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🔍 Episode Summary:

What does it take to reshape the healthcare system from the inside out? In this powerful episode, Dr. Glenn D. Steele Jr. reflects on his multi-decade career—from hands-on patient care to pioneering leadership roles in academic medicine and health system innovation.

Nicole and Dr. Steele talk candidly about:

• How trust shapes patient outcomes
• The critical shift from fee-for-service to value-based care
• What really matters in patient-doctor relationships
• How high-trust systems can transform lives, especially in cancer care
• The surprising failures that taught the biggest lessons

Whether you’re a patient navigating a diagnosis or someone working in healthcare, this episode is packed with wisdom, vulnerability, and actionable advice.

📌 Key Topics:

• Transitioning from surgeon to healthcare leader
• Working with high-performing, “hard to manage” innovators
• The evolution of cancer care: from radical surgeries to patient-centered innovation
• How to advocate for yourself or loved ones in complex medical systems
• The importance of trust between patients, providers, and healthcare organizations
• Building systems that support — rather than overwhelm — doctors
• Lessons learned from failure and transformation in leadership

📝 Listener Takeaways:

• How to identify a high-trust healthcare organization
• The most important question to ask your doctor:

• “How will this test or treatment change my care?”

• Why even “routine care” deserves serious attention
• You shouldn’t have to choose between clinical expertise and compassionate care

📍 Quote Highlights:

“There's no such thing as an impertinent question in healthcare.” – Dr. Glenn Steele“If your provider gets nervous or defensive when you ask something simple, that’s a red flag.”“In the 1980s, letting women lead in surgical training was radical — now it's a given. That kind of change matters.”“You can’t expect individual doctors to keep up with everything — they need a system behin

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