The 4 medical entrepreneur personas
Healthcare professional school healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship education and training programs are growing. However, one question is should they be required or elective?
The medical student persona has changed in the past several years. Seeing around corners is always hard. However, to go to where the puck will be is a useful step when planning strategy and tactics to meet the needs of customers segments. Here are some ways to help build your parabolic mirror view of what's next.
If you have a product or service and are planning not just for the now, but the next and new, then painting a picture of your customer archetype or personna is a key tool.
Do you know who your dream customer is?
There are 3 steps for understanding your dream customer:
That said, the argument for mandatory is that all students should be exposed to core concepts, like design thinking, much like rotating through core clinical rotations, if nothing else, to get exposure to potential career choices. It might even make them better doctors and possibly help with burnout.
The argument for electives is that all students won't have the same interests and it would be a waste of time and resources leading the laggards to water knowing you can't make them drink.
One way to sort potential students is to understand the medical entrepreneurship education customer segments and their four core personas.
Convinced and Confident know entrepreneurship should be part of their career pathway. In fact, many of them have had entrepreneurial life experiences prior to medical school.
Curious but Clueless don't know what they don't know but are willing to learn more. Many have never held a job in their life. Some might be willing, but unable to develop an entrepreneurial mindest. Others discover their innerpreneur, and move on.
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Could Care Less are unwilling and unable to give it a try. Their attitude is , "I went to medical school to take care of patients, not take care of business". What they don't realize is that if you don't take care of business, you have no business taking care of patients.
Conflicted have yet to discover their "innerpreneur", but are conflicted about whether to step outside of their comfort zones.
If you are part of creating or teaching these programs, you will eventually have to sort the wheat from the chaff. If you are a leaderpreneur, your job will depend on it.
Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack and Editor of Digital Health Entrepreneurship