Leadership isn't all kumbaya. The truth is, real leadership, the kind that moves the needle on something as daunting as closing the health gap, is risky. It requires disrupting the status quo, disappointing your own people, and absorbing the discomfort that comes with change. But as this episode makes clear, the cost of avoiding that risk is even higher.

In this episode, hosts Ed O'Malley and Susan Kang are joined by returning guest Kenny Wilk to unpack why exercising leadership is inherently risky, what it looks like in practice and why the reward on the other side is worth it.

Highlights

• While many individuals placed in leadership roles believe they’re exercising leadership, it’s actually exceedingly rare.
• Leadership is risky because it’s about disruption, and how it requires disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb.
• The risk-reward mismatch in health equity: the 30,000 Kansans with the most influence must take risk to benefit the people with the least, such as the ALICE population (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed).
• The remarkable turnaround of the University of Kansas Health System, from one of the worst-rated hospitals in the nation (below the 5th percentile in patient satisfaction) to consistently above the 90th percentile.
• Kenny's personal framework for staying motivated to lead on issues that don't directly benefit him: gratitude, paying it forward and finding deep satisfaction in others' success.
• The "Salad Week" story from the 2002 Kansas legislative budget crisis. A vivid example of leaders forcing uncomfortable conversations their own caucus didn't want to have.
• The Kansas Capitol restoration decision: why Kenny and Senate counterpart Steve Morris refused to defund it even in a financial crisis and why it paid off.
• Examples of risk in what Kansans experience every day, but could deliver a great payoff.
• How embracing the opportunity to challenge one another with different ideas can introduce new ways of thinking.

Chapters

1:19 – Review, Preview and Big Picture

2:57 – Introducing Chapter 10: [Leadership] is Risky

5:33 – How Leadership Involves Disruption and Loss

7:50 – Leadership Requires Disappointing Your Own People

9:33 – KHF Strategy as an Example

12:21 – Risk vs. Reward in Health Equity

14:31 – Kenny on the risks and transformation of the Kansas Health System

16:14 – From Worst to Best: Culture Shift

19:05 – Metrics and Momentum Wins

21:07 – The Risky Turnaround Story

23:08 – Pay It Forward Mindset

26:19 – Hallmark Promotion Risk

27:58 – Post-9/11 Budget Crisis

30:14 – Salad Week Disruption

32:55 – Capitol Restoration Resolve

34:50 – Everyday Risk Examples

37:10 – Acceptance and Pushback

39:01 – Make Leadership Ubiquitous

40:10 – Resources and Final Challenge

42:45 – Closing and Next Chapter

Resources

• Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) — kansasleadershipcenter.org
• Proud but Never Satisfied — book about the transformation of the University of Kansas Health System - https://www.kansashealthsystem.com/proud-but-never-satisfied
• University of Kansas Health System — kansashealthsystem.com

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

Don’t have a copy of Leading Health? Claim your copy and learn more about the movement at kansashealth.org/leadinghealth

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It’s no secret that to solve the Health Gap in Kansas, we need those in authority to stop thinking of this as a health challenge and start thinking of it as a leadership challenge that requires a lot of change.

We know that what people often fear most about change is losing something that matters to them. Understanding that distinction is the key that unlocks real progress.

In this chapter of Leading Health, Ed O'Malley and Susan Kang dig into one of the most important and most overlooked concepts in leadership: the relationship between change and loss. Joined again by Johnathan Sublet, founder of SENT, Inc. in Topeka, they explore what it truly takes to help communities let go of what is to make room for what could be. Kansas has climbed to #27 in the health rankings — three consecutive years of improvement for the first time in 35 years. Getting to #1 will require leaders who can name the losses, speak to them honestly and create space for others to do the same.

Highlights

• People don't fear change — they fear loss. Reframing resistance as data, not opposition, shifts the locus of responsibility back to the leader.
• When someone pushes back on your idea, that's information. It means they perceive a loss you haven't yet addressed.
• Speaking to loss is powerful. So is letting loss speak — inviting others to voice what's hard creates trust and energizes people toward change.
• Johnathan Sublet shares five universal fears (death, being an outsider, the future, chaos and insignificance) and the five corresponding needs leaders must address to reduce anxiety and improve performance.
• The story of Topeka's first net-zero home and a significant tree to a grieving family. Illustrating what it looks like to speak to loss in a deeply human way.
• Technical experts (engineers, health professionals, administrators) face a particular challenge: their expertise can lead them to double down on logic when empathy is what's needed.
• The Moses framework: leadership requires both systems-thinking and shepherding, and most leaders are naturally strong in only one.
• Closing the urban-rural divide in Kansas health requires people to lose their attachment to the idea that their challenge is uniquely theirs.
• Prioritizing health means deprioritizing something else, and that's a real loss for the people who care about those other things.
• Think 401k, not day trading: small, consistent, compounding investments in a shared strategy, not swinging for the miracle, is how Kansas gets to #1.

Chapters

0:47 — Introduction: Chapter 9 — It's a Leadership Challenge Because It Requires Loss

4:00 — People Don't Fear Change — They Fear Loss

5:03 — Resistance as Data: What Pushback Is Really Telling You

7:25 — Speaking to Loss vs. Letting Loss Speak

10:01 — Guest Introduction: Johnathan Sublet, SENT

12:38 — The Five Universal Fears and Five Universal Needs

15:19 — Real-World Loss: Topeka's First Net Zero Home and the Tree

18:17 — The Moses Framework: Systems Thinking Meets Shepherding

27:27 — Letting Go of Your Preferred Strategy: The K-State Transdisciplinary Housing Team

32:57 — Six Sigma and Prioritizing for Impact: The Sent Network Approach

36:07 — Takeaways: Acknowledging Loss to Make Progress

37:24 — 401k vs. Day Trading: A Mindset for Long-Term Health Leadership

Resources Mentioned

• America's Health Rankings
• SENT — A Topeka-based nonprofit that focuses on Community Health and Wellness, Education and Workforce Development and Housing and Revitalization.

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

Don’t have a copy of Leading Health? Claim your copy and learn more about the movement at kansashealth.org/leadinghealth

And be sure to subscribe, and drop a comment to let us know what you think.

What if the biggest barrier to better health in your community isn't a lack of resources, but a set of assumptions you didn't even know you were making?

In this conversation, co-hosts Ed O'Malley and Susan Kang are joined by returning guest Kenny Wilk of the University of Kansas Health System. Together, they unpack how hidden assumptions — about who should be involved, what needs to be done, and how fast progress can happen — quietly shape how people in authority think and act. Wilk shares candid stories from his time in the Kansas Legislature and offers a fresh lens on exercising leadership. This conversation will challenge you to surface the assumptions driving your own work before they become "premeditated resentments."

Highlights

• The three most common assumptions the 30,000 make when tackling complex health challenges, and why each one can derail progress.
• The critical difference between adaptive and technical challenges.
• Kenny Wilk's hard-won insight from the Kansas Legislature: don't ask people to change their minds; give them new information so they can make a new decision.
• How sharing information to ‘slow things down’ can help a group go farther, together.
• The "sidewalk story" is a simple metaphor that reframes how we see ‘work’ being done.
• The danger of bringing people together only to present a baked solution, and what to do instead.

Chapters

0:47 —Leading Health Review, Preview and Big Picture.
3:02 — Chapter Eight insight: "Closing the Health Gap Is a Leadership Challenge Because Our Existing Assumptions Fail Us"
4:55 — The three common assumptions the 30,000 make
6:28 — The quick fix trap
8:37 — Technical vs. adaptive: a broken bone example
11:14 — Kenny Wilk joins the conversation
12:18 — The water debate: a lesson from Kenny's first year in the legislature
14:52 — Defining "assumption" — and why we're all starting from different places
15:56 — You have to slow down to go far
16:22 — Getting up on the balcony to examine assumptions
17:52 — New decisions, not mind changes
19:13 — How authority can create space for assumption-surfacing
21:05 — Why leaders jump straight to solutions
22:59 — From kitchen table to campaign trail to governing — three different phases
24:27 — Technical vs. adaptive challenges in practice
27:13 — What authorities must do differently on adaptive challenges
30:46 — The sidewalk story: seeing the invisible work of adaptive leadership
33:50 — Takeaways and preview of the next episode

Resources Mentioned

• Kansas Health Rankings
• University of Kansas Health System
• Kansas Leadership Center (KLC)

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

Don’t have a copy of Leading Health? Claim your copy and learn more about the movement at kansashealth.org/leadinghealth

And be sure to subscribe, and drop a comment to let us know what you think.

What if the biggest barrier to improving the health of an entire state isn't a lack of medicine, money, or expertise, but a failure of leadership? In Chapter 7 of Leading Health, we tackle one of the most provocative ideas in the book: Kansas can't climb the health rankings without first confronting the reality that we don't agree on what caused the problem or what the solution is. That makes it a leadership challenge before it's a health challenge.

This episode features a special guest — Ben Hutton, President and CEO of Hutton Company — who brings a private-sector perspective to a conversation typically dominated by the public sector. We explore what it means to lead with both humility and bold experimentation, and why getting people focused on the right problems might be more important than having all the right answers.

Highlights

• Kansas has improved its health rankings for three consecutive years, a meaningful milestone that deserves more attention.
• Leadership is an activity, not a position and authority and leadership are two distinct things.
• The role of those in authority isn't to proclaim solutions; it's to center the problem and create alignment.
• Every person in the "30,000" has a part of the mess — defining your part is often the most actionable first step.
• Goals and strategies are not the same; confusing them is one of the most common traps when tackling adaptive challenges (Medicaid expansion is a strategy; ensuring Kansans have adequate health insurance is a goal).
• The Hutton Company implemented the Dream Manager program — helping employees name and pursue personal dreams, from climbing Machu Picchu to buying a first home.
• Discuss why businesses need to think about both Capital H health (everything we need to thrive) vs. little h health (healthcare).
• The "$50,000 experiment" framework: big enough to matter if it works, small enough to survive if it doesn't.
• Third-grade literacy as a leading indicator: solving upstream problems prevents a cascade of downstream challenges.
• Two people — and two ideas — can both be right at the same time. The tragedy of our era is that we've shifted from advocating for our ideas to advocating against our opponents' ideas.
• Purpose-driven businesses that invest in capital H health tend to be more profitable in traditional measures too; the data bears this out.

Chapters

0:48 — Introduction & Chapter 7 Overview

4:49 — Leadership vs. Authority: Lessons from COVID

11:51 — Introducing Ben Hutton

13:27 — Capital H vs. Little H Health in the Workplace

15:24 — The Dream Manager Program

19:18 — Finite vs. Infinite Games & the Case for Experimentation

25:23 — Disrupting Entrenched Narratives

35:46 — Goals vs. Strategies: How to Create Alignment

37:09 — Closing Takeaways

Resources Mentioned

• The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly
• The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
• Hutton

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

Don’t have a copy of Leading Health? Claim your copy and learn more about the movement at kansashealth.org/leadinghealth

And be sure to subscribe, and drop a comment to let us know what you think.

We often think of leadership as a title, but really, it’s an action. While some challenges just need a solid plan, solving the Kansas Health Gap requires a specific kind of leadership that goes beyond authority.

In Episode 6 of Leading Health, Ed O’Malley and Susan Kang unpack the three reasons why this gap is so hard to close—from the lack of urgency to the inevitable clash of values. Joined by Johnathan Sublet, Executive Director of SENT, they dive further to highlight what it really looks like to lead from a calling, punch deeper at daunting problems and build systems that free you to pursue the work that keeps you up at night.

Highlights

• Leadership is an activity, not a noun.
• Separating leadership from authority invites far more people into the work.
• The 30,000 Kansans have a specific and essential leadership role to play in improving capital-H Health, but having authority doesn't always mean you're exercising leadership.
• Johnathan Sublet's journey from chemical engineer to nonprofit leader illustrates what it looks like to lead from a calling rather than just manage a role.
• Burnout isn't caused by a heavy schedule; it's caused by an unsettled relationship. between daily tasks and the original passion that drove you to the work.
• The "punch deeper" metaphor: too many nonprofits throw shallow punches at problems; real leadership means aiming past the face and committing to closing gaps entirely.
• Competing values are not problems to solve, they're tensions to manage; if you're not getting pushback from all sides, you're probably not doing anything significant.
• "Leading is disappointing people at a rate they can tolerate," and remembering what got you into the work is what keeps the calling alive.

Chapters

0:48 — Chapter 6 Introduction

1:56 — Why Health Is a Leadership Challenge

2:32 — Three Factors of Leadership Explained

6:09 — Authority Versus Leadership

8:02 — Having Authority Does Not Mean Exercising Leadership

9:57 — Meet Johnathan Sublet of SENT

10:38 — Leading Versus Managing

12:08 — Calling and Community Work

15:29 — Burnout and Big Swings

17:43 — Systems Free Your Focus

18:48 — Leadership Challenge Mindset

19:44 — Share the Model Widely

20:17 — Greek Not Roman Legacy

21:57 — Housing Change Snowball

23:34 — ALICE and the Missing Middle

26:52 — Competing Values in Practice

30:37 — Keep the Calling Alive

33:08 — Key Takeaways

Resources

• SENT — A Topeka-based nonprofit that focuses on Community Health and Wellness, Education and Workforce Development and Housing and Revitalization.
• Kansas Leadership Center - Learn how to exercise leadership and mobilize others for greater change.
• ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) — a United Way framework describing the working poor, referenced in the housing discussion

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

Don’t have a copy of Leading Health? Claim your copy and learn more about the movement at kansashealth.org/leadinghealth

And be sure to subscribe, and drop a comment to let us know what you think.

In this bridge episode between Parts 1 and 2 of the Leading Health book, we pause to recap where we've been and preview what's coming. We revisit the core arguments from our first five episodes — from capital H Health versus lower h health, to the 30,000 Kansans who hold civic authority and why they matter — before revealing the central thesis of Part 2: Kansas's health gap is not a health challenge. It's a leadership challenge. And until we frame it that way, we'll keep arriving at the same dead ends.

Highlights

• Kansas fell from #8 to #31 in America's Health Rankings — and treating this as a health problem is exactly why progress has stalled
• The 30,000 Kansans in roles of civic authority — elected officials, pastors, school principals, nonprofit executives, and community-minded CEOs — are the key to change
• America's Health Rankings serves as the "North Star" for measuring progress toward Kansas becoming the #1 healthiest state in the nation
• Part 1 describes the symptoms, Part 2 delivers the diagnosis, and Part 3 will outline the prescription
• Passionate people working for change are often their own biggest enemy — the real challenge is frequently different than it first appears
• Improving population health is an adaptive challenge, not a technical one — meaning there are no easy answers, and it involves risk, loss, and ongoing exploration
• Leadership is rare, and it's an activity, not a position — we prefer to talk about people exercising leadership rather than simply holding the title
• Even if every healthcare expert, public health professional, nutritionist, and researcher does their part, the health gap will remain — because it is first and foremost a leadership challenge

Chapters

1:28 – Recap of the First Five Episodes

2:13 – Capital H vs. Lower h Health

2:29 – Meet the 30,000 Civic Leaders

2:57 – America's Health Rankings as Our North Star

3:13 – The Symptoms → Diagnosis → Prescription Framework

3:55 – Passionate People and Hidden Challenges

5:44 – It's Not a Health Problem — It's a Leadership Problem

6:38 – Adaptive Challenge and the Rarity of Real Leadership

8:59 – Why This Lens Changes Everything

9:31 – Experts Matter, But Leadership Must Lead

10:48 – Wrap-Up and Next Episode Preview

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

Don’t have a copy of Leading Health? Claim your copy and learn more about the movement at kansashealth.org/leadinghealth

And be sure to subscribe, and drop a comment to let us know what you think.

What would it look like if Kansas became the healthiest state in the nation — and what would it take to get there?

In Chapter 5 of Leading Health, we cast a bold vision of what Kansas at #1 in America’s Health Rankings could mean for real people. It would look like fewer Kansans going hungry, more kids reading at grade level, and hundreds of thousands fewer people struggling with substance use, just to name a few. We're joined by Kenny Wilk, former Kansas legislator and member of the Kansas Board of Regents, and now Vice President of Governmental and Community Affairs at the University of Kansas Health System. Alongside Ed and Susan, he shares what it means to cast a vision bold enough to be risky, and why that's exactly what leadership requires.

Highlights

• In 1991, Kansas was ranked #8 in America’s Health Rankings. Over the next 30 years, we’ve drastically slipped to our lowest at #31 and today, #27. Our goal is #1.
• If Kansas matched New Hampshire (currently #1), 105,000 fewer Kansans would face food insecurity, 32,000 more kids would read at grade level by 4th grade, 173,000 more Kansans would exercise regularly, and 183,000 fewer Kansans would engage in non-medical drug use.
• The distinction between capital H Health (everything that helps people thrive) and lowercase h health (healthcare) is central to understanding why this challenge requires more than hospitals and clinics.
• Kenny Wilk draws on his experience leading the Kansas Economic Growth Act and the Bioscience Authority to show how bold, long-term visions can outlast the individuals who cast them.
• Understanding that a vision is "imagining what you cannot see" — and being comfortable that casting a bold vision invites scrutiny.
• How the Kansas Health Foundation’s research on the Economic Case for Health shows that Health is not only an outcome of a great economy, it’s a driver.
• Progress should be celebrated — incremental wins keep people engaged and moving toward a long-term goal.

Chapters

1:25 – Kansas at Number One Vision

2:52 – Pragmatism Meets Idealism

3:31 – The Coins and the Climb

4:51 – What Kansans Told Us

8:04 – If Kansas Matched New Hampshire

11:21 – Up to the 30,000

11:53 – Meet Kenny Wilk

12:55 – Capital H vs. Small h Health

16:42 – Hospitals' Role in Thriving

18:41 – Casting a Risky Vision

21:31 – Players Change, Vision Stays

22:47 – Imagining the Unseen

23:50 – From Concern to Aspiration

24:32 – Listening Then Challenging

26:56 – Authority to Set Direction

28:51 – Scrutiny and Staying Steady

29:58 – Quiet Confidence and Decisions

32:01 – Kansas Number One Impact

34:51 – Health Drives the Economy

39:14 – Takeaways and Celebrate Wins

43:04 – Next Episode Leadership Challenge

Resources

• America's Health Rankings
• The Economic Case for Health Report
• University of Kansas Health System

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

Don’t have a copy of Leading Health? Claim your copy and learn more about the movement at kansashealth.org/leadinghealth

And be sure to subscribe, and drop a comment to let us know what you think.

What happens when our state ranks 29th in Health? More importantly, what does it take to change where we rank in America’s Health Rankings? This episode explores the uncomfortable truth behind Kansas's health rankings and challenges listeners to move beyond easy explanations. We examine why leadership must start with dissatisfaction, how collective action differs from individual effort, and what it means to aim for excellence rather than just catching up. Through real examples from Wyandotte County and Cowley County, we discover how data can spark transformation when communities refuse to look away from difficult realities.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Leadership always starts with dissatisfaction, not with comfort in the status quo.
• Kansas's biggest challenges are both adaptive (complex, no easy solutions) and collective (requiring collaboration across sectors).
• The "easy interpretation" of health data often explains problems away; the "tougher interpretation" faces them head-on.
• Wyandotte County's ranking of 105th out of 105 became a catalyst for community transformation.
• Aiming for "average" or "catching up" creates fundamentally different outcomes than striving for excellence.
• Data walks and reimagining exercises can break down scarcity mindsets and build collective ownership.

CHAPTERS

[0:00] Introduction and Episode Overview

[2:29] Chapter Four Focus

[3:19] Leadership Starts Dissatisfied

[5:27] Easy vs Tougher Takes

[7:36] Agency and Shared Responsibility

[9:10] Adaptive and Collective Challenges

[12:21] Why Collaboration Matters

[13:40] Meet Kari Bruffett

[15:17] Data Dismissed Then Faced

[16:07] Wyandotte County Wakeup Call

[17:44] Policy Barriers Behind Rankings

[19:26] Check Engine Light Lesson

[21:10] Mayor Confronts The Data

[22:02] Upstream Barriers And Action

[22:22] Authority And The 30000

[23:23] Why Kansas Settles For Average

[25:54] Chasing Excellence At KU Health

[29:51] Reimagining Beyond Constraints

[32:51] From Scarcity To Collective Leadership

[33:38] Cowley County Data Walk

[36:46] Adaptive Leadership Takeaways

RESOURCES

• Kansas' Health Rankings
• Kansas Health Institute (KHI)
• Kansas Leadership Center
• Pathways to a Healthy Kansas Data Walk

Leading Health is an invitation to move the needle on Health in Kansas, and we invite you to join us in leading the way.

Don’t have a copy of Leading Health? Claim your copy and learn more about the movement at kansashealth.org/leadinghealth

And be sure to subscribe, and drop a comment to let us know what you think.