About Lead Well MD: Transforming Healthcare Through Emotionally Intelligent Clinician Leadership
Welcome to Lead Well MD where we dive into the art and science of effective clinician leadership. Through compelling stories and insightful conversations with guests from across healthcare, we explore the intersection between the foundational skills of emotional intelligence and effective clinician leadership. We examine how leaders can drive meaningful change and transform how they care for their teams, their organizations, and their patients.
Join Ashley Wendel, MA—physician leadership consultant, 1:1 advisor, and trusted guide—as she shares practical leadership tips and strategies honed over 17 years of partnering with clinician leaders like you. Each episode is designed to empower you with tools to lead more effectively and inspire change within your teams and organizations.
Our mission is to help you understand yourself and others more deeply while building the critical leadership skills needed to make a lasting impact. Together, let’s equip you to be the most effective leader possible, driving meaningful and transformative change in healthcare.
Tune in and lead well—because your leadership matters more than ever.
“What I Wish I'd Known Sooner: Tips and Strategies from a Leader Who's Been There” with Dr. Elizabeth Copeland
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 h...
7 May 2026
"Leading with Purpose: How UH Cleveland Is Rewiring Culture, Leadership, and the Future of Care" with Dr. Patrick Runnels
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 d...
15 Apr 2026
"When Working Harder Isn’t the Answer: How to Reclaim Your Life in Medicine" with Dr. Ben Reinking
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...
20 Mar 2026
"Leading Beyond the Bedside: From Clinical Expert to System Leader" with Dr. Rob Nordgren
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 ch...
11 Mar 2026
"From Authority to Influence: What Clinician Leaders Must UN-Learn to be Effective in Leading Change" with Dr. Rob Nordgren
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 thr...
26 Feb 2026
"The High-Performing Woman's Experience in Medicine: Exhausted, Accomplished, and Still Unfulfilled" with Dr. Erica Kreismann
Episode Summary (succinct, with key highlights) 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 leade...
2 Feb 2026
"You Don't Have to Have All the Answers: Moving From Expert to Coach-Leader" with Dr. Richard Winters
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...
18 Dec 2025
"Making Excellence Accessible: How Human Development Drives Culture Change in Healthcare" with Dr. Stephen Beeson
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 deve...
25 Sept 2025
What "The Pitt" Gets Right: An Emergency Medicine Leader's View of Humanity & Teamwork in the ER with Dr. Tony Briningstool
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 “tru...
27 Jun 2025
" The Fearless ICU: Building High Performance Through Psychological Safety" with Dr. Sergio Zanotti
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23 Jun 2025
"Building High-Trust Teams in High-Stakes Environments: Lessons From The Battlefield" with Randall Wickman, Col. (Ret.) US Army
Colonel Randall Wickman shares battlefield-tested strategies for cultivating high-trust teams, offering insights applicable to healthcare leadership in demanding situations in an interview with Ashley Paré.
31 May 2025
"Being Real: Balancing Vulnerability, Authenticity, and Professionalism as a Clinician Leader" with Dr. Greg Johnson
Dr. Greg Johnson, System Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at UnityPoint Health, explores the balance between vulnerability, authenticity, and professionalism for clinician leaders in an interview with Lead Well MD.
28 Apr 2025
"Opting In: How Clinician Leaders Can Reclaim Agency and Drive Change in Healthcare" with Karen Weiner, MD
Send us a text In healthcare today, change is constant—and emotional fatigue is real. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Karen Weiner to explore what it really takes to lead when clinicians are stretched thin, burned out, and wondering if the work is still sustainable. Karen shares hard-earned lessons from her journey—from primary care pediatrician to CEO of a large medical group—leading through organizational transformation, a Fortune 6 acquisition, and the unprecedented pressures of the p...
29 Mar 2025
"From Fixer to Facilitator: A Leader's Journey" with Dr. Holly Beeman
Send us a text In this open and candid conversation, Dr. Holly Beeman shares her evolution from being a hands-on problem-solver to becoming a more empowering and emotionally intelligent leader. Drawing from her journey as an OBGYN turned senior healthcare executive, Dr. Beeman reflects on early leadership missteps, the role of vulnerability in building trust, and how creating psychological safety can transform team culture and performance. We talk about the temptation to "fix" things as a lea...
10 Mar 2025
LeadWellMD: "The Power of Love in Healthcare Leadership" with Dr. Apurv Gupta
Send us a text Healthcare is facing a crisis—not just of resources, but of culture. Burnout, disengagement, and top-down leadership structures are leaving clinicians feeling disconnected from their purpose. But what if we could reimagine healthcare leadership as something radically different? In this episode of LeadWellMD, I sit down with Dr. Apurv Gupta, a physician leader, consultant, and founder of the Loving Organization Consortium, to explore how trust, compassion, and human connection c...
16 Jan 2025
LeadWellMD - Episode 1: "Lessons Learned"
Send us a textIn the debut episode of LeadWellMD, we discuss the importance of emotionally intelligent clinician leadership. Drawing on her 17 years of experience as a physician leadership coach and consultant, Ashley Wendel, MA, narrates three stories to illustrate the impact of these core relational skills in leadership. She examines how leaders can either excel by cultivating these skills, or be derailed by their absence. She emphasizes that leadership growth requires intentionality,...
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