STAT Leadership S2e3: Buffering Your Team: Influencing Up When Leadership Falls Short

Send us Fan Mail In this STAT Leadership Podcast episode, hosts JR, Dr. JR Pickett, Dr. Chetan Kharod, and Dr. Phil Moy continue revisiting Season 1 “open loops” by discussing how to limit the impact of an ineffective leader when you are not in charge, building on Season 1 Episode 8 about influence through character, compassion, competence, and courage. They distinguish formal vs informal authority and warn against undermining leaders while emphasizing the necessity of difficult conversations. Phil shares an example of advocating to moderate an excessive professionalism response against a physician, using a deputy to keep the conversation objective. Chet recounts a deployment where proactive communication reduced a micromanaging boss’s pressure, and another case where he risked asking a wing commander about recent commander reliefs, ultimately prompting transparency. They reference leadership lessons from Band of Brothers, Star Trek’s Jellico/Picard episodes, Essentialism, and Penelope in The Odyssey.   00:00 Welcome and Setup 00:30 Leading Up Against Bad Leadership 01:59 Middle Manager Sandwich 03:10 Hard Conversations and Intent 05:02 ER Write Up Story 09:11 Deployment Micromanager Fix 20:34 Why Leaders Act This Way 23:14 Wing Commander Icebreaker 35:26 Professionalism and Safety 40:13 Pop Culture Leadership Lessons 51:52 What We Are Reading Now 56:47 Final Takeaway and Close   Demolition Man: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/?ref\=ext\shr\_lnk Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241527/?ref\=ext\shr\_lnk Inglorious Basterds: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/?ref\=ext\shr\_lnk Simon Sinek, *Start With Why:* https://simonsinek.com/books/start-with-why Full Metal Jacket: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093058/?ref\=ext\shr\_lnk Band of Brothers: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185906/?ref\=ext\shr\_lnk Saving Private Ryan: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/?ref\=ext\shr\_lnk Star Trek: The Next Generation, S6e10 “Chain of Command”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708686/?ref\=ext\shr\_lnk Essentialism, by Greg McKeown: https://a.co/d/04OfHs31 The Odyssey: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33764258/?ref\=ext\shr\_lnk   Full episode here: https://youtu.be/7T9i0Lrihr8