Steve Jobs famously believed public demand wasn’t important in terms of identifying the market for new products. Instead, what Jobs envisioned the public would want wasn’t even on the public’s radar.
On the other hand, the famous marketing expert Gary Halbert held, using a restaurant as an example, that the most important element in the business’ success wasn’t its food or service or location, it was whether or not there was a starving crowd. He then set out to find, and help generate, that crowd into which he and his clients then sold gazillions.
Who’s right? Who cares!
The issue isn’t what approach is required in order to succeed in business (and in this audience’s case, in the business of healthcare), it’s that both approaches involve becoming proactive and that both are superior to the dominant notions on the provider side in healthcare: Business opportunities will simply come to us. Or, even worse, that there is no business opportunity.
Running game. Passing game.
Business plan required. Never do a business plan or it will cap your success.
Chicken. Egg.
The fact is, that it doesn’t really matter.
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Coming Attraction:
I recently sat down to speak with my friend Michael Hicks, M.D., CEO of EmCare’s anesthesia arm, EmCare Anesthesia Services, regional medical director for a national healthcare company, and the founder and former president of Pinnacle Anesthesia. As was reported in the press, Pinnacle recently merged its practice into U.S. Anesthesia Partners, and EmCare, which provided management services to Pinnacle, sold its related management assets to U.S. Anesthesia Partners, as well.
Mike has some very interesting ideas about the future of healthcare. Stay tuned for the coming podcast of our conversation.
