I recently went one-on-one with Dr. Kristi Henderson, CEO of Confluent Health.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Kristi: My journey in healthcare started in an unexpected place—lifeguarding at a water park. What seemed like the ideal teenage job turned intense as I regularly encountered emergencies, from head injuries to near drownings. That experience sparked my interest in emergency medicine, and I soon found myself volunteering in the emergency department at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. I fell in love with the field and decided to pursue nursing, beginning my career in the trauma center as an emergency nurse. Working in emergency medicine opened my eyes to the critical flaws in our healthcare system. I witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of delayed access to care and saw how social factors significantly influence health outcomes. This realization fueled my desire to help fix our broken healthcare system and has brought me to where I am today.

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?

Kristi: In my experience, the most important step is to never lose sight of the two most important components of your business: your customer and your employees. The success and growth of a company is dependent on maintaining trust with both groups and continually incorporating feedback from them.  

Behind that, I would say, having a trusted leadership team beside you to drive the organizational mission forward is crucial. This team acts as the foundation, providing essential support, insights, and resources needed to navigate challenges and opportunities alike. Choosing the right leadership team is a blessing and a privilege, and it will be one of, if not the largest, factor in growing and scaling your business.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?

Kristi: Curiosity is one of the most essential traits a leader can possess. It fuels the ability to continuously learn and adapt to ever-evolving industries, driving future leaders to ask tough questions, challenge assumptions, create diverse perspectives, anticipate changes and issues, learn from failures, and more. This mindset is crucial for driving innovation and guiding organizations through dynamic challenges.

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Kristi: Aspiring leaders can expand their leadership skills by learning to lead through change and having a bias for action. This is something that not a lot of professionals realize they struggle with, but embracing change and taking decisive data-driven actions will keep organizations moving forward and positioned to navigate challenges. In the past half-century, we have seen an immense amount of change in technological advancements, shifting market demands, and more. Leaders who lean into change and lead through it are enabled to thrive and innovate in challenging environments. This adaptability is a critical driver of sustainable growth and long-term success.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Kristi: 

1. Learn from others – The voice of the customer is essential to ensure your business is meeting their needs and expectations. Additionally, learning from others in and outside your organization and industry will broaden your perspective, deepen your understanding, and expose new opportunities. 

2. Invest in and show appreciation to your team – An organization is only as good as your employees. The saying “happy employees equal happy customers” is so true. Everyone in your organization plays a critical role in your success and in fostering an environment that encourages trust, dedication, and recognition. This recognition cultivates a sense of loyalty, increases motivation in the workplace, strengthens relationships and collaboration, reduces employee turnover rates, and more. These are all essential factors that play a key role in the success of an organization.

3. Lead by example - Building a team and organization with strong ethics and values is extremely important. Leaders need to know how to set the tone to model the behaviors, values, and work ethic expected. Instilling integrity and resilience is one of the most important jobs a leader can have.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?

Kristi: As a leader, my job is to set the vision, the pace and the direction of the company. Then my job is to enable the best and brightest individuals to achieve that vision. It is important to stay close to every level of the company to get feedback and find barriers that are limiting the team. For me, this means going to meet with leaders, front-line employees, and customers at the regional and local locations to see firsthand the operations and culture at every level. 

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?

Kristi: Effective leadership begins with a deep understanding of your brand and authentically embodying its core values. Ensuring that you have a mission and vision that resonates with your company is essential, and even more critical to cultivate an environment where employees consistently align with and exemplify these objectives. This alignment helps sustain the company’s credibility and ensures a lasting, positive impact on its image.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Kristi: One of the best pieces of advice that has stuck with me and that I can share is to have a curiosity-first mindset, which includes being a good listener. A “curiosity-first” mindset ensures I am seeing all perspectives and avoiding biases and avoiding blind spots. This approach allows me to gather a robust data set from all stakeholders to understand the pros and cons so I can make the best possible decision. I listen to those who are providing care, leading different divisions of the company, etc., so curiosity and listening need to be a priority.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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