In this special live episode from the Georgia Hospice and Palliative Care Organization annual conference, host Heather Hodges sits down with Natalie McNeil, Director of Hospice and In-Home Palliative Care, and Dr. Mary Keith, Medical Director at the Hospice of Northeast Georgia Health System, to explore what creativity really looks like in hospice care. Through the lens of the Hodges 12 Creative Genius assessment, Natalie (Cultivator–Strategist–Designer) and Dr. Keith (Communicator–Synthesizer–Organizer) share how they’ve learned to see themselves as creative leaders, far beyond traditional ideas of art and talent.

Together they unpack how regulations can serve as a starting line instead of a ceiling, why “no” is the fastest way to kill innovation, and how collaborative, non-hierarchical teams generate the best ideas for patients and families.

Along the way, they reframe hospice from something associated with giving up to a space for abundant, intentional life all the way to the end, where creativity shows up in every home, every family, and every conversation.

Connect with Natalie McNeal & Dr. Mary King:

https://www.nghs.com/hospice

To take The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius assessment:

Visit: www.thehodges12.com

Jen Elliott is back! As the Executive Director of Heart of Georgia Hospice, Jen brings a rare combination to everything she leads: the precision of an Organizer, the big-picture thinking of a Strategist, and the people-centered heart of a Cultivator. That Trifecta is an absolute force of nature.

In this episode, we dig into what it really means to lead creatively in hospice care, and why the people who say "I'm not creative" are often the most creative people in the room.

Jen opens up about the moments she's held her creativity back, the ideas that almost didn't make it, and how she nurtures creative courage in the people she leads.

If you've ever wondered what human-centered innovation looks like from the inside of a hospice organization, this conversation will remind you why human creativity is still the most powerful tool we have.

Connect with Jen:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-elliott-rn-30905b139/

https://heartofgahospice.org

To take The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius assessment:

Visit: www.thehodges12.com

Hannah Tomlinson is the CEO of HT Executive Search, where she helps healthcare organizations find director to C-suite talent while consulting and training talent acquisition teams on best practices and strategy. With experience spanning agency and in-house recruiting across all 50 states, Hannah brings a rare blend of relational depth and strategic precision to everything she does.

On The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius™, Hannah is a Connector-Strategist-Healer — and once you hear her talk about her work, you'll understand exactly why.

In this episode, Hannah shares how her creative genius shows up in talent acquisition, what conditions help her do her best work, and why creativity is more essential to healthcare recruiting than most people realize.

We also dig into what kills innovation before it has a chance to take root and what leaders can do about it.

What you'll hear in this episode:

How Hannah's Connector-Strategist-Healer trifecta shapes the way she leads and serves clients

What surprised her most when she saw her creative genius profile

The role creativity plays in executive recruiting that most people overlook

What kills creativity and innovation in organizations and how to protect against it

What Hannah is building right now and why she's excited about it

Connect with Hannah:

www.htesearch.com

linkedin.com/in/hannah-tomlinson-272747b

To take The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius assessment:

Visit: www.thehodges12.com

This week on the podcast, we have a special treat for you. We are giving you the first few chapters of my newly released leadership audiobook. So sit back, enjoy, and if you love what you hear, you can grab the full audiobook on Amazon or Audible. Here is Heart Work: How to Lead People, Build Culture, and Unleash Creativity in Home Care.

To get your copy of Heart Work on Audible, visit:

https://a.co/d/00vZcLo0

To Connect with Heather go to:

www.heatherhodges.com

To take The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius assessment:

Visit: www.thehodges12.com

Elizabeth Vahey Smith is a trauma-informed leadership expert, soft skills coach, and COO of TCK Training. With an MA in Linguistics and certification as a Trauma-Informed Care Practitioner, she's built a career around making complex human dynamics simple and actionable for leaders. She's authored several books including Trauma-Informed Leadership and The Practice of Processing, co-authored three white papers on trauma in Third Culture Kids, and conducted original research on psychological safety in the workplace.

Oh, and she does all of this while traveling the world full-time with her family. They have visited 25+ countries and counting with the globe as her children's classroom.

On The Hodges 12, Elizabeth is a Healer-Synthesizer-Cultivator. In this episode, we explore how this creative trifecta shows up in her work: healing workplace trauma, synthesizing complicated concepts into clear frameworks, and cultivating environments where teams can thrive.

We also dig into what creativity means when you're working across cultures, what kills innovation before it starts, and the surprising creative thought that caught even her off guard.

To Connect with Elizabeth:

Website: https://elizabethvaheysmith.com

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-vahey-smith-3ba0251b3/

Access Elizabeth’s Free 1-Hour Training:

https://elizabethvaheysmith.myboss.io/free-1-hr-diagnostic-training

To take The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius assessment:

Visit: www.thehodges12.com

In this episode, Heather sits down with one of her oldest friends, Cecilia de la Hoz, who joins the podcast from Madrid, Spain.

Cecilia is a Partner at EY-Parthenon and specializes in corporate valuation. Cecilia and Heather have been friends since 8th grade at the American School of Paris. Before taking the assessment, Cecilia never would have called herself creative, but her results tell a different story. The Hodges 12 profile revealed her powerful creative trifecta: Connector-Communicator-Synthesizer.

This warm conversation explores how creativity shows up in unexpected places, how cultural background shapes creative expression, and why even analytical professionals have creative genius waiting to be recognized.

Key Takeaways:

You don't have to be an artist to be creative. Cecilia's work as a consultant requires synthesizing complex information and communicating it clearly to clients

The Connector-Communicator-Synthesizer trifecta thrives on building relationships, translating ideas across audiences, and pulling together diverse information into coherent insights

Cecilia shares the ways she is now leaning into her creativity and making room for incubation.

Percy the Penguin Segment: Cecilia translates "Creative Genius" into multiple languages; hear how creativity sounds in Spanish, French, and German!

Connect with Cecilia:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceciliadelahoz/

Take the Assessment: Discover your creative genius type at www.thehodges12.com

Connect with Heather:

Website: www.HeatherHodges.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-l-hodges-phd-07400a142/

In this episode, Heather takes us back to her 8th-grade art class at the American School of Paris, where Mr. Kingsley made every student feel like Claude Monet in training. But not everyone had a Mr. Kingsley, many of us had our creative identity stolen at a young age. Heather explores the five systemic ways creativity gets killed in our lives and organizations. If you've ever packed away your creative self and learned to color inside the lines, this episode is for you.

Key Takeaways:

School taught us there's one right answer, so fear of being wrong causes us to skip divergent thinking and jump straight to finding the "correct" solution

Creativity has been optimized out of the schedule and you cannot innovate on a ruthlessly optimized calendar.

We say we want innovation but punish every mistake.

Well-meaning gatekeepers starve creativity through micromanagement, chronic stress, and criticism that destroys the psychological safety creativity needs to flourish

We defined creativity too narrowly. If you only look for artists and inventors, you'll miss the creative genius all around you, including your own

Next Episode: Special guest Cecilia de la Hoz joins us from Madrid, Spain. She never saw herself as creative until she took The Hodges 12. Fun fact: She and Heather have been friends since 8th grade!

Take the Assessment: Discover your creative genius type at www.thehodges12.com

Connect with Heather:

Website: www.HeatherHodges.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-l-hodges-phd-07400a142/

In this episode, Heather reveals why creativity is more than artistic ability, it's a universal human capacity that shows up in twelve distinct ways. She introduces The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius™ framework and walks through each type across three domains: Relational, Analytical, and Functional. Discover why 96% of leaders now say creativity is essential for success, yet 75% of people feel their creative potential is untapped at work. It's time to stop asking "Am I creative?" and start asking "How am I creative?"

Key Takeaways:

Everyone is creative, and we need everyone’s creativity.

Creativity is more than just being good at art, it's the intentional process of generating novel and useful ideas to solve complex problems

Your creativity is a gift; whether you see it through a spiritual or psychological lens, you were born to create

The Creativity Crisis: While 96% of leaders say creativity is essential, 75% of employees feel their creative potential is not being fully used at work

The Hodges 12 Types are organized into three domains: Relational (how you work with PEOPLE), Analytical (how you THINK), and Functional (how you BUILD)

Your top three types form your "Creative Genius trifecta" with over 1,300 unique profile combinations possible

Take the Assessment: Discover your creative genius type at www.thehodges12.com

Connect with Heather:

Website: www.HeatherHodges.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-l-hodges-phd-07400a142/