Curiosity
Throughout my 7+ years navigating diverse landscapes, across various industries, I’ve encountered a number of ups and downs that have shaped my work habits. I refer to them as the Three C’s: Communication, Collaboration, and Curiosity. These principles have helped me thrive in environments my younger self could’ve never imagined navigating through. I credit them for their simplicity and power.
My background reflects and is coherent with the noun, “curious”. At first, I was offended by how many professionals would mention that I’m wildly curious about topics that had no relevance to me, however I soon found it to be valuable to have the desire to always discover and understand. Curiosity has opened almost every door leading different paths in both my personal and professional life.
The start of my career started immediately after my high school graduation. I found myself drawn to a neighbor whose successes were evident in the cars he drove. I decided to approach him only a few hours before my graduation ceremony to inquire about his profession. As I walked up to him gardening, he had the universal, “why is this child walking on my grass' ' look to his face. He politely asked what I needed and after navigating through hours of conversation about his life, career in engineering and real estate. I knew that I could grow in this industry, despite having no experience, given the opportunity to shadow him.
After my ceremony, I found myself waking up at 5am everyday shadowing his conversations and interactions as a businessman. I continued to ask about his business strategies, fundamentals, and predictions rooted in data. As I developed a foundational understanding of his business, I transitioned from a passive observer to an active contributor, introducing actionable plans to attract investors and having hands-on experience in permit acquisitions and financial data analysis.
Through my first two years working with my neighbor at Birch Capital , I witnessed firsthand the impact from proactive learning, absorbing invaluable insights, and skills that shaped my perspective in any business operations.
A recent example of seizing opportunities was during my time at Medipines, where I entered the Medical Device industry from an engineering standpoint and eventually contributed value through the eyes of sales and marketing. Prior to officially joining the company, I invested roughly six months in extensive research, diving deep into the dynamics of the industry as well as competitor analysis’. I was driven to comprehend the branding and strategy selling hardware and software products in a tightly regulated sector.
Right before entering my role, our collective analysis helped realize that the actual purchasing power and decision making influences within healthcare institutions were not aligned with my initial assumptions. The original target audience, Respiratory departments had considerably less influence over budgets and decisions regarding technology, despite their impact on patient care. Instead, it was the Cardio/Pulmonary departments that held the majority influence on buying power.
This pivot led to a shift in research, geared towards issues, consensus, and discussions prevalent at the Cardio/Pulmonary levels, identifying key voices and resources. Collaborating with engineers, our marketing team applied a structured and analytical approach to translate every key technical info into insights tailored to our new target audience, Cardio and Pulmonary professionals.
I took the lead in spearheading ‘Lead Generation’ and ‘Thought Leadership’ campaigns to position Medipines as experts in Pulmonary medicine. Leveraging martech stacks, we output a series of blog and social media posts, polls, webinars, and case studies.
As traction built within our new segmentation, I began inquiring what happened to our previous clients, considering their significant contributions to the company’s sales. I redirected my focus towards inactive business accounts, formerly our main client base. After organizing these profiles through Hubspot, I collaborated with our engineering, sales, and clinical teams to initiate a ‘Customer Retention’ program to reconnect with former Respiratory clients and personalize solutions tailored to their evolving needs. Our retention program not only opened a new sales channel but also significantly enhanced long-term loyalty, boosting profits for the company.
The start of my career was ignited and fueled by my relentless curiosity to intern, learn, and return the opportunities that came my way. I attribute the introduction of our retention program to my customer-centric inquiries that sparked discussions with leadership as well as my willingness to learn by trial and error. The experiences of experimenting, encountering failures, and revisiting strategies, are instrumental in understanding the nuances within any industry rather than relying solely on surface-level assumptions.
The lessons learned from my first and recent experiences underscore that curiosity isn’t just a trait, but a driving force behind decision-making. It consistently reshapes my perspectives, strategies, and outcomes across multiple landscapes and serves as a reminder to, ‘stay curious’.