Podcast Appearances

Finding Excellence in Crisis — The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk
Lessons in Leadership Development  — LEADx
The Mayo Clinic Approach Leadership — OnBrand with Nick Westergaard
Leading and Growing as a Physician — Spine & Nerve
The Power of Leadership in Medicine — KevinMD
Making Better Decisions — Reconsidering
You’re the Leader. Now What?  — The Leadership Podcast
Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic — The Second City
Organizational Vital Signs — The Action Catalyst
Model to Becoming a Better Leader — Behavioral Health Today
You’re the Leader — The Gary Bisbee Show
What Makes You a Great Leader — The Strategy Skills Podcast
Two Pages with Michael Bungay Stanier
How to Lead at Any Level — Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Keen On Podcast with Andrew Keen

Articles

Harvard Business Review – Coaching Physicians to Become Leaders
Fast Company – Looking for a great leader? Your current employees have recommendations
Inc – 4 Things Good Leaders Do When Facing Obstacles That Bad Leaders Don’t
Forbes – Why Leaders Need To Rethink Their Approaches To Making Decisions
Investors Business Daily – Before Pushing Others At Work, Take A Look In The Mirror
KevinMD – How to improve decision-making effectiveness

Public Speaking

Much of my time involves speaking within organizations. Typically either keynoting organizational retreats/events or giving focused talks on leadership issues. I don’t stand behind a podium. I invite dynamic participation. Yes, the goal is to learn. But the primary goal is to drive the necessary change needed to improve the care of patients.

Recent topics:

• How to Create a Values-Driven Organizational Culture
• How to Build Leadership Dyads/Triads
• How to Move from Survey to Solution
• How to Run an Effective Meeting (Rather than a Telling)
• How to Lead When Everyone Disagree
• How to Achieve a Difficult Professional Goal
• How to Delegate and Drive Results
• How to Grow through Professional Adversity
• How to Have Uncomfortable Conversations
• The Five Hats of Effective Leaders
• How to Drive Engagement
• How to Decrease Burnout and Improve Well-Being
• How to Overcome Resistance to Change
• How to Manage Your Boss
• How to Step Up from Your Own Expertise
• How to Coach Colleagues from Problems to Solutions

Recent feedback:

• “SO ENTERTAINING! This was my favorite presentation of the whole conference!”
• “20 years in medicine. Best talk I have ever heard. Enough said.”
• “Dr. Winters is a vibrant speaker.”
• “The program did a great job of maintaining everyone’s attention and encouraged conversation between colleagues where it probably did not exist before. Dr. Winters was very engaging and made the lessons immediately applicable in our organization.”
• “Best lecture of the day. Wonderful speaker easy to listen to with valuable tips and information”
• “This in my opinion was the highlight of the program.”
• “This talk was excellent-very relatable and presented ways to mitigate this issue. Very effective presenter.”
• “Great presenter with lots of energy-perfect for post break.”
• “Very relevant topic. Great information was shared. Loved the interactive activities at the table.”
• “The presentation was incredibly thoughtful and funny. I highly recommend it to other colleagues and staff.”
• “One of the best speakers I’ve ever had the pleasure to listen to. Very entertaining and a perfect way to end the day.”

Executive Retreats

I facilitate retreats. These engagements may involve senior leadership teams or leaders at all levels of an organization. The retreats create an environment that helps organizations solve their most challenging issues. No marketing speak or corporate jargon. Participants connect, share alternate perspectives, promote understanding, and make plans to drive results.

Recent Retreats:

• How do we most work together most effectively as an executive team?
• How do we create and drive effective strategy for next year?
• How do we create and empower leadership dyads and triads?
• How do we improve our quality scores?
• How do we increase the well-being and engagement of staff?
• How do we attract and retain top talent?
• How do we improve our all-staff survey results?
• How do we best align two distinct physician cultures?
• How do we establish an efficient process for the morning discharge of hospitalized patients?
• How do we increase procedural volume at our ambulatory surgical center?
• How do we create an integrated multispecialty center of excellence for spine care?

Executive Coaching

I provide executive coaching for senior leaders of healthcare organizations. These leaders typically have many direct reports, work in areas of high complexity, and oversee teams of experts. I support and challenge both their thinking and actions to improve effectiveness and fulfillment.

Recent Academic Publications

Morey J, Winters R, Jones D. Artificial Intelligence to Predict Billing Code Levels of Emergency Department Encounters. Ann Emerg Med. 2025 Jan;85(1):63–73.

Branzetti J, Winters RC. How to Be Coachable. AEM Education and Training. 2025;9(4):e70090.

Winters RC, Chan TM. Five hats of effective leaders: teacher, mentor, coach, supervisor and sponsor. BMJ Leader. 2024 Mar 18;8(1):9–14.

Morey JR, Winters RC, Mullan AF, Schupbach J, Jones DD. Payer Type and Emergency Department Visit Prices. JAMA Network Open. 2024;7(3):e241297.

Winters RC, Chan TM. Reconciling resident feedback: a disorienting dilemma of adult development. CJEM. 2023 Feb;25(2):105–107.

Winters RC, Chen R, Lal S, Chan TM. Six Principles for Developing Leadership Training Ecosystems in Health Care. Academic Medicine. 2022 Jun 1;97(6):793–796.

Leep Hunderfund AN, West CP, Rackley SJ, Dozois EJ, Moeschler SM, Vaa Stelling BE, Winters RC, Satele DV, Dyrbye LN. Social support, social isolation, and burnout: cross-sectional study of US residents exploring associations with individual, interpersonal, program, and work-related factors. Academic Medicine. 2022;97(8):1184–1194.

Dyrbye LN, Leep Hunderfund AN, Moeschler S, Vaa B, Dozois E, Winters RC, et al. Residents’ Perceptions of Faculty Behaviors and Resident Burnout: a Cross-Sectional Survey Study Across a Large Health Care Organization. J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Jul;36(7):1906–1913.

Dyrbye LN, Leep Hunderfund AN, Winters RC, Moeschler SM, Vaa Stelling BE, Dozois EJ, et al. The relationship between burnout and help-seeking behaviors, concerns, and attitudes of residents. Academic Medicine. 2021;96(5):701–708.

Background

I am an emergency physician at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. I provide executive coaching and deliver leadership programs at Mayo Clinic and for the national and international members of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. I serve as chair of finance for the department of emergency medicine and on the department executive committee, strategy committee, personnel committee, and enterprise specialty council.

Prior to my work at Mayo Clinic, I served as managing partner of a democratic physician group, chair of emergency medicine, president of an 800-physician medical staff, and CEO/founder of a managed care startup.

In 1994, I graduated from the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. I am board certified and residency trained in Emergency Medicine from the University of California, San Francisco at Fresno. I graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas Executive and Professional Coaching Program and am a professional certified coach through the International Coaching Federation. I completed a Healthcare Management Executive MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center. I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

I live in Rochester, Minnesota with my family.