Hank Blank Interviewed at Octane's Medical Innovation Forum in Irvine, California

Hey, I'd like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you'd like to apply to be a guest of the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. Alright, so today we are in Irvine, California at the Medical Innovation Forum powered by Octane, and my guest is Hank Blank. Yes. Hank, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Alright, so a lot going on at the conference. We're on day two. What brings you out? What brought me here? Well, I'm Canadian, and it's sponsored, one of the sponsors is the government of Canada. Mm hmm. So, Mama Condry, you know, who is one of the counselors, and all he does, he works in a life sized space, you know, connecting people, and so I I came to to it. And I've gone to a couple other conferences that Optane's put on the technology innovation. So I feel like they're a terrific accelerator in Orange County. And they put together great programs with speakers that really, Intimidate me. Me too. You know what I mean? And they're so smart, you know what I mean? And, but it's a great environment to learn, right? And to be stimulated, you know, as opposed to seeing something you've seen 50 times before. And I've enjoyed the conference. It's kind of, not troubling. I'm going to find the right word. You know, it's kind of sobering. I'll say that you see how many disease states that there are. Yeah, you know, and often, you know, they set up the problem first. The problems are like, Oh, wow, they died. That doesn't seem like a good outcome, right? Yes. But, you know, so many wonderful solutions and inspiration from Jennifer, who spoke About the contraceptive product. Yeah, you know that she had her alley. L. E. M. D. L. M. D. S. L. M. D. And I met her once before and a doctor. Yes, four kids. And as I met, she's from Canada, too. Yes, that's where she came from. I interviewed her. Yeah. And then she has four kids. And has MS. Yes. And able to rise above that. I saw this amazing woman. Yeah. Amazing woman, you know, and I, you know, my wife was a pharma rep, used to work in the MS sector and you know, it's, it's many people face huge challenges there. Nevermind inventing a product and she's still working at her clinic, you know, so there are great inspirational stories and you know, it's terrific to see so many companies from Canada. That you're presenting, you know because they're, that's gotta be fun. Cause I saw on the program, there was a lot, a lot of Canadians here. It's amazing. Like bridging that, like the innovation. Yeah. You know, but I, I know from being involved in a couple of Canadian groups here, business groups, social groups, like 13 percent of California straight trade is for Canada, you know, a lot of it is produce. I'm sure, you know, but then in the life sciences and entertainment, you just think, think about entertainment, all the actors that come here and music and other areas. So, you know, in a close proximity in there. You know, I'm sounding like I work for the government, but you know what, a very highly educated workforce. Yes. You know, like other countries, we face challenges. You know, I always like to attend groups like this. Mm. As I said, you know, they get stimulated to come home, you know, and because my wife is in the, in the healthcare space, and it's been a pharma rep. You know, I can share some of the things that, you know, and I said, look at the qualifications for some of these people and yesterday those people read, you know, they've got multiple degrees, you know, not only MDs, but, you know, MBA and then some other letters that I don't know what they mean, you know, but yeah, so talk a little bit about what you do. Well, I, as I mentioned, I'm Canadian, so I started my career in the advertising business, and my first account was McDonald's. Ah. McDonald's restaurant, so that was a great learning experience. I just watched The Founder again, one of my favorite movies. Yeah, Roy Kroc, you know, and And then I worked for an agency called J. Walter Thompson. That was in 90 offices, 90 countries, you know, founded in 1870. It's funny. It doesn't exist anymore. That's how much the advertising business changes. So you have to change. So, and then I, you know, I worked for JWT for 10 years in Toronto and Chicago. That was the show, you know, the Hancock building, you know, madman, you know, 700 people at the agency, you know what I mean? Dining room on the 95th floor. Then I ran the National Domino's P business. And like many Canadians, you know, we have a strong gravitation to come to the U. S. And I sat on a beach when I was probably 23, 24 in Laguna Beach and said I want to live here. And it took me a little bit of time. Now I don't live in Laguna, but close by. So, and I help clients in a variety of ways. I am a huge networker. And if you look at me, I have 30, 000 followers on LinkedIn, you know, because I put out a lot of thought leadership and give out a lot of advice on

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