Jan. 28, 2024

If you haven’t learned it or lived it already, here’s something to know about climbing the so-called “corporate ladder.”

It rarely goes straight up.

Sometimes, there are landings. Sometimes, you skip a rung or two. Sometimes, you go back down a rung or two. You get the idea.

Midyear last year, former Sanford Health executive Micah Aberson became president of Minnesota-based Cambria. It’s a significant role that has him logging a lot of miles commuting, but he told me recently he’s committed to continuing to live and raise his family in Sioux Falls.

This story isn’t about that title, though.

It’s about what happened in between the lines on the resume — where you often find what someone’s really all about.

Flashback to last year. Aberson was admittedly “a little apprehensive” as he and his wife, Jaclyn, waited at the start of an event they were hosting for a cause with multiple personal ties.

While he worked at Sanford, they had become good friends with Manny and Tracie Ohonme, leaders of the global nonprofit Samaritan’s Feet. Manny Ohonme had chaired Sanford’s international board, and “we literally traveled the world together,” Aberson said.

From Rome, where they both met Pope Francis, to Germany and Costa Rica, they got to know each other as Aberson became drawn to the mission of Samaritan’s Feet, which has provided more than 10 million people with shoes in more than 100 countries.

For those who receive the shoes, “it’s really a game-changing experience for them, a life-changing experience,” Aberson said. “There are so many foot-borne diseases they’re sheltered from, but it’s also their main mode of transportation, so it changes their life.”

Additionally, he’d been passionate to help the people of Africa since he completed a study abroad experience in South Africa while a student at Augustana University in 2001.

“This is poverty unlike anything we see around here with the exception of maybe the reservations, so I hadn’t experienced anything like that, and I fell in love with the people and the country, and everything about South Africa left this indelible mark on me,” he said.

So when the Ohonmes asked the Abersons in early 2023 to become “Hope Givers” — an annual designation for those helping raise money and awareness for the nonprofit — it was a quick yes. Especially when they learned it would be the organization’s 20th anniversary and the 10-millionth shoe would be delivered in Cape Town, South Africa.

“My response was not only will we be Hope Givers and help you raise awareness and money, but we want to be there for the delivery of the 10-millionth shoe,” Aberson said.

Hence, the event last year: a fundraiser with the theme “Soulful Soiree” that featured a South African-style barbecue and the chance to write messages on shoes that would be delivered worldwide.

“We charged $500 per person because we wanted to raise money. So it wasn’t an insignificant ask,” Aberson said. “We invited a lot of individuals throughout the community that are certainly friends but very busy people with a lot of priorities and places to be.”

And, the reality didn’t escape him that “when you’re not able to use positional authority or credibility to recruit people to an event, it’s a little scary. There’s a moment of vulnerability … a moment of anxiety.”

If you’ve never had this happen in your life, you’ve missed out on something valuable. When you find yourself in a place where your former title is gone, where you seemingly have less influence than you once did, you’re going to find out who is in your life for what reasons.

Not only did people show up for the Abersons, but between ticket sales and fundraising during the event, one night raised almost $300,000.

“It was satisfying and humbling to have such great representation of people come out for the event,” Aberson said. “Positional influence and personal influence are totally different. You work a lifetime to build your relationships, and it’s pretty easy to allow those to erode if you do things that aren’t authentic and genuine, and Samaritan’s Feet has been just a wonderful cause, and I would say we’ve become even more passionate about it.”

They did end up going to South Africa, where Aberson personally helped deliver the milestone shoe to a 10-year-old boy just outside Cape Town.

“Kneeling in front of a 10-year-old and washing their feet and putting on a pair of shoes and praying with them and listening to them share stories about their homes and dreams for their life … it’s a remarkable experience,” Aberson said.

So much so that he and Jaclyn have pledged to participate in the boy’s college education fund.

“Jaclyn and I were really passionate to not ‘just’ do something for people halfway around the world but also recognize the needs in our own community,” he added. “So part of our pitch (in fundraising) was to do shoe distributions … and we are working with Manny to do local shoe distributions in the spring.”

Their year as Hope Givers culminated late last year with Micah and Jaclyn being awarded the Persons of the Year award for their service and impact on Samaritan’s Feet.

“It was amazing,” he said. “They had people in from literally all over the world.”

I asked him if the whole experience, from career transition to his philanthropy, had underscored something about the nature of relationships. He started paraphrasing Aristotle, which showed me he’d at least given a bit of thought to the topic already.

Essentially, the philosopher talks about “three forms of friendship,” he said.

There’s the transactional friendship — “I’m going to get something from you, which is how many people think about or approach business” — the social relationship, where you might meet up for a meal or otherwise enjoy talking or spending time together — and finally, the “truly deep, meaningful, authentic friendships,” he said.

“And whether it was my transition at L&S or Sanford or whatever was going to come next, I was really intentional about making sure my relationships weren’t perceived as transactional because that’s not how I choose to live or operate.”

It’s part of why he has been dedicated to continuing to live in South Dakota, he said.

“It’s where my roots are, my network is, my friendships, my family, my whole ecosystem is in and around South Dakota, and even as one makes career transitions, I wanted to prioritize relationships that were far more than transactional and really based and built on substance and authenticity.”

You don’t have to hold a top role, as Aberson did and does, to take away some lessons from his message. So often I encounter people passionate about growing their “professional brands” but sometimes doing so through attempts at relationship-building that are less than authentic. Or I see people so tied to their title that they don’t realize what’s about to happen when it’s inevitably gone. Or I meet those who never find a cause that truly motivates them to make a bigger difference.

Aberson shared with me he often told people visiting his office at Sanford that “it wasn’t my office. It was the organization’s office, and I was a temporary inhabitant,” he said. “And I think the more you think that way and approach life, whether you’re a president or CEO or executive, having an identity that is more profound than the position you hold, for me ultimately I think leads to life satisfaction.”

Apply a dose of that perspective to the corporate ladder — the ladder of life, for that matter — and watch the climb take on new meaning.