MEDTECH, MINDSET AND MOVING UP.
These are the themes we explore in today’s podcast episode with Brian Allen. This episode is a part of our new “People You Should Know” series, where we spotlight industry professionals shaping the future of life sciences and healthcare.
Meet Brian Allen, Strategic Account Director at Minnetronix Medical.
With a background in mechanical engineering and years of experience in both the defense and medical device industries, Brian shares insights into:
- What a Strategic Account Director really does and why it’s critical to client success
- How his experience in product development supports his current work
- What led him to leave defense and dive deep into MedTech
- The mindset and work ethic that helped shape his career path
- The one thing you can do to stay relevant in your career.
- Key advice for people who want to get to middle or upper management.
- What most productive teams have that less successful ones don’t.
- Plus so much more…
You can watch/listen to the video here
You can access the transcript by clicking on the gear icon in full screen view(pop out window)
Snippets from the podcast
Brian’s background and what brought him to the healthcare and lifesciences industries.
“My background is in mechanical engineering, but throughout my whole career, I’ve spent time working with electromechanical electronic medical equipment—or electrochemical systems. I did about seven years in defense, but the majority of my time has been in product development for medical devices. In particular, working on Class II, Class III medical devices, including single-use devices and capital equipment, in a variety of positions—from program management, functional management, technical leadership, to engineering.“
“In my current role, I’ve shifted from product development to the Strategic Account Director role at Minnetronix. What we’re trying to do is have more focus on our customers. I represent the customer within our organization, ensuring that our goals, objectives, and our work align with the needs of the customer. I also work to understand broadly what they need from suppliers so that we can determine how we can add differentiated value and hopefully grow the business over time by adding value in multiple ways..“
“I’ve always wanted to work on something that was a little bit bigger than myself.”
Brian Allen
“When things get hard or there’s conflict in personal or professional life, having something bigger makes it easier to put in that extra effort. I started in defense for about seven years. I worked on EMALS, the electromagnetic aircraft launch system on the CVN‑78 aircraft carriers. You have to rationalize that it might be used against innocent bystanders—but hope it’s for good purpose. But I completely appreciate not everyone can rationalize that. I thought about what made sense in the Twin Cities—and if you look at the medical device market here, it’s hard to step into a better industry in terms of diverse products, types of organizations, and the type of work you could be doing. So I chose to step into medical devices, moving from project management back into engineering to understand engineering in medical devices versus defense. I’m certainly glad I did. In medical devices, the worst case is helping someone you wouldn’t have otherwise helped.“
What are a couple of the most important things Brian has done that got him to where he is in his career now?
If you’re purely motivated by money or title, it’s hard to be content. You need to know why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Brian Allen
“I think going back to the last question—finding a purpose greater than yourself. If you’re purely motivated by money, title, or prestige, it’s hard to be content because there’s always more. Understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing is important. The other thing: good old-fashioned working harder than the person next to you early in your career. No one can take what you learn away from you. In the beginning of your career, you’re learning fast. And finally: diversify. I worked with someone in defense who had experience in one narrow area—when that area shrank, he lost his role. He had to move his family to keep his career. So I diversified: engineering, project management, operations, design—to build a diversified portfolio for more effectiveness and more options.“
Brian’s advice for advice for people who want to get to middle or upper management
Early in your career, there’s no substitute for working harder than the person next to you.
Brian Allen
“I’m a fan of people who started technical. Developing critical thinking and problem-solving in engineering translates well to project management and people management. If you know someone else’s world, it’s easier to support them instead of dictating outcomes from an ivory tower. Also—soft skills. I learned a lot at Boston Scientific about strengths, weaknesses, personality tools like Insights or Myers-Briggs. Understand yourself to leverage your strengths, mitigate weaknesses, and complement others. The most productive teams have diversity in backgrounds, skill sets, and experiences. Finally, be prepared to champion decisions you might not personally make. You have to believe the company’s going in the right direction and support leadership, even when it’s not your view. And if you can’t get behind it, you owe it to yourself and the organization to find something else.“
About mentors
“I’ve had fantastic mentors and advocates, and I think turning that around and paying it forward—mentoring the next generation—is a solid way to ensure they accelerate their careers. Even if you’re working with someone you struggle with, you can still learn a lot—learning to have productive relationships through conflict is a great skill. So sometimes you have to be creative in who you consider a mentor, but there’s value all around.“