Strategic Conversations

About this episode

This episode explores how negotiation skills can enhance physician leadership and reduce burnout in healthcare.

What if the same negotiation skills used to save hostages could help physicians lead better teams, reduce burnout, and transform healthcare from the inside out? In this episode of PEMBA On Demand, host Dr. Norman A. Chapin sits down with Camilo R. Gomez, MD, MBA, and former FBI lead hostage negotiator Christopher Voss to explore how elite negotiation strategies can reshape leadership in healthcare. Drawing from their new book Strategic Conversations, the conversation bridges the worlds of medicine and high stakes negotiation. Dr. Gomez and Christopher Voss explain how principles like tactical empathy, calibrated questions, ethical ambition, and disciplined curiosity can improve physician leadership, strengthen care teams, reduce burnout, and create better outcomes for patients and organizations alike. This episode challenges traditional command and control leadership models and offers physicians a practical framework for navigating conflict, complexity, and change with clarity and confidence. Key Topics Covered Applying FBI hostage negotiation principles to healthcare leadership Tactical empathy as a leadership and communication tool Moving from authority based leadership to…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Norman A. Chapin

Guests: Camilo R. Gomez, MD, MBA, Christopher Voss

Topics covered

• negotiation skills
• healthcare leadership
• burnout reduction
• tactical empathy
• influence based leadership
• collaboration
• high pressure conversations

Keywords

• negotiation
• leadership
• healthcare
• burnout
• tactical empathy
• communication
• collaboration
• influence
• trust
• psychological safety

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: FBI, University of Tennessee

Books & works: Strategic Conversations

More episodes of PEMBA ON-DEMAND: Real Stories from Physician Leaders

• Mobile CT, AI and the Future of Lung Cancer Screening · March 26, 2026 · 56 min
• Hospital at Home: Promise, Peril, and the Fine Print · March 12, 2026 · 57 min
• Leadership Odyssey: Bridging Medicine and Business with Michael Marks · January 12, 2026 · 49 min
• Gatekeeping Readmissions: Achieving a Top Quartile Turnaround · November 27, 2025 · 58 min
• From Scalpel to Startup · November 13, 2025 · 50 min
• Make a Better Yes · October 30, 2025 · 48 min