Clear!: Living the Life You Didn't Dream Of

Herman J. Williams was on the verge of living his ultimate dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon to elite athletes -- when his life took a shocking detour.

"Herman!" screamed his beautiful fiancée, Jeannie, as he lay lifeless on a gymnasium floor.

How could a healthy 31-year-old collapse during an afternoon basketball game with his fellow medical residents?

"No pulse!" they shouted. "He's not breathing."

When the paramedics arrived, their defibrillator did not work!

By the grace of God, Herman survived.

But this life-changing event killed the dream that he had worked so hard to achieve.

Depressed and disabled, Herman refused to give up.

So, he reinvented himself.

And thanks to the unwavering love and support of his family, his wife, Jeannie, and later their son, Cole, and lifelong friends and dedicated mentors, Herman created a deeply fulfilling life and career that helps more people than he ever could have imagined in his original dream.

Now he's sharing his inspiring success formula to help you endure life's crushing blows, so that you find purpose, and cultivate peace and joy every day.

"My message is that you have to embrace your current reality and decide that you'll make a positive difference for others," says Herman. "I want my story to inspire you to create your best life possible."

Dr. Augustus White, Herman's longtime mentor who is an Orthopedic Surgeon and a Harvard Medical School Professor, adds: "I got engrossed in this story and could not put it down. The writing is excellent, concise, and moves along very nicely. This very impressive narrative about Herman's resilience is honest and not pretentious. It's a love story as well. Herman has a great message that will resonate with people and embolden them to get up, try again, and commit to helping others. It's awesome."

Herman J. Williams is an Executive Vice President and the Chief Clinical Officer at RCCH HealthCare Partner with extensive healthcare expertise that includes the management and operations of large-scale, national clinics and hospitals. His successful leadership has resulted in achieving the highest and safest levels of quality inpatient and outpatient care. Dr. William's extensive healthcare experience began as a Healthcare Manager of the Pacific Northwest Healthcare Consulting Division of Arthur Andersen. From there, he went on to start his own consulting company, Herman Williams Consulting, from the ground up. As President, Dr. Williams helped deliver physician hospital organization development and medical staff redesign consulting including credentialing, bylaws and accreditation guidelines for a national client base. He joined the Greeley Company in 1997 as an External Peer Review Medical Director and Senior Consultant. While at the Greeley Company he managed a $3M budget and oversaw over 200 national, external peer reviews across multiple specialties. Dr. Williams joined Christus Health System as the Vice President of Medical Affairs for St. Elizabeth's Hospital in 2000. As Vice President, he oversaw medical staff quality and multiple initiatives including peer review and medical staff credentialing. Dr. Williams was later promoted to Regional Vice President for Medical Affairs in 2001 where he managed all Case Management, Business Services, Health Information Management, Quality, Infection Control and Medical Staff Offices with a $2M annual budget. After leaving Christus Health Systems in 2004, he became Regional Chief Medical Officer at Baptist Health System, which at the time was a Vanguard Health Facility. During his five-year tenure, Dr. Williams managed over 2,500 medical staff members and redesigned Baptist Health System's entire medical staff structure including credentialing, governance, quality, safety, compliance, physician leadership development and case management. In 2009, Dr. Williams was promoted to Corporate Vice President for Medical Affairs at Vanguard Health Systems. As Corporate Vice President, he was instrumental in improving credentialing and privileging processes, Implemented key Safety Strategies and helped to establish the first Vanguard Leadership Academy. In addition, he provided executive group coaching to all Physician Leadership Councils, independent physician leaders and corporate directors. After Vanguard Health Systems was sold to Tenet health, Dr. Williams transitioned to regional care Hospital partners as a Chief Medical Officer. In May 2016, RegionalCare merged with Capella Health and this is led to his most recent position as Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at RCCH Healthcare Partners. Dr. Williams has spearheaded the implementation of Physician Leadership Groups (PLGs) at all RCCH facilities, spearheaded the initiative to become a system of "High Reliability Organizations", nationally oversees all quality initiatives and multiple Medical Staff Affairs solutions. Dr. Williams holds a Doctor's of Medicine from Boston University School of Medicine, a Master's of Business Administration from the University of Washington and a Master's in Public Health from Harvard. He is a Board Certified Coach and holds an advanced coaching certificate from the International Coach Federation (ICF). Dr. Williams currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee.

Elizabeth Ann Atkins is a best-selling author, actress, TV host and award-winning journalist who uses a multimedia platform to inspire people to unlock their infinite potential and live with passion, prosperity, health and happiness. Elizabeth's desire to empower others springs from a trailblazing matrix of colorblind love and courage from her mother, an African American and Italian judge, and her father, a former Roman Catholic priest who was English, French Canadian and Cherokee. They taught her to challenge the status quo by writing innovative ideas to edu-tain people. With a master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan, Elizabeth has written nearly 20 books, including novels White Chocolate, Dark Secret and Twilight (with Billy Dee Williams). She also composed My American Success Story: Always the First, Never the Last, a memoir for Roy S. Roberts, once the world's highest-ranking black automotive executive. Current clients include executives, prominent government and civic leaders, physicians, a surgeon, an intuitive medium, a family that triumphed on NBC's The Biggest Loser, an insurance agent and a quadriplegic man who lived his dream to become a record company CEO. Her novellas about empowering women to overcome abuse and identity crises were published in My Blue Suede Shoes: An Anthology and Other People's Skin: An Anthology. A health and fitness enthusiast whose 100-pound weight loss was featured on Oprah, Elizabeth co-hosts a weekly television show, MI Healthy Mind, which promotes wellness by shattering stigmas around taboo topics such as mental illness, addiction and abuse. She is a popular writing coach whose PowerJournalTM program teaches people to enrich their lives with journal-writing. She has taught writing at Wayne State University, Oakland University, Wayne County Community College District, and at national conferences. A speaker who promotes human harmony, Elizabeth is represented by The American Program Bureau. She rouses ovations by reciting her autobiographical poem, White Chocolate, and has spoken at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, GM's World Diversity Day, Gannett, 100 Black Men, the NAACP, and many other venues. As an actress, Elizabeth plays a major role in the feature-length film Anything Is Possible, nominated for "Best Foreign Film" by the Nollywood and African Film Critics Association. She composed an original screenplay, Redemption, a gritty drama about a Detroit gangster and a writer. And Elizabeth plays a 1950s journalist in the international shipwreck drama, Are The Passengers Saved? Elizabeth has been a guest on Oprah, Montel, NPR, Good Morning America Sunday, The CBS Evening News, and many national TV shows. After writing her master's thesis about mixed-race Americans, her work appeared in The New York Times, The San Diego Tribune, Essence, Ebony and many publications. Her Detroit News articles on race were nominated for The Pulitzer Prize, and she wrote a biography for the Presidential Medal of Freedom tribute for Rosa Parks. Elizabeth runs, cycles, lifts weights, does yoga, journals and meditates to cultivate a joyous and peaceful mind, body and spirit.

Catherine holds a Master of Arts degree in Writing from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. She also earned a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Centro de Lenguas e Intercambio Cultural via the University of Cambridge International House, Seville, Spain. She has taught university-level English, Creative Writing and English as a Second Language. Catherine is a past recipient of writing grants from the Sierra Arts Foundation and the Nevada Arts Council. She has done extensive freelance writing and editing, including a recurring community-focused column, where she highlighted the work of nonprofits, as well as regular restaurant reviews, book reviews, features articles and cover stories, including an interview with Nigerian playwright and poet, Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature. Catherine honed her business skills and financial acumen during her decade-long tenure in the brokerage industry while working as a registered representative at both Fortune 100 companies as well as small, independent, family-owned businesses. Catherine serves as the state secretary and newsletter editor for AAUW-New Mexico, which advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. Catherine is a lifetime member of Weight Watchers and former meeting room leader where she inspired many others to reach and maintain their target weight range through her enthusiasm for healthy living through moderation.