Leading Organizations That Matter

This week, I speak with leader, consultant, and professor Gina Mazza about a topic that is anything but the new, new thing: Servant Leadership. It's a leadership style and set of values that does, however, seem to be making a comeback.

In this episode, Gina I I discuss what servant leadership is and why it's gaining more attention.

Hospice Nurse Penny is on a mission to demystify death, help all of us to become more comfortable with the dying process, and alleviate something she herself has experienced: death anxiety.

Moving from bedside hospice nursing to social media platforms, Nurse Penny uses education, humor, and direct talk to accomplish her mission.

In this episode we discuss all of these matters, the hospice industry, and her own personal journey to this point.

Link: Hospice Nurse Penny

In this week's episode, I speak with Attorney Robert Griffin, a renowned expert on non-profit organizations. Our topic relates to what causes such organizations to go sideways from a legal and governance perspective, the causes of decline and trouble, the marks of good governance, and the many lessons learned from his forty years of policy-making, legal practice, and contributing over 170 cumulative years of service to non-profit boards.

This episode is a great resource for leaders and board members of non-profits who are committed to the mission of their organizations... and keeping them on track.

Link: Massachusetts Attorney General Guide for Board Members of Charitable Organizations

“Don’t waste your suffering.” — Deborah Grassman

In this week’s episode, I speak with the founder of Opus Peace, an organization that was founded based on the important life lessons gained from working with 10,000 dying veterans. Deborah Grassman and I speak on the topics of childhood scripting, unprocessed trauma, personal pain, and peace and healing.

This is a powerful topic and I hope you’ll find it to be moving, motivating, provocative, and perhaps even the beginning of a path to peace.

Links:

Opus Peace website
Online courses
February 2, 2025 event

Dr. Annie Brewster is a both a physician and a patient and in this week's episode, we explore the incredible (and I dare say surprising) healing power of storytelling. We cover Dr. Brewster's personal experiences and the ensuing work that she and her colleagues have done to empower, inspire, and... to heal. Her work is meaningful and will, I hope, help you to consider your own personal journey as well.

We also touch on issues related to physician burnout, the lack of integration within our current health care system, and ways that this work might benefit our listeners and their organizations.

Dr. Brewster founded the Health Story Collaborative, linked here. On this website, you can also find information about her outstanding book, entitled: "The Healing Power of Storytelling".

It's not every day that the owner of a multi-billion dollar global for profit entity decides to convert to his company to non-profit status. In what can only be described as a  profound "put your money where your mouth is" statement, Bayada Home Health Care did just that. In this week's interview, I discuss this conversion - along with some broader health care industry topics - with company CEO, David Baiada. I hope you find this to be as interesting and inspiring as I did.

Profitability is good and essential, but the significant increase in the number of for profit hospice organizations has had an impact and much of that is not so good. In this episode, I speak with Diana Franchitto, President and CEO of HopeHealth, which is a leading non-profit hospice and palliative care organization. We discuss this trend and answer the question: does this matter? Spoiler alert - it does.

Additionally, we discuss how to choose the best hospice for your loved one, a decision that often must be made during a very intense and challenging time.

Links:

Suddenly, AI seems to be everywhere. In this week's episode, I interview renowned expert, Dmitri Tcherevik, an innovator, leader, and educator, to learn more, especially as it pertains to mission driven non-profits. Dmitri helps to explore whether leaders should consider AI to be a great opportunity, a mere curiosity, or even possibly a threat. We discuss implications for students and industry and offer thoughts on how best to stay on top of this emerging and impactful development.

One more thing... you do realize that once the machines become self aware, it will be the end of civilization? I'm joking. Mostly joking.

I'm sure everyone can think of good "less is more" examples. In this week's episode, I comment on this from the perspective of leading organizations in crisis and/or needing to undertake a significant change agenda. I cite two examples where this was exactly the right path forward.

Woody Hungarter is very uniquely qualified to speak to the daunting task of strengthening and preserving the legacy of historically significant mission driven organizations. He served as CEO of the VNA of Philadelphia, a pioneering 138 year old nonprofit, and now as CEO of Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice, which is a manifestation of the landmark Karen Ann Quinlan case of the 1970s and 1980s. In this episode, Woody discusses the challenges - and some suggested strategies - associated with the task of preserving the legacy of an organization well into the future.