In this rapid‑fire interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Henry Peck, a clinical innovation leader at Johnson & Johnson’s Robotics and Digital Solutions division. Peck explains his role as the multidisciplinary voice of the customer, collaborating across R&D, marketing, and product management to embed user needs from concept through launch. He highlights the high‑stakes pressure of medical‑device work, where failures can cause serious harm, and how that drives a culture of excellence. Peck argues that today’s companies must focus on understanding and supporting Gen Z employees, noting differences in needs between younger staff and seasoned professionals, especially in a post‑COVID remote‑work environment and across geographic locations (e.g., Bay Area vs. New Jersey). He shares personal anecdotes from his first job as a bar and bat mitzvah entertainer, drawing parallels between delivering memorable experiences for clients and the patient‑centric focus required in healthcare. Peck also recommends fellow leaders—Santosh Iyer, Dr. Michael Lalor, and Alex Sheehy—to appear on the podcast. The interview concludes with his LinkedIn contact information.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Hi, Professor Pete Alexander. Happy to be here. My name is Henry Peck, and I'm currently in clinical innovation at Johnson Johnson's Robotics and Digital Solutions division out in the San Francisco Bay Area. Represented in a few sentences, we are the multidisciplinary voice of the customer champion in our design, development, product development process. And the way that we approach this is kind of collaboration across all workstreams of research and development. So working hand in hand with strategic marketing, product management, our research and development engineering groups to make sure that the needs of the customer are heard throughout everything from early stage conceptualization to our first solution embodiment work, and then all the way over to our preclinical and eventual in the field launch strategy type work. It's keeping the needs of the customer central. So we bring a lot of engineering understanding mixed with the kind of knowledge and capacity that our surgeons and users bring us and trying to distill that all down into some very clear value propositions.
Well, Henry, that's great information and it's so great to have you on the show. Question number 2, what's the best thing about working in your industry?
I think one of the things that makes the medical device and healthcare world at large great is the pressure. And when I say that, you know, this is not to take away from any other industry, but if you work, say, in mobile gaming or in some other sort of consumer product, right, I feel like a mistake or anything in your day-to-day, maybe has a little bit less meaning. And in the medical device world, if you put out something that doesn't work, the consequences can be dire, right? If you make a video game that people don't like, it doesn't sell and the business suffers. If you make a medical device that doesn't work, people can get severely hurt. So that potential harm, I think, motivates me to do my best work every day, to hold myself to a really high standard, and it motivates the people around me to be the same type of individual. And so together, I think it brings a really nice harmony and balance and intensity to the work that we do.
Mm, that's so well stated too, because in the medical device industry, I mean, there's so much regulation, and even then, something could be messed up and hurt a patient. So I'm glad that you mentioned that. It's so important. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I think in today's world, most companies should be looking for the how to manage and foster community amongst and keep Gen Z employees happy. You know, right now we are seeing obviously a lot going on outside of the true, you know, traditional business world that is starting to make its way into our business processes. And Gen Z is not being quiet throughout all of it. And as companies want to grow and and continue to build that next echelon of employees, understanding Gen Z and their needs is going to be essential.
I think that's really wise. Thank you for that. Question number 4, other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
I think kind of building on that topic of Gen Z, the advice that I would give is there are things that your employees need, and specifically your young employees, that you may not see as an executive or having a lot of experience in the field, there's a lot that those individuals and those seasoned professionals bring to the table. But that next wave of young employees, they have different needs than I think a lot of people realize. And so the way to kind of get at that by talking to those employees and to really get a level deeper with them, I think that's where you start to kind of create value amongst that next class. And I'll give you an example. Within our company right now, we've had a lot of motion with COVID-19 and our remote work. And we're all kind of figuring out, you know, what we need in order to commute to the office, what we need our new work schedules to look like. And so that need for a young professional can be very different than say your seasoned professionals who of course are dealing with childcare, eldercare, you know, additional things. Young professionals, we're dealing with our apartment leases being up and not knowing where we're gonna live. A lot of us are back at our parents' houses and are in different places than we were, you know, a month and a half ago. Understanding how our unique needs can be met, I think, is going to be— is so crucial to keeping that really mobile base of individual contributors in your company happy.
I love how you're saying that. It kind of reminds me of just knowing your customer as well, knowing your employee, because each employee is a unique individual. And you can't just treat all employees exactly the same because their situation—
Absolutely.
And is that— am I getting it right?
Yeah, and I think, you know, part of that comes with the territory now of being part of a large multinational corporation like Johnson Johnson. When I started at the company, we were a very small— a smaller group that was in the process of integrating into Johnson Johnson. So having that experience and, you know, being in very small, close, tightly knit teams is now very different than being a multi-campus, you know, multi-state team. It adds a lot of new logistical challenges. So understanding the needs of your employees in the San Francisco Bay Area is different than understanding the needs of your employees in New Jersey, right? That's a— they're very different environments, and the people that are in those offices are different. So you're right, you know, understanding your customers is obviously paramount to a business's— business's success, excuse me. But, you know, I love that J&J does place that emphasis that our employees are our greatest asset and one of our biggest stakeholders.
That's really great. Thank you for that. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Yeah, I have a few, a few that I would like to bring on if I could. I'd love to hear from Santosh Iyer. He just finished his MBA at Harvard, has a lot of really great experience in the medical robotics and high-tech medical device world industry that I do. And I think having him on here would be outstanding. Dr. Michael Lalor would also be a great person to bring on, a physician, entrepreneur, leader in that world, and someone I really respect and I've had a lot of great conversations with. And then if I could get the director of my team from my company, Alex Sheehy, on here. He's, you know, really been someone who has exemplified the traits of understanding his younger employees and their needs, as well as his more seasoned professionals that work in that team, kind of bringing that all together and creating the environment that we need to be successful, specifically through our integration and through COVID-19. So we'd love to hear his thoughts as well.
Wonderful. Thank you for those referrals. I'll reach out to them. And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
Oh man, um, I think the first job I had, I guess I coached a little bit of tennis here and there. I did some tutoring, but I think the first time I worked where I was receiving like a very, what I felt was like an official paycheck in that way, I was a bar and bat mitzvah entertainer. So I would emcee and dance at bar and bat mitzvahs in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area. I don't think I've ever had more fun in my life, but it really is maintaining like a diverse group of clientele like that and working with such, you know, high-energy outgoing people all the time. I think the best thing about those events and those parties was that you were— your sole purpose was to deliver an outstanding experience for the individual whose night it was, right? You showed up there and brought your best self so that they could have the best time. And really the success metric there was the amount of great pictures they got, the smile on their parents' faces, right? And so I think, you know, now working in an industry where customer centricity is so important, I do draw on a lot of those teachings a lot of time where, you know, Hey, you know, maybe it requires a little more on my end, or I've got to put in some legwork here, but it is all about the customer. You know, in our case, the patient, the healthcare provider, the stakeholder, as you know, just as it once was all about the, you know, little boy, girl, or individual who was having their special day.
Oh, great way to connect it all together and a great story, Henry. Thank you so much, and thank you for being on the show.
Okay, thanks for having me.
My pleasure. How could people find you?
I'm easiest to reach on LinkedIn, Henry Peck.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
