THIS MOMENT COUNTS · ISSUE 08

The best talk of the whole conference

Wednesday, June 10, 2026 · by Dr. Michael Gerharz

I don’t often write about client projects. So, this one’s a little special. I’m grateful for Kathy Letendre and Dell Anderson for agreeing to publish their thoughts on our collaboration.

Both of them belong to a very rare group of people: generous, humble, and at the same time incredibly ambitious.

They came to me with a message that deserves to be heard loud and clear: sometimes, the best intentions create the very problem they’re trying to solve. Dell had spent years pushing his team for better results, only to discover that the pushing was the very thing breaking them. (see below for details).

In the case of Dell and Kathy, this message was especially tricky. First of all, it required Dell to publicly admit that he fell into that trap. But even trickier, how do you tell your audience that they might be doing exactly that?

This is the kind of idea that, presented the wrong way, sounds like an accusation. Bury it in data, and it never lands. Lead with the solution, and nobody cares enough to even pay attention.

Not to mention how much courage it takes to stand up in front of 400 people at a national conference to publicly admit you’ve messed up.

But just look at their faces in the video below. The audience was hanging on their every word. After the talk, people lined up to thank them for “the best presentation of the conference”. It wasn’t even close. Almost every other presentation was the typical PowerPoint fest. Theirs stood out because they had a very different understanding of what makes a great presentation.

But don’t believe me. Here’s what Kathy and Dell have to say about their talk:

​

A few quotes if you can’t watch the video right now:

“It was a remarkable experience in every way it could be.”

“I don't think that we would have had the impact that we had without the session. … I learned a great deal from you, Michael.”

“Until meeting with you, I haven't really thought about being intentional about the impact that you want to have and the influence that you want to have.”

“The idea of a pass-along phrase was an eye-opener for me.”

“Just that one session with you has added to a new level of confidence.”

“You give away a lot for free, but working with you is like a whole other level.”

We had three hours together. I couldn't be more proud of what they made of this.

A little background about the talk, because its significance goes far beyond the healthcare industry. It’s an idea worth spreading and, who knows, maybe you’ve fallen into the trap yourself?

Dell runs a behavioral health organization called Renew. For years he watched good people, his clinicians, slowly burn out trying to keep up. When he brought in organizational excellence advisor Kathy to dig into why, they found the answer pointing straight back at themselves.

While they were doing all the “right things” – tracking numbers, running reports, holding people accountable to metrics – they generated exactly the pressure that burns people out, destroys morale, and undoes the clinical work they were trying to improve. The paradox of good intentions gone wrong.

In a nutshell: The staff weren’t failing the system. The system was failing the staff. When they started measuring and fixing the system instead, results improved significantly, clinicians were happier, and they had more free time.

What a phenomenal result. Kathy has a comprehensive post about the project.

Keep lighting the path,
Michael

If that’s how you want to show up when it matters most, I’ve opened up a few slots for the Clarity Lab. Kathy and Dell took the Lab in February to prepare their April talk you just read about. If you want similar results, just reply to this mail or book directly here.