What does it take to build resilience, strengthen culture, and lead people effectively in a high-pressure healthcare environment?

In this episode of the Transformational Leadership Podcast, Jeff Harnois sits down with Dr. Molly Hamilton, SVP & CHRO for Southern Illinois Healthcare, after rising through roles in HR Business Partner, Talent Management, and Interim CHRO, to explore resilience, employee engagement, executive development, organizational culture, and continuous learning.

Molly shares lessons from her journey across HR, manufacturing, academia, and healthcare. She discusses completing her PhD while raising three children, teaching as adjunct faculty for around 12 years, and eventually moving back into the practitioner world. She also explains how routines, faith, exercise, coaching, and intentional structure have helped her stay focused through demanding seasons of leadership.

The conversation explores Molly's approach to taking care of the people who take care of people. At Southern Illinois Healthcare, which has around 4,000 employees, she focuses on supporting employees so they can provide the best possible care to patients. She also shares how the organization improved employee engagement from the 2nd percentile to the 44th percentile in three years while reducing turnover.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• How leaders can build resilience through structure and consistent routines

• Why taking care of yourself helps you lead and support others

• How leaders can model the behaviors they expect from their teams

• Why employee engagement is about more than a survey score

• How healthcare leaders can connect employee and patient experience

• Why getting uncomfortable is an important part of leadership growth

• How junior executives can prepare themselves for senior leadership

• Why executive presence, preparation, and system-level thinking matter

• How curiosity and withholding judgment can make HR leaders more effective

• Why kindness, grace, and continuous learning matter at every leadership level

Molly also shares a simple message for leaders who want to grow: sometimes you have to get uncomfortable to grow.

This episode is packed with practical insights for executives, HR professionals, healthcare leaders, emerging executives, and anyone focused on building stronger cultures, developing people, and becoming a more effective leader.

🎙️ Guest: Dr. Molly Hamilton 🎙️ Host: Jeff Harnois 📌 Podcast: Transformational Leadership

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What does it take to lead effectively when the stakes are high? This conversation explores leadership lessons shaped by experiences ranging from SWAT team training and war-zone leadership in Iraq to organizational culture, communication, and change management.

The discussion examines how leaders build high-performing teams, communicate across cultural and language barriers, align people around a shared mission, and create clarity during complex situations.

A central leadership lesson emerges: if you don't explain the why, people will create their own why.

Discover practical insights on building trust, strengthening team culture, empowering employees, improving communication, and giving teams the ownership they need to execute effectively.

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Jeff Harnois speaks with Jodi Brockington, founder and CEO of Nyara Consulting, founder of the FOJ Network, and co-founder of Venture Philanthropy Blueprint.

Jodi shares how she transformed a traditional career fair into a digital career success series, giving professionals access to career development, mentorship, and corporate leaders without being limited by geography.

She also discusses how a pitch contest evolved into a broader entrepreneurship ecosystem and helped create additional opportunities and resources for small businesses.

The conversation explores the difference between networking and strategic access, why curated relationships can create faster opportunities, and how leaders can build resource networks around what people actually need. Jodi also shares lessons on resilience, entrepreneurship, lifelong learning, staying ahead of technology, giving value freely, and why you should never burn bridges in your professional career.

Topics include: transformational leadership, access to opportunity, strategic networking, entrepreneurship, career development, scalable impact, professional relationships, leadership, resilience, lifelong learning, technology, and building a lasting legacy.