In this 6‑questions‑in‑7‑minutes interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Dr. Bonnie Clipper, a veteran nurse turned chief clinical officer at Whamby and a recognized leader in healthcare innovation. Dr. Clipper shares her career trajectory—from early summer work mowing highways to her first nursing role at the Mayo Clinic, and her evolution into a Robert Wood Johnson fellow and innovation consultant. She describes the fast‑moving nature of the health‑tech industry, especially the surge of AI, and expresses excitement about continual learning and networking. When asked about work‑life balance, she reframes it as day‑to‑day energy management, emphasizing self‑care and flexibility. She recommends fellow thought‑leader Tim Ferriss for future podcast guests. Her core advice to business leaders is to stay focused, continually reprioritize based on time and resources, and pursue work that fuels passion. Dr. Clipper outlines a personal prioritization system: nightly review of the next day’s calendar, ensuring each item aligns with a clear goal, and establishing a hard stop to protect personal time. Finally, she invites listeners to connect with her on LinkedIn—where she is a top nurse influencer—and Twitter to advance nurse‑led innovation conversations.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Hey, thanks, Pete. I'm Dr. Bonnie Clipper. I am a nurse. I am an expert in the innovation space. I've been a nurse for a very long time, for some incredible hospitals and health systems. I've moved into the innovation space several years ago as a result of being a Robert Wood Johnson fellow. I now am the chief clinical officer at Whamby, and I also do a lot of speaking and consulting outside to help bring nurses into innovation.
Dr. Klipper, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2, what's the best thing about working in your industry?
Wow, you know what, it's such an incredible dynamic industry. It changes week to week. There is so much to learn and stay on top of. I love that part of it, trying to read as much as I can, networking with colleagues, learning about all of the different innovations, technologies, especially in the days of artificial intelligence. So many rapid changes. It's just a blast to be in this space right now.
Mm-hmm. Question number 3: I hear from other business leaders that staying in a good work-life balance for them and their team members is a challenge. What are your thoughts What are your thoughts?
You know, I don't really know that balance is the right way to describe that anyways, because some days work wins out and other days my personal life wins out. I think you have to do the best that you can at whatever day it is or whatever time it is, not lose yourself in the middle, and certainly pay particular attention to keeping your energy up and taking care of yourself.
That's really key. I couldn't agree more with you about taking care of yourself. Extremely important. Question number 4: What other successful business leaders like yourself should be on my podcast?
Wow, there are a lot of incredible business leaders out there that I love to follow. So Tim Ferriss is actually one of my favorites. So if you have the opportunity to talk to him, that would be amazing. But lots of really good people out there that are starting up small to medium-sized businesses that I think amazing for you.
I think Tim's a great suggestion. Thank you for that. Question number 5, what insight or advice would you give to other business leaders?
Stay focused. You can't do everything, so you have to continually bring it back to reprioritize based on your time and your resources and just continually stay focused. It's kind of a continual process of reevaluating what your goals are and what you can do to move yourself closer to your goals. Don't take on the world, don't chase everything, and really just kind of do it, do it with passion, that it's something that gets you out of bed every day.
That's so great. Do you have any particular way that you prioritize that works best for you?
You know, I like to really take a look at what I'm doing. So every night I look at the next day and sometimes the next 2 days to make sure that everything that's on my calendar has really an intended goal or makes sense to be on my calendar. Sometimes things get so snuck on there. So I try to do only what's necessary for me to do. And then I'm learning to get better at having a hard stop at the end of the day because many days I'm still working at 7, 8, 9 o'clock at night. So I'm trying to reel that back. And it's a hard, hard habit to break. But I think that it's important to have some boundaries where you can.
I think that's a great idea. I find that having an end-of-day anchor is definitely a good way to say, okay, it's time to turn off the computer, turn off the phone and, you know, just relax for the rest of the evening.
Absolutely.
And question number 6: tell me about your first job.
Wow. So like my first first job, nothing to do with nursing. I actually mowed highways and fields for a while to make some money in during the summers of college. So that was actually A very interesting role because I learned perseverance because you essentially put out on a tractor on the side of the road, mowed miles every day. And I learned to be able to kind of daydream and think and be very, very creative and remember those thoughts since I didn't have a tablet or a pen and I could actually then come back a day or two later and pick those thoughts up and do something with them. So I did develop a very useful skill out of that. My first nursing job was at Mayo, and that was an incredible experience. So I look upon that very, very often to think about lessons that I learned there and also the people that I was able to connect with there. And for me, what was one of the most important things is that I knew I wanted to be a nurse from the time I was 6 years old. So that really was my first solid chance to kind of reaffirm that I had made the right decision.
Wow, knew exactly at 6 years old that you wanted to be a nurse. That is fantastic. Absolutely great, great story. Dr. Klipper, thank you for being on the show. How can people find you?
I'm pretty active on LinkedIn. I'm actually one of the top nurse influencers out there, so please follow me on LinkedIn. I'm maxed out with connections, but I try to blog. I try to be somewhat provocative and somewhat informative, so I hope that you'll follow me and learn and certainly engage with me out there. I am also very active on Twitter, so please let's engage in conversation and continue to advance conversations around nurse-led innovation and how we can transform health.
Wonderful. Thank you again. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, or Facebook and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
