Frank Jaskulke | Medical Alley | Public Speaking, Making Connections, & Being Comfortable with Discomfort

The Leading Difference

Frank Jaskulke is the VP of Intelligence at Medical Alley, leading the company's startup and global business platforms. He discusses how he got involved ("serendipitously") in the medtech industry, how Minneapolis became known as the United States' "Medical Alley," why he's comfortable with discomfort, and why he advocates that everyone take public speaking classes.

Guest links: www.medicalalley.org

Charity supported: ASPCA

Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at [e-mail].

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Host: Lindsey Dinneen
Editor: Tim Oliphant
Producer: Velentium

SHOW TRANSCRIPT

Episode 007 - Frank Jaskulke

Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey with Velentium and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.

Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.

Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.

Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.

Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.

Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference.

Hello and welcome to the Leading Difference Podcast. I'm your host Lindsey, and I am excited to introduce you to my guest today, Frank Jaskulke. Frank is the VP of Intelligence at Medical Alley, a consortium of 800 plus global healthcare companies. He leads the company's startup and global business platforms. Thank you so much for being here today, Frank.

Frank Jaskulke: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be on the podcast.

Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, I'm so thrilled that you are here. Well, if you are willing, I would love for you to share just a little bit about you and your background. How did you get into this industry?

Frank Jaskulke: Yeah. I got into this industry coming up on 18 years ago now, totally serendipitously. Out of college, I was working at our state capital, was just a page, the entry level staff job. And I got assigned to our commerce committee, which at the time was working on legislation to fund joint research between Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota on the topic of genomics. I found that interesting, learned a bit more about it. And when session ended, I needed to find another job until the next session, stumbled on Medical Alley. And honest to God, I got a job at Medical Alley the same day as I got a job at Home Depot across the street from our office and Medical Alley had health insurance. So I went with that and here we are, 18 years later.

Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my word. Oh my goodness. What a great story. Okay, so very different potential career paths, and you went with Medical Alley. And obviously that turned out to be a great fit for you, but tell me a little bit about growing up. Was MedTech or healthcare something of particular interest? Was it a family interest or sort of what led you to say, yes, this could be the right choice? Even not knowing that you'd be with them 18 years.

Frank Jaskulke: Yeah, on the background of it, nothing would suggest this is where I would end up. No family history of it. My mom's a teacher and an artist. My dad's a mechanic. I studied American Indian law in school. Like, that was my focus and that is a family thing. But coming out of the session, landing at Medical Alley, what I learned very quickly was we have this community in Minnesota of healthcare leaders, you know, Mayo, Medtronic, United Health Group, 3M, and so many others, that it's kind of, it's the hometown team. If you are gonna be in healthcare, This is a really good place to do it. And I fell in love over time with all of the innovation and the creativity and most importantly, the commitment that the people had. These are all people who are super smart. They could go do anything, they could go do a lot of other things and make more money, have a less stressful life, but they choose to be in this industry and to do the work, whether it's as a doctor or nurse, or as an engineer, as a business leader. Because they choose that, I just found there was such a deep passion and being around that is motivating and enlivening.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. And so can you tell me a little bit about your career progression, even through Medical Alley? Where did you start and what are you up to today?

Frank Jaskulke: Yeah. I started at the front desk, was the receptionist and staff assistant. At the time, opening the mail, sending faxes. The way we promoted most of our activities was to send the fax to our member companies. It still weirds me out to think when I started, I didn't have a smartphone. I didn't have a computer for work at home, and we were sending faxes and that-- I'm not that old, it wasn't that long ago. But how quickly it changes. But the thing that really kept me was, I got lucky early on and I had a boss, woman by the name of Liz Rammer and a CEO, a guy by the name of Don Gerhardt, who just passed away a couple of months ago, who were totally on board with, bring smart people in and let 'em try things out. So from day one, they were having me meet with the companies. They were having me join in legislative sessions. They got me involved in the different aspects of the business. And when I wanted to try something, they let me try it and if I stumbled, they'd let me stumble and then they'd help me out. And for 18 years now as I've progressed up the organization, that has been a truism of Medical Alley as a company, that we've always had leadership who embraces bringing in smart, creative people with diverse backgrounds and then unleashing 'em and letting them figure things out, being there to help 'em. But you know, saying, if you wanna do it, go for it.

Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. That sounds like an absolutely perfect company culture in terms of allowing individuals to grow and be themselves and make mistakes and learn from 'em. I think that's pretty amazing. I can see why you've been there for that long.

Frank Jaskulke: It's not that we don't have challenges, but on that one aspect, I think we've done it really well and it's paid off. Former coworkers who are running businesses, have started companies, are executives in other healthcare organizations, have gone into the legislature. We have a state senator that came out of our office. Like great people have come in, done great work and then gone on to bigger things along their journey.

Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. Yeah, that is fantastic. Well, I'm curious, is there a particular moment that stands out to you because it clearly confirmed that this was the right career for you, that being in the medtech industry was your path?

Frank Jaskulke: I don't know if there was an exact moment, but I do know the string of moments. There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives. That simple. That we go and meet with the CEOs of startups, of big companies, of hospitals, of insurance companies, drug companies, and we listen to their problems, and then we come up with creative solutions to resolve those problems as an industry, right? Instead of you having to solve the same problem I had to solve, we solve it once. Once that clicked, it became really easy. I'm gonna hang out with smart people doing great things and my work is gonna make it easier for them to do more great things.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, I can understand that. And that brings up an interesting question, presumably-- although you'll have to tell me from your own experience-- but presumably, I would imagine it may have taken a little bit of time to grow into being comfortable in that role. I mean, was this something that you were just naturally extroverted or-- whatever the right word would be-- confident enough to just go into those conversations and, tackle them with ease or is that some element of the job that, you did sort of grow into?

Frank Jaskulke: Yeah, definitely grew into. I'm very introverted. Confidence wanes by the day, right? Sometimes good, sometimes not. But I've never been afraid to be wrong. The idea of the more you're wrong, the more likely you are to learn something, I've always embraced. And so I was super comfortable going into meetings and just saying, "I don't know what you're talking about. What does this mean? What's important to you?" And I took advantage of, especially early on in my career-- I was very young, relatively fresh outta school-- a lot of the CEOs were very open to the idea of they wanted to pay it forward, help the next generation, and were willing to just share their knowledge and help me learn more quickly. So the, definitely not confidence, not extraversion, but just purely being interested and being okay with being wrong. Probably longer than most people are comfortable with being wrong.

Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. And so can you share a little bit about how Medical Alley does assist its members? I know you have a whole membership platform. I know you do a lot of educational material, you hold events, but I would love to hear from your perspective. Why do people, why do companies want to be a part of Medical Alley and how do you all work together to better the industry?

Frank Jaskulke: Yeah. So companies fundamentally get involved for two reasons. One is they care about their ecosystem and community. They wanna make sure that there is this healthcare and health technology industry, particularly in Minnesota, for the next generation. The other reason is they need help for themselves, for their company. They have challenges they're confronting. That they understand can be better resolved together than individually. So the, fundamental operating model of Medical Alley I would describe as, convening to solve common challenges.

So back up just a moment. Medical Alley is the only group in the country that has healthcare providers, healthcare payers, and the technology firms, medical device, biopharma, diagnostic and digital health as co-equal partners in the consortium. By doing that, we're able to get these sometimes conflicting groups. I develop a device. I need a payer to pay for it. I need a provider to use it. The payer's trying to manage costs and outcomes. The provider is trying to grow patient volume and deliver better quality. Sometimes those things are aligned, sometimes they're not. We're the only group that can bring that whole ecosystem together and work on getting to better alignment, to ultimately deliver better patient outcomes at lower cost. And what we recognized a long time ago, and this goes back to Earl Bach and one of their founders who was also the founder of Medtronic. He recognized that there were often problems that a company would have that a lot of other companies had as well. And instead of one company solving that problem and then another company having to solve it, and another having to solve it, and a lot of wasted resources that don't help the patient get better. He brought the industry together and said, "Hey, we could identify those problems, distribute our resources and work on them collectively. And we'll more rapidly remove those roadblocks and we'll be able to help more patients as a result." And that is still the rallying cry today. Bring this industry together to solve some of the most challenging problems in healthcare that haven't been solved when we've operated separately, when it's only been hospitals or only medical device, or only the insurance companies. We think if we come together as an industry that's all of healthcare, we can have a bigger impact.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I know that the organization does a lot of good for a lot of people. So thank you for being here and for being so supportive of the medtech, the healthcare, all of those industries. That is really an amazing thing. So it's cool to hear from an insider perspective too, exactly what you all are passionate about and why you're here. So thank you for sharing that.

Frank Jaskulke: Oh yeah. Thank you.

Lindsey Dinneen: And then how would you define leadership? Or what does leadership mean to you?

Frank Jaskulke: I always feel like that's one of those questions that we all should have an easy path answer, but it's really hard. I think, for me at least, leadership means one working on things that matter. There are lots and lots of things we could do. There aren't as many things that we should do. And so I think leaders are the kind of people, regardless of where they are in an organization, that get us focused on what we should do. I think the second thing is, I would have always the idea of leaders make leaders. That the true sign of a good leader is the people that come out of their mentorship in support and development and become better leaders than you know, the person they were working with.

And then maybe the last piece, I think a lot about is, not just being the person willing to make the hard decisions, but being the person who enables your colleagues or your team members to make hard decisions and not worry about it. And I think we've all been in that situation. If something didn't go quite right, then now we gotta tell the boss about it and we're worried about the consequence. I think leadership is creating an environment in which when mistakes happen or when hard decisions have to be made, it's recognized, it's celebrated, it's accepted, not denigrated or punished.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, and for folks who might be interested, maybe, especially people that are younger in their careers, what is your best piece of advice for that person who is interested in obtaining a leadership role within the medtech industry?

Frank Jaskulke: Ah, learn how to manage sideways and manage up, early. And by that I mean, I see a lot of people who get really hung up on proving their worth and showing like how good they are at a thing or how valuable they are. And you realize, eventually if you get into a management or a leadership role that like the great ones are the ones who help others be better, not who do great work themselves. And so that, early on, learning about how you help others do their work better, how you help elevate your team members and your leaders and your company. I think that's one of the fastest tracks to then become a leader including the promotions and the pay and the title and all of that stuff that goes with it. Because ultimately that's the leader's job. They're not the one necessarily out making the sale or building the project, but they are marshaling the resources and getting the teams motivated to accomplish things they didn't think were possible. That can be done very junior in an organization. You can make others around you better by your presence and by your leadership, regardless of your title or your role in a job.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that's true. I think there's a lot of perhaps, haziness, around the idea of a leader. And I think you're right, it doesn't have to be in your job title or even your job description. You don't have to be, directly managing people underneath you are leading people underneath you. You can be a leader in your own right. And set a good example and make a difference without necessarily having the title to match it yet. There are still many opportunities.

Frank Jaskulke: And that's a really good thing you said about setting the example, like modeling the type of culture we wanna have in an organization can be a very powerful part of leadership regardless of your level in an organization. Living the values, making decisions based on those values, and helping others to do the same. But, and I think it's, it sometimes is a big mindset shift for people to make. You know, when you're in an individual contributor role to a great degree, you are measured on what you deliver in the work. Whereas a leader or a manager is measured on what their team delivers or what the organization delivers. And so getting that early mindset of" I'm gonna model those behaviors, I'm gonna help the others around me to be better." I think that's how you get on the rocket ship.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yes, and to that point, something that you mentioned earlier, which I really loved was that you essentially, when you were having those initial meetings with CEOs and whatnot early on in your career, and you weren't coming from a place of extroversion or confidence, but you were coming from a place of curiosity and genuine interest and a willingness to learn. And I love that. I think that that's a wonderful trait because it can help you continue to learn and grow your whole life. But I'm curious, how do you prioritize your continued learning and growing as a leader today?

Frank Jaskulke: Oh yeah. I don't think it's a matter of prioritization. Learning just has to be all the time. You know, if you're not learning, I don't think you're getting ahead. The world changes far too much. This community and industry is so complex. There's always something new to learn. But then I think even more importantly, it's the mindset of being a learner. You know, if you have a fixed mindset, a mindset of scarcity, you're gonna have a hard time, I think, getting ahead in this world and making a real meaningful impact. Versus a mindset of abundance, of we can make more, and of being open to new ideas and new perspectives, new ways of approaching a problem. So, like for me, learning is my hobby and I don't have other hobbies. I don't play sports. I don't do art. I don't do other stuff. I talk to smart people, ask them questions and learn from them. And I always think of " How to Win Friends and Influence" guide.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Dale Carnegie.

Frank Jaskulke: Dale Carnegie. Thank you. He had a line in the book where he is " the best way to be interesting is to be interested."

Lindsey Dinneen: Yes.

Frank Jaskulke: And if I had a life motto, it'd be that. I am just interested in anything and everything, and that has been the difference maker. So it's never a prioritization. It just always is.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. So I suppose that in your capacity in getting to continue to interview people because you're also a podcast host. Yeah, I was gonna say, so you get paid to do this, is basically the wonderful aspects of your job.

Frank Jaskulke: Bingo. Yep. And that is why I get passionate. I am paid to every day learn something, if not some things new. And by doing that it works out. And I mean, in a lot of ways it's kind of an old sales thing, right? Like people don't like to be sold, but people like to buy stuff. People may not want to hear your story, but people love telling their story. I want people to tell their story, I want to hear their stories, I wanna learn from it. And then that actually makes the business work even better.

Lindsey Dinneen: Are there any particular episodes or moments from an episode that really stand out to you in terms of either light bulb moment or a story that just kind transfixed you or something? I'm always curious what about from your perspective, are those moments?

Frank Jaskulke: Yeah we've had some fun ones over the years. Recently we had Dr. Bill Maurice, who runs Mayo Clinic Laboratories, and during the pandemic became very prominent because he's a massive, massive sports guy. And he started going on some of sports radio shows to talk about Covid and talk about vaccination. And this is an MD PhD, incredibly smart person, but who also is really into hockey and basketball and football and everything. He was able to connect with a group of people who were not as receptive to the traditional way of communicating about public health and vaccination. And have honest, thoughtful, open conversations about what was going on. And I would argue I probably made as big of a public health impact as anyone as a result. And it, it just really struck me how humble and honest and authentic he was about it. You know, It wasn't an air for him, it was legitimately him and he was excited to be on ESPN sports radio programs, like he was nerding out about it and able to then make a public health impact. So that has stuck with me.

The other one I've always liked, and I've interviewed her a couple of times, Lee Jones, who is the co-founder of a company called Rebiotix, and a longtime Medical Alley board member. She was a Medtronic executive in the medical device industry and started a biotech company in a state that is not known for biotech. But what's crazy, when they started the company, she thought she was starting a medical device company, and so it set it up as a medical device company, did all the normal stuff, and then the FDA said, "actually, you're a drug." And they had to pivot on the fly from a device company to a drug company. And the way she handled that pivot, the people she got involved, she was doing remote and hybrid work back in 2015 with this well before it was much of a trend. That company got FDA approval in September last year. They had a nice exit, great return for the investors, and hearing her story of a successful entrepreneur, a corporate executive, and pivoting from med device to drug and just going with it, I have found very inspiring.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that is amazing. Wow. Well, on a bit of a less serious note, so I've always wondered this, why Minnesota, why is Minnesota Medical Alley, just out of curiosity. I think Minneapolis is a cool city, but I'm just curious, what is the attraction? How did that become what it is?.

Frank Jaskulke: The honest to God, glib answer, but it's correct, is two things: the Mayo brothers stopped in Rochester 150 years ago, and Earl Bachan was born in Northeast Minneapolis. That was it. Like it wasn't planned. It wasn't a grand design, it was, Earl Bachan born here, started the modern medical device industry, Mayo brothers here, start the modern healthcare system and then we doubled down on it. The industry existed. And then we had thoughtful leadership, Earl Bachan, the Mayo Clinic leadership, a guy named Lee Berlin who came out of 3M, and at the time, Governor Rudy Perpich, back in 1984, they got together and they said, "Hey, we have something here we should build on it." So they created Medical Alley, the company, to organize and promote the industry. So we got lucky. And then if anyone out there, if you've read "Good to Great," we capitalized on our luck, right? We maximized our return on luck by doubling down on the industry, building it up, and creating an environment where if you're here, if you're doing medical device, you're gonna find the workforce, you're gonna find the suppliers, you're gonna find the investors, and you're gonna find the companies that might buy your company. If you're in digital health, you're gonna find the same thing. And increasingly, that's even becoming true if you're doing a biopharma startup here. Over time, a complete ecosystem is built up. But as Warren Buffet used to say, "we hit the genetic lottery" in having Earl Bachan born here and having the Mayo brothers stop here.

Lindsey Dinneen: Very nice. Okay. There we go. Now I know. Well, speaking of not quite as serious questions, but imagine someone were to offer you a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything you want-- does not have to be in your industry-- absolutely anything. What would you choose to teach and why?

Frank Jaskulke: Oh, that, that's easy. I would teach a class on the fundamentals of public speaking. Yeah. It's a skill that, no matter what you do, whether it's big business, a nonprofit, government, anywhere, public speaking, communication is so fundamental and a lot of people are scared by it. And then there's a lot of people who aren't scared by it, but do it poorly. And, harm their ability to drive their cause forward. So yeah, I'd do that one for free, but I'd certainly do it for a million dollars.

Lindsey Dinneen: Amazing. Well, okay, so that does generate a follow-up question then. Did you take extensive public training courses or classes or Toastmasters or anything like that? Or is your own experience over the years led you to a place where you would be confident in teaching a class.

Frank Jaskulke: Yeah. In high school I got very lucky and was recruited onto the debate team, had no idea what it would be about, fell in love with it and then joined the speech team and that has been more useful and a bigger contributor to my success professionally and personally than my undergraduate degree, than my graduate degree, than anything I've done. High school speech and debate is the best thing I've done in my education.

Lindsey Dinneen: Agreed. Yeah. I will second that. I actually also did speech and debate in high school . Yeah. And I do agree it is one of those, or two, of those classes or activities that you can do that actually do carry over substantially throughout your life, so.

Frank Jaskulke: Anyone out there if you've got kids that are thinking about stuff, it is well worth encouraging your kids to check it out. It is such a force multiplier.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Agreed. What is the one thing you wish to be remembered for after you leave this world?

Frank Jaskulke: I don't really care if I'm remembered or not. It kind of gets to the why, like the only thing I'm really interested in is that the impact happens. Whether or not people know I had a part in it, I'm okay with, I'll know.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Okay. And then final question. What's one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it? .

Frank Jaskulke: Oh, that's easy. That'd be my cats. We've got two cats, Astra and Zeneca. They're getting up there in age, but they're still, get home. They come and welcome me. Sleep on the bed all night. If days are warm or cold, they're always there. The cats.

Lindsey Dinneen: Aw. Well that's amazing. And it sounds like they're actually rather social for cats cause I think sometimes that's at risk.

Frank Jaskulke: Yeah. They're a little bit dog-like in how like clingy they can be. Um, not the aloof cats that we normally would think.

Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my gosh. Now, did you grow up with cats or was that something that you had, as an adult or where'd your love of cats come from?

Frank Jaskulke: I've always had pets. Yeah. We always had at least two cats and at least one dog forever.

Lindsey Dinneen: That's wonderful. Well, Frank, I just wanna say, this was so much fun to hear about you and your background, why you're passionate about the industry, what Medical Alley has done, not only for you personally, which is wonderful, but obviously for the world, how it's impacting lives. So I just wanna say thank you for sharing all of those stories and the behind the scenes. I love hearing that. And we are honored to be making a donation on your behalf as a thank you for your time today to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is dedicated to preventing animal cruelty in the United States. We really appreciate, Frank, you choosing that organization to support and thank you just again, so very much for your time here today. It was so much fun to talk to you and get the behind the scenes, and I just wish you continued success as you work to change lives for a better world.

Frank Jaskulke: Thank you. I really appreciate you having me on and letting me share a bit about what we're up to, and I appreciate that Velentium is collecting these good stories to share more broadly, and has been a part of the Medical Alley community. And to everyone out there, thank you for listening to this story and helping to spread it. Medical Alley is always here at your service.

Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Thank you again, Frank, and thank you also to our listeners for tuning in, and if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, I'd love it if you share this episode with a colleague or two, and we will catch you next time.

The Leading Difference podcast is brought to you by Velentium.

Velentium is a contract design and manufacturing firm specializing in the development, production and post-market support of diagnostic and therapeutic active medical devices, including implantables and wearables for neuromodulation and other class three indications.

Velentium's core competencies include electrical design, mechanical design, embedded software, mobile apps, contract manufacturing, embedded cybersecurity, OT cybersecurity, systems engineering, human factors and usability, and automated test systems.

Velentium works with clients worldwide from startups seeking seed funding to established Fortune 100 companies.

Visit velentium.com to explore your next step in medical device development.