Community, connection, purpose: these values are almost palpable even in a virtual conversation with Dr. Susan Rogers. Dr. Rogers is an internist, educator, and activist on behalf of those who suffer when profit motives bulldoze the institutions that are meant to serve the public. A neon example of a public good which has been targeted by profiteers is traditional Medicare. As president of Physicians for a National Health Program, Dr. Rogers is fighting back against the shape-shifting strategies launched by insurance companies and private equity firms to cash in on Medicare. She fills us in on ..read more

McGill Business Professor Henry Mintzberg is the author of 20 books on management, creator of two revolutionary international management programs, and the recipient of a mountain of accolades and honors for his thought leadership in the business world. Mintzberg minces no words in his pointed criticism of current approaches to management training and the behavior of those in management and leadership positions. In this interview, Professor Mintzberg comments on the value of an MBA in providing management skills: “Anybody who comes out of a business school should have a stamp on his or her for ..read more

Author and certified lifestyle medicine physician, Iris Schrijver, MD, describes a fulfilling and fast-paced academic career at Stanford as a full professor of pathology and director of a molecular genetics research lab. A few years ago, in an unlikely turn of events, an opportunity to design a leadership project ignited her long simmering interest in wellbeing. That project culminated in a 2016 research article An Exploration of Key Issues and Potential Solutions that Impact Physician Wellbeing and Professional Fulfilment at an Academic Center. I give you the details here because this is the ..read more

Attorney and author Dennis Hursh helps physicians navigate their employment contracts. He describes his shock early on in his career when he saw the lopsided language in the contracts offered to his highly trained physician clients. He points out that no hospital executive would ever agree to such contractual language for themselves. A sampling of items Mr. Hursh considers “insane”: - 24 hour call shifts (and by the way, you will work the next day, too) - The employer will decide if you’re disabled and has the right to terminate you if you can’t do the job - No paycheck for you if you can’t n ..read more

In response to listener questions and comments, we dive into two topics in this episode. The first is influence, especially when managing “up” or when dealing with a high profile colleague. The second topic is incentives. Podcast episode #35 featured Alfie Kohn who surprised listeners when he described the negative impact of incentives on intrinsic motivation. We discuss a model of influence from the work of Jay Conger, who wrote extensively on the topic of influence including his bestselling book Winning ‘Em Over. Linked below is a worksheet that we use in our leadership programs. Conger desc ..read more

Christopher Obetz, MD, is the CEO of an organization which started with a handful of physicians 30 years ago, and now they have over 150 physicians and APPs. The group staffs nine emergency rooms in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. One year ago, Dr. Obetz was my guest on Episode #15 (Title: Emergency Care Consultants CEO: The Incalculable Value of Physician Careers). At the time, the ECC leader and his organization were faced with a trio of crises: •The Covid pandemic and sequelae in Emergency Medicine •Unexpected closure of a hospital with resultant overstaffing •The George Floyd murder devasta ..read more

Dr. Keith Smith cofounded the remarkably successful and wonderfully disruptive Surgery Center of Oklahoma. He and fellow anesthesiologist, Dr. Steven Lantier, left their hospital-based practices in 1997 to launch a physician-owned surgery center promising high quality care at a fair, transparent, and all-inclusive price. They had become fed up watching hospital administrators profit mightily while those who were actually caring for patients struggled. The inequitable and often outrageous billing practices of the hospital, the low Medicare reimbursement to physicians, and the cost-shifting to c ..read more

Alfie Kohn is a prolific author and expert on the psychological and organizational effects of rewards, incentives and competition. As a longtime fan of his thinking and writing, it was a huge treat (no pun intended) for me to talk with him about the counterproductive impact of incentive systems in the workplace. In 2018, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Kohn’s superb book, Punished by Rewards—The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes was released. In the years since the original publication, other experts piled on scholarly articles and best-selling books confi ..read more

My guest is Dr. Roger Fowler, Vice President, and Chief Medical Director of Quality, Performance and Innovation with CHRISTUS Health in Irving, Texas. As an expert in population health, quality, and healthcare reform, Dr. Fowler offers a rich perspective on the historical events that underpin our current state of U.S. healthcare. His belief is that we must move away from payment systems that reward the quantity of procedures performed, and move toward those programs that reward excellent outcomes for patients and the community. Dr. Fowler describes how quality measures themselves have their or ..read more

Leah Houston, MD is a serial entrepreneur, emergency medicine physician, and activist. She is the founder of: HPEC: Humanistic Physician Empowerment Community is a platform physicians can use to own and store their own digital identity and credentials. A secure, self-sovereign identity is the foundation for restoring physician autonomy. (Find out why!) EverCred: The system used by institutions to manage certification data and issue physician credentials that puts physicians in control of the primary source verification process. Dr. Houston joins me on the podcast with Florida attorney Abbiga ..read more