a lot of money if you guys want to make some money for the band, but, you know, we might have to find another guitar player. I don't know. So that we're wrestling with that right now. I'd like to see them continue to perform together. I think they enjoy it.
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A
So we're through six so far, I think.
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B
Yeah, that's through six. And then we got two little guys. So we had the first six were stair Stepped down about two years apart. And then we've got Callum and Alistair who are. And they're the only two boys who are next to each other in the birth order. And so Callum is three and Alistair is 20 months now. And they just run around like. Like you'd imagine. Two little boys running around.
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A
Yes. And there's high expectations in them. But you're not going to plan yet what interests they play or what sports they do?
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B
No.
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A
What schools they go to. You let that evolve a little bit.
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B
But it's very interesting because they're going to grow up in a very different environment than the rest of our children. So we've always had this full house. Full. So there's a six year age gap. So Marianne will be, you know, 18 and about to move out of the house when is just hitting his teenage years.
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A
Yes.
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B
And so these two boys will grow up as teenagers, kind of two kids in the house. We've never had that experience.
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A
And that's going to be very different for you and your spouse. I mean, it would be a very different experience if they have that situation. That is literally fascinating. So we've walked through career advice, life advice. To me, it's a great pleasure to visit with Bart Walker. Bart. Cheers. Part of the healthcare department at McGuire Woods. He runs the Charlotte office. Just an amazing job as a professional, but just as amazing as listening to the family story and what they've done and how they've accomplished it. Bart, what a great pleasure to visit with you today. Thank you very much for joining us.