Hatzikostas visited the Mount Carmel Campus as a featured speaker of this year’s Denise J. Fiore Thought Leaders in Healthcare Speaker Series. Fiore, ’78, MS ’91, was in attendance, giving Janelle Chiasera, dean of the School of Health Sciences, the opportunity to express heartfelt thanks on behalf of Quinnipiac.

Chiasera said Fiore’s philanthropy and partnership with Quinnipiac over the last three years has brought some of the greatest minds and innovative thought leaders to campus, to speak to some of the most pressing issues and trends facing healthcare today.

“We strive to drive positive change and improve the wellbeing of our communities, whether those are our students, our faculty, our alumni or the broader community outside of Quinnipiac University,” said Chiasera. “It is the distinct power of philanthropy that really enables us to provide these very unique educational experiences that not only enrich the lives of those within our campus, but represents a very substantial investment in the future of our entire community.”

For this year’s speaker series, “Wellbeing 2.0: Strategies for Thriving,” Chiasera said, “We really focused on providing folks with tools and strategies to create a sound mind and strong emotional foundation to weather the many challenges we face both personally and professionally — and more importantly, for us to emerge from them stronger and happier.”

An internationally recognized leader on the topic of authenticity in the workplace, Hatzikostas’ talk, “Make Authenticity Your Secret Weapon to Success and Happiness,” was rooted in her book, “You Do You(ish): Unleash Your Authentic Superpower to Get the Career You Deserve.”

Hatzikostas spent the first half of her career working in the corporate world. At 42, she became CEO of a $2 billion healthcare financial institution.
In just three years, she orchestrated a massive financial and cultural turnaround, tripling previously stagnant earnings while also skyrocketing employment engagement scores.

Upon recognizing that, in the workplace, “…authenticity leads to trust; trust leads to engagement, and engagement leads to profits,” Hatzikostas left her corporate role to reimagine her career as founder of her own company, B Authentic, Inc.

On April 18, she took the stage armed with props, humility, and humorous storytelling on corporate and life experiences, all in the service of illustrating how to avoid compromises and perceived limits.

“You shouldn’t do something the way it was done before ‘just because,’” advised Hatzikostas. “You can do it your own way.”

Hatzikostas, who began her career as an actuary, provided her data-based business case for authenticity, and helped the audience weed out tropes often tied to its definition.

“Authenticity is so much more than simply being yourself,” said Hatzikostas. “Authenticity is exposing who you are, when people least expect it, in the service of others.”

Hatzikostas also shared her proprietary framework, “The Six Principles of Strategic Authenticity,” by unpacking the acronym H.U.M.A.N.S (Humility, Unexpected, Model, Adapt, Narrate, Spark).

“These six principles are things that you actually, purposefully do. They are training wheels,” said Hatzikostas. “Start noticing those things, embracing them, and using them. Ultimately, what I want you to do is turn your super flaws into your superpowers.”

Chiasera thanked the event’s full house of students, staff, faculty, alumni and community attendees for allowing Hatzikostas to, “…share the impact authenticity can have in our lives, and to provide us an opportunity to relax, engage and laugh with each other.”

“It is not often we can take time out to support our own wellbeing and our own health, and I thank you for making that commitment today to yourselves,” said Chiasera.