The Human Side of Leadership in Healthcare

Dr. Pelè
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The Human Side of Leadership in Healthcare, hosted by Dr. Pelè, explores what it truly means to lead in today’s complex, high-stakes healthcare environment.Through conversations with clinicians, executives, and thought leaders, the podcast reveals how leadership is experienced by patients, teams, and organizations in real time. Each episode highlights the human behaviors that build trust, reduce burnout, strengthen culture, and improve outcomes.In an age where AI is transforming how we operate, this podcast brings the focus back to what matters most: how leaders show up, connect, and create confidence in the moments that matter.

  1. 12H AGO

    295: Patient First, System Second: Rethinking Healthcare Leadership in a Complex World with Douglas Slakey, MD

    What if healthcare systems have been optimizing the wrong thing? In this episode of The Human Side of Leadership in Healthcare, Dr. Pelè sits down with internationally recognized transplant surgeon, healthcare executive, and author Douglas Slakey to explore why great healthcare outcomes require more than clinical excellence and standardized systems. Drawing from more than 30 years in transplant surgery and healthcare leadership, Dr. Slakey explains why overly rigid processes often fail real people, and why healthcare leaders must begin designing systems that adapt to the realities of individual patients rather than forcing patients to adapt to the system. Together, they discuss: • why healthcare breaks down under pressure despite intelligent leadership  • the hidden limitations of standardization and process rigidity  • how social, economic, spiritual, and environmental realities shape patient outcomes  • why healthcare systems struggle with fragmentation and incentives misalignment  • the role of leadership flexibility in high-reliability organizations  • how AI and technology could enable truly personalized healthcare experiences  • the future of patient-centered healthcare through Dr. Slakey’s new venture, LifePath  • why the ultimate measure of success is not operational efficiency, but whether people can truly live better lives The episode closes with a powerful story from a transplant patient whose life was transformed 25 years after surgery, reminding us that the human side of healthcare leadership is ultimately about helping people live fully beyond the walls of the hospital. Connect with Dr. Douglas Slakey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-slakey-md/

    37 min

  2. MAY 4

    294: Eradicating Incivility in Healthcare, with Renee Thompson

    We talk with Renee Thompson about why bullying and incivility in healthcare are not just culture issues, but patient safety risks. She shares how leaders unintentionally reinforce disruptive behavior, what actually happens in the moment when conflict is avoided, and how organizations can operationalize respect at scale. • why incivility has always impacted patient outcomes, even when ignored  • the hidden patterns leaders miss, including silence as a strategy  • short-term comfort vs. long-term cultural damage  • why high performers are often protected despite toxic behavior  • a simple in-the-moment technique to stop disruptive behavior immediately  • the role of awareness, scripting, and confidence in leadership action  • the three pillars of the Healthy Workforce Culture Framework™  • scaling culture change through systems, not just intention  • self-awareness as the starting point for any culture transformation Make sure you follow Renee Thompson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rtconnections/

    30 min

  3. MAY 1

    293: Making Change Stick in Healthcare, with Teri Renfrow

    We talk with Teri Renfrow about why strategy often breaks down at the point of execution in healthcare, and what it really takes to move from pilot to full-scale adoption. Teri shares how frontline experience, not just technology, determines success, and why storytelling paired with measurement is the key to building trust, driving behavior change, and sustaining results across complex systems.   why well-designed initiatives fail once they reach the frontlinethe critical role of “why” in preventing backslide and resistancewhy negative feedback is not resistance, but datahow storytelling translates data into meaningful actionbalancing metrics with real-world clinician experiencethe leadership habit of “going to Gemba” to understand realityscaling adoption while preserving human connectionone practical way leaders can improve adoption this weekConnect with Teri Renfrow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terirenfrow/

    26 min

  4. APR 14

    292:Culture Is the Work: How Leaders Shape Trust, Engagement, and Patient Experience, with October Ambrose

    In this episode of The Human Side of Leadership in Healthcare, Dr. Pelè speaks with October Ambrose, Vice President of People Partnerships and Engagement at Central Health, about what culture actually looks like inside a mission-driven healthcare organization. They explore why culture is not something leaders define once, but something teams build and experience every day through behavior, especially under pressure. October shares how trust, transparency, and empathy shape engagement more than mission alone, and why even the strongest purpose-driven organizations can struggle when leaders lose sight of culture in real moments. The conversation also dives into the gap between what leaders know and what they actually do, how teams support each other when that gap shows up, and why true empathy is one of the most important leadership behaviors in healthcare today. This episode offers a practical and honest look at how culture drives patient experience, team engagement, and organizational performance, not through statements, but through everyday actions. Connect with October Ambrose on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/october

    25 min

  5. APR 5

    291: The Hidden Driver of Burnout and How Leaders Can Regulate Under Pressure, with Vanessa McNeal

    In this episode, Dr. Pelè speaks with Vanessa McNeal about what really drives burnout and performance under pressure. They explore how leaders unknowingly operate in survival states like fight-or-flight and shutdown, and why this isn’t a motivation problem, but a nervous system and safety issue. Vanessa shares practical tools leaders can use in real moments, from simple awareness practices to quick physiological resets, along with mindset shifts that transform how leaders show up for their teams. The conversation also highlights how emotional regulation shapes culture, spreads across teams, and directly impacts trust, decision-making, and patient outcomes in high-stakes environments. If leadership is experienced in moments, this episode reveals what’s happening beneath the surface in those moments and how to change it. Connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-mcneal/

    34 min

  6. APR 1

    290: Emotional Intelligence Under Pressure, with Dr. Russell Robinson

    In this episode, we talk with Dr. Russell Robinson about why the transition into college mirrors what new hires experience in high-pressure environments like healthcare. We explore how emotional intelligence shapes performance under stress, and how AI coaching can help people build self-awareness, manage pressure, and show up better in real moments. first-year transition as a proving ground for emotional intelligencea simple framework: results, belonging, and personal wellnesswhy leader emotional intelligence drives engagement and culturein an AI world, human connection becomes the differentiatorcoaching, trust, and psychological safety as the future of leadershipAI as a neutral partner to close the self-awareness gapreal examples of in-the-moment support through prioritization and reflectionhow hiring and onboarding may shift toward emotional intelligenceleading with curiosity, listening, and meeting people where they areConnect with Dr. Russell Robinson on LinkedIn [ HERE ]

    38 min

  7. MAR 5

    289: The People Equation: Leadership in the Age of AI with Gena Pirtle

    In this episode, we unpack how trust, purpose, and people-first leadership power real culture change, and how AI can scale feedback, belonging, and performance without losing the human edge. Gena Pirtle, founder of The People Equation and former global HR leader at Cisco, shares practical insights on redesigning HR, strengthening retention, and building cross-sector talent ecosystems for the future of work. In this conversation, we explore: • redefining strategic HR as a true business engine • culture as lived behavior, not policy • trust as the foundation for transformation • AI’s role in continuous performance and feedback • why human skills rise in value alongside automation • scaling personalization with tools like Belonging Intelligence • retention through safe experimentation and ERG-led pilots • veteran talent pipelines and workforce ecosystems • what leaders get wrong about culture and how to fix it • current initiatives with Great Place to Work and 4Block Connect with Gena Pirtle on LinkedIn or visit PeopleEquationConsulting.com to learn more.

    28 min

  8. FEB 26

    288: Emotional Intelligence As Leadership’s Operating System, with Maggie Sass, Ph.D.

    Most leadership breakdowns are not failures of intelligence or strategy. They are emotional failures. In this episode of the Leadership AI Podcast, Maggie Sass, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Product, Research, and Professional Services at TalentSmart EQ, explores how emotional intelligence functions as the operating system beneath strategy, coaching, and decision-making. Together, we unpack what it really means to treat leadership as daily emotional behavior, especially in high-pressure environments like healthcare. In this conversation, we discuss: why leadership is fundamentally emotional, not just technicalhow limbic “hijacks” happen under pressure and how to recoverthe four core EQ skills and how they build on each otherdelivering feedback that creates learning, not defensivenessbuilding habits through tiny experiments and simple cuesscaling EQ through assessments, onboarding, and certificationsnavigating generational differences around emotions at worka simple five-minute morning and evening practice to strengthen EQIf you care about leadership performance that holds under pressure, this episode is for you. Be sure to follow Maggie Sass, Ph.D. on LinkedIn for practical insights on emotional intelligence and organizational performance.

    32 min
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About

The Human Side of Leadership in Healthcare, hosted by Dr. Pelè, explores what it truly means to lead in today’s complex, high-stakes healthcare environment.Through conversations with clinicians, executives, and thought leaders, the podcast reveals how leadership is experienced by patients, teams, and organizations in real time. Each episode highlights the human behaviors that build trust, reduce burnout, strengthen culture, and improve outcomes.In an age where AI is transforming how we operate, this podcast brings the focus back to what matters most: how leaders show up, connect, and create confidence in the moments that matter.

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