What if Instead … Leadership Looked Like Us? What if Instead Podcast
hosted by Mim Plavin-Masterman & Alejandro Juárez Crawford
Jun 23, 2025
In this episode of What If Instead?, hosts Mim Plavin-Masterman and Alejandro Juárez Crawford speak with Dan Lee – startup founder, public policy expert, former White House and Massachusetts government staffer, and U.S. congressional candidate. Dan brings the energy of a startup founder to the political arena, asking: What if courage, care, and lived experience were the new standard for leadership?
For many, running for office seems like something "other people do" – especially in a hyperpartisan political climate. But Dan flipped that script.
Same Suits, Same Outcomes
Career politicians often treat their seats as permanent, instead of using them as platforms for change.
Urgent issues like healthcare, childcare, and fair wages get sidelined by political theater.
Even when the stakes are life-and-death, one vote can still tip everything the wrong way.
Dan puts it plainly: "Every vote in Congress matters. One vote would have caused that ‘big, beautiful bill’ … to fall apart. That vote was critical, and we lost it."
Who Gets to Lead?
Dan didn’t follow a stereotypical path to public service. He’s the son of working-class immigrants from South Korea. He didn’t have “insider” credentials. But he saw what needed to be done.
"No one tells you you're allowed to do it. But at every turn, I kept asking myself: What if we tried this a little differently? What if we built something that actually worked?"
That question fueled a career that took him to the White House, a governor’s office, the international stage at the World Bank, entrepreneurship, grassroots campaigning, and now to campaigning for federal office himself.
Redefining Public Service
For Dan, politics shouldn't be about maintaining power – it should be about taking risks to fix broken systems. He speaks of his own experience as a caregiver to his mother, who lives with Parkinson’s disease. This raised the stakes for tackling the needless obstacles he faced – and the ones others face, too. He speaks of “kitchen table” issues and basic affordability:
A federal minimum wage that people can live on
Guaranteed access to healthcare, not medical debt
Support for caregivers, not silence
These aren't luxuries. They are, as he puts it, "essential to our right to exist."
So, What if Instead?
What if we stopped waiting for permission to lead? What if courage, not connections, was the prerequisite for public service?
Dan reminds us:
"For the richest country on earth, me being a healthcare guy, no one, absolutely no one should have to die for not being able to afford healthcare."
