What if the future of healthcare depends less on doing more — and more on becoming wiser?

In this powerful episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Margaret “Peggy” Plews-Ogan, MD MS — physician, educator, and wisdom researcher at the University of Virginia School of Medicine — to explore what it means to lead with practical wisdom (phronesis) in a field that is often pressured to “widgetize” what is fundamentally relational. 

Peggy shares a deeply human vision of flourishing leadership in medicine — grounded in meaning, growth, and the courage to stay connected to diverse perspectives. Together, we explore how wisdom is formed, how adversity can become growth (not just pain), and why appreciative practices can restore joy and purpose in healthcare teams.

You’ll learn:

• Why wisdom is different from knowledge, competence, and technical expertise — and why it matters in healthcare
• A practical framework for wisdom: compassion (affective), reflection (perspective-taking), and humility (cognitive)
• Why adversity doesn’t automatically produce wisdom — and what support and reflection make the difference
• How the Phronesis Project helps medical learners cultivate lifelong virtues like humility, forgiveness, curiosity, and gratitude 
• How Appreciative Inquiry shifts culture by asking “what’s strong?” not only “what’s wrong?”
• Why story, meaning-making, and advocacy are essential for post-traumatic growth
• Peggy’s call to “take back the relationality” of healthcare — for clinicians and patients alike

Peggy also shares the moving story of her husband Jim’s ALS journey and the Hummingbird Fund’s advocacy — including resources that reframe illness through hope, wholeness, and what can still grow. 

Whether you’re a clinician, educator, leader, or simply a human navigating complexity — this episode offers wisdom you can practice.

Listen now — and ask yourself: Where do I need more wisdom… not just more knowledge?

Connect & Learn More

• Peggy Plews-Ogan, M.D. 
• The Hummingbird Fund
• Jim’s Blog
• Wisdom – UVA Health

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What if leadership isn’t about control, status, or “winning”—but about protecting dignity and promoting well-being?

In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Professor Michael Pirson, a global voice in humanistic management and humanistic leadership. Michael is the James F. Stoner Endowed Chair in Global Sustainability at Fordham University, Editor-in-Chief of the Humanistic Management Journal, and a leader in global efforts to transform leadership and business education toward human flourishing. 

Together, they explore why modern systems so often normalize burnout, extraction, and “transaction-only” relationships—and what changes when organizations choose a different foundation.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

• Why dignity is a “feature, not a bug” of being human
• How humanistic leadership opens a broader, more rigorous path to flourishing
• Why purely transactional cultures lead to innovation poverty and loneliness
• What the research says about how trust emerges and erodes—and why shared purpose matters
• Why measurement matters—and why wisdom and mindfulness must guide the use of metrics
• What’s broken in traditional business education—and what must be reimagined if we’re serious about flourishing

Memorable themes:

Human Dignity • Trust • Mindfulness • Well-being • Love and Care in organizations • Moral Imagination • Humanistic Management • Business Education Reform • Human Flourishing • Leadership Development

🎧 Listen now and join the movement toward leadership that helps people—and institutions—come alive.

Connect & Learn More

• Michael Pirson LinkedIn
• Humanistic Leadership Academy

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What if human flourishing isn’t a “nice-to-have,” but a strategic asset—one leaders must intentionally build, measure, and reinvest in?

In this episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Dr. Jelena Nikolic—labor economist, researcher, and educator—to explore the deep connection between economic performance and human flourishing.

Jelena argues that many organizations measure what’s visible—wages, productivity, profit, and GDP—while ignoring the “invisible variables” that actually drive sustainable performance: trust, dignity, agency, autonomy, meaning, and relational quality. She reframes flourishing as a form of intangible capital that compounds through retention, learning, innovation, and culture—and she makes the case that leadership is the “conversion engine” that turns those invisible assets into durable results.

You’ll also hear a refreshingly serious conversation about love in leadership and institutions—defined as the capacity to be in healthy relationship with oneself and others—and why love isn’t softness, but inner capacity that strengthens trust, cooperation, resilience, and integrity under pressure.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why flourishing and performance are structurally connected
• The “invisible variables” leaders must stop treating as optional
• How to measure differently and design work that doesn’t deplete people
• Love as a leadership capacity that can repair and humanize institutions
• Higher education’s next frontier: investing in teaching-focused faculty as a strategic workforce
• Practical wisdom as the bridge between moral intent and organizational reality

If you’re building a team, an organization, or an institution—and you want results that are both durable and humane—this episode is for you.

Guest: Jelena Nikolic, PhD

Jelena Nikolic is a PhD labor economist and founder of Applied Human Flourishing—about how human flourishing functions as a causal driver of economic performance. In her work, Jelena explores how leadership functions as a conversion mechanism—transforming these often unmeasured resources into measurable performance outcomes—and why this shift in thinking has major implications for how universities prepare students for an AI-driven, complexity-heavy economy. This perspective is the foundation of Flourishing as Capital™, a core methodology within Applied Human Flourishing, focused on how institutions train future leaders to convert human dynamics into durable performance.

Connect / Learn More

• Jelena Nikolic: LinkedIn 
• Applied Human Flourishing

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

 What if flourishing leadership isn’t found in doing more—but in aligning your values, wellbeing, and relationships during times of change? 

Change can shake us—or shape us. In this episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Ilene Schaffer, CEO of Silicon Valley Change, executive leadership coach, speaker, and host of the What’s Possible podcast.

Ilene shares a refreshingly human take on flourishing leadership: it’s not “work life vs. personal life.” It’s wellbeing 360—alignment with your values, your relationships, your purpose, and the life you’re actually living.

You’ll learn:

• Why alignment with values is the foundation of flourishing (not just performance)
• How one phrase—“not yet”—builds growth mindset and self-compassion during transition
• How Ilene integrates PERMA (Seligman) and Carol Ryff’s wellbeing model in coaching
• Ilene’s STAR model for thriving through change: Self-care, Thoughts, Adaptability/Acceptance, Relationships
• The surprising leadership power of walking: calm, creativity, metaphor, and better decisions
• Why Ilene created What’s Possible: making leadership and wellbeing tools accessible beyond paid coaching

Whether you’re stepping into a new role, navigating a life transition, or trying to lead with more clarity and calm—this conversation offers both warmth and practical tools you can use immediately.

Listen now—and ask yourself: What’s possible?

Guest: Ilene Schaffer

Ilene Schaffer is the CEO of Silicon Valley Change (SVC), host of What’s Possible podcast, an executive leadership coach, and speaker. Leveraging her graduate degrees in positive psychology and life transitions counseling, Ilene helps her clients thrive in the midst of constant personal and professional change. Greater confidence, enhanced relationships, improved communication skills, and overall life flourishing are some of the gains her clients report.

Connect / Learn More

• Silicon Valley Change (SVC) Executive Coaching 
• Ilene Schaffer
• What’s Possible Podcast with Ilene Schaffer

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What does it mean to be a flourishing leader when the world feels chaotic—and leadership often defaults to fear, scarcity, and burnout?

In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Niels Gott, executive coach, positive psychology practitioner, and founder of Awesomer Coaching & Consulting—where his official title is Chief Awesome Officer (yes, really… and it’s as meaningful as it is playful).

Niels brings 22 years of military leadership experience and a deep grounding in positive psychology to a conversation that is both playful and profound. Together, they explore how flourishing leadership starts with self-awareness and presence and expands outward into creating the conditions where others can do their best work.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why flourishing leadership begins with being “in tune” with your values, presence, and needs
• How awe can be a transformational practice (and how to set the conditions for it)
• The difference between seeking beauty and encountering awe
• Why “pain is mandatory; suffering is optional” can reshape how we lead through hardship
• How leaders can normalize learning through failure—without lowering standards
• What it means to “wear your rank on behalf of your people”
• Burnout vs. burn-in—and why community is essential for resilience
• Niels’ closing message: “You are in choice… and there is always a gift.”

If you’re looking for a grounded, human, evidence-based approach to leadership—one that makes room for humor and depth—this conversation will stay with you.

Guest: Niels Gott

Niels Gott is a leadership development coach and positive psychology practitioner with extensive experience in executive coaching, resilience training, and positive leadership. He is the founder of Awesomer Coaching & Consulting and holds credentials including Applied Positive Psychology training, Master Resilience Training, and multiple coaching certifications. His mission is to help leaders and teams find more joy, resilience, and flourishing in their work.

Connect / Learn More

Niels Gott: 

LinkedIn

Awesomer Coaching & Consulting

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, share, and leave a review—it helps more leaders find this work.

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What does it mean to be a flourishing leader in a world marked by stress, division, and moral complexity?

In this powerful episode, Dr. Scott Parsons sits down with Professor Nancy Sherman—Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University and acclaimed author of Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience, Stoic Warriors, The Untold War, and Afterwar. 

Nancy offers a grounded, human vision of leadership—rooted in character, collaboration, and what she memorably calls “a good soul.” Together, Scott and Nancy explore Stoicism, Aristotle, Kant, moral emotion, military resilience, and the difference between suppressing feelings and cultivating them wisely.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Flourishing leadership as character in action: mission clarity, collaboration, and humor
• Stoicism with a little “s” vs. Stoicism with a big “S”
• Why Stoicism is not emotional numbness, but emotional training and discernment
• Two Stoic “life hacks” for resilience: pre-rehearsal and mental reservation
• The military’s “suck it up and truck on” culture—its gifts and its costs
• Aristotle’s virtue ethics: responding at the right time, in the right way, for the right reasons
• Why fortune and vulnerability matter in any realistic account of flourishing
• Kant, virtue, and moral emotion: respect, beneficence, and the moral psychology of duty
• A preview of Nancy’s forthcoming Yale University Press book:
   How to Have a Soul: What Aristotle Teaches Us about Lasting Happiness 

If you care about resilience, moral injury, character, virtue ethics, military leadership, or practical wisdom, this episode will leave you both steadier and more thoughtful.

🎧 Listen now and let us know what stood out most.

Question for reflection:

Where do you need less “stiff upper lip”… and more wise emotional cultivation—in your leadership and life?

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What does it mean to flourish when life includes trauma, moral injury, and hard-earned recovery?

In Episode #36 of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with LTC (Ret.) Mike Kenny — West Point Class of 1993, U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, and Executive Director of Warriors’ Ascent, a nonprofit dedicated to helping military veterans and first responders heal from post-traumatic stress and moral injury.

Mike shares a powerful vision of flourishing that isn’t limited to happiness or “feeling good,” but grounded in wholeness — embracing setbacks as learning, growth, and transformation.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why flourishing leadership means “win or learn” — and keep going
• Mike’s unforgettable West Point boxing story and the discipline of anti-fragility
• Why healing requires agency: learning to “control the controllable”
• The Warriors’ Ascent approach: tools for tending the mind, body, and soul
• The surprising power of group healing and peer mentorship
• Mike’s guiding ethos of three virtues: Prudentia (wise judgment), Fortitudo (grit), Gravitas (serious commitment)
• A closing reminder every leader needs: self-care is not selfish — “sharpen the saw”

This conversation is for leaders, educators, veterans, first responders, clinicians, and anyone who cares about resilience, recovery, and human flourishing.

If you or someone you love is struggling or in crisis: Contact the Veterans Crisis Line in the U.S., you can call 988, then press 1, text 838255, or chat online. A caring, qualified responder will listen and help. Your call is free and confidential, and you decide how much information to share. Support doesn’t end with your conversation. VA responders can connect you with the resources you need.

Note: The often-quoted “20 veterans a day” statistic has been updated in recent federal reporting; a 2025 U.S. Senate resolution cites 6,407 veteran suicide deaths in 2022 (about 17+ per day) and references the VA’s 2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report. 

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What if leadership isn’t first a skillset — but a way of being?

In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar are joined by Professor Verónica Fernández of Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV) in Madrid — an educator, scholar, and leader in Europe’s growing character and virtue education movement. Verónica is also deeply involved with the European Character and Virtue Association (ECVA), a network advancing research, training, and collaboration so character and virtues become central to education across Europe. 

Together, we explore a powerful vision of education as formation — not merely information — and what it looks like when universities and schools take character development as seriously as intellectual excellence.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Why flourishing leadership is rooted in integrity, purpose, and moral identity
• How Verónica’s Virtues and Values Education Center supports educators through research, formation, and community
• The role of practical wisdom (phronesis) in navigating pluralism and complexity
• Why teachers must flourish first — and how love + reflection sustain educator wellbeing
• How virtue ethics guides education through polarization, AI disruption, and climate anxiety
• Verónica’s closing message: the power of presence as the foundation of flourishing communities

About our guest

Professor Verónica Fernández teaches and researches educational leadership and virtue ethics applied to education at UFV. Her work includes building communities of practice, supporting teacher formation, and strengthening cross-border collaboration in character education across Europe.

🎧 Listen now and share this episode with an educator, leader, or parent who believes education should help people not only succeed — but become good.

Subscribe / Follow / Review to help more leaders find the path of flourishing.

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What does it mean to lead as a flourishing leader in a world of burnout, bureaucracy, and moral complexity — especially in healthcare?

In this episode of The Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar are joined by Dr. Sabena Jameel — professor of medical professionalism, character education scholar, physician, inner-city Birmingham GP, and co-founder of the Practical Wisdom Network.

Sabena shares a deeply human vision for leadership rooted in service, values, and community, including the African concept of Ubuntu — a “philosophy of shared humanity and interconnectedness and community-based identity.” She also reflects on the moral heart of being a “good doctor,” the role of gratitude and boundaries in preventing burnout, and why wisdom must be enacted — not just discussed. 

Sabena was also named winner of the University of Birmingham’s Joseph Chamberlain Award for Educational Advancement (Founders’ Awards 2025). 

In this episode, they explore:

• Why flourishing leadership is deeply connected to service (and joy)
• Ubuntu and leadership as shared humanity and interdependence
• What “human-centered medicine” really means — and why it’s essential today
• Gratitude, mortality, and legacy: “How can I be a good ancestor?”
• Moral injury in medicine — and what virtues can (and can’t) do
• Can AI be wise… or can it only augment human wisdom?
• Sabena’s “Radial Holistic Professionalism” curriculum and forming professional identity from the inside out

To learn more about the Practical Wisdom Network, visit their website or LinkedIn page. 

To connect with Sabena, visit her LinkedIn page.

Be sure to check out her book, Ethics and the Good Doctor: Character in the Professional Domain, here or anywhere you get books.

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.

What if the greatest leadership challenge of our time isn’t a lack of information — but a lack of wisdom?

In this rich and wide-ranging episode of the Flourishing Leaders Podcast, Dr. Scott Parsons and Jason Viyar sit down with Donald Robertson — philosopher, former cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, and one of the world’s leading interpreters of Stoic philosophy — to explore how ancient wisdom and modern psychology converge to support resilient, ethical, and flourishing leadership.

Drawing on Stoicism, CBT, and decades of clinical and philosophical practice, Donald challenges popular self-help culture and invites leaders to move from endless knowledge consumption toward disciplined application, reflection, and moral clarity.

Together, they explore:

• What a flourishing leader truly is — and why wisdom is the foundation of flourishing
• How Stoic philosophy shaped modern cognitive-behavioural therapy
• Why much self-help fails at application, not insight
• Stoic practices for staying calm, ethical, and effective under pressure
• Prosoche (Stoic mindfulness) as a continuous leadership discipline
• Why leaders must courageously face feared outcomes rather than avoid them
• What Socrates teaches about humility, listening, and intellectual courage
• How Marcus Aurelius navigated plague, polarization, and power — and what modern leaders can learn from him
• Why “Dare to Be Wise” remains a radical call in an age of distraction and rhetoric

This episode is a masterclass in philosophy as a way of life — offering leaders a path toward clarity, courage, and character in turbulent times.

Whether you lead teams, organizations, families, or communities, this conversation will challenge you to rethink success, reclaim wisdom, and practice leadership from the inside out.

Learn more about the important work of Plato’s Academy Centre, a non-profit in the heart of Athens, by visiting the website. 

Subscribe to Donald Robertson’s Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life Newsletter by going here. 

You can get Donald’s incredible books anywhere you get books. 

Thank you for listening to the Flourishing Leaders Podcast!
Hosted by Dr. Scott Parsons, this podcast explores how character, virtue, wisdom, and purpose can shape a more flourishing life and leadership journey.

Learn more at: Flourishing Leaders Academy
Subscribe & Follow: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | YouTube
Share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with integrity and flourish in every domain of life.
Connect with Scott: LinkedIn | [email protected]

Flourish with us—because leadership rooted in character changes everything.