The Backstory

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

The Backstory is a news podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 168 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts The Backstory, a news show with 168 episodes published.

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  Episode #11

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

  Sep 23, 202639 minS2

  It's a bonus! In this special edition episode , Anne Hancock Toomey interviews Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Sutter Health. They start with a note about the first podcast Anne ever hosted - a 2020 conversation with Thomas that reminds us all of how much has changed even as the principles of authentic leadership haven't. From there, Thomas traces his path from a disciplined, outdoorsy childhood in Vermont to pumping gas, plowing snow, and later studying accounting and computer information systems. Like many guests, Thomas hadn't planned on a healthcare career. He instead started with an eye towards investment banking, training at Ernst & Young before making the leap and heading to. Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. There, an early mentor shaped his leadership perspective and professional experience. Later on, Thomas spent 24 years at Ochsner Health, rising to CEO leading major growth and innovation and learning to center strategy on patients and purpose through initiatives like “Power of One,” while prioritizing people during Katrina and COVID. Joining Sutter four years ago, he became the system's first outsider CEO in 40 years. He began his tenure with a deep and thoughtful talent assessment, then built a rapid growth strategy including ambulatory expansion. Throughout it all, Thomas has emphasized communication, trust and the key leadership traits of being humble, hungry, smart and curious. 2:18 Life in California 3:53 Vermont Roots 6:13 First Jobs 10:24 Mentors and Leadership Style 14:29 Learning Mindset and Strategy 17:19 Ochsner Growth Lessons 21:20 Purpose and Culture  25:22 Joining Sutter 31:56 Leadership Traits 34:15 Lightning Round Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #10

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

  Jun 24, 202640 minS2

  In the final episode of Season 2, Anne Hancock Toomey interviews Cynthia Brandt, PhD. Brandt is CEO of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health and a deeply respected leader in the world of philanthropy. Brandt reflects on growing up in the Midwest in a minister’s family, early lessons in authenticity from a difficult camping experience and the teacher who led the excursion, and how receiving scholarships didn’t just make higher education for her but also sparked her belief that philanthropy can change lives. Before joining the foundation that helps power Stanford Children’s Health, Brandt built her career through a series of impressive roles. After work in banking and nonprofit roles, she pursued sociology in graduate school, worked at Stanford, moved to a profoundly meaningful role at Mills College, and later led a record-breaking Smithsonian campaign that exceeded its $1.5B goal by educating the public through grassroots storytelling. She discusses her CEO learning curve through the pandemic, a stewardship mistake that reshaped her approach, leadership traits like culture, humility, and clarity, and her focus on joy and purpose at work. 1:40 Midwest Roots 4:22 A Lesson from Camping 06:44 Scholarships Changed Everything 10:52 Finding Sociology 12:18 Stanford And Mills 16:57 The Smithsonian and Storytelling At Scale 22:38 From the Smithsonian To Children’s Health 26:10 First Time CEO Lessons…and Mistakes 31:46 Traits Of Great Leaders 34:52 Lightning Round Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #9

  From Pumping Gas to CEO of Leading Children’s Hospitals, with Dr. Patrick Frias

  May 6, 202636 minS2

  <p>Dr. Patrick Frias is a truly unique leader with a truly unique story. Today, he is wrapping up his tenure as Co-President and Chief Executive Officer of Rady Children’s Health before heading back to his old stomping grounds in Georgia to lead Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. </p> <p>In episode 209 of the Backstory, Anne Hancock Toomey interviews Dr. Frias about how he became who he is today and the way he thinks about leadership. co-CEO of Rady Children’s Health, noting that after their recording he was announced as the next leader of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta...

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  Episode #8

  From Serving Frozen Yogurt to National Health System CEO, with Marty Bonick

  Mar 25, 202640 minS2

  <p>Marty Bonick is about as well-known a name as you’ll find when it comes to the National – and Nashville – healthcare scene. Bonick is President and CEO of Ardent Health, which operates 30 hospitals and more than 280 care sites across mid-sized urban markets nationwide, while employing over 24,000 team members. In this conversation, Bonick and Anne Hancock Toomey talk about his time growing up on Chicago’s South Side with a construction-worker father and nurse mother, his shift from pre-med to healthcare administration, and learning the industry through an administrative fellowship at Hillcrest in Tulsa. He describes mentors who shaped his patient...

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  Episode #7

  From Clinical Dietician to CEO of Allina Health, with Lisa Shannon

  Jan 7, 202643 minS2

  <p>In Season 2, Episode 7, Anne Hancock Toomey sits down with Lisa Shannon, CEO of Allina Health, to discuss her impressive trajectory from a rural community in Ohio to leading a health system with 12 hospitals and dozens of clinics across Minnesota and Wisconsin. Shannon began her career as a hospital-based dietician, growing and evolving to become a highly respected executive and leader. That success came from the early influence of her grandmother, along with, of course, mentors and leaders along the way. Shannon talks about a devastating medical error that affected her family early in her life. Indeed, one of Shannon’s...

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