Lead Well MD: Transforming Healthcare Through Effective Clinician Leadership

Dr. Elizabeth Copeland, Chief Medical Officer of Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group, didn't plan her way to the c-suite. And that, it turns out, is one of the most instructive things about her journey.

In this conversation, she's candid about what the transition from clinician to senior leader actually looks like from the inside - the moments that surprised her, the instincts she had to unlearn, and the lessons she couldn't have learned any other way. She talks about the dynamics that shape how decisions really get made in large healthcare organizations, and why the skills that make someone an exceptional clinician can work against them as a leader.

There's practical wisdom here for anyone navigating a senior role or thinking about stepping into one:

• What to do in the first 90 days. 
• Where new leaders most commonly lose ground without realizing it. 
• What it actually takes to build an environment where people tell you the truth.
• What it means to lead as a woman in healthcare.

Dr. Copeland is willing to name what actually moves organizations: not authority, not expertise, not a well-crafted strategic plan. Relationships. Timing. Knowing when to push and when to step back. She has learned all of it on the ground - and this conversation is full of the kind of insight that only comes from someone who has genuinely lived it.

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What happens when a psychiatrist trained in homeless outreach decides the real problem isn't the patients - it's the systems supposed to serve them?

In this episode, host Ashley Wendel sits down with Dr. Patrick Runnels, Chief Medical Officer of the Veale Initiative for Healthcare Innovation at University Hospitals Cleveland, for a wide-ranging conversation about what's broken in healthcare leadership - and what it actually looks like to build something better.

Patrick shares how nearly two decades of leading large, complex health systems has convinced him that the crisis in healthcare is not primarily financial or clinical. It's a leadership and culture problem. Healthcare systems were built to fix people when they break - but the knowledge, the tools, and the evidence to do something far more meaningful have existed for years. What's missing is the leadership capability and the organizational courage to use them.

In this conversation, Ashley and Patrick explore why the economic engine has become the default "why" in medicine, and what gets lost when it does. They discuss the difference between transactional management and authentic transformational leadership - and why so many clinicians struggle to make that shift when they step into administrative roles. Patrick introduces University Hospitals' framework of leading with love, built around three pillars: believing, belonging, and building - and explains why belonging, the middle piece, is the most critical and the most neglected.

They also dig into the practical work of culture change: how UH moved from 20% to nearly 80% annual wellness visit completion over three years, what it actually took to bring resistant physicians along, and why listening - not directing - was often the most powerful leadership move available. Patrick shares his four Cs framework for leadership development and makes the case for why protecting time for peer coaching and relationship-building isn't a luxury - it's a strategic investment with measurable returns.

This episode is for physician leaders, CMOs, healthcare executives, and anyone who believes that how we lead in medicine is inseparable from the outcomes we produce - for patients, for clinicians, and for the systems we build together.

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What happens when doing everything “right” still leaves you feeling stuck, exhausted, and disconnected from the work you once loved?

In this honest and deeply human conversation, Dr. Ben Reinking - a pediatric cardiologist, educator, and founder of "The Developing Doctor", a physician coaching practice - shares a story many clinicians may recognize. From the outside, his career was thriving. But beneath the surface, the strategy that had always worked when things were tough - keeping his head down and working harder - was no longer sustainable.

Dr. Reinking describes his realization that something wasn’t right, the burnout he didn’t initially recognize, and the cultural conditioning in medicine that keeps clinicians pushing forward instead of pausing. Through coaching, he began to look inward - and what he found changed not just how he worked, but how he led and lived. 

From learning to say no, to asking better questions, to embracing vulnerability, Dr. Reinking shows how small, often resisted shifts can create meaningful change. More than anything, this conversation offers permission - to question, to recalibrate, and to believe there are more options than we’ve been trained to see.

This episode is a powerful reminder that continuing to develop ourselves as humans, not just clinicians, is essential.

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The transition from practicing physician to system leader looks smooth from the outside. Internally, it’s often much more complicated.

In this episode, Ashley Wendel talks with Dr. Rob Nordgren, Divisional Chief Medical Officer at Sutter Health, about what physicians have to learn as they move from bedside expertise into broader organizational leadership. They discuss the identity shift that comes with leadership, the role of trust and emotional intelligence, how to navigate resistance and change, and why courageous conversations matter so much in complex systems.

This is a grounded, honest conversation about what leadership really asks of physicians now - not just expertise, but influence, self-awareness, and the ability to bring people with you.

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In this episode of Lead Well MD, Ashley sits down with physician executive Dr. Rob Nordgren, Chief Medical Officer of the Greater San Francisco and East Bay Division for Sutter Health, to explore the leadership shift clinicians must make as they move from expert problem-solver to system leader. Drawing on Rob’s journey from pediatrician to senior, system-level executive, the conversation unpacks what physicians often need to unlearn about authority, hierarchy, and control in order to lead through influence instead.

Together, Ashley and Rob discuss why trust, humility, curiosity, and emotional intelligence matter so much in healthcare leadership, especially when leading across disciplines and through complexity. They explore how real influence is built through listening, communication, alignment, and respect, not title alone. The episode also digs into change leadership, including why resistance is often rooted in perceived loss, how to engage skeptical clinicians, and what separates mere compliance from true commitment. It’s a grounded, practical conversation about how clinician leaders can build trust, navigate change, and lead in ways that actually move people and systems forward.

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In this episode, Ashley sits down with Dr. Erica Kreismann - emergency medicine physician turned executive coach - to explore what it means to be a woman and clinician leader in today’s healthcare landscape. Erica shares her own formative journey, from training in New York City during 9/11 to making a radical “pattern interrupt” move to Tasmania, and how those experiences reshaped her understanding of purpose, contribution, and sustainable leadership.

Together, they unpack why so many high-performing women in healthcare feel hollow or stuck - not because they’re failing, but because they’ve outgrown the unspoken rules they were taught: be nice, be liked, don’t disappoint, and “if not me, who?” Erica names the invisible weight of emotional labor, the mental load, and the structural realities of medical training that still aren’t designed for women’s lives. The conversation reframes resilience as a shared responsibility - part individual self-awareness and compassion, and part organizational systems that reduce moral injury and create conditions where clinicians can thrive.

Key highlights include practical pathways for change: 

• Using curiosity (especially self-curiosity) to identify the narratives we’ve carried
• Recognizing how old stories once protected us but now hold us back 
• Building a mindfulness practice that supports presence over performance.

This conversation is a powerful invitation for women leaders - and those who care about women leaders - to give yourself permission to disappoint others, take up space, and lead from a more authentic, sustainable truth.

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What if leadership felt less like carrying all the answers - and more like creating the conditions for others to think and act well together?

In this episode, Ashley Wendel is joined by Dr. Richard Winters, a practicing emergency medicine physician, Director of Leadership Development for the Mayo Clinic Care Network, ICF-certified coach, and author of You’re the Leader, Now What?, for a grounded, honest conversation about what clinician leadership really asks of us.

Together, they explore why leadership can feel so destabilizing for clinicians and how practical frameworks, coaching skills, and facilitation can make the work both more humane and more effective.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Why the shift from expert → facilitator is one of the hardest (and most important) transitions for clinician leaders
• How leadership struggles are normal, not a personal failure—and why naming that matters
• The difference between technical problems and adaptive leadership challenges where no one has the “right” answer
• How to build shared reality before rushing to solutions - and why knowing the answer can actually get in the way
• Why emotional intelligence alone isn’t enough - and how effective leaders balance connection and results
• Coaching as a core leadership competency, not a remedial tool or “extra” task
• Why leadership development must lead to real behavior change, not just completed courses

If you’re a clinician carrying pressure to have all the answers, this episode offers relief, clarity, and practical ways to lead with more intention - without losing yourself in the process.

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In this episode, Dr. Stephen Beeson and I dive deep into what it truly takes to build, and sustain, a culture of excellence in healthcare.

Drawing from his experience leading transformation at Sharp Healthcare and founding Practicing Excellence, Steve shares why identity-based change is far more powerful than behavior correction alone, and why clinician engagement is the single most important predictor of successful transformation.

We explore:

• How and why Steve began his journey in human development in healthcare by founding Practicing Excellence
• Why healthcare cultures struggle with massive behavioral variance
• How clear identity creates consistency without stripping individuality
• The essential pillars of a culture of excellence: declared intent, measurement, human development, and accountability
• Why leadership development is often the first thing cut - and the most costly loss
• The role of vulnerability, authenticity, and coaching in effective leadership
• How scalable, continuous human development changes outcomes
• What future leaders must learn to thrive in an increasingly complex healthcare environment

This conversation is both strategic and deeply human, grounded in evidence, shaped by real-world leadership challenges, and rooted in the belief that healthcare can be better for patients and for the people who serve them.

If you care about culture, leadership, clinician well-being, and meaningful change, this episode is an invitation to think differently, and lead more intentionally.

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ER physician–turned–healthcare leader Dr. Tony Briningstool joins Lead Well MD to unpack how trust is built when seconds matter - and what the HBO series “The Pitt” gets right about life in the trauma bay. From first-contact behaviors that create instant patient trust to the moment-to-moment cues that make teams feel psychologically safe, Dr. Briningstool breaks down the leader habits that steady a room under pressure: consistency, clear modeling, and calibrated vulnerability. We explore “trust at speed,” co-regulation vs. self-regulation, and how to read (and repair) the nonverbal signals that stall performance. Dr. Briningstool also shares lessons from his journey from ER doc to CEO of Emergency Medicine at Sound Physicians - including lessons learned while playing college football at Michigan State under George Perles and Nick Saban - and why focusing on the process of excellence reliably delivers the outcome.

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In this episode of Lead Well MD, host Ashley Wendel talks with Dr. Sergio Zanotti, Chief Medical Officer for Critical Care at Sound Physicians and host of the podcast Critical Matters, about what it takes to build what he calls a “Fearless ICU.” 

Drawing on decades in critical care leadership, Dr. Zanotti shares why psychological safety is the single most important factor in high-performing ICU teams - and why it’s not about being “soft,” but about creating an environment where people can speak up, learn from mistakes, and still be held accountable to the highest standards.

The conversation explores how psychological safety impacts patient outcomes, team performance, and clinician well-being; the quiet cues that signal whether a team feels safe; and practical leadership actions that foster trust, inclusion, and learning in high-stakes environments. 

From COVID-era lessons to everyday ICU rounds, Dr. Zanotti offers both strategic insights and tactical tips - like inviting the quietest voice in the room to contribute - that any clinical leader can apply immediately.

Whether you lead an ICU, a clinic, or a cross-functional team, this episode will challenge how you think about authority, vulnerability, and the real cost of silence in healthcare.

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