Episode 3: Gordon Hartman — On Initiative and Ultra-Accessibility

On Board with Transparent Leadership Podcast

October 24, 2023

Episode 3 Show Notes

Welcome to another episode of the On Board with Transparent Leadership series with Easterseals President and CEO Kendra Davenport, and Gordon Hartman, a native San Antonian who sold his highly successful homebuilding business in 2005 to pursue the dream of helping children and adults with disabilities. Gordon proceeded to build Morgan’s Wonderland, the world’s first and still the only Ultra-Accessible™, fully-inclusive theme park. In this episode, Gordon talks more about what ultra-accessibility means and how taking initiative can be the great disruptor.

The phenomenal success of Morgan’s Wonderland – more than 2 million guests from all 50 states and over 100 other countries – encouraged Gordon to add award-winning Morgan’s Inspiration Island splash park, Morgan’s Wonderland Sports complex, year-round Morgan’s Wonderland Camp and the Multi-Assistance Center at Morgan’s Wonderland, or The MAC. This latest venture involves more than 30 community-based organizations that provide medical and non-medical services to children and adults with disabilities. The MAC sets a new standard for delivering coordinated care in an inclusive atmosphere through the guidance and follow-through of specially-educated team members known as Navigators.

All of Gordon’s creations – and more to come – comprise Morgan’s Inclusion Initiative, the umbrella organization that strategically coordinates planning, fundraising and communications for all its “family” members. In every endeavor, Gordon emphasizes the importance of inclusion, bringing together those with and without disabilities for interaction and a better understanding of one another. In addition to his many accomplishments through Morgan’s Inclusion Initiative, Gordon has worked closely with governmental and community leaders on improvements that further add to San Antonio’s reputation as “Inclusion City, USA.”

Gordon’s inspiration for all that he’s accomplished is his 29-year-old daughter Morgan, who was born with physical and cognitive needs. He continues to firmly believe, “Together, we ARE making a difference!”

Transcript

Kendra Davenport:

Hi, I'm Kendra Davenport, president and CEO of Easterseals, and you're listening to On Board with Transparent Leadership, an Easterseals Podcast where I speak with leaders from some of the country's top organizations. Together we explore how transparent leadership can impact communication, trust, building, and foster a culture of openness and accountability. I hope that our conversations can offer you practical insights and tools to positively impact your organization.In this episode, I'm joined by Gordon Hartman, a native San Antonian, Gordon Hartman sold his highly successful home building business in 2005 to pursue his and his wife, Maggie's dream of helping children and adults with disabilities. He proceeded to build Morgan's Wonderland, the world's first and still the only ultra accessible, fully inclusive theme park. Gordon, I can't wait to hear more about Morgan's Inclusion Initiative and how you've added to San Antonio's reputation as an inclusion city in the US. I'm so pleased you're here today. I've been really looking forward to talking to you and having this conversation.

Gordon Hartman:

Well, thank you very much. I've been looking forward to this as well, Kendra, so I really appreciate this.

Kendra Davenport:

And let me get started by asking you about Morgan. Before we get to all of the things you've built and your life pursuits, I'd really think that our listeners would like to hear about who Morgan is and how she's impacted all of your work.

Gordon Hartman:

Well, Morgan is an incredible young lady who very soon will be turning 30 years old, which is hard for me to believe. I remember being told when she was born that it's going to go quick and that was an understatement. It does go extremely quick that she's already going to be 30 years old, but Morgan has TBRS, very rare, which basically causes her to have cognitive delay and also some other heart related issues, a few other things. But for the most part, cognitive is her main element of diagnosis.

Kendra Davenport:

Each time we've spoken, you've used a word that resonates with me, which I think is synonymous with what you just described. The word is ultra accessible. Can you explain to our listeners what you mean by ultra accessible and why it's so important to you?

Gordon Hartman:

When we formed our foundation back in 2005 and we started looking at the requirements of ADA was an incredible thing that a law that George Bush signed in the early '90s, and it brought additional inclusion closer for those individuals with special needs, but it doesn't actually go real far. And so, what we try to do is ensure through ultra accessibility that no matter how acute your special need may be, you can do and participate in all activities of wherever you are, whether it be going to a restaurant or enjoying a theme park or going to a camp or playing sports activities or going to a hotel, whatever ultra accessibility means it's fully inclusive, there's no one left out versus ADA, which if you really zero in on the minimum requirements of ADA, still many of those individuals are left out. We don't want that. This is a world that we feel ought to be fully inclusive and that's the reason why we use the word ultra accessible as a way of emphasizing the importance of ensuring that everything we do doesn't just look at something and say, "Well, that gets us there." We've checked off the box and everybody's happy because the government says that's enough. We try to say, "What can we do to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity?" And we've done that through the way we've developed Morgan's Wonderland, Morgan's Inspiration Island, Morgan's Wonderland Sports Facility, the camp. Everything we do takes into that element of that thought process to ensure ultra inclusiveness.

Kendra Davenport:

I think so much of what you've done has really considered to be groundbreaking from Morgan's Wonderland to the multi assistance center you've built to MAC at Morgan's Wonderland. Can you tell us what's in store, what's on the horizon? What haven't you done or what would you like to do to make life more inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities?

Gordon Hartman:

Well, we are doing a lot more because I often tell people we're just getting started. And the reason is that when you think about individuals with special needs, we're talking about a billion people. There's 7 billion people on earth, but 1 billion have some form of a special need. It's a large number and it really needs to be focused. And what we're trying to do is by bringing about so many different opportunities and showing how things can be done in a more creative way and an ultra accessible way that we start to open doors for more by bringing individuals with special needs to the table. Many times you look at many movements and those movements have come to the table and brought attention to what they're doing. But unfortunately individuals with special needs and that community has sometimes been left behind the door and not at the table. So why are we doing what we're doing? Well, we built Morgan's Wonderland to bring about a theme park that would be ultimately inclusionary, and then we added to it a waterpark with the same approach and then the camp and sports and the multi assistance center, which deals with medical, therapeutic and social determinants of health when it comes to really navigating through to ensure that no one falls through the cracks, when it comes to the issues that are so important in those areas. But that's just the beginning. I mean, there are things that we are working on now is we're working on designing a fitness center that ensures that everyone who has a special need and those who don't can come together and exercise together, a gymnasium that ensures that everyone participates together. We are building an ambulatory surgical center, which will be opening in the middle of next year, which has special design to it that allows for people the opportunity to have a place now where when someone has a special need, that they were able to come and have a surgery done in a fashion that they're comfortable in, that gives them a sense that they're not just being pushed through, that it's not about throughput. It's about really having an experience that is comfortable for not only the person but also for the family. We're also opening up a salon and you say, "Well, why is the salon important? What's the importance of that?" Well, we kind of get across the point that getting a haircut or getting your nails done maybe seems simple, but it's not for everybody. And so, we'll be opening a salon in the next couple of months to allow for those with special needs and those without special needs to come together to get their hair done, to get their nails done and really bringing about a full element of inclusion. But going past that, we are also working on building a center to really bring about more action, not just where we are, but basically the country and worldwide by developing Morgan's Inclusion campus, which will include a facility to deal with acute special needs, something that we don't believe that there's enough focus on and something that many times we think about people with acute special needs, that just kind of never gets to funding because the numbers just don't ever seem to allow for people to justify. But it's something that really needs focus, and so we want to put focus to it. That will be part of inclusion campus, which will include the institute and the institute will be a think tank, but also an action group that will allow for us to go out to individuals and companies and organizations, not just here but worldwide, be able to explain to them why we do what we do and how we can help them do what they want to do. I mean, we are now getting so much input from people literally all over the world about what we do. So we thought, well, what we need to do is try to see how we can develop programs to assist them in advancing what they want to do. And then we also looking very closely at building an ultra accessible hotel. It's something that we've been working on for some time. It's something that we think we now have the opportunity to put together, and then there's other things down the road in respect to housing, etc. But that kind of gives you a quick glimpse of a few things we're working on at the moment. But by bringing all those things together, what this will do, we hope will spark cultural change and ensuring that there's more inclusion in the world.

Kendra Davenport:

I think it's so exciting and so much of what you discussed and what you've touched on, what you're trying to build is so needed. And I think you definitely hit on one of the obstacles that I think many groups striving to advocate and create more accessible inclusive life for people with disabilities encounter. And that's the numbers. The numbers don't often lead to the federal funding and even the private sector funding. So that leads me to another quick question. You clearly thrive on doing and building and helping others by eliminating barriers and pushing boundaries, and I love your determination and grit. It comes through every time I talk to you. But none of this is easy Gordon, and I think I know that and many of our listeners do as well. Can you tell us about a particularly vexing challenge that you've overcome just in your professional life, either in establishing Morgan's Wonderland and all of the things you've talked about building or otherwise? I think our listeners would love to hear about a challenge that you really had to strive to overcome.

Gordon Hartman:

Well, this is going to sound maybe kind of strange as an answer, but the thing that I think I really overcome is I just don't believe in the word no. Look, we start a lot of things and people go, "Well, I don't know if that's possible. I don't know this." And you can always have the nos. And what I really have been able to acquire is some real thick skin to say, "And you may think that, but we can and we will." And it's amazing to me once you get past that point, how many people, once you actually go out who want to be a part of what you're doing, they want to be a part of making sure that there is a more inclusive world out there. But I think at first, maybe I was a little timid and saying, "Well, we want to do this" and now we're full force. Every idea that we have that made us be so far off. I mean, when we started the idea years ago about building a wheelchair that could go underwater, people said, "That's crazy. You can't have a wheelchair that works underwater." Yes, we can. We did it through compressed air and it took us some effort, took us some time, but there's an old expression I like to use and that is, if it's easy, everybody would do it. And so, we take on the hard things and we take on the things that allow us to not just as I mentioned earlier, to be just ADA compliant, but to be ultra accessible. When we built our challenge course out at Morgan's account, we want to ensure that if you were in a wheelchair you could do the challenge wall and all the obstacles there in a wheelchair, and we've been able to achieve that because we brought people in and said, "Yeah, let's make a difference." And so, I know that's maybe not a real normal answer to your question, but I just don't believe in the word no. It just doesn't exist.

Kendra Davenport:

No, it's a perfect answer.

Gordon Hartman:

We're not going to take the word can't and we're going to figure out a way to do it, and there's too many people who talk about things, but people who don't do things and we just are big believers that when we say we're going to do it, we're going to do it. We're going to focus on it, and until it's at a position that we feel ultimately achieves what our mission is and we're going to keep striving and pushing heart. And the beauty of that is that culture has now been developed here to where it's become much easier because it's so much into what we do. There is such a positive feeling about the fact that we can do what we say we're going to do and we're going to do it. My hope is that they allow this world to recognize that we've got to be more inclusive and there's ways in which that can be done doesn't cost a lot of money, just cause you to open your eyes and say, we can.

Kendra Davenport:

Your enthusiasm is infectious, Gordon, and I'm sure that's how you help bring people along with not taking no for an answer, which is terrific. I know Morgan has been a tremendous influence, but is there someone else who served as a mentor to you throughout your career or someone you go to when you're at a loss or you need some advice or as my dad used to say, "You just want to do that reasonable man test," someone you know who will tell you, you're all wet on this, this isn't working, or you got to turn this around. Is there someone in your life who's done that or played that role for you?

Gordon Hartman:

Yeah, and I'm going to answer it two ways. First, I'm going to tell you what I think are my three influences that allow me to have been mentoring to me, and that is number one, first of all, my parents, they were hardworking German Czech folks who many times when I was going to sleep at night, they were still working and I got a good work ethic out of them and they mentored me not just to work hard, but also to be fair, that was the beginning. And then I had the opportunity at a young age to be in the seminary for four years, and that really taught me time management, taught me disciplines that honestly I probably would not have understood. It's allowed me to go right out of the seminary actually and to get into business at the age of 19 because I don't have any college experience at all.As I often tell people, I joke with them that I actually failed the early stages of trying to get into college and couldn't do that and that wasn't for me. But I think my parents, the seminary life and then also Morgan has definitely been a mentor to me because she has taught me so much about the fragileness of life that I think otherwise I may have missed out on. Because of that, I may have been wanting to make just more money. Money's not important to me anymore. There's so much more and just fulfillment that I'm all about now. I go home every day after long hours, much more energy than when I was running numerous companies. It's just incredible. I mean, I have an energy level higher now than I did 20 years ago, and so my life's been split in three so far. I spent the first 20 years being a kid, the second 20 years being in business and now the last 20 years being in philanthropic type of activities. And I'll tell you the third is, and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth of those are going to be fun and more fun because of the opportunity. But being direct to your question, I do have a couple of people who I've worked with for a long time. For example, my attorney who's been with me 36 years. Since we know each other so well, when I'm working on things and stuff, he will find the needle in the haystack to try to say, "Gordon, this will not work. You have no idea what you're doing." I love that debate. I call it debate, I call it discussion. It's not an argument. It's a good debate. He's the guy who can say, "Everyone's telling you this is good, but this doesn't work for this reason." So I love the dialogue that we have. And so, technically, he's my attorney, but really we're friends and we're also people who work very well together. I will go to him on stuff that he may have no sense of it. I'll explain it to him, get him to fully understand what we're doing, and he will find all of, "Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that?" And I need that because a lot of times in certain positions as you move about, you have a tendency to sometimes, and I don't like this, but it does happen. It's a natural thing. People tend to kind of tell you a little bit more what you want to hear. Then sometimes the reality of thing, and I want people around me to tell me sometimes I don't a lot of times what I don't want to hear. That's the only way I can improve and how we can improve things overall. I often tell people when they come to me and they say, "Well, I don't want to tell you about such and such because I don't want to throw so-and-so under the bus." I often say, "If you don't throw them under the bus to talk to me about it, then you're throwing me under the bus because you're not helping this organization." And so, I try to think about things outside the norm in that respect about how I can learn from people every time they talk to me and tell me so that we can expand who we are, what we do on a daily basis because we have so much to do. We could talk for hours about the needs that exist for our friends with special needs. And I often tell people, we're just getting started because the need is so great out there.

Kendra Davenport:

I love that. And I think you are clearly in the portion of your life that for you appears to be most fulfilling. Most people aren't fortunate enough. I think many people, not most, but many people aren't fortunate enough to get there. They spend their whole life, work, work, work, and really look back and say, "Well, was it really fulfilling or was it just a means to an end?" So I love that response, thank you. I'm often told I have enough energy for two people and I have trouble shutting down, and I think I'm drawn and awed by people that I see that in. You are clearly one of those people.And in just what you've talked about in the last 20 minutes or so, anyone listening can see that you don't really have an off switch, but everybody needs to recharge. Can you talk about how you recharge? What do you derive that peace of mind when you finally let down, when you finally go home at the end of the day? Or what do you do to take time for yourself to replenish so that you keep going like the Energizer Bunny?

Gordon Hartman:

Well, I mean, I am pretty good about departmentalizing and knowing that when I'm not at work, I'm not working. And so, I'm blessed with that. I mean, a lot of people often say, "Gordon, you sleep well at night?" I say, "I sleep great, I sleep very well," so I'm able to shut it off. I'm able to move on and know that I need good rest and things, but how do I do that? Well, I think it's just a matter of, I know when I'm here and I'm working and going through a daily routine that we have or the things that we have, I always tell people what's on my schedule is not what I'm going to be doing every day. There's always an adventure that we're going to be hitting every day that we're going to have to deal with. And I think that in respect to how I pull back, if you will, kind of just spending that time on the drive home, kind of pulling back, saying, okay, you're going from an aggressive constant movement of activity, either going into meetings, talking, enjoying the heck out of everything I'm doing. I'm not complaining about it. I love every moment of it, but then kind of just saying, okay, you're going to that next drill or the next opportunity of time, and that is you're going to need to recharge. And so, a lot of that is spending either time with Maggie, my wife, or my daughter, Morgan, and I have a wonderful dog now, he's my buddy. And so, I will sit out on the back porch with him and anyone else who wants to join me, and we just sit and just get away. Now, do I have any hobbies? Yes, I have a few. And one of the things I really like to do is I like to go boating. I love the lake. I love water. And so, if I'm really going to do something that's really going to pull me away for a longer period of time than just in between days of work, I really don't call what I do work, days of what I do is that boating is a thing that I'll go to. I love the jet ski. Anything that's water related is something that I really enjoy. But I think it's mainly just kind of knowing that you kind of have that balance. And Kendra, you bring up a good point. If you don't have balance, it will get to you. But I will tell you this, also having daily activities that are incredibly fulfilling. I mean, I know every day when we walk in, I know this, this isn't something I have to think about or I have to justify. I know we're in a positive way or affecting hundreds if not thousands of individuals, our friends with special needs every day. I know that. And so, to leave every day and have that kind of feeling, how can you not leave with a high level of energy and not come back with a high level of energy? But I do understand the importance of balance and try my best to, in a unique way, try to get that every day.

Kendra Davenport:

I think you and I are kindred spirits, and I absolutely love the water. I think it's so cathartic, it really brings me down. I love anytime I can be on the water or near it. So that totally resonates with me. I have so enjoyed speaking with you, Gordon, as I always do, and I know we'll carry on our conversations and I know we'll find ways of working together in the future because we do see eye to eye and I think we want the same things. We like to end our episodes with an Ask Us Anything segment with our co-hosts from the Easterseals podcast series. Everything you know about disability is wrong, so stick with us. But before we do that, I want to ask our guest one final question. So Gordon, people who know me know I love to read. I am a voracious reader, and in fact, when I can't shut down, I turn to a book. I want to know, what's the one book you recommend that every leader read?

Gordon Hartman:

I've been asked that a lot, and this is a terrible thing that I want to say. I read a lot, but I'm not a book reader. And the reason I'm not is because if you know my personality, I read periodicals. I am very analytical and for me to sit and just read a book, honestly, it's not something I can recommend. I mean, I hate to say I can't answer that question because I'm not a book reader. I'm read books here and there. None of them that would be of anything that I can say, "Hey, that would be one I'd recommend," but I've been asked that question, but it's just not me. I'm one who loves to just continue to come up with new ideas. My brain is working at high speed and to sit and just ponder that book is not something I enjoy. And people say, "Well, you got to enjoy that." Well, you don't have to enjoy it. You enjoy what you enjoy, and I don't enjoy that. So I don't have anything I can suggest to anybody. And I hate that I have that answer for you because that doesn't help. But it is the truth of who I am. This morning I read 30 minutes on a certain thing that I really wanted to get an understanding on I and Googled and read some great stuff on it. But when it comes to, if you were to give me a book on that, I'd probably say I'll pass. I got my information at 30 minutes. So that's just how I'm built, Kendra.

Kendra Davenport:

Well, that's honest.

Gordon Hartman:

It is.

Kendra Davenport:

... honest answer. Thank you so much for letting us have a little insight into who you are and letting us get to know Gordon Hartman. We really appreciate it.

Gordon Hartman:

Thank you. I really appreciate it. I look forward to working with you and everybody at Easterseals. Your organization's incredible. There's so many things that we can work on together. As I always tell you, Kendra, every time we talk, as we say at Morgan's Wonderland or anywhere that deals with Morgan's, we never say goodbye. We always say, we'll see you later. And that's the way I think of it in this discussion here. It's never going to be a goodbye. It's always see you later because there's a lot of work we got to and things we need to do to continue to assist our friends and special needs.

Kendra Davenport:

Couldn't agree more. See you later, Gordon. Aaron and Lily, I am so glad you can join me today as leaders in your work and as co-hosts of the Everything You Know About Disability Is Wrong Podcast, what do we have for today? Lily Thanks for having us, Kendra. Aaron: Thank you so much for having us on. We're so excited to be here, to be a part of the Asked Us Anything segment. And our first question is, what advice would you give to aspiring leaders who listen to make a positive impact in the respective fields?

Kendra Davenport:

I'm a big believer in exercising your passion. So whatever you're passionate about, I think that's what you need to go into. And I know people often say, "Well, you got to make money at it. You have to make a living." I really believe if you're doing what you love, the money will come. So sometimes that means taking a job that maybe doesn't pay what you think it's going to pay, and really filling up your cup, meaning fulfilling yourself. Because when people are passionate about their work, when they really truly enjoy what they're doing, they create their own momentum. They create opportunities. Opportunities find you. In fact, I just wrote about it for an article I'm doing, about the momentum that is created by enthusiasm. When you're enthusiastic about your job, momentum gradually comes. It comes by itself. Opportunities are created. People can feel it. People want to work with you, and you gradually advance. I've watched this happen in so many ways, in so many fields with so many people. So I think that's what you have to do. You have to decide what motivates you and then go after it. Lily Enthusiasm makes momentum. That is a great little bit right there. I'm going to remember that. Thank you so much. What a great Ask Us Anything.

Kendra Davenport:

I think it's true.

Kendra Davenport (Commercial segment):

You may not know that Easterseals has been trusted by families nationwide for over a 100 years. At Easterseals, we share a commitment to the people we serve, and each of our locations offers a variety of important services to meet their community's needs. Services like early intervention to help young children achieve their developmental goals, adult day and in-home services, community, mobility options, behavioral health and wellness programs, caregiver and veteran services, and much more so that all people of all ages and at all stages of life can have all the access they need so all people with disabilities can feel empowered and included. And so, all families continue to receive support they can trust, learn more by visiting easterseals.com.

Kendra Davenport:

That concludes our episode. Thank you so much for listening. If you like what you heard, be sure to write a review, like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And join us next episode as we discuss how we can all get On Board with Transparent Leadership.