Healthcare Leadership Excellence

Episode 197: Leadership, Integrity, and the Moral Compass with Jay Youell

In this episode, I sit down again with my longtime mentor and friend, Jay Youell. Jay was actually the very first guest on this podcast, and after nearly 200 episodes, I wanted to return to someone who had a tremendous influence on both my leadership and my life. We talk about integrity, trust, listening, and the importance of having a moral compass. Jay reflects on lessons from his father, how his faith transformed the way he leads, and why honoring your word still matters. He also shares practical wisdom on handling conflict, slowing conversations down, and truly listening to people instead of simply waiting to respond. A major theme throughout the conversation is culture. From leadership to cowboying to surfing to relationships, Jay explains how respect, consistency, humility, and humanity shape the environments we create around us. Toward the end, Jay offers guidance for younger leaders on choosing the right influences, managing priorities, and staying grounded in values that last over time. This was a deeply personal conversation for me, and one I believe will stay with listeners long after it ends. 👉  Download The Leader’s Ultimate Guide to Difficult Conversations [https://my.coachinggroupinc.com/resources/influence], a practical framework for entering difficult conversations with clarity, discipline, and influence. 👉 Who is Karl Pister [https://coachinggroupinc.com/about-us/]? 👉 Follow us on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/healthcare-leadership-excellence-podcast/]. 👉 Have access to leadership materials [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/pages/digital-products] that will level up your game. 👉 Contact us on our website [https://coachinggroupinc.com/contact-us/]. 👉 Subscribe to Karl's YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@TheCoachingGroup]. Ready to level up your leadership skills? Sign up for The Coaching Group's leadership courses [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/].

Episode 196: Influence Under Pressure with Dr. Jason Kuhl

In this episode, I sit down again with Dr. Jason Kuhl to talk through one of the most important leadership skills: how to handle conflict when the stakes are high. We discuss why tough conversations often go sideways, especially when people feel rushed, defensive, or unheard. Dr. Kuhl and I talk about the need to slow the process down, name the tension in the room, and create enough safety for people to think clearly. We also explore the importance of preparation before difficult meetings. Leaders cannot just walk into conflict and hope it goes well. They need to understand the people, the motivations, the emotions, and the real problem underneath the surface. A key takeaway is that psychological safety is not the absence of threat. It is the presence of relationship. When leaders build trust before the meeting, they have a much better chance of guiding people through tension when it matters most. The conversation is practical, honest, and full of reminders that influence under pressure starts with preparation, curiosity, humility, and the willingness to slow down long enough to get it right. 👉  Download The Leader’s Ultimate Guide to Difficult Conversations [https://my.coachinggroupinc.com/resources/influence], a practical framework for entering difficult conversations with clarity, discipline, and influence. 👉 Who is Karl Pister [https://coachinggroupinc.com/about-us/]? 👉 Follow us on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/healthcare-leadership-excellence-podcast/]. 👉 Have access to leadership materials [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/pages/digital-products] that will level up your game. 👉 Contact us on our website [https://coachinggroupinc.com/contact-us/]. 👉 Subscribe to Karl's YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@TheCoachingGroup]. Ready to level up your leadership skills? Sign up for The Coaching Group's leadership courses [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/].

Episode 195: Learning From the Preventioneers with Dr. Barry Davis (Part 2)

In this episode, I continue my conversation with Dr. Barry Davis, physician, prevention scientist, and author of The Preventioneers. Dr. Davis shares more of the stories behind the people who recognized preventable harm and pushed through enormous resistance to create change. We begin by discussing auto safety and the doctors who first connected the injuries they were seeing in hospitals to the need for safer car design. Dr. Davis explains how ideas like seat belts, safer dashboards, and structural protections faced years of resistance before eventually becoming standard. A major part of our conversation centers on persistence. Whether discussing public health, smoking, or hypertension research, Dr. Davis highlights a common pattern: people resisted change until enough evidence, communication, and persistence finally broke through. We also talk about curiosity and why progress often begins when someone notices that “something is off” and refuses to ignore it. Dr. Davis explains that many breakthroughs in prevention started with people simply paying close attention to repeated problems and asking better questions. We close with a discussion on suicide prevention and the importance of intervening early, creating barriers to harm, and recognizing that even small interruptions can save lives. The takeaway from this episode is that prevention rarely starts with certainty. It starts with curiosity, persistence, and people willing to challenge what others accept as normal. 👉  Download The Leader’s Ultimate Guide to Difficult Conversations [https://my.coachinggroupinc.com/resources/influence], a practical framework for entering difficult conversations with clarity, discipline, and influence. 👉 Who is Karl Pister [https://coachinggroupinc.com/about-us/]? 👉 Follow us on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/healthcare-leadership-excellence-podcast/]. 👉 Have access to leadership materials [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/pages/digital-products] that will level up your game. 👉 Contact us on our website [https://coachinggroupinc.com/contact-us/]. 👉 Subscribe to Karl's YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@TheCoachingGroup]. Ready to level up your leadership skills? Sign up for The Coaching Group's leadership courses [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/].

Episode 194: Preventing Harm Before It Becomes a Crisis with Dr. Barry Davis (Part 1)

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Barry R. Davis, physician, prevention scientist, and author of The Preventioneers. Dr. Davis has spent decades studying how problems develop and what leaders can do before those problems become disasters. We talk about why most major failures begin with smaller warning signs that people either miss or ignore. Dr. Davis explains the process of recognizing harm, gathering evidence, understanding causes, and building systems that help prevent the same issue from happening again. We also discuss critical thinking, resistance to change, and why people often hold tightly to old systems even when the evidence points in a different direction. A major part of our conversation focuses on the stories inside his book, including Benjamin Franklin’s work in fire prevention and Ignaz Semmelweis’ early discovery that handwashing dramatically reduced deaths during childbirth. Both stories reveal the same leadership challenges: observation, persistence, communication, and resistance from others who do not want to change. The larger takeaway is this: prevention usually starts small. It begins with someone paying attention, asking better questions, and having the courage to act before the larger crisis develops. 👉  Download The Leader’s Ultimate Guide to Difficult Conversations [https://my.coachinggroupinc.com/resources/influence], a practical framework for entering difficult conversations with clarity, discipline, and influence. 👉 Who is Karl Pister [https://coachinggroupinc.com/about-us/]? 👉 Follow us on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/healthcare-leadership-excellence-podcast/]. 👉 Have access to leadership materials [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/pages/digital-products] that will level up your game. 👉 Contact us on our website [https://coachinggroupinc.com/contact-us/]. 👉 Subscribe to Karl's YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@TheCoachingGroup]. Ready to level up your leadership skills? Sign up for The Coaching Group's leadership courses [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/].

Episode 193: The Influence Equation and Understanding Resistance with Stevenson Carlebach

In this episode, I sit down with Stevenson Carlebach, a faculty member with Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, to talk about what’s really happening when people resist. We begin with his path from theater into negotiation work. What stands out is how closely those worlds connect, both are about understanding behavior and how people respond under pressure. A core idea we explore is resistance. Stevenson explains that resistance is not stubbornness, it’s a protective reaction. When someone hears a proposal, they are asking: Does this make sense? Does it meet my interests? Do I trust this person? If the answer to any of those is no, resistance shows up. Most of us respond by pushing harder, which only makes it worse. This leads into the Influence Equation. Influence is not just about the strength of your ideas, but your ability to understand and reduce the other person’s resistance. That shift moves you from arguing to getting curious. We also talk about positions versus interests. People argue over what they want, but the real work is understanding why they want it. Until you get to that level, you stay stuck. A big part of that comes down to listening. Not listening to respond, but listening to understand what’s driving the other person. Most people think they do this, but they don’t. The takeaway is straightforward: conflict moves when you understand what’s underneath the resistance, not when you push harder. 👉  Download The Leader’s Ultimate Guide to Difficult Conversations [https://my.coachinggroupinc.com/resources/influence], a practical framework for entering difficult conversations with clarity, discipline, and influence. 👉 Who is Karl Pister [https://coachinggroupinc.com/about-us/]? 👉 Follow us on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/healthcare-leadership-excellence-podcast/]. 👉 Have access to leadership materials [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/pages/digital-products] that will level up your game. 👉 Contact us on our website [https://coachinggroupinc.com/contact-us/]. 👉 Subscribe to Karl's YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@TheCoachingGroup]. Ready to level up your leadership skills? Sign up for The Coaching Group's leadership courses [https://coachinggroupinc.thinkific.com/].