Leadership and Team Building with Fran McCaffrey, Matt Howard, and Jon Darsee

University of Iowa College of Public Health

Lauren welcomes 3 very special guests for this episode exploring leadership and building successful teams: Fran McCaffrey, the head coach of the University of Iowa men's basketball team; Dr. Matt Howard, Chief of Neurosurgery at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics; and Jon Darsee, Chief Innovation Officer at the University of Iowa and president of the Research Park Corporation. Key takeaways from the conversation include: Leadership can be both innate and learned through experience and mentorship. Effective leaders often display humility, empathy, and the ability to build trust within their teams. Humility is an important trait for leaders to cultivate, as it allows them to learn from mistakes and support their team members. Successful leaders often serve as role models by openly acknowledging their own shortcomings. In both sports and medicine, the ability to foster a strong team culture and recognize the value of all team members, including support staff, is crucial for building resilient and high-performing organizations. For students and young professionals, the advice is to prioritize finding the right mentors and teams over short-term financial incentives, as the opportunities for growth and learning will be more valuable in the long run. A transcript of this episode is available at https://tinyurl.com/bdcrypua Have a question for our podcast crew or an idea for an episode? You can email them at [e-mail] You can also support Plugged in to Public Health by sharing this episode and others with your friends, colleagues, and social networks. #publichealth #education #leadership #teambuilding