Eye Care Leadership Live

Send us Fan Mail Culture drama, disengaged staff, and “toxic employee” stories get blamed on hiring all the time, but I think the real lever is leadership. We lay out a simple but not easy framework for building a great workplace in a healthcare practice: three pillars that create stability, plus the one factor that ties everything together. First, we talk workplace culture and what actually makes...

Send us Fan Mail Your mindset is not just “how you feel.” It’s the filter that decides what you notice, how you react under pressure, and whether a rough morning turns into a rough week. We recorded a short, content-rich microcast to share the simple mindset habits we rely on when we want more good days, fewer spirals, and a steadier kind of leadership.  We start with the fastest reset we know: ph...

Send us Fan Mail Underpaying is not a savings plan, it is a turnover strategy.  In this microcast, I get real about staff compensation and why it’s often the number one issue behind poor retention, constant rehiring, and teams that never feel fully settled. If you run a healthcare clinic or ophthalmology practice, pay decisions set the tone for motivation, growth, and whether your best people stic...

Send us Fan Mail Your phones can be “busy” and still be leaving money on the table. When calls spike on Monday mornings or right after holidays, even great teams miss opportunities, patients get stuck on hold, and front desk burnout creeps in. We sit down with Jakob Grajcar from Talkie AI to get specific about what an AI medical receptionist can actually handle today and what clinic leaders should...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is about coaching better. It’s about asking better questions so we can get better solutions. Hope you enjoy. === This episode is brought to you by Seasoned Advice HR, where I help eye care clinics to hire, retain, and manage better — helping you get Better Results Through People. Learn more at seasoned-advice.com .  Contact me directly at mike@seasoned-advice.com  Get...

Send us Fan Mail Burnout isn’t always a collapse. Sometimes it’s a quiet, confusing boredom that shows up after you’ve “made it” and you can’t figure out why the work feels empty. On Eye Care Leadership Live, we sit down with Dr. Brett Cordes, an ENT surgeon turned physician coach, to trace what burnout really looks like over time and why so many doctors stay stuck in denial until the consequences...

Send us Fan Mail We talk with Sarah Duval and Brittany Williams about turning entry-level ophthalmology roles into real careers and building a frontline team that makes your clinic stronger. We share what actually drives staff growth, retention, and confidence when mentorship is limited and the day-to-day feels nonstop. • career paths from front office and technician roles to leadership positions...

Send us Fan Mail AI can make HR feel effortless ... right up until it makes a confident suggestion that’s quietly wrong.  I this episode, I walk through how I use AI tools every day for HR documents and research, why that speed is real, and why it can also create real risk when the user doesn’t know what questions to ask. Think of it like a great surgical tool: powerful in the right hands, dangero...

Send us Fan Mail Culture shows up in the smallest moments: the way the front desk greets a nervous patient, how a technician handles a delay, whether a physician trusts the team or escalates every hiccup. When those moments add up, you get either a clinic that feels calm and capable or one that feels tense and brittle. That’s why I sat down with Joey Hamel, Executive Director at Eye Physicians and...

Send us Fan Mail Your marketing might be doing its job and you could still be losing your best patients. That’s the core tension we dig into with Kade Wilcox, founder of Convert Health, an ophthalmology lead generation and lead conversion specialist who has seen what happens after the form fill, the phone call, or the Meta ad click. When practices spend money to create demand but don’t respond fas...

Send us Fan Mail Most healthcare practices don’t struggle because the medicine is bad. They struggle because leadership gets stretched thin, managers get promoted without support, and culture slowly drifts until turnover, drama, and “constant fires” feel normal. We sit down with HR consultant Mike Lyons to get practical about what actually helps a clinic scale: hiring the right managers, managing...

Send us Fan Mail Your team isn’t ignoring you, they’re processing.  When the message affects benefits, pay, staffing, or job security, people don’t just “hear” an update and move on. They replay it, question it, compare notes, and fill in blanks with worry. We talk through why clinic leaders routinely underestimate how much communication it takes to create real clarity, and why you should assume y...

Send us Fan Mail You can do everything “right” for patients all day long and still get blindsided by a privacy complaint, an OSHA inquiry, or a cyber incident. That’s why we invited Jennifer Cosey, President of Eagle Associates, to talk with us about what healthcare compliance looks like when it’s done as real risk management, not just paperwork, posters, and binders on a shelf. We dig into the pr...

Send us Fan Mail We talk with ophthalmology executive recruiter Greg Spruce about why senior hires go sideways in ophthalmology and what to do differently before you make a costly leadership mistake. We break down how to match operators to your business stage, validate emotional intelligence with better references, and set compensation with real market data.  • why leadership hires fail when the o...

Send us Fan Mail We use The Four Agreements to talk about what actually changes clinic culture: the words we choose, the stories we invent, and the standards we repeat. We share real ophthalmology examples that connect emotional intelligence to clearer training, better patient communication, and less day-to-day drama.  • why The Four Agreements fits eye care leadership better than another KPI play...

Send us Fan Mail We share a real-world story about a patient’s serious allegation against an employee and what it takes to respond with care, speed, and sound judgment. We break down how we build trust, gather facts, and make decisions that protect patients, staff, and the clinic’s reputation.  • A high-stakes allegation coming in unexpectedly  • Why leaders need a trusted HR partner on call  • As...

Send us Fan Mail We talk with Carl White about how private practices can beat bigger competitors by leaning into what independence makes possible and by saying it clearly in their marketing. We also dig into HIPAA blind spots that show up in websites, agencies, and outreach so growth does not turn into unnecessary risk.  • the case for helping private practices stay private and why ownership shape...

Send us Fan Mail We talk with Dr. Cynthia Matosian about the leadership moves that keep eye care practices sustainable when costs rise and reimbursements fall. We dig into building patient-first culture, learning the business skills most clinicians never get taught, and using smarter purchasing to protect margin and reinvest in the team.  • planning a thoughtful transition from clinical work to a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, which originally posted in June 2025, my esteemed guest was Hillary Golden.  Hillary is a keynote speaker and advisor on the topic of patient care in ophthalmology with a particular focus (no pun intended) on glaucoma.  Doctors, practice administrators, and healthcare technicians will learn about the experience of a patient from diagnosis to ongoing treatment. Whe...

Send us Fan Mail We talk with Jennifer Church Kilkenny about what actually drives growth for cash-pay services in healthcare, from local search intent to email lists you control. We also get real about social media tactics, staff involvement, paid ads strategy, and the compliance lines clinics cannot cross.  • her core client mix across aesthetic medical practices and the rise of med spas across s...

Send us Fan Mail In this show, I talk about rest as a form of self-care that makes us better leaders, not just better at “getting through” the week. I share practical ways to protect our energy so we can think clearly, support our teams, and improve clinic culture and financial results.  • defining rest as what fuels our spirit and thinking  • using solitude and a change of environment to generate...

Send us Fan Mail We talk with Mike Guelcher of Prism Consulting Partners about what really drives an ophthalmology or optometry practice sale and why “value” is not the same thing as the final price. We dig into the human side of transitions, the metrics that keep you ready, and how to approach exit planning so you choose your exit instead of the market choosing it for you. • why practice valuatio...

Send us Fan Mail We break down why technician turnover stays high in busy eye care clinics and how better hiring and onboarding fixes it. We share practical ways to validate skills, build a consistent training program, and create a culture where new techs feel confident and seen. • shadowing candidates before an offer to confirm fit  • verifying “experience” by checking how skills are done  • usin...

Send us Fan Mail We talk with healthcare attorney Matt Stevens about the real-world legal and operational fights clinics face with insurance reimbursement, audits, and payer clawbacks, plus the steps that keep small problems from turning into career-level crises. We also get practical about employment disputes and why strong systems, especially timekeeping, reduce wage and hour exposure even when...

Send us Fan Mail A harassment allegation can make even experienced clinic leaders freeze, not because they don’t care, but because every move has consequences. We’ve handled these situations many times, and we break down what actually works when a sexual harassment complaint shows up in real life: how to act quickly without being reckless, how to be delicate without being vague, and how to protect...