Overcoming Challenges In Digital Transformation with Howard Rosen, CEO of Nova Insights

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, everybody.

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to the Outcomes Rocket Founder Stories.

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I am so excited to be back with you today because I have an amazing

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: guest and his name is Howard Rosen.

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Howard is the CEO of Nova Insights.

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I had him on the podcast about four years ago and so excited to have him back.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: He's a seasoned health IT executive, inventor, and innovator

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: with over 20 years of experience.

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Really humanizing digital health and delivery for major health industry

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: companies and agencies in North America.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Howard, such a pleasure to have you back.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Great to see you again, Saul.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to believe it's been four years, but it was a different world then that we

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: had this minor pandemic thing you may remember called COVID and we're indoors

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: doing this as a Zoom and so here we are post COVID post pandemic and here

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: we are indoors doing this again.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know what?

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: It has been a whirlwind.

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe four years have passed since we connected and yeah, the pandemic.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It's changed so much for healthcare.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of changes that have stayed and a lot of things are continuing to change.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm excited to have you on to really highlight the work that you do, Howard,

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: with Nova Insights and really to help the leaders listening to this podcast, how they

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_00]: could shape their business for the better.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So for the benefit of those that haven't met you, what is it that got you into

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: entrepreneurship and into healthcare?

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's a loaded question.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_01]: How long is this podcast?

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Really?

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So the quick story, I know you're familiar with it, is by education, I have an MBA.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So I was trained to run a Fortune 500 company, but I have to admit, I missed a

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_01]: few classes, particularly one that said you don't go from graduation to running

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: a Fortune 500 company.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_01]: So on graduation, I said, oh, I got to do something with my time.

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And that was the first little entrepreneurship seed letter, but I better

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: be more initiative oriented.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, naturally that meant I spent 20 years producing film and

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_01]: television, so founded a film and TV company, worked with all the major

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_01]: studios, and naturally with that background, I came on this idea of

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_01]: inventing a communication platform in health and shifted over to health IT.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Which is, as you mentioned, I've been doing for the past 20 years.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And really the core of that was, I was doing a project actually dealing with

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: type 2 diabetes and seeing how few people were engaging in their health

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_01]: management and ask these questions.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, why wasn't anyone doing it?

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of cool tools, but no one was using it.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_01]: And being a card carrying arrogant producers and all you got to do is have

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_01]: a solution that engages people to be involved in their healthcare.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Why aren't they doing that?

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01]: And I went, oh man, that took about five minutes.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: I think I've solved diabetes.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_01]: What can I do next?

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And even think about it.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And six months later was actually working with Universal McCann on this new fangled

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_01]: telephone called the StarTAC, which is one of the first clamshell cell phones.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And for those who were born after that time, there was a time when you had

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_01]: clamshell cell phones that were actually phones and the engineers were telling me

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01]: sometime in the future, you're going to actually have programs on this phone.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And we're going, no, who wants a program on a phone?

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a phone.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And that was kind of it.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And later that night working on both projects, I kind of went, you know, maybe

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_01]: these cell phones will be the future to engage people to better improve their

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_01]: healthcare.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And that was 2005.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And that led me on my odyssey of what where I am today, having invented a

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_01]: communication platform, which crazily enough, I've been awarded eight patents

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_01]: to date and involved that area.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Had founded a company in that area called LifeWire.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: We had you on when you were leading that company four years ago.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: So for those of you that haven't had a chance to listen to that episode, make

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: sure you check it out.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll link it up in the show notes.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Go ahead.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Continue.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, really talking about founders stories.

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_01]: So really got to the stage and very quite honestly, you had COVID, you had

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_01]: everyone who's sitting at the computer 24 seven, including my investors and

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_01]: board who had spent far too much time on their computers asking all kinds of

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: questions and quite honestly, I was going, you know, maybe micromanaging

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_01]: the micromanagement of the company.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And I went, you know what?

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Life's just too short.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you guys want to micromanage it, maybe you guys should do this.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And I kicked in the succession plan for LifeWire.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I still remain on the board, but said, I'm going to go now do where I think

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: is the next stage of what I thought was a logical extension of LifeWire, which

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: was dealing with the bigger picture, which humanizing the digital transformation.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: How do you make technology accessible and engaging?

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's evolved into the consultancy doing that.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Plus a lot of work in artificial intelligence and machine language,

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: robotic process automation, all that sort of the buzzwords you're hearing today.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: You're always up to something.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And so the opportunity I think for us to learn is really that transition, right?

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: You had reached the moment.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think there's a lot of listeners right now thinking about when they

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: reached that moment when maybe it wasn't working anymore and they transitioned

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: from their company to do something else.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's a lot of stories of it.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you think about Steve Jobs and a lot of others out there.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: What advice would you give to entrepreneurs that might be in that situation right now?

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_01]: As you mentioned, I do a lot of mentoring and do a lot of mentorship with various

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01]: organizations and companies on top of the advisory work we do.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned Steve Jobs, which was great.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: He was an exception to the great number of people who start up businesses.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of things you need to watch out for, and quite honestly, having fallen

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_01]: through this myself on a number of times, it's one thing to have an idea, which is

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_01]: great, you want, you need to start with an idea and something you're passionate about.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_01]: The second part of it is you're passionate about, but you want to make

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: sure those who you want to buy your product or your service are equally

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_01]: passionate about needing that solution.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_01]: So you need to address and speak to your constituency to make sure they actually

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_01]: see the same problem you see it.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Is the first step.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: The second part of that is make sure it also ranks up there as a first or

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_01]: second problem they need to solve today.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01]: It may be a problem and it's in their top 10, but they've got all

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: kinds of pressures around them.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And you want to make sure it's a ranks first and second.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01]: If you answer those questions, now you're onto something.

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what you should start thinking about jumping into

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_01]: it and expanding from there.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's hard because a lot of the times they're going, yeah, that's a want to,

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01]: it's not a need to, and then as an entrepreneur you go, yeah, but you gotta.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's no such thing as you gotta.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: You'd like to think as a you gotta, there isn't one from the buyer's perspective.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's the hardest part is pulling yourself back and thinking as they do and

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_01]: think of all the larger projects that they have, and a lot of that actually

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01]: got reinforced when I started doing more of the consulting work in talking

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: to prospective clients in the first meeting, they say, okay, we need this.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And I might not have known anything about the client or what their issues were.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: All I was a hundred percent certain of was them saying, I need this.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I knew that was exactly what they didn't need.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_01]: The part of the problem is everyone gets buzzword craziness around them.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And so we use AI as an example.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone you speak to right now saying, oh, we've got to need AI this, AI that.

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it's generated by themselves.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it's by their board or their investors.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_01]: So they know the buzzword, but they don't necessarily know what it means

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_01]: or how it can really help them.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And likely many times they haven't really identified the real problem.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_01]: They've identified a problem, but not the root problem.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's really important.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And as entrepreneurs and founders is really getting to what is the root of

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_01]: the problem that you're trying to solve?

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Not up here.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, we'll use AI, but down here.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_01]: No, their problem is they're not getting engagement on X or they're

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_01]: not getting analytics on Y or the data is so bad, they can't even make an

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_01]: analysis on it.

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it makes a ton of sense.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And getting to the root, oftentimes what you might hear from the market,

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: it's not exactly what's needed.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: You got to dig a little deeper and make sure you have that need clearly identified.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: So help us understand a little bit more on your current company.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: What is it that you guys are focused on?

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Who are you helping and what makes you guys different?

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So in terms of Nova Insights, we're specializing in the area of, as I

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_01]: mentioned, humanizing digital transformation.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Part of that came out of, as a vendor talking with the health systems and

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: health clients, and we think we have the greatest things in sliced bread.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_01]: If you didn't think that you shouldn't be doing it, but the implementation

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_01]: was always rougher than you'd expect.

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And utilization was always rougher than you expect.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And it took a lot of work.

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_01]: When I become on the consulting side and actually started working on behalf

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_01]: of the health systems and with technology and got inside, I went,

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01]: you start seeing the problem.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of the times you had a situation where the IT department

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_01]: were slapping on the solution, but there was no process of involving

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_01]: the stakeholders in that solution and involving how to make it work.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And the industry statistics, and I know Saul you're aware of them,

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_01]: is that I think it was McKesson that came out with this or McKinsey

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_01]: got three years ago said digital transformation is at best 11%

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: successful in healthcare space.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of that was because they're bolting on solutions and not

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: involving all the stakeholders from design to utilization,

[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_01]: implementation, utilization.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's where we developed the system to really better

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_01]: manage that side working with clients.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So with that evolved are doing more and more plus at the same time.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01]: On the side noodling was continuing what I did with LifeWire looking at

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_01]: virtual healthcare as a solution to be able to reach out to disadvantaged

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_01]: populations, to deal with rural populations and to make it easier.

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Because one thing that COVID showed was patients actually wanted access

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_01]: to tools that didn't allow them to actually do things from home or from

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_01]: the workplace without having to go to the hospital, the clinician work.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of the cases you can deal with virtual healthcare has

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of value across the board.

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's concentrating on that and taking the bet, having the opportunity

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_01]: to work and see what the best tools were for doing so.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So as part of what no insights doing, we're actually have been

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: built in and working with other partners, a virtual healthcare system.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: And where we've been focusing, frankly, has been the third world

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_01]: where we've been able to go.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_01]: We're not fighting legacy systems, but at the same time, you've got

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_01]: populations who are looking for healthcare and the only solution

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_01]: is through virtual healthcare because they don't have the infrastructure

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_01]: to do it as we have, but at the same time, the beauty of they don't

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_01]: have the legacy systems to get in a way of providing solutions.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's very interesting, Howard.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And it sounds like you've chosen to, to really put the focus of the work

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_00]: that you're doing in third world countries because of the lack of

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: infrastructure blocks and legacy thinking.

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a big opportunity there.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Are you able to translate any of the work that you're doing over there

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: to the U S and U S clients?

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, without any question, it's been very helpful, insightful talking

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_01]: to the different in terms of different countries and the populations

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_01]: we're working with to see what works, what doesn't work, what they're

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_01]: looking for and getting best practices there, obviously it's not a direct

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_01]: translation because there's a lot of different structures here, but there's

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of best practices we're building there that we're actually looking

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_01]: to apply to the U S and it's to the early discussion having come from film

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_01]: and television, not necessarily the traditional route for health IT, but

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_01]: there are a lot of lessons I learned there from that side that I took over to

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_01]: this side.

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And in fact, a statistic I picked up actually, because at one point I was

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01]: actually doing, I actually created a course for the military, which is on

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_01]: creative thinking.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And one of the statistics that I came up with was 80% of innovation in any

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_01]: industry comes from outside that industry.

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And as founders to be able to look at things from different perspectives,

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_01]: it's the hardest thing to do, but the most valuable thing to do to understand

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_01]: there's multiple perspectives on any issue.

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Well said.

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I love it.

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And it sounds like your examples translate well, that statistic, that 80%

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_00]: of the innovation comes from outside is definitely something that we should all

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_00]: be thinking about to continue that innovation and forward movement in all

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: of our organizations.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's look outside to Howard's point.

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Howard, thank you for that insight.

[00:12:30] [SPEAKER_00]: As we wrap up the podcast today, I love if you could just share a closing

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: thought with our listeners and if they want to engage with you and actually

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_00]: activate their innovation projects so that they can beat that 11% statistic.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Where can they reach you?

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, in terms of the best is my email, hrosen at Novapix.com, which is

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Novapix.com is probably the easiest way.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_01]: You can certainly find me on LinkedIn, which is Howard Rosen 129.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it is.

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And what call to action?

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I guess the call to action is entrepreneur.

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_01]: And again, you've got founders listening to it.

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Entrepreneurship is in one sense, not for the faint of heart, but the

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_01]: other hand can be very rewarding.

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_01]: It's tough in terms of, well, you're trying to do something where you, whereas

[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_01]: as a founder, you're doing many cases without a net, so you really want to

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_01]: make sure you really believe in the mission of what you're trying to do.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, don't be afraid to get insight outside perspective

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_01]: and actually contrary perspective.

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_01]: You actually want people to push back in many cases, as I facetiously talk about

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_01]: in many cases, and a lot of my friends who are founders is in sometimes when

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_01]: you presenting an idea, the more vehemently people say that's not going

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_01]: to work to me means you really may be onto something after the fact they'll

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_01]: tell you, Oh yeah, I had that idea, but it's, it's, it is that balance.

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_01]: But as I said, we talked about earlier, what's so fundamental is making sure

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_01]: what you see a need is what your client sees as a need and not as a want.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: What a great way to, to close the episode.

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I think you've said it so well, I appreciate you sharing

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_00]: the insights you have today.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And for all the listeners, make sure you check out the show notes.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll leave Howard's LinkedIn profile, his website and different

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: ways to get in touch with him.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So make sure you do if you want to make innovation a reality within

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_00]: your health system or company.

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_00]: And Howard, thanks again for being with us.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_00]: This is a lot of fun to reconnect with you.

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Saul, it's always a pleasure.

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for asking.