Friendship Matters

The holidays can be a season of connection, but they also stir up old patterns, expectations, and emotional landmines. Many adults find themselves back in their family system, feeling like a younger version of themselves even though they know they have grown.

In this conversation, Donna Brighton welcomes Dr. Allie Taylor, a business psychologist and trusted advisor who draws on her background in marriage and family therapy and internal family systems work. Together, they unpack why we get triggered around family, how to stay in our adult self instead of regressing to that inner twelve year old, and how boundaries can be an act of love rather than rejection.

From journaling before gatherings, to befriending our own inner parts, to having honest conversations about traditions and expectations, Allie offers practical tools that help you design a holiday season that actually works for you. The episode ends with a powerful invitation to define what a successful holiday would look like for you, then make choices that support that vision.

Why Listen?

If you dread certain parts of the holidays or feel yourself shrinking into an old version of you as soon as you see your family, this episode offers language and tools that make sense of that experience. Instead of white knuckling through another season out of obligation, you will learn how to prepare your inner world, set clear and kind boundaries, and define success on purpose.

This is a practical, compassionate guide to showing up as your calm, adult self, so you can protect your energy, enjoy the people you love, and create new traditions that fit who you are now.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

The lights are twinkling, the calendar is packed, and yet you still feel strangely apart from it all. This episode names that quiet ache, the holiday paradox, and shows how real friendship, small rituals, and a kinder approach to yourself can turn a draining season into one that actually nourishes you.

In this episode you will hear about

• The holiday paradox, why you can feel emotionally disconnected even when you look very social on the outside

• The connection gap between what you wish for and what you actually experience

• What happens in your brain and body when you feel disconnected, and why friendship is a real health protector

• How busyness, social media, and comparison steal the joy from the season, especially for leaders under end of year pressure

• Practical ways to reach out, start simple friendship rituals, and even create connection when you are the new person

• How gratitude, humor, and friending yourself first can soften the season and help you be present instead of just performing

If you have ever felt alone in a crowded room or wondered what is wrong with you while everyone else seems merry, this conversation is for you. You will walk away with language for what you are feeling, reassurance that you are far from the only one, and concrete, doable steps to feel more connected, more grounded, and more like yourself this holiday season.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if the fastest way to build a high-performing culture isn't another strategy deck, but a 60-second, heart-level conversation that starts with "Tell me more"?

Whole Health pioneer Dr. Tracy Gaudet reveals why friendship isn't a "soft skill" but the operating system of well-being and leadership.

You'll learn how to win over skeptical C-suites by giving them an experience (not a lecture), the simple "pause–notice–choose" practice to become a more authentic leader, and a simple cadence for busy people to keep real friendships alive (hello, scheduled, distraction-free check-ins).

She also breaks down the difference between relationships that fuel you vs. drain you, why your spouse doesn't have to be your "everything," and how peer-to-peer connection at scale transformed outcomes in the VA.

This episode stands out because it turns big ideas—trust, vulnerability, purpose—into concrete micro-moves you can use today.

Tracy Gaudet, M.D.

Tracy Gaudet, M.D. is a leader in the development of Whole Health through decades of radically re-envisioning and implementing new approaches to address health outcomes and costs. She is co-founder of a new organization called the Cornerstone Collaboration for Societal Change. Prior to this, she served as the founding Executive Director of the Whole Health Institute. Dr. Gaudet was also the Founding Executive Director of the Veterans Health Administration's National Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation. This Office led VHA's transformation to Whole Health, an approach to healthcare that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and live their most meaningful life. Under her leadership, VA health care delivery has been re-envisioned and is being implemented nationally.

Previously, Dr. Gaudet was with Duke University Health System, where she served as Executive Director of Duke Integrative Medicine until 2010. Under her leadership, Duke Integrative Medicine created a state-of-the-art healthcare facility dedicated to the transformation of medicine through the exploration, demonstration, and research of new models of patient-centered care.

Prior to her work at Duke, Dr. Gaudet was the Founding Executive Director of the University of Arizona Program in Integrative Medicine, leading the design of the country's first comprehensive curriculum in this new field and launching the distant learning fellowship. In addition, Dr. Gaudet co-founded the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health.

Dr. Gaudet has been recognized throughout her career for her contributions in driving the transformation of healthcare. She was featured in the PBS nationally acclaimed special entitled "The New Medicine," and named by Shape magazine as one of the eleven women who shape the world. Dr. Gaudet has been recognized as one of the "Top 25 Women in Healthcare" by Modern Healthcare and featured as a Game Changer in Fortune Magazine. She was honored with the Bravewell Leadership Award for her contributions to advancing the field of medicine, recognized for her significant leadership that benefited our Nation's Veterans with the Exemplary Service Award, and was honored with the Visionary Award from the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine for her leadership in transformative healthcare. Most recently, she was selected as the 2024 recipient of the Linus Pauling Award in Functional Medicine. Dr. Gaudet is also the author of Consciously Female, a book on integrative medicine and women's health, and Body, Soul, and Baby.

You can connect with Dr. Gaudet at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracy-gaudet-587a70285.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if friendship isn't just something nice to have, but the very foundation of a meaningful, flourishing life?

In this deeply thoughtful episode of Friendship Matters, Dr. Russell Greenfield and CEO Lisa Grimes sit down with teacher, writer, and civic visionary Mark Peres, founder of the Charlotte Center for the Humanities and Civic Imagination. Mark's lifelong pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness has led him to explore the intersection of friendship, virtue, and community, and how each can help us live with greater purpose and belonging.

Together, they unpack timeless and timely questions: ✨ How does friendship shape who we become and how we lead? ✨ What can we learn from other cultures about loyalty, care, and connection? ✨ Why is friendship the "seedbed of civic virtue" that strengthens communities? ✨ And how can busy professionals cultivate deeper relationships in a world of constant motion?

Mark reminds us that friendship is not transactional—it's transformational. It's where we practice trust, attention, and shared humanity. Whether you're leading a team, nurturing a marriage, or simply trying to show up better for the people who matter most, this episode will leave you reflecting on the art of being a true friend.

Mark Peres

Mark Peres is an author, professor, and civic entrepreneur. Mark is founding director of The Charlotte Center for the Humanities & Civic Imagination, which produces the Charlotte Ideas Festival and other public programs that engage thousands annually. He is also a longtime professor of leadership and ethics at Johnson & Wales University, where he challenges students to reflect deeply on what it means to lead a good life. He previously hosted the On Life and Meaning podcast, a long-form interview series with artists, thinkers, and changemakers, and was founding editor of Charlotte Viewpoint magazine. He is the author of The Accord, a speculative literary novel about artificial intelligence, grief, and what it means to be alive in relation to another mind. His memoir The Man Who Lived a Hundred Lives explores the fraught but redemptive bond between generations. He is a graduate of The Florida State University College of Law and Rollins College. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

You can connect with Mark at https://www.linkedin.com/in/markperes/.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if your next great friendship is just one text away?

In this inspiring episode of Friendship Matters, we talk with Peggy Carroll, pharma leader, founder of the Fill Your Bucket List Foundation, and lifelong connector about the changing seasons of friendship and how to keep them strong through every stage of life.

Peggy shares why friendships after 50 require more intentionality, how small gestures create lasting impact, and the simple habits that keep connection alive. From setting annual "friend goals" to turning a random encounter into a meaningful bond, her wisdom reminds us that showing up for others and ourselves is what truly matters.

Tune in to discover:

• How friendship evolves through life's stages

• The "Be the Instigator" rule for staying connected

• The cul-de-sac party that introduced neighbors to each other for the first time in 50 years

• Simple ways to rekindle old friendships and start new ones

Peggy's defintion of friendship as "the gift we give ourselves that fuels our soul" comes alive through memorable stories. A warm, practical, and heartfelt conversation that will inspire you to reach out and reconnect today.

Peggy Carroll

Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pinpoint. Peggy brings over 30 years of leadership in the pharmaceutical and biotech world, with deep roots in oncology and advocacy. But what makes Peggy truly extraordinary isn't just her strategic brilliance—it's her heart for people.

From launching national campaigns like Tour of Hope and Light the Night to founding the Fill Your Bucket List Foundation—Peggy has spent her life building bridges between science, compassion, and community. Her work embodies the spirit of friendship—showing up, standing beside, and making sure no one feels alone in their journey.

You can connect with Peggy at [email protected] or on Facebook: peggy gibson carroll.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if your closest friendships could last eight decades and get richer with time?

In this heart-warming, wisdom-packed episode, Lisa introduces her mom, whose two best friends have been in her life since first grade. Their secret isn't luck, it's a set of simple, powerful practices that anyone can use to build friendships that actually last.

This show shares a practical, hopeful blueprint for friendship that strengthens well-being, resilience, and joy.

• The non-negotiables of lasting friendship: why trust, loyalty, and mutual respect outlive drama—and how to cultivate them on purpose.

• Fight less, bond more: Amy's gentle method for handling tiffs (especially in a trio) without keeping score or nursing grudges.

• Confidences vs. coffee friends: a smart way to decide what to share with which friends—so you feel safe, seen, and supported.

• Choosing wisely: four filters for new friends that prevent "energy vampire" dynamics.

• Rituals that compound connection: tiny daily check-ins, longer catch-ups, and traditions that keep you close across miles and years.

• When life gets hard: how "showing up" during illness, loss, and change forges bonds that surface-level networks can't match.

• The generosity effect: why focusing on what you can give (not what you get) boosts your mood, health, and social circle.

Along the way, you'll hear delightful stories (including an infamous black-and-white dog) and a simple, unforgettable line to live by: "To have a friend, you have to be a friend."

Listen in for a masterclass from someone who's lived it, then try the episode's closing challenge to practice everyday generosity and watch your friendships grow.

Lisa shares:

My Mom is truly one of my best friends, someone whose unwavering support has shaped so much of who I am. I can always count on her to be there for me, listen without judgment, and offer advice grounded in both wisdom and genuine care. I know she'll tell me the truth, even if she knows it isn't what I want to hear. Through every challenge, she stands by me-her kindness, encouragement, and belief in me make her not only a wonderful Mom but also an irreplaceable supporter. Our bond is built on trust, faith, laughter, and mutual respect, and I am deeply grateful for the friendship and guidance she brings to my life-and the lives of so many of my friends. Whenever she comes for a visit, I can count on scheduling 'visiting hours' because so many of my friends want time with her too!

There's more-and you can read about it on our LinkedIn page-because she's had two best friends since elementary school and they're now 88 years old!

Their more than eight decades of friendship has set such an example to be followed. They've been there for each other through thick and thin-and they still are. They are the epitome of just how much Friendships Matters!

You can connect and read more at www.freindshipInstitute.org or https://www.linkedin.com/company/friendshipinstitute.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if the fastest way to move a workplace "detractor" into your corner is… breakfast and a genuine conversation? In this can't-miss episode of Friendship Matters, physician executive and global health-equity leader Dr. Yele Aluko joins Dr. Russell Greenfield (the doctor), and CEO Lisa Grimes to unpack how friendship is a strategic advantage.

You'll hear Yele's "kitchen cabinet" model for friendships that both celebrate and challenge you, plus his practical relationship matrix for identifying enablers, neutrals, and detractors and how to shift them, ethically and authentically. He shares a powerful story of transforming conflict with a hospital president into partnership, the surprising moment a friend's honest feedback changed his leadership, and why leadership loneliness is real unless you intentionally protect and invest in core relationships.

We also explore how reframing the health-equity narrative, from moral imperative to business ROI that benefits all communities, depends on trust, understanding, and the same friendship skills that make teams thrive.

You'll leave with a concrete challenge: map your own relationship matrix this week and take one small step to nurture a connection that matters.

If you're a leader who's "too busy" for friendships, or you advise those who are, this episode shows exactly how friendship drives growth, innovation, resilience, and meaningful impact.

Yele Aluko, MD, FACC, FSCAI, MBA

Yele Aluko, MD, FACC, FSCAI, MBA is a physician executive, health industry strategist, global health equity advocate, and former Managing Director and Chief Medical Officer at EY Americas. He is the founding director of the EY Center for Health Equity, where he led enterprise-level strategies to address disparities in healthcare delivery and outcomes. With a unique blend of clinical expertise and business insight, Dr. Aluko advises healthcare system executives on industry megatrends, transformational strategy, and innovation to drive sustainable growth and equitable care.

Dr. Aluko is subspecialty trained in in cardiovascular medicine, interventional cardiology and structural heart disease and is certified by the American Boards of internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine and interventional cardiology.

Prior to joining EY in 2016, he spent over two decades in clinical practice and physician leadership at a $10 billion integrated healthcare system in the southeastern United States, where he led the growth and integration of its heart and vascular service lines across a 14-hospital, four state network.

Since retiring from EY in June 2025, he continues to be a recognized industry thought leader and next generation mentor. Dr. Aluko is a TEDx and university commencement speaker and is a guest lecturer at leading institutions including the Harvard Schools of Business and Public Health, Yale School of Public Health, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration from Wake Forest University School of Professional Studies.

He currently serves on the Advisory Boards of Harvard Business Review and Honeywell Healthcare Solutions, continuing to shape the future of healthcare innovation and equity.

You can connect with Dr. Aluko at www.linkedin.com/in/yelealuko.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What happens when a fearless storyteller turns the lens inward—toward friendship, identity, and the courage to reinvent yourself?

In this episode, Emmy-nominated journalist and bestselling author Amanda Lamb joins Lisa Grimes and Dr. Russell Greenfield for an honest, laughter-filled, and deeply human conversation about connection in every season of life. Known for uncovering truth in her award-winning reporting and Ageless podcast, Amanda opens up about what it means to lead with who you are rather than what you do, especially after decades in the spotlight.

Together, they explore how friendship evolves as we grow—why it's essential to be intentional about nurturing it, how to dissolve comparison and competition among women, and the powerful moment when community surrounded Amanda during her mother's illness, teaching her what love in action truly looks like.

From mentoring the next generation to curating meaningful circles in midlife, Amanda reminds us that connection isn't something that happens by accident—it's something we create on purpose.

Tune in for a masterclass in courage, reinvention, and friendship that stands the test of time.

Amanda Lamb

Amanda Lamb is a retired television crime reporter with more than three decades of experience in front of the camera. Most nights, she led the news on WRAL with her live reports, appearing in multiple shows a day, consistently beating the competition. Now, she's traded the camera lens in for live audiences. Amanda is a professional speaker who uses her well-honed communication skills to motivate, inspire, and entertain. She comes to the stage with a unique combination of self-awareness, energy, and authenticity that engages her audience from her very first words: "Remember to breathe."

Amanda is also an experienced podcaster, author, and communications specialist.

She owns and operates Stage Might Communications which helps people with everything from media training to public speaking. In 2024, she launched her first independent podcast which she writes, hosts, produces, and edits called AGELESS. The show features powerful, candid stories of women in midlife who are transforming their lives professionally and personally, overcoming obstacles, finding resilience, and learning how to thrive. She speaks at events across the country about this topic urging people not to allow the world to define them by a number. She is currently writing a book about what she has learned from the women who have appeared on her show titled My Adult Gap Year: What it means to be AGELESS.

In October, Amanda is launching a true crime podcast called Crime Capsule: Ripped from the pages of a reporter's notebook with her friend and colleague, Chelsea Donovan. Together, they have 50+ years of experience as television crime reporters. They will take listeners where no other hosts can-behind the scenes of the high-profile cases they covered. Crime Capsule features real stories, real reporters, real crimes.

Amanda continues to appear on a regular basis on national true crime shows as an expert investigative journalist on networks including Investigation Discovery, the Oxygen Network, truTv, TV One, CBS, and NBC.

Amanda has written and published thirteen books. Her latest book, Whispers on the Mountain, is the beginning of what she hopes will be a brand new mystery series. Her previous fictional mystery series includes: Dead Last, Lies That Bind, and No Wake Zone. Amanda is also the author of three true crime books based on murder cases she covered for WRAL including: Deadly Dose, Evil Next Door, and Love Lies. She has published four memoirs, one about caregiving and three about parenting, including: The Living Room, I Love You to God and Back, Girls Gone Child, and Smotherhood, and two children's books.

Amanda is originally from the Philadelphia area and holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a graduate degree in journalism from Northwestern University. To learn more about Amanda and her work go to her Linktree Site!

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What happens when the life you've built on achievement no longer feels like your own?

In this heartfelt episode, Jennifer Neilsen—purpose and mindset coach, HR leader, and speaker—shares her journey from burnout to belonging. Once the overperforming, always-on high achiever, Jennifer realized success without connection was leaving her empty. Through loss, rediscovery, and deep reflection, she learned that friendship isn't about having more people in your life—it's about being seen, safe, and real with the few who matter most.

Together with hosts Dr. Russell Greenfield and Lisa T. Grimes, Jennifer explores:

• The surprising link between burnout and friendship

• Why some friendships fade—and how to let them go with grace

• The difference between showing up and performing in relationships

• How to rebuild trust, find new friends as an adult, and nurture connection at work

This conversation is raw, honest, and profoundly hopeful—a reminder that friendship is both the mirror and the medicine for becoming who we truly are.

🎧 Listen now and rediscover the beauty of being known, not just needed.

Meet Jennifer Neilsen:

Jennifer Neilson, Women's Leadership, Purpose, and Mindset Coach, is an experienced HR leader and speaker who helps women stop performing and start living from their true identity. She's been where her clients are—burned out, overachieving, and unsure of who she was outside of what she did. Now, she combines real-life wisdom with brain-based coaching tools to guide other women through their own reset—and into lives of clarity, confidence, and calm. Jennifer is known for her emotionally resonant coaching, real-talk approach, and the grounded frameworks that help women actually transform—not just talk about it.

You can connect with Jennifer at www.myleadadvantage.com.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What if the most important leadership metric isn't on your dashboard, but in your chest?

In this conversation, cardiologist and mindfulness teacher Dr. Jonathan Fisher (author of Just One Heart) joins hosts Lisa T. Grimes and Dr. Russell Greenfield to explore the science and soul of connection.

We dig into the "seven traits of the heart" (steadiness, wisdom, openness, wholeness, courage, lightness, warmth), how friendship and belonging protect against burnout, and why leading with your whole heart improves performance, retention, and wellbeing.

From clinical stories and Blue Zones research to practical tools you can use today, this episode is a timely reset for leaders, clinicians, and anyone craving more meaning. You'll leave with a kinder way to talk to yourself, a clearer way to show up for others, and proof that connection isn't soft—it's smart.

• A practical checklist for how to be—not just what to do—when stakes are high

• Why friendship and belonging are protective for heart health and longevity

• The business case: how warm, connected cultures outperform

• Burnout drivers (autonomy, rigidity, moral injury) and what actually helps

• Simple ways to start "friending yourself" and lead with courage and warmth

"When we lead with our whole hearts, we heal ourselves—and those around us."

- Dr. Jonathan Fisher

Dr. Jonathan Fisher is a Harvard-trained cardiologist, mindfulness teacher, and well-being leader. As Physician Executive for Well-Being and Resiliency at Novant Health, he designs and leads programs supporting 38,000+ team members. He is co-founder of the Ending Clinician Burnout Global Community and co-host of its annual international summits. Author of the multi-award winning Just One Heart: A Cardiologist's Guide to Healing, Health, and Happiness, he helps people reconnect mind and heart to reduce stress, prevent burnout, and lead with clarity, compassion, and care.

Find Dr Fisher at:

Website: https://www.drjonathanfisher.com

Book "Just One Heart": https://a.co/d/608gH2U

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/happyheartmd/

The Heart-Mind Connection Newsletter: https://substack.com/@drjonathanfisher

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyheartmd/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDcRj4LQTdHKB2SU6jDs0YQ?view_as=subscriber

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.