What if the single greatest predictor of your health, resilience, and career satisfaction isn’t a biohack, but your friendships? In this energizing conversation, Professor Emeritus and physician-wellbeing pioneer Dr. Dael Waxman joins Lisa, and Dr. Russ to unpack how authentic connection fuels longevity, lowers burnout, and makes work (and life) a whole lot better.

From simple micro-moves—like a 10-second “thinking of you” text—to culture-shaping leadership practices, Dr. Waxman shows how to build trust across power dynamics, sustain relationships in busy seasons, and create workplaces where meaningful connection can actually happen. You’ll leave with practical, human steps you can do today, no extra time required.

Why listen

• Learn the micro-skills that strengthen friendships in seconds (and why they work).

• Navigate friendship across hierarchies without blurring boundaries.

• Connection-positive ideas you can pilot at work (yes, even if you’re “lonely at the top”).

• Reboot your post-pandemic social muscle with low-risk, high-impact actions.

One powerful prompt to try today
Who just popped into your mind? Send them a one-line text: “You came to mind—cheering you on today.” Notice how you feel—and what comes back.

About Our Guest:
Dael Waxman, MD, PCC is a professionally certified coach who works with individuals, groups, and teams to support leadership, life, and professional well-being. He is also a faculty member at the Healthcare Coaching Institute.

Previously, he served as Professor and Vice Chair of Family Medicine at Atrium Health – Wake Forest School of Medicine, where he also created the role of Medical Director of Physician Well-being for Medical Education.

Drawing on decades of experience in medicine and coaching, Dael helps people strengthen relationships, foster resilience, and build more supportive workplace cultures.

Outside of work, he enjoys travel, kayaking, hiking, cooking, and—most recently—learning barista skills.

You can connect with Dael at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dael-waxman-md-pcc-18917322/

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

Are the people closest to you energizing your life, or quietly exhausting it?

Not all friendships fuel us, some quietly deplete our energy, joy, and even our confidence. In this eye-opening episode, Donna, Lisa, and Dr. Russ unpack the different types of “energy-draining” relationships, from constant complainers and drama magnets to takers, critics, and insecure friends who always have a bigger story. Through real-life stories, research, and practical tools, they reveal how to set boundaries, prune unhealthy connections, and reinvest in friendships that energize and enrich your life. You’ll also learn the simple “3E Filter” (energize, exhaust, enrich) to help you evaluate your relationships and free up space for the people who truly light you up.

Listen in to better understand:

• Why setting boundaries isn’t selfish but essential for sustaining healthy, life-giving friendships.
• How to reinvest your time and energy into relationships that truly enrich and support you.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

Do you know how to navigate shifting relationships with grace, spot red flags, and know when it’s time to hold on or let go? Listen and learn why endings aren’t failures, how to reframe change, and how to keep friendships life-giving at every stage.

Friendships aren’t static, they evolve, shift, and sometimes fade. In this episode, Donna, Lisa, and Dr. Russ dive into the dynamic nature of friendships, exploring why change is natural, how to recognize when a friendship fuels you—or drains you—and what to do when relationships no longer align.

From “reason, season, lifetime” connections to navigating energy vampires and emotional safety, they offer honest stories and practical wisdom on how to adapt, reframe endings, and even rekindle old bonds.

If you’ve ever struggled with drifting apart, knowing when to hold on, or when it’s time to release a friendship with grace, this conversation will help you see change not as failure—but as an essential part of the friendship journey.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

What happens when life collides with work in ways you can’t ignore?

In this heartfelt episode, Donna, Lisa, and Dr. Russ open up about the uncomfortable, but essential, role of empathy in the workplace. From navigating personal grief while leading a team, to the power of a simple check-in call, to celebrating others’ wins without envy, they reveal how small choices of compassion can ripple across lives and organizations.

If you’ve ever wondered how much to share at work, or how to respond when a colleague is hurting (or thriving), this episode offers honest stories and practical wisdom that will change the way you see empathy at work—and remind you that sometimes the smallest gestures matter most.

©Friendship Institute 2025

Friendship Matters™ is intended to help improve our Friendship IQ. While this generally signals an improvement in our overall wellbeing, this podcast is not intended in any way to offer specific counseling or medical advice. Please seek help from a trained professional.

In this episode, we step into the friendship frame of empathy and uncover why it matters so much. Donna opens with a deeply personal story of receiving devastating news just hours before facilitating a leadership session, raising the uncomfortable but vital question of boundaries at work. Dr. Russ and Lisa share powerful moments of their own, from a simple phone call that cut through a colleague’s isolation to a quiet gesture that helped someone carry unbearable grief.

Together we explore the difference between sympathy, empathy, and compassion, and why small actions, listening without fixing, reaching out when it feels awkward, celebrating a colleague’s success, can transform workplace culture.

This conversation reminds us that we don’t park our humanity at the office door. Empathy is not soft, it builds trust, fuels collaboration, and even increases motivation. And the challenge we leave you with is simple: take one small action of empathy this week. Its ripple effect may last far longer than you imagine.

If you’ve ever wanted to go beyond small talk and truly connect with the people around you, this episode of Friendship Matters will show you how. Inspired by a heartwarming Thanksgiving tradition called “Orphans of the Storm,” Donna, Dr. Russ, and Lisa explore the transformative power of asking great questions. From starting dinner with dessert to discovering unexpected stories around the table, they reveal how curiosity can unlock deeper conversations, spark genuine understanding, and strengthen relationships, whether in your living room or the boardroom.

You’ll hear how curiosity can melt away assumptions, build trust, and even bridge divides in a world that often feels polarized. The hosts share real-life examples of curiosity in action—questions that open doors, ways to keep curiosity respectful and in bounds, and how to prepare for deeper conversations with intentionality. You’ll walk away with practical questions you can use right now to turn any gathering into a place of discovery, empathy, and lasting connection. If you’re ready to make your friendships richer and your conversations more meaningful, this episode is your guide.

What if the way you think about friendship is quietly sabotaging your connections?

In this eye-opening episode of Friendship Matters, Dr. Russ, Donna, and Lisa explore the hidden mental models—Friendship Frames—that shape how we show up in relationships. From the scarcity mindset that says there’s not enough time or energy for friends, to the perfectionism that paralyzes connection, the hosts shine a light on the beliefs that hold us back from meaningful friendships.

They unpack how frames like independence over interdependence, transactional thinking, and fixed mindsets can erode trust and closeness, and why curiosity and conscious choice are the antidotes. You’ll walk away with a powerful mindset tool (“Pause, Notice, and Choose”) and an invitation to reflect on your own friendship frames.

This episode will challenge how you think—and feel—about friendship. And it just might change the way you connect.

What if your friendships could grow stronger with just a little more intention?

In this episode, Donna, Russ, and Lisa explore what happens when we stop leaving connection to chance and start showing up on purpose.

From unexpected stories to everyday moments that matter, you’ll hear how being intentional can transform your relationships in surprising ways. This conversation will spark new ideas, challenge assumptions, and leave you thinking differently about how friendship fits into your life.

Ready to take one small step that could deepen your most important connections? Start here.