I Have Been Waiting For This My Whole Career

These days both the mainstream and health industry news are full of stories about the surge of digital health and health tech. Since the world shutdown caused by the pandemic, interest is pervasive around companies – start-ups and legacy - who are building safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective methods of diagnosing and treating illness.  These companies have created remarkable tech. Investment firms globally are investing more in the space, investing there for the first time, or accelerating their analysis of properties of interest.  Never has the health tech space looked or been more exciting.  I have been waiting for this my entire career.

Flash back to my first job out of university as a sales rep for The Coca-Cola Company. What a wonderful opportunity. I was 21 years old and had the great honour of driving around southern Ohio in my company-issued light blue Ford station wagon visiting with small restaurant and bar owners, getting mentored and led by an excellent first boss who knew the industry inside and out, could communicate well and knew how to mentor and lead a team.  What I lacked in experience and wisdom I attempted to make up for with focus, drive, and simple hard graft. In that job it was pure hard selling. We did not have cool tech.  We had sugar water much like our competition and it was a saturated market.  As sales reps, it was our job to walk into restaurants, find the decision makers, sit them down, and somehow get them to sign on the dotted line contract before walking out. What I learned in the first year was that I could not do it on my own - it was all about the team. In that year I worked with a team of men and women, all roughly my age, and we travelled from city to city in Ohio working all day together to convert Pepsi accounts to Coke, and then we would get together at night and play hard until the wee hours. We literally worked and played together so hard that we knew every strength and weakness of the other and played off each other beautifully. We didn’t waste time on second guessing, gossiping, or bitching without a suggested solution. We addressed problems or concerns with people head on, with respect. Because of that familiarity and fraternity, respect and trust developed.  And we were good; the best in the country that year. I could not imagine working with a better team and I would not have been successful that year without the right team and with the right leadership.

I now know that my experience with Coke was what good looks like and, although it was special, it was not unique.  With the right leadership, success can be built across cultures, industries, and circumstances. At this moment in the health tech market, strong leadership and exceptional teams are what is needed most. We have the innovative tech. In fact, we have loads of it; more than the industry can absorb.  We also have the funding.  Investment firms are regularly calling me to help them find the right companies in which to invest.  We have an industry that is now open to change more than it has been over the course of my 30+ year career. The stars are aligned. What we need, and certainly can build, are more world-class teams to make the tech meaningful, impactful, beautiful, and profitable.  We can do it.  I can assure you there is nothing better in business when it happens.