Building Legendary Leaders

What does it take to build a telehealth empire from scratch? Dr. Pamela Ograbisz, VP of Clinical Operations at Locum Tenens, shares the unfiltered truth about hiring, firing, and leading teams through explosive growth.

In this comprehensive episode of Building Legendary Leaders, Dr. Ograbisz takes us behind the scenes of building a multimillion-dollar-per-month telehealth division that now serves six states. From her first hire that didn't work out to successfully merging teams from an acquired company, she reveals the leadership lessons most executives learn the hard way.

Key Timestamps:

00:02:33 - How the telehealth division started and building from a team of one

00:03:23 - The story of the first hire and what went wrong

00:05:51 - The three questions every hiring manager needs to answer

00:07:03 - When to recognize a hire isn't the right fit

00:08:47 - How team dynamics change when scaling from 1 to 6 people

00:10:50 - Successfully merging teams from a sister company without losing anyone

00:14:17 - The biggest hurdle: managing a client panel in disarray

00:17:18 - The experiment that failed: unspoken expectations breeding resentment

00:19:06 - Setting clear career paths and making promotions transparent

00:22:47 - Working across multi-functional teams and becoming a better leader

00:24:02 - The evolution from telling to asking questions

00:26:21 - Why asking questions gets more buy-in than giving orders

00:28;46 - Advice for leaders starting out: get honest 360 feedback

00:30:25 - Childhood lessons: watching mom lead with grace and accountability

00:33:04 - Balancing career and family with two daughters

00:36:08 - How to connect with Dr. Pamela Ograbisz

What You'll Learn:

Dr. Ograbisz shares the three-question framework for evaluating every hire: Can they do the job? Will they love the job? Can you stand working with them? She explains why cultural fit often matters more than credentials and how to spot the warning signs when someone isn't adapting to your business model.

You'll hear the honest story of her first hire that didn't work out after a year, and why making an internal hire proved more successful. She breaks down the concept of ROI for team members—every person is an investment that needs to produce returns.

Learn how small teams evolve as they grow, the challenges of maintaining friendships while respecting hierarchy, and why change management is the hardest part of leadership. Dr. Ograbisz successfully absorbed a sister company's team without losing a single person using a "push and pull" feedback system.

Discover what happens when expectations are left unspoken during rapid growth, why even successful teams need clear North Star vision, and how to create transparent promotion paths that eliminate favoritism.

The most powerful shift in Dr. Ograbisz' leadership? Moving from telling to asking. Coming from high-pressure cardiothoracic surgery where answers needed to be immediate, she learned that asking probing questions gets more buy-in and develops stronger leaders. Her favorite question: "I know you've been thinking about this—catch me up on your thoughts."

👍 If this episode helped you, give it a thumbs up!

🔔 Subscribe for more leadership insights from executives who've done the hard work

💬 Share your biggest takeaway in the comments below

📤 Share this with a leader who's building or scaling a team

#Leadership #TeamBuilding #ExecutiveLeadership #Telehealth #HealthcareLeadership #ManagementTips #CareerGrowth #BusinessStrategy #WomenInLeadership #HiringTips #ScalingTeams #ChangeManagement #LeadershipDevelopment #NursePractitioner #BuildingLegendaryLeaders

Welcome to the very first episode of Building Legendary Leaders! In this special debut episode, host Jim Saliba gets put in the hot seat as producer Nick asks the questions. Discover the inspiration behind the podcast, Jim's unique approach to leadership development, and the personal journey that shaped his philosophy on building legendary leaders.

What You'll Learn:

• The Leadership Impact Ladder: The 3 levels that matter more than your title

• Why it takes 10 years for most leaders to get proper training (and what they're doing wrong)

• The 4 fears of leadership that every leader faces

• How to turn childhood fears into leadership superpowers

• The experiment-based approach to leadership development

• Real case studies from telehealth, tech, and healthcare industries

Chapters

01:25 - The shocking 10-year leadership training gap

03:58 - Introduction to the Leadership Impact Ladder

08:18 - Team building challenges in growing companies

18:21 - The risk-taking revelation from college friends

25:39 - The scientific approach to leadership experiments

33:05 - From fear to lifelong learning transformation

Jim Saliba is a leadership expert, executive coach, and author of the upcoming book "Leading Like a CEO." With decades of experience in transformation and change management, Jim specializes in helping directors, VPs, and C-suite executives navigate the messy reality of leadership growth.

"Your Leadership Journey Starts Monday Morning"

🎯 Ready to stop struggling and start leading like a legend?

SUBSCRIBE to Building Legendary Leaders and DOWNLOAD my free Leadership Impact Assessment at jamessaliba.com/assessment

Your team is waiting for the leader you're becoming. Let's build something legendary together! 🚀

Building Legendary Leaders is a leadership podcast for executives who want to stop firefighting and start leading strategically. Hosted by executive coach James ‘Jim’ Saliba, the show brings candid conversations with leaders of leaders who have faced high-stakes challenges and learned how to lead with clarity, presence, and purpose. Each episode turns real leadership moments into frameworks and actions that can be applied immediately.

The vision is to create a space where senior leaders can reflect openly, share lessons learned, and model the adaptability today's business climate demands. Guests include Directors, VPS, and C-suite executives, HR and L&D leaders, published authors, researchers, and influential voices shaping leadership in high-pressure industries. Their stories give listeners both the insight and the courage to lead at scale.