What is the Physiology of Leadership and How do You Tap Into It? With Ron Gharbo, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

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Dr. Ron Gharbo is an expert in the body-brain connection and in today’s conversation, he endeavors to help Laura understand the intricacies of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and how it is intimately connected with and an indicator of one’s emotional intelligence (EQ), which is highly correlated with success in leadership.

Recent advances in wearable technologies give Dr. Gharbo predictive insight into an individual’s energy reserves, which allows him to assess whether they are physically equipped to deal with physical and emotional stresses.

“Energy is finite,” he explains. If an individual actually understood his or her personal “energy bank,” he or she could make better decisions about what to engage in or take action on. “If you knew your reserves were low, would you still take this action?” is a question he poses as he walks Laura through how it works.

HRV is incredibly sensitive and requires skilled interpretation into the physical and emotional variables that impact it. Practitioners can gather enough data over time to understand an individual’s HRV and make healthy modifications through exercise, breathing, and mindful awareness.

Dr. Gharbo takes this level of insight and information to a new level when he expresses interest in doing a large-scale experiment within a corporation allowing participants to self-modulate behavior and HRV through a phone app. It’s a fascinating conversation and an intriguing idea for sure; if you’re in HR and want to take him up on this experiment, connect with him below.

Ron’s Bio

Raouf (Ron) Gharbo D.O. is board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) and Neuromuscular Electrodiagnostic Medicine and is faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of PMR, the hub for the National Veterans Administration Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium.

In 2020, Dr. Gharbo submitted a novel approach to whole health: Autonomic Rehabilitation: Adapting to Change. Dr. Gharbo was the clinical HRV expert for the largest randomized control trial for inducing cardiorespiratory synchronization to reduce chronic pain. He gave the keynote address at the 50th Anniversary for the Academy of Applied Psychophysiology in 2019, the Richard Baer Lectureship at The Ohio State University Medical Center 2018. His submission, on reproducible placebo analgesia at the International Conference on Opioids in 2017 was selected as a top presentation.

He is Riverside Health System faculty for the emerging leaders program. He speaks to all new health system providers and through ANS Health, LLC, he coaches athletes, coaches, and corporate leaders on the Physiology of Leadership and sustainable high performance. He has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award for Physicians for Peace for leading medical missions. He was Ohio State University’s top male scholar-athlete in 1988 and the University’s first walk-on All-American wrestler.

Connect with Dr. Gharbo:

Dr. Gharbo on LinkedIn

Follow his posts on LinkedIn with #autonomichealth

Feedback on Dr. Gharbo’s Expertise

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Just Show Up! And Be the Evidence that Someone’s Life Made a Difference. It really is that simple… with Yvonne Heath, Author, Speaker, Changemaker

Yvonne Heath

With 27 years of nursing experience, Yvonne Heath has seen a lot, and not the kind of “a lot” most of us would choose to witness or experience. She’s worked in numerous aspects of health care, including the Emergency Department, ICU, Chemotherapy, Palliative Care, and Hospice.
She has come face-to-face and heart-to-heart with grief, whether with a patient or through supporting their loved ones through some of the most painful moments of hurt and loss.


And not just the painful moments in others’ lives, but in hers, as well. At one point, her teenage son was spiraling into drug addiction, she was raising 4-year-old twins, and working full-time as a Chemo Nurse… For a while she “went steady” with Red-Red Wine, attempting to numb her feelings so she could keep moving.

Inspired by real-life physician, Patch Adams, she decided to offer a different approach, one that allows our humanness – heart and humor – to come into the room. “We all experience these hard, heavy feelings,” she explains. “Emotion is energy in motion; it has to move through us…” We need to allow those feelings to show up and sit with them; how we move forward in our lives is determined in large part by how to approach and embrace or avoid grief.

What she learned along the way is that we need each other, especially in times of grief. And even when we have no idea what to say or do, we can always “Just Show Up” and be there with people, hold the space for them to experience what we’re experiencing, and love them through it. Eventually, what we need to do or say will become evident… but in the meantime, we let others know that loss – of whatever kind (job, home, health, marriage, loved ones…) – doesn’t need to isolate us as we attempt to navigate our way through.

She shares some signs of grief, as it often comes disguised as something else; part of the armor many of us take on in our attempts to not be vulnerable. She also speaks of the dreaded “polite conversation” many of us engage in when we know someone has been through something traumatic because we’re not sure what to say, and perhaps we’re afraid if we discuss it frankly, it may touch us, as well.

Yvonne’s Bio

Yvonne has been a registered nurse since 1988, working in ten different hospitals in the US and Canada in many areas including emergency, intensive care, chemotherapy and hospice.
She became disheartened by our society’s reluctance to talk about, plan, and prepare for grief and life’s challenges—causing excessive suffering in life and at the end of life. She suffered, too, not knowing how to do it differently.

In 2015, she took a leap of faith, left her nursing career and blazed a new trail. By helping us prepare BEFORE, she brings heart and humor to grief, death, and dying. She shares her message as an Inspirational Speaker, with her book Love Your Life to Death, as a television and radio host, and through social media.

In 2019, she delivered her TEDx Talk: Transforming Grief, by Just Showing Up.

Driven by her vision that everyone lives, grieves, and dies well, Yvonne is traveling and helping great organizations along the way.

Connect with Yvonne and other resources:

Yvonne online – Love Your Life to Death
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“Sunday Family Dinner” – Create Space, Take Care, and Move Forward Thoughtfully with John Fancher, Part-Time Rockstar & Pastor, Marketing Consultant

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It began a number of years ago, when John and his family attended a new church plant in Chicago; an offshoot from the home church in Oak Park. Their gatherings were a bit unconventional by “church” standards, but so were the attendees, John among them. When the “experiment” was ended, many chose not to return to the home church; its style and structure no longer met their needs.

As a member of a musical community in the West Chicago area, John knew there was a desire for deep spiritual conversation and exploration among his friends and fellow musicians that wasn’t being fed through existing gatherings. On a trip to Ireland, John received what he calls a “Memo from the Head Office,” which eventually coalesced into the Sunday Family Dinner plan.

With his friend and business partner, Perry Marshall, he created a unique space for people to explore and discuss spirituality – and connected topics – unrestricted by the confines of formal religious practices. Once a month, on a Sunday evening, they invite a small group of people to join them at a friend’s bar for dinner, drinks, and music. John speaks for 15-20 minutes on a topic he’s been contemplating, and meaningful conversation unfolds.

The theme is aligned with James 1:27, which tells us to “take care of widows and orphans.” For John, this raises some interesting questions, like: How do we decide where we come down on protecting the system versus taking care of those most at risk? Where is the line between government responsibility and personal responsibility? How do I move into this kind of time (this episode was recorded in the middle of COVID lockdown) … is it time to work on our lives, relationships, health…?

No one of us is unidimensional. We are multidimensional, multitalented, creative, and complex. John Fancher is one of those people whose multi-facets are on display and quickly recognized. He’s a poet, a thoughtful reader, a contemplator of the meaning of life, a seeker of purpose and truth, a rock-star guitar player, a part-time pastor, husband, father, friend, and marketing consultant. The combination of all these things (and so many more that I haven’t experienced yet…) made it clear to me, a meaningful conversation with John would be a journey of unexpected twists and turns, insight, deep thought, and fun – and it was!

John’s Bio

John is a writer and marketing consultant who works closely with his good friend and renowned business consultant, Perry Marshall. John is a part-time rock star and part-time pastor of a church-but-not-a-church that meets in a bar/art gallery. John loves to travel, especially to Ireland, which is his adopted Fatherland. He has three grown children and lives with is his wife, Jay, in the most rocking suburb of Chicago, Berwyn, IL.

Connect with John and Resources:

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