This episode’s guest helped found AHF 35 years ago, and during that time he has learned a great deal about what it means to act on what matters to you, lead the way on issues of value, and always remain open to growing along the way. In this week’s podcast, we share the lessons he’s discovered.
Righteous Rebels (ft. Michael Weinstein)
A look at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its core principles through the eyes of its president and co-founder
GUEST BIO:
Michael Weinstein is the president and co-founder of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Originally a businessman and graphic designer, Michael became involved in HIV/AIDS-related issues in 1986. As President of AHF, Michael has overseen its growth from a small group of friends dedicated to giving people with AIDS dignified and compassionate care to serving over 1.6 million patients in 45 countries across the globe.
Learn more about Michael Weinstein:
CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:
[5:27] - Tap Into Your Restlessness
Put Your “Ants in the Pants’ to Work
Michael describes how he channeled his inherent restlessness into a passion for helping others against indifference, institutional barriers, and anything else that stood in his and the organization’s way. How can you channel your personal quirks into powerful progress?
[8:46] - The Choice to Be Open
Leading with an Open Door
Michael Weinstein made a choice early on to always be accessible and available. This isn’t just an altruistic decision to make employees of the organization feel good— it’s a strategic move, too. If you want to be effective, you have to have your finger on the pulse of the people who make your organization tick.
[16:19] - See the Potential in Cross-Pollination
Or ‘What Meryl Streep Has to Do with It”
One of the things that made the AHF innovative has been its willingness and ability to bring in arts and entertainment figures to bring awareness to their cause. Michael traces a line from Princess Diana’s public embrace (metaphorical and literal) of AIDS patients to figures like Meryl Streep, who lended her voice to the narration of the AHF’s documentary film.
[18:20] - Everyone’s an Ambassador
See the potential in each person
In our conversation, Michael expresses his desire that ‘every employee and every patient could be an ambassador.’ Whether you’re running a business, a nonprofit, or a small team of like-minded people pursuing any goal, consider the power in inspiring everyone around you to speak on behalf of your mission.
RESOURCES:
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ABOUT AHFTER HOURS:
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is the world’s largest HIV/AIDS service organization, operating in 45 countries globally. The mission? Providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy for everyone, regardless of ability to pay.
The AHFter Hours podcast is an official podcast of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in which host Lauren Hogan is joined by experts in a range of fields to educate, inform, and inspire listeners on topics that go far beyond medical information to cover leadership, creativity, and success.
Learn more at: https://www.aidshealth.org
ABOUT THE HOST:
Lauren Hogan is the Communications Manager for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and has been working in a series of roles with the Foundation since 2016. She’s passionate about increasing the public visibility of AIDS, the Foundation's critical work, and how everyday people can help join the fight to make cutting-edge medicine, treatment, and support available for anyone who needs it.
ABOUT DETROIT PODCAST STUDIOS:
In Detroit, history was made when Barry Gordy opened Motown Records back in 1960. More than just discovering great talent, Gordy built a systematic approach to launching superstars. His rigorous processes, technology, and development methods were the secret sauce behind legendary acts such as The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, and Michael Jackson.
As a nod to the past, Detroit Podcast Studios leverages modern versions of Motown’s processes to launch today’s most compelling podcasts. What Motown was to musical artists, Detroit Podcast Studios is to podcast artists today.
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Lauren Hogan :
Check out what's new and happening from leaders in the community. Learn the ins and outs of advocacy, events, and activations. Get involved, make an impact and do something that adds value in your life. AHF is the world's largest HIV aids service station operating in 45 countries globally. 16 States domestically, including DC and Puerto Rico. Our mission is to provide cutting edge medicine and advocacy, regardless of ability to pay. Hello and welcome to the After Hours Podcast.
Lauren Hogan :
I'm your host, Lauren Hogan serving as your liaison to take you on a journey to look, learn more about Aids Healthcare Foundation. Our topic for today is learn, lead, act. Before we start the show, please make sure to remember to check out the show notes so you can follow along. Now, let's get started. Well hello everyone and welcome to the after hours podcast with AHF. Today, I have have an extremely special guest with us be president and co-founder of Aids Healthcare Foundation, Mr. Michael Weinstein. Welcome Michael.
Michael Weinstein :
Hi, how you doing?
Lauren Hogan :
Good. How are you?
Michael Weinstein :
Very well. Thanks.
Lauren Hogan :
So really briefly, you're the CEO, you're the president of this phenomenal almost 35 year organization. What inspired you to create eight Aids Healthcare Foundation? How did this start?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, in 1986 there was an initiative on the ballot in California to quarantine people who were HIV positive, and that's how I got involved. And a group of us created a committee to oppose that initiative. And our first big event was a March on the proponents of that and it turned out to be much bigger than we ever anticipated. 4,000 people showed up, that's the launch of this movement. When it was over and we had stopped something bad from happening, we recognized that people were dying in the hallways of the county hospital.
Michael Weinstein :
So we wanted to make something good happen, which is to give them a dignified death. So we created the LA Aids Hospice Committee, which was a pure advocacy group just to get the County to do better. And then in the following year, in February 1987, we formed the Aids Hospice Foundation. And shortly after that, we began providing residential hospice care at the Chris Brownley Hospice, Chris Brownley was the co-founder of AHF.
Lauren Hogan :
Amazing. And I think that you guys have coined a term that's very unique to AHF called the righteous rebels. So how did that come about and what does it mean to you?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, I think that when people look at an organization like AHF that's gotten to be so big, you can think of it as corporate, or you can think of it as being this giant organization or bureaucracy, and it's always had at its roots, the grassroots and advocacy. So I think that righteous rebels encompasses the fact that even though we're bigger and more institutionalized, we're fighting for a cause, right? And we are rebelling against an establishment that has deprived people of their rights, which has been so slow to respond to HIV. And as we've branched out into other areas, be it housing or being international aid or the like, that general title righteous rebels has certainly been applicable.
Lauren Hogan :
Absolutely. So I just want to touch on something that you brushed over as the advocacy component. So why was advocacy so important as the foundation of AHF? You made sure we were an advocacy organization. So what was the thought behind that?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, when we first began, we were really dealing with the utter indifference of the government to the plight of people living with HIV. And so, our first impulse was to say, "Okay, we need help. We need care. It's the government's responsibility to provide this." And so, we were imploring them to do that. Once we had the opportunity to provide the care, which came about through serendipity and we opened the first hospice, we began to understand the power of not only telling people what's needed, but showing them how to do it.
Michael Weinstein :
I think that's been a lot of the chemistry or the magic of AHF is the combination of the service provision with the advocacy. Because also, through the service provision, it really enriched the advocacy, because it explained to us what was really needed. We were walking in the shoes of our clients or of our staff, and we were seeing the obstacles that stood in the way. By the same token, the advocacy enabled us to provide more care whether it was because we secured more funding or whether it was because certain policies that were obstacles were changed. So I think it's been a really very, very potent combination.
Lauren Hogan :
So what keeps you going? Because you've been fighting against the government policy makers, what has been keeping you going for these past almost 35 years?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, I mean, somewhat facetiously, I have ants in my pants, my mother would say. I get bored too easily, but I think there's the humanitarian aspect, right? There's the desire and the need to help people and to give a voice to people who don't have their own voice. But the other side of it for me personally, is it's been an enormous creative outlet. In other words, to have an idea and particularly, an idea that can help a lot of people and to be able to see it realized fully is really very motivating to me. I mean, I think of AHF as a field of dreams. It's like if you build it, they will come. Sometimes we joke if we build it, they will fund. But if we build it, they will come, so I never could have imagined anything on the scale of what we're doing.
Michael Weinstein :
And because of that, it gives me personally the opportunity to be involved in the legal work of AHF, to be involved in the architectural work, to be involved in the research. And so, it's very stimulating personally for me. I mean, I couldn't have continued to do this job if this job hadn't fundamentally changed over this time period. And I think that's another part of the magic of AHF, which is we've always been able to see around the corner. We've been able to anticipate where things are going in terms of what people need and in terms of also where the field is going. And so, we've gotten involved in new things. And I think, we've sometimes gotten criticism, people saying, "You're out of your lane," or, "Why are you doing this?"
Michael Weinstein :
But I think that the need and our ability to contribute has been born out. I mean, for example, right now, as we are speaking, we are getting ready to fly a cargo plane from Miami to Haiti for relief, and that comes out of our partnership with Haiti and providing care for people with HIV, and what we've learned in doing that. And we were there the last time around when they needed help as well. So, this is a whole other dimension. We've done it in Puerto Rico, we've done it in variety of places, this disaster relief, because we have the ability to act so quickly, more quickly than many other government entities or organizations, so that's a whole other dimension. So that's a very interesting thing to get to be a part of.
Lauren Hogan :
So my question for you is because you said that you have your hands in 65 different pots to say the least. And I think with our relationship and getting to know you, you're a very accessible CEO, which a lot of CEOs in most large organizations, they're not. So what made you decide to be that way and do you have any regrets about it?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, first of all, it's interesting. When you have a lot of success, people imprint certain things on you or make assumptions about you. So I mean, I grew up in a modest, lower middle class family. My father drove a truck. My mother was a file clerk. I did not complete high school. I got a GED, then I went back and went to college. I've had many, many crappy jobs in my day of various kinds. Factory jobs and all kinds of other jobs. And so, who I am at my core is not your typical CEO, and my fields of interest are, for example, I'm very involved in marketing, right? So in order to be effective in that you have to have your finger on the pulse.
Michael Weinstein :
The pulse of the end users, your finger on the pulse of the people who work for us and the like. And so, that keeps it fresh and interesting, right? Also, to be an effective leader, you have to walk the walk. I mean, if people see you as being inauthentic, as looking down on them, as not listening, as not being available, as not fighting side by side with them, they're not going to really pay you the respect or they're not going to feel the loyalty to me or to AHF.
Michael Weinstein :
And I think that's has worked well for the organization. Also, I think one thing that's so great about the culture of the organization is that it's universal. I mean, it's so inclusive that everyone can feel that they have a home here and everyone can feel as if that their needs and desires are encompassed by who we are and what we are. And you just see it every time you're in a group of AHF employees or clients, how diverse we are and how accepting and inclusive we are.
Lauren Hogan :
I think I have to put an emphasis on that point because, me personally, that's one of the reason why I even decided to work at AHF was because of the diversity and inclusion component that you just don't get at other jobs. And especially this is a nonprofit, so you're helping people at the end of the day. It was just more of a reason to just come and work for this amazing organization. So being all of what you've said, who do you go for advice? You're leading this large organization, who do you go for, for if you need some help with something?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, something that I'm very blessed with is that I have very, very old and dear friends. People who I've known since childhood and who support me, and I think because the world of Aids politics or politics in general can be so cutthroat or can be so difficult, you need that support system. Also, when you look at the senior leadership of AHF, we have people who've been there 31 years, 25 years and the like, and so, we are a tight knit team, right? So I get support there. I mean, in terms of advice, it comes in different ways from different places. I mean, I've been in a relationship for the last 23 years, and he's not the least bit political, but he's got a world of common sense.
Michael Weinstein :
So, I mean, just this morning, I was asking his opinion about something that was going on at work. My family, it's tricky with your family because they still remember you when you did something stupid when you were nine years old. But they are a big support system and there are various people in public life, in elected office and other people who run other organizations that I go to as well. But I mean when, and I don't say this in an arrogant way, but the idea that it's lonely at the top, there's a lot of truth in that. Because when you're making decisions that affect large numbers of people and a direction of an organization, then you could ask people's opinions and they can weigh in, but ultimately, the responsibility rests on your shoulders.
Michael Weinstein :
I mean, at various times when I felt that there was an existential threat to AHF and particularly, in the last 20 years when we've had the global program. I mean, it really weighed on me heavily, because I thought, "There will be people who will die if AHF were to flame out," right? So again, that's something that definitely keeps you up. And I'll also say in terms of advice that the board of directors of AHF, many of them have served for a very long time, some 30 years or more, and they're a great support system and a great sounding board for advice and forethought's. And then, there are some other people who head up other Aids organizations that we're aligned with. Jeffrey King at In The Meantime who are great support system for me.
Lauren Hogan :
So what has been your proudest moment at AHF? What has made you the most proud, whether it was a campaign, a lawsuit that you won, a prop or what's made you most proud?
Michael Weinstein :
I mean, it's very difficult. It's like, if you have a lot of kids and you have to pick one that's your favorite. I mean, I would say that the creation of the clinics and the care program in Africa in general, but particularly, in rural Africa where we started with a shed and people who had no other option, no other access and we did it for free. And to see now that tens of millions of people, regardless of their ability to pay are getting Aids treatment in the world. I would say that's a major high point. Oh, and then there was getting to be with Meryl Streep when we recorded our narration for our film. But that's just me. [crosstalk 00:15:51] little starstrucked, starstrucked little boy.
Lauren Hogan :
Yeah, well, since you're bringing up a very famous actor, I have to shift a little bit because I think you've been very innovative in bringing in the arts and entertainment as a way to reduce stigma and engage a myriad of folks. So what was the thought process us behind that and what drove you to say, "This is what we should do to get rid of the stigma associated with HIV and Aids?"
Michael Weinstein :
Well, first of all, I saw that the power of people like Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana had in bringing acceptance in the early days, so that was one influence. But also, people don't think much about politics and policy, that doesn't really drive them, right? I mean, culture really drives people to such a great degree. And so, if you can hook into them on a cultural basis, I think that has tremendous amount of power. And when somebody is lending their celebrity to a cause, it's a way of getting people to tune in. It doesn't necessarily change their mind on everything, but it gets them to tune in.
Michael Weinstein :
I think it also is a great support to the staff when they see that these well known people are giving a thumbs up to AHF, I think it's also a tonic to patients as well. So I mean, I think that 99% of the work we do is not glamorous, it's day in and day out, opening the doors, seeing the patients, doing the tests, filling the prescriptions. So, to spend a certain amount of time, effort and money to have that bit of glamor, I think it's worth it. I think it works.
Lauren Hogan :
Absolutely. And I think for me more so coming from someone who was a dancer, it's so special to see that we're using this medium of engagement to help further another cause that still needs to be addressed in the world today. So it's a special combination to say the least. So like I said, being that you're the CEO, what ways do you encourage employees to voice potential opportunity for AHF to fight for what's right?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, first of all, my wish would be that every employee and every patient could be an ambassador. And what that means is to reach out through their networks, to both, first of all, endorse the cause of access to prevention and testing and treatment for everyone who needs it, for housing, regardless of ability to pay and the like. But also, through the one-on-one engagement, to just broaden our reach and to tap into other different communities. I mean, for example, with this Haiti relief, right?
Michael Weinstein :
That's strengthening the ties we have with the diaspora in Florida, right? We have clinics right in the middle of Haitian majority areas. And so, that means that they're going to trust us more, it means they're going to send people to us. There's a lot of stigma there. So they're going to say, "Okay, go to these people, these people care, or these people understand." Yeah, so I think it just pays off all the way around.
Lauren Hogan :
And so, what would you tell potential employees is so special about AHF and why this is such an amazing place to work?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, first of all, I would say that it's a place where you can develop in your work and your career. I mean I think it's a place that promotes from within, that encourages people to learn and to grow. I think it's a place where you can feel like you are accepted, and that we believe in you and I compare it sometimes to talk about the more perfect union, right? I mean, the United States where we're saying, that we are a work in progress, that we have values that we want to live up to. We don't necessarily live up to them every minute of every day, but we want to learn and grow in that direction.
Michael Weinstein :
And if you commit to the organization, if you join us fully and are part of that, you can move us in that better direction. But I think we all have to work to earn a living, but if you can truly feel at the end of any given day that you are making a contribution, not only to individual people who we help, but to historic change, I think that's really, really profound. And we live in a world it's so easy to be cynical about everything, right? And I think this is a place that does it's very best to live up to the values that we emulate.
Lauren Hogan :
And I want to go back to something that you said earlier about people criticizing us for not staying in our lane. So how do you decide when and where we should venture away from what's considered our area of expertise and when we should go? We should blur the lines a little bit?
Michael Weinstein :
Well, first, if you put everything we do in a social justice frame, then that makes sense. But the overall prism is health in the broadest sense of that term. And so, our core enterprise are our clinics, right? But we've expanded to say, "Physical fitness is a dimension of health." We have mental health programs that are a dimension of health. Now we're starting down the road with food insecurity. We have the Healthy Housing Foundation. So I think that's the uniting principle. That's the thread that goes through all of it. But one of the most interesting examples of something that I had become convinced was going too far or out of our lane was that we have an operation in Mississippi and we've had advocates who've work for us for a long time there.
Michael Weinstein :
And when the South Carolina legislature took down the Confederate flag in South Carolina, I started agitating for us to do a campaign for initiative in Mississippi to bring down the flag. And at first it didn't go very well or very far, and I got some criticism from some of the board members and I thought to myself, "Well, maybe this time I'd gone too far," and it's like, it's always darkest before the dawn, because very shortly thereafter, of course, the Mississippi flag, Confederate flag did come down and then we get a chance to celebrate.
Michael Weinstein :
But also, I mean, part of what's maybe conditioning our responses now is that because we have grown as large as we have, and because we do who have resources, both human resources, as well as money, the possibilities of what we can do are so much larger, but I think another key aspect of what we do and how we go about it is we look at models. So what can we contribute in terms of creating that's replicable, right? So in housing we're saying, "Okay, how do you create housing that's very low rent and that can be brought online very, very quickly?" Same thing with food. What contribution can we make in the food arena that's not already being done or that could help to improve the situation longterm?
Lauren Hogan :
So, I have to ask you one last question, because we are at our time, but what's next for AHF, or what do you see happening in the next 10 years?
Michael Weinstein :
If I had predicted where we are now 10 years ago, I'd really be a seer. But I think that we have the opportunity to control HIV on a global level within the next 10 years. That is feasible given the progress we've already made and then it'll be a question of sustaining it. And part of sustaining it will be to keep the attention of the world focused on it, continue to get the funding, et cetera. And we've done a lot of work in the last two years on creating global public health convention.
Michael Weinstein :
And it was very timely when COVID broke out and I think that we have an opportunity to advance that agenda of global health security for the longer term, so we're not so unprepared to deal with each of these things as it comes up. I think if we follow the same route we have on healthcare provision with housing, I think we can potentially revolutionize the access to low income housing. And I think on a social justice front, that's going to happen organically as we build relationships more and more, larger and larger coalitions, I think those opportunities will arise and we will take advantage of them.
Lauren Hogan :
Amazing. So, Michael, I have to say, thank you for even taking the time to do this because we know you're extremely busy, but we look forward to seeing what happens with this episode, and we will catch you guys next time. Thanks so much.
Michael Weinstein :
Yeah. I'm thrilled that we're doing these podcasts. I think it's a great opportunity to connect with many, many people. Thank you.
Lauren Hogan :
Thank you so much for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the show, please subscribe, share it with your friends, like, post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review. Follow us on Instagram at AfterHours, and see you next time.