Episode 42: Winning at Business and Life with Omar M. Khateeb

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.

Hey, Professor Pete, so my name is Omar M. Khatib. I am the Director of Growth for Petrel Medical, which is a predictive health company that's focused on the critical care unit. We have a predictive monitor and a smart sensing catheter where we use it to start understanding and more importantly, amplifying the signals for various vital signs in the ICU.

Omar, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2, what's the best thing about working in your industry?

Best part about working in my industry is that I know that everything that I do, including everything that everybody else does, is working towards actually helping and saving somebody's life. It's not something where we have to extrapolate and try and pretend that this can sort of help somebody's life. We absolutely have an impact on people's lives because we're dealing with patients.

That's really— it's, it's very admirable. I, I, and I can definitely appreciate that. Question number 3, I hear from other business leaders, that staying in a good work-life balance for them and their team members is a challenge. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, I think that the mistake— trying to separate work, uh, work from their personal life. And the thing is, is that we spend half our time in each one of those things. And so when one is not in balance, the other one's also not going to be in balance. You cannot have a knockout drag-out fight with your spouse at home and expect that you're going to go to work and be perfectly fine. You have to make sure that those things are in balance. So more often than not, because we spend most of our time at work Monday through Friday, if we have issues there, those things will find their way to leak into our personal life. And that's for the average person. So I always recommend to people that when you're having issues in your, in your life, try and reflect back and dig deep as to why those things are happening. And you'll be able to pinpoint specifically what it is. And it could be something that you're in the wrong job at the wrong company, working for the wrong person, which is a scary thing. But intuitively, if you listen to your intuition, you will know what the right answer is because our intuition always leads us to the right thing, except we don't act on it because there's never details involved. We don't have a plan. But the point is, if, if you follow that feeling, you listen to it, you will be released and free to go on and do something better and be more happier. And it always works out if you have that sort of personality and that kind of confidence, which everybody can. You just have to be able to trust that the way the world, the universe, God, whatever you believe in, is working for you. And as long as you take action towards that with confidence and belief in the process, things will always work out.

I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, I completely believe that the universe has our back and you just have to, to, as you said, trust in that. And that's very, very insightful. Thank you so much for that.

Absolutely.

Question number 4, what other business leaders like yourself should be on my podcast?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think there are some fantastic leaders right now in the in the medical space. You know, selfish plug just because I really look up and admire him a lot, but the CEO of my company, Joe Urban, there's a reason why I very quickly joined the company a couple years ago and I've stayed with them. He's a remarkable leader and has a really fantastic and big vision. Another person, Scott Hunnekens, who's the first CEO and president of Virb Surgical. He's a great medical device executive and really visionary when it comes to disruptive technology. And I think a third one is someone who's very well known known and you see him everywhere, but Joe Mullings. Uh, Joe Mullings is the founder and chairman of the Mullings Group, which is a recruiting firm, but he also founded a media company called Dragonfly Stories. And I think the thing with Joe is that he's done such a great job of highlighting and amplifying the great work that our industry does, and it's made our industry more exciting and fun to be in. So I really wish there were more Joes out there. Um, but those three come to mind right away.

Those are 3 great referrals. I appreciate it. I'll reach out to them. Question number 5: What insight or advice would you give to other business leaders?

Yeah, the, the insight and advice I would give to other business people, business leaders, is to trust their people. And I think the most important thing is that you can have a great product, you can have a great service and market, but at the end of the day, people are what make things happen. And I think by inspiring your people and putting trust in them, you will be able to empower them to do a lot for you. And that doesn't mean necessarily that you shouldn't be hard on them. I think you have to push people, but there's a way to do it where you push them because you know that there's more in them and you believe in that, the fact that they can do more for themselves, for the company. So putting a lot of trust and inspiration in your people and pushing them to be the best versions of themselves, you'll always end up with a winning company.

And would it be a safe assumption to say that by trusting your people, then they're going to be more likely to stick around at the company and do a better job because they believe in you as well as a leader?

Absolutely. You know, I think at the end of the day, what people want most is that they want to know that their contribution means something and that if they were to stop coming to work one day, that they will actually be missed. And by doing that, I think it's super important. The other thing I would tell is for employees is that You know, more often than not, your CEO, uh, he or she is working incredibly hard. They're taking on a lot of stress, taking time away from their family. And it's not very often that people go and tell their CEO, hey, thank you so much for everything that you're doing. I know you're working very hard. I just want to— I want you to know that I appreciate you. Um, because I think a lot of us believe that the CEO is this sort of mythical figure of leadership that doesn't need that kind of encouragement, but they're human beings just like you and I. And I think that it's important to let them know that you admire the work that they're doing, you appreciate them, and you look up to them in terms of how they're doing that. And by doing that, I think you start developing a closer relationship where it's not just, you know, boss and employee, but more importantly that everybody's on the same page and we're all a tribe trying to move forward and do something, you know, and accomplish big things in the world.

I think that's really important to point out, you know, the CEO especially being a human person as well, that they can appreciate getting that positive feedback. So that's very insightful. Thank you. Question number 6, tell me about your first job.

Yeah. So interesting enough. Uh, so my very, very first job was when I was about 11 years old, I was living in Istanbul, Turkey, and I started sweeping hair at a barbershop to make a little bit of money. Um, so that was my very, very first job. And I've, since then I've always found time to work because I really, um, I appreciate the idea of work and making your own money. Uh, but the very first career that I have, I guess, is after I dropped out of medical school, I joined a remarkable company, Mazor Robotics, which was the first robotic spine and neurosurgical company. Uh, they were later acquired by Medtronic, but that was my very first job. And that's where I started in sales and I had a talent for marketing. And back then, uh, these execs, Chris Sells, Tim Morowski, Christopher Prentiss, uh, they, they saw my talent. And under the guidance of Chris Prentiss, he encouraged me to join the marketing team. And that's, you know, it's, it's been history ever since then because I've stayed and grown in marketing. So that was my first career out of school. And that's really what made me who I am today.

And it's probably the main reason why you have such a great relationship with, with the field, because you were a salesperson yourself. And so you understand what they're going through on a day-to-day basis.

Absolutely. I think that every marketer will be a great marketer if they get some sales experience, because aside from other than the fact that you have to understand what does it mean to come up with marketing materials and marketing strategy that's going to sell, you also have empathy. I think more times than not, marketers, we think very highly of ourselves. We think we're geniuses and we like to just tell the salespeople what to do, but you have to get down on the front lines and trenches to understand how lonely and difficult it is when you're going and making these calls to hospitals, traveling between states, spending time away from your family and all by yourself. It's a very difficult thing. So I think empathy will bring you closer to the sales team. And because of that empathy, you'll be able to understand what's going to be very valuable and what is going to help them. And as a return, they're going to have your back. They're going to make sure that whatever strategy or tools you come up with, they will take them, implement them, make it successful. And if it needs to be changed, they'll come back and say, hey, I think this is how it can be helped. Because otherwise, if you're the marketer that just tells them what to do and you just drop down the stone tablets of wisdom, they're not going to have your back. They're going to make sure that the tools you come up with will fail, and they'll find a way that you should be replaced, essentially. And that's just what I've observed happen with marketers who thought very highly of themselves but didn't take time to empathize and work closely with sales. You have to be one-on-one with them.

I couldn't agree with you more. Omar, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?

Yeah, so people can find me on all social platforms just by looking up my name, Omar M. Khateeb. You can find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and even Snapchat. I still use Snapchat, but I would say the best places would be LinkedIn and Twitter.

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.