High Stakes

About High Stakes

The Backstory, formerly the High Stakes Podcast, is a new, limited series from Jarrard Inc. President and Co-Founder Anne Hancock Toomey. For nearly two decades, Jarrard – one of the nation’s top communications consulting firms for healthcare – has partnered with thousands of leaders across the country who are striving to make healthcare better every day. But this isn’t a podcast about healthcare, or politics or even communications. It’s about authentic leadership. The Backstory is about demystifying respected leaders who’ve had a lot of success along the way because of the kind of leaders they’ve chosen to be. Each person Anne interviews is visionary, of course. They’re smart as hell, and they’re fierce about their business and their mission. They’re also humble, kind and create the kind of environments in which people can thrive. They’re not perfect. But they are real. And it’s the combination of those two things that makes each one of them great. In every episode, Anne’s guest digs into who they are, where they come from and what’s influenced them to be the person and the leader that they are today.

Publisher

Jarrard Inc.

Category

news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 Oct 2019

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

49 of 188 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Backstory Sessions 2026: David Dill

   Host Anne Hancock Toomey interviews David Dill, CEO of Lifepoint Health, about his leadership journey and strategic insights for guiding a large healthcare organization.

2. 

   23 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   BONUS 211. From Plowing Snow to Leading Healthcare Transformation, with Warner Thomas

   Anne Hancock Toomey interviews Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Sutter Health, about his journey from early jobs to leading healthcare transformation and fostering authentic leadership.

3. 

   24 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   210. From Local Newspaper Delivery to National Philanthropy Leader, with Cynthia Brandt, PhD

   Anne Hancock Toomey interviews Cynthia Brandt, PhD, CEO of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, about her journey from local delivery to national philanthropy and impactful leadership lessons.

Inside a recent episode

Backstory Sessions 2026: David Dill

Published 7 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] So talk about the role of CEO. What do you know now eight years in that you could never have possibly known about the role when you took it? You know, culture and people are so important to me. Yeah. Yeah. But I've probably underestimated the role that the CEO has in setting that tone, setting that culture, preserving the culture of the organization in accordance with the values that are important to you. So, you know, I grew up a certain way. I brought those values to work. We try to live most of those every day at LifePoint. But being that protector, that custodian, and the developer of the culture of the organization is something that was a lot heavier than I realized. […]

Who has been a guest on High Stakes

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• David Dill
• Warner Thomas
• Cynthia Brandt
• Dr Patrick Frias
• Marty Bonick

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

26 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

13 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 61 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

94

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

71

Contact High Stakes

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about High Stakes