Breaking Script

What if human kindness wasn’t a value, but a deliberate leadership practice? In this episode, CommonSpirit CEO Wright Lassiter III shares how service, purpose, and compassion scale with intention across one of the nation’s largest health systems. He explains how disruption clarifies what matters most and why aligning personal and organizational purpose unleashes resilience, performance, and impact — a blueprint for leading through complexity in healthcare and beyond.  Resources  Follow and connect with Wright Lassiter III on LinkedIn.  Learn more about CommonSpirit on LinkedIn and explore its website.

Leading with purpose to drive human-centered transformation in healthcare. In this episode, Regine Villain, a transformational leader in healthcare, reflects on her journey from engineering to supply chain leadership. She shares how reframing adversity fuels growth, why “no” is the start of progress, and how leading beyond data alone keeps patients and people at the center of every decision.  Resources Connect with and follow Regine Villain on LinkedIn.  Follow GHX on LinkedIn and explore their Website!

What does it take to lead with clarity and conviction in one of the most complex industries? In this episode, Steve Downey, Chief Supply Chain and Support Service Officer at Cleveland Clinic, shares a deeply human perspective on transforming healthcare supply chains, grounded in purpose, powered by collaboration and accelerated by AI. From cross-industry lessons to navigating failure to leading with joy and staying anchored in the patient, he offers a compelling blueprint for resilient leadership.  Resources Follow and connect with Stephen Downey on LinkedIn. Learn more about Excelerate on LinkedIn and explore their website. Learn more about the Cleveland Clinic on LinkedIn and discover their website.

Healthcare transformation requires more than new technology—it demands new ways of thinking. In this episode, Tina Vatanka Murphy speaks with healthcare finance leader and former Marine Jon Alford about leadership, innovation, and challenging legacy systems. From lessons learned in military service to reimagining automation, culture, and supply chains, Jon shares why healthcare leaders must rethink how the system works to build a more resilient future. Resources Follow and connect with Jon Alford on LinkedIn. Learn more about the University of Texas Dell Medical School on LinkedIn and explore their website.

In this episode, Bruce Johnson, Former CEO and former Chairman of the board, of GHX, talks about leadership, transformation, and building a lasting legacy. He shares how humor and vulnerability build trust and adaptability, why clarity of purpose and vision matter at pivotal moments, and how values and a clear North Star guide leaders through hard, emotionally charged decisions.

Leadership isn’t tested in comfort; it’s revealed under pressure. In this episode, Tina sits down with Army veteran and executive coach Nate Allen to explore leadership when the cost of failure is real. Drawing on high-stakes military experience and profound personal loss, Nate shares his “three fights” framework – self, team and mission – and why trust, vulnerability and curiosity determine whether teams fracture under pressure or endure and grow. Tune in and gain practical frameworks for leading with trust, clarity, and lasting impact in complex environments.

The leaders who successfully navigate disruptive innovation are the ones who anchor every decision in service to their customers and mission. In this episode, Geoffrey Moore, author of best-selling books and advisor, explains why established enterprises struggle to catch the second wave of innovation, especially when shifting resources from profitable legacy systems to unproven new technologies. He highlights the CEO’s role in securing board alignment, maintaining conviction through the “you look like an idiot” phase, and telling a story that brings investors along. Moore stresses that companies must prioritize customers first, employees second, and investors third to avoid losing their way. He also explores the widening gap between innovation and adoption, the ethical responsibilities of AI-era leadership, and why he remains optimistic about technology’s ability to unlock trapped value. Tune in and learn how to lead confidently through disruption and relentless innovation!

Courage fuels growth in uncertainty. In this episode, Harvard Business School Professor, Dr. Ranjay Gulati, shares why courage is not the absence of fear, but rather taking bold action in the face of it. He explains how purpose and courage reinforce each other, how leaders can build cultures where safe experimentation and smart failures drive learning, and how courage can be trained like a muscle through mindset and self-narrative.

In a world that never stops shouting for your attention, radical clarity is a leadership advantage. In this episode, Tina sits down with Deidre Paknad, CEO and co-founder of WorkBoard, to explore how great leaders and great teams cut through noise and stay aligned on what matters most. Deidre defines alignment as the convergence of time and effort, and challenges the myth that it should ever be “set and done,” especially in a high-velocity environment. They dig into how CEOs separate signal from distraction, why the operating rhythm must be refreshed as intentionally as strategy, and how fast organizations manage leading indicators instead of waiting on lagging results. Deidre shares a practical blueprint for quarterly cycles, scorecards, and habit-building mechanisms that eliminate bureaucracy and accelerate execution. The conversation closes with a CEO-level reset on resilience, accountability, and the daily courage it takes to create continuous clarity for teams.

Driving lasting performance through people-first leadership and the discipline to keep pushing even when you’re winning. What separates leaders who thrive in complexity from leaders who get trapped in it? Clarity and the courage to keep choosing it. In this episode, Tina sits down with Mike Mahoney, Chairman and CEO of Boston Scientific, for a candid conversation on leading at scale without losing speed or soul. Mike shares how he filters signal from noise, sets future-back direction, and anchors teams on a small number of priorities that truly move the needle. They explore the operating model shifts that push decisions closer to the work, why bureaucracy seems to creep back, unless leaders fight it, and what “restless leadership” looks like when a company is already winning. Mike also unpacks disciplined innovation, taking smart risks, knowing when to stop what won’t scale, and leading transparently through hard moments, including a defining COVID decision to protect people first. He closes with a simple truth: the most effective CEOs stay close to the trenches, accessible, learning fast, and human enough to hear what’s real. Clarification (17:40): Mike misspoke on the temporary COVID-era pay adjustment. The organization shifted to a four-day paid week (not three) and kept it for one quarter (not 30 days). His larger point about protecting the business and preserving jobs stands.

In this opening episode of Breaking Script, host Tina Vatanka Murphy reflects on a moment that reinforced her beliefs about what real leadership requires. It came from a professor who reminded a room of CEOs that the only way to lead through uncertainty and disruption is with bold, courageous leadership. That call to action sparked the idea for this podcast: a space for real, unvarnished conversations with CEOs, authors, changemakers, and healthcare leaders who are rewriting the rules when old playbooks no longer match the moment. Listeners will hear stories of fear, failure, resilience, and the pivotal choices leaders make when they’re standing at the edge of the unknown. Tina invites us to learn alongside her as guests share the moments that shaped them and how those lessons can help the next generation lead boldly through the change still ahead. Key Learnings Why this show exists: This is a space for honest leadership conversations that go beyond rehearsed talking points. The mindset required today: Real transformation starts with curiosity, not certainty. Leaders need the courage to rethink old assumptions. The source of innovative ideas: Some of the most powerful ideas emerge from unexpected places, especially as AI reshapes how modern businesses reinvent themselves. What listeners can expect to gain: High-signal insights on how influential leaders navigate change, pressure, and big strategic decisions.