When a thoughtful donor gave a scholarship gift in honor of her husband as a surprise for his 75th birthday, she and I dreamed up the idea of announcing it at our med school—not just with a standard podium-and-microphone, grip-and-grin press announcement, but with a surprise birthday party to celebrate with his family, friends, colleagues, and patients. This surprise party would be a double whammy for her husband, a one-two punch of being greeted by so many loved ones and of being unexpectedly showered with the scholarship news. Each step forward with the project–documenting the gift without the husband’s knowledge, navigating budget constraints, booking the space, working with an outside event-planning vendor and our facilities team, planning the press announcement strategy–meant communicating the larger vision and impact with my boss, our dean, our communications team, and our administrator, laying out time and time again the benefits of such an unusual announcement and leaning on their expertise to make it an even bigger success. Each step forward with the project confirmed to me that the bigger vision was worth it. And it was–their $1 million endowed scholarship announcement invigorated a group of physicians who’d never given philanthropically and who wanted to honor their peer by supporting his scholarship fund; it inspired an entirely different group of physicians to create their own scholarship fund. It spotlighted both a generous family and our scholarship needs to the greater community. That project opened my eyes to what it looked like to lead with a clear vision and steady hand. That project reinforced to me the importance of teamwork and the thrill of accomplishing something big together. That project made me want to dive deeper into a career in healthcare philanthropy.