If you haven't registered for the ASCENT annual meeting yet, it's probably for one of three reasons:

• Too busy
• Nervous about asking for the investment
• You doubt you'll actually implement anything you learn.

This episode takes each of those head-on.

Zed and Paul sit down with Drew Franklin, Ascent's president-elect and chief strategy officer for Albany ENT, along with a candid perspective from Dr. Gavin Setzen, to make the honest case for what a practice administrator really walks away with.

Paul shares the jarring realization from his first meeting, that he didn't have to do the job alone, and how a single decision reshaped his career.

Dr. Setzen speaks directly to the administrator who's afraid to ask for the budget, explaining why the dyad leadership structure of physician and administrator makes this kind of investment essential, and why the ROI shows up in not only in dollars but better decisions.

When every day feels like scrambling from one task to the next, it's easy to shut your door, put your head down, and forget the people the work is actually for. This episode is a reminder that busyness and people aren't a binary choice, and that even when you're busy, you're busy for someone.

In this episode, Zed and Paul sit down with Lieutenant Colonel Bo "Guvna" McGowan, fighter pilot and keynote speaker for the upcoming Ascent Conference, to talk about why people really matter and how that conviction holds up under pressure.

Bo shares the defining moment that made it visceral for him, ejecting from an F-16 over the Okefenokee Swamp in 1991.

From there he offers practical, grounded tools for leaders drowning in the daily grind: starting each day in stillness before your feet hit the floor, pausing to ask "whom am I doing this for," and recognizing that when everything feels urgent, you may have a little mission drift.

If you've been running so hard you've lost the connection to the people around you, this conversation will help you slow down and lead like a champion.

Bo McGowan is delivering the keynote at the upcoming Ascent Conference

AI can feel like a mountain, especially in a highly regulated space like healthcare, and the instinct is either to avoid it entirely or go all in on it. Both, it turns out, are a mistake.

In this episode, Zed and Paul sit down with Sarah Wimberley, an upcoming Ascent Conference speaker, to talk through what it actually means to keep a human in the loop as AI moves into medical practices. Sarah unpacks the hidden compliance traps that catch practices off guard, from AI scribes to the meeting-recording tools that aren't HIPAA compliant straight out of the box, and why building a base layer of AI literacy matters when patients start asking where their data is going.

She digs into the real business case, which is rarely an overnight cost savings and almost always a long game measured in reduced burnout, higher retention, and hours handed back to clinicians. And they land on the lens that should guide every decision: if a technology benefits the business but makes things worse for the patient, it wasn't worth it.

If your practice hasn't touched AI yet, or you're already using it and want to make sure you're doing it right, this one will help you navigate the road ahead before you find yourself wishing you'd done things differently.

Catch Sarah's session at the upcoming Ascent Conference, "From Spider Sense to Systems Sense: Navigating Ethical AI"

Somewhere along the way, a lot of practice administrators picked up the belief that struggling through with the hand you were dealt is the noble thing to do. It isn't. It's just a faster road to burnout.

In this episode, Zed and Paul sit down with Lee Silber, speaker, author, and creativity expert, to unpack why asking for help is a sign of strength rather than weakness, and how confidence is a muscle you build rather than a switch you flip. Lee walks through the generational differences shaping today's practice teams, from self-sufficient Gen Xers to outcome-driven Gen Z, and why understanding each perspective is the key to getting everyone pulling together.

If you've been soldiering on with the wrong tools because asking again feels like too much, this conversation is for you.

Learn more about Lee and his work at LeeSilber.com. Lee is delivering three sessions at the upcoming Ascent Conference

If your younger staff seem disengaged, hard to motivate, or constantly pushing boundaries on start times and schedules, the problem might not be who they are. It might be what you haven't communicated.

In this hosts-only conversation, Paul and Zed dig into the generational shifts reshaping medical practice teams. From Gen X to Gen Z, they unpack why today's younger employees need immediate feedback, a clear sense of mission, and a reason to believe the work matters, and why silence from leadership is often read as failure. They also introduce a practical tool, the debrief, for helping team members self-correct on productivity without a confrontational conversation.

If you're managing a multi-generational team and struggling to get everyone pulling in the same direction, this one is for you.

Every practice administrator has sat in their office feeling like the weight of the entire practice is on their shoulders, and convinced themselves that everyone else must have it together.

In this episode, Zed and Paul sit down with Camille White, Senior Director of ENT Services at Audigy, to unpack why that feeling is both common and completely unnecessary. Camille shares her own journey from a brand-new manager who'd never run a doctor's office to a seasoned leader, and the pivotal shift that changed everything: learning to ask for help, be vulnerable with peers, and tap into the community that's already waiting for you.

Learn about Audiology Consulting: Audiology Consulting and Support | Audigy
Connect with Camille on LinkedIn: Camille White, COPM | LinkedIn

Insurance companies are spending eight and nine figures on AI and software to manage reimbursements, while most practices are fighting back with spreadsheets and guesswork.

In this episode, Zed and Paul sit down with Wayzen Lin, founder of Rev Ops Health, to pull back the curtain on the hidden revenue leaks draining medical practices every day.

From a seven-figure loss caused by a simple typo in a payer's fee schedule to copay collection rates that quietly crater over time, Wayzen makes the case that the data your practice is already generating holds the answers... if you know how to read it.

Learn about Rev Ops Health: RevOps Health | Real Time Revenue Intelligence for Healthcare
Connect with Wayzen Lin: LinkedIn: Wayzen Lin | LinkedIn

Most practices don't think about physician recruitment until they're overwhelmed, and that's exactly when mistakes happen.

In this episode, Zed and Paul sit down with Brent Barnacle, VP of Physician Recruitment at IPL Health Staffing, to break down why hiring a "warm body" costs more than leaving a seat empty.

From targeting passive candidates to aligning your team's culture before the first interview, Brent shares what separates practices that retain great providers from those stuck in a revolving door.

Connect with Brent on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-barnacle-a98b6329/

Learn about ASCENT: https://www.askascent.com/