Podcast Summary

Podcast: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Episode: Leadership, Analytics, and Decision Making in a Data Driven World with J. Tod Fetherling
Date: January 23, 2026
Guest: J. Tod Fetherling
Host: Scott Becker

Episode Overview

This episode centers on the interplay between leadership, analytics, and decision-making in a data-driven healthcare environment. Veteran healthcare analytics leader and entrepreneur J. Tod Fetherling shares his professional journey, frameworks developed over decades, and practical advice for leaders, entrepreneurs, and emerging professionals navigating the evolving landscape of healthcare and data science.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

J. Tod Fetherling’s Background and Writing Focus

• Professional Experience: Fetherling brings 35+ years in healthcare data analytics, startup leadership, and board membership. Recently, he's focused on authoring four books detailing frameworks in strategy, advanced analytics, decision sciences, and leadership.
• Themes of Writing:
  • Strategy
  • Advanced Analytics
  • Decision Sciences
  • Leadership
• Motivation: “I have these frameworks in my head... I just felt like I needed to get down on paper.” (B, 01:18)

The Human Element in Analytics and Decision Making

• Fetherling emphasizes the integration of human judgment with advanced analytics:
  • “It still comes down to the human element of making a decision and executing up against that strategy.” (B, 02:34)
• The surge in AI and technology highlights, not replaces, the necessity of quality decision-making processes.

What Drives Startup Success?

• Vision and Mission:
  • Vision is “the head,” mission is “the heart.” Getting both aligned attracts the right people and accelerates success.
  • “For me, the vision is the head and the mission is the heart. If you get those two things right, you will find that business will accelerate...” (B, 03:13)
• Frameworks for Execution: Developed frameworks ease execution and strategy translation.

Practical Advice for Leaders and Entrepreneurs

• Team Alignment: The greatest determinant is “who is on your team? Are they aligned to your vision and mission?” (B, 03:53)
• Asking Better Questions:
  • Leaders should focus on formulating high-quality questions before seeking answers.
  • “The more time that people spend thinking about the questions before they ask them winds up translating into true breakthroughs...” (B, 04:05)

Self-Reflection and Identifying Blind Spots

• Key Question to Ask:
  • “What are you missing? What are your blind spots? What do you think you need to understand before you make that decision?” (B, 05:07)
• Iteration and Pilots:
  • Use pilots heavily—test and iterate before scaling.
  • “As you go through that iteration process... you can then take it through the rest of the strategy execution components...” (B, 05:54)

Risk, Pilots, and Minimum Viable Investments

• Strategic Piloting: Inspired by business authors like Jim Collins (Good to Great).
  • “Pilot projects allow you to take five, six different pilots without huge investments and to begin to test and iterate on those so that you have... minimal viable investment...” (B, 07:40)
• When to Double Down:
  • Prioritize time and energy over money. Scale up only when customer value is validated.
  • “Time and energy will always find the best ideas and execution... when there's a defined customer value proposition... that's the point... to double down.” (B, 08:37)

Advice for Emerging Leaders and Careerists

• Leveraging AI in Career Planning:
  • New AI tools allow individuals to discover passions, economic opportunities, and personal fulfillment.
  • “If I know how to correctly prompt AI, I can have it actually filter for me, what types of things that I'm passionate about...” (B, 09:40)
• Finding Happiness and Success:
  • References the Japanese concept of “iki” (likely Ikigai—finding one's reason for being): “If you can find that intersection where you can make customers extremely happy and employees are extremely happily delivering that service. I mean, that's, that's, that's what it's all about.” (B, 10:31)

Personal Projects and Life After Startups

• Investing and Speaking: Engages with startups as a private investor and serves on boards, with a focus on advanced analytics and quantum technology.
• Writing and Golf:
  • Authored four books post-retirement.
  • Dedicated 30 days to golfing, drawing parallels between persistence in sports and business: “Using technology and human perseverance, almost anything is within reach.” (B, 12:15)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Vision and Mission:
  “If you get those two things right, you will find that business will accelerate and accelerate because it attracts the right people to the business.” (B, 03:13)
• On Asking Questions:
  “The more time that people spend thinking about the questions before they ask them winds up translating into true breakthroughs...” (B, 04:05)
• On Self-Reflection:
  “What are you missing? What are your blind spots? What do you think you need to understand before you make that decision?” (B, 05:07)
• On Piloting New Ideas:
  “Pilot projects allow you to take five, six different pilots without huge investments and to begin to test and iterate...” (B, 07:40)
• On Personal Growth and Golf:
  “Using technology and human perseverance, almost anything is within reach.” (B, 12:15)
• On Ikigai and Career Fulfillment:
  “If you can find that intersection where you can make customers extremely happy and employees are extremely happily delivering that service. I mean, that's, that's, that's what it's all about.” (B, 10:31)

Important Timestamps

• 00:46 – Fetherling’s background and current focus
• 01:18 – Areas of writing: frameworks in analytics, decision sciences, and leadership
• 02:14 – The intersection of analytics and decision-making
• 03:11 – What drives startup success: Vision and mission
• 03:52 – Advice for business leaders: Team alignment and asking better questions
• 05:04 – Self-reflection: Identifying blind spots
• 05:46 – Pilots and iteration in strategy execution
• 07:11 – Managing risk: Pilots vs. large investments
• 08:34 – Deciding to scale: Value of time and customer validation
• 09:32 – Career advice for emerging leaders, leveraging AI
• 11:05 – Current projects: Boards, investing, speaking, writing
• 12:30 – Golf as a metaphor for focus and incremental improvement

Conclusion

J. Tod Fetherling shares decades of wisdom in health analytics, underscoring the irreplaceable human factor in decision-making, the importance of aligning vision and mission, the power of strategic piloting, and the necessity of continual self-questioning. His perspectives on leveraging AI for personal fulfillment and the parallels between sports and business discipline offer actionable insights for leaders and emerging professionals alike.

For those seeking practical leadership strategies and approaches to decision-making in data-driven environments, this episode delivers rich, actionable advice grounded in deep experience.