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The number of medical schools offering joint MD-MBA training has increased fivefold over the past 20 years (Vanderbilt Medical Journal2014).
Dr. Arvind Movva, founder of divvyDOSE and former CEO of several successful healthcare services companies, has discovered a formula for a successful transition from patient care to CEO. It's systematic adoption. She is an outlier among the less than 10 percent of physicians nationwide who choose a career other than medicine (Vanderbilt Medical Journal2014), Movva's advice serves as inspiration for technology professionals looking to build organizations that have a positive impact at scale.
The early intersection of medicine and business
Mova knew from an early age that she wanted to work in the medical field. “I grew up around a lot of doctors,” he said. “My parents’ community was the first generation to this country, so I saw them work extremely hard but also have a love for what they do professionally. It appealed to me for so many reasons: helping others, making a stable living, and working in a respected field.''
Surprisingly, after joining the medical field as a young doctor, Mova quickly gravitated toward the business side, managing an established medical practice.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” he says. “For example, we were once hiring for a key role of nurse manager. This candidate looked good on paper, but was working in a large, bureaucratic hospital environment. .We were a small boutique practice where things were fluid. We were constantly changing things. To make the patient care and experience better. The candidates were very nice and I thought that She liked it, but it ended up being very bad. It wasn't a good fit. She didn't have the influential skills to bring others along, so she said, He became a “bad captain,'' always saying, “This is how I did it.'' ”
start your own company
After several years as a physician and managing clinical businesses, Mr. Mova wanted to increase his influence in the healthcare industry. “I felt like I could impact more patients, but I wasn't fulfilling my mission.” So Movva used the money he saved to start a full-service pharmacy called divvyDOSE. was established. The initial goal is to reduce negative patient outcomes and help people with chronic diseases. “Early in my career, I didn't understand the importance of talent. I did everything myself and that was enough. I focused on the wrong things, not on talent: the website and the logo. We had about 20 employees and $5 million in revenue, but going any further felt like hard work. We felt like we were doing everything ourselves. All the questions were directed at me.”
Discovering the elixir: Systematic employment
So, what is doctor-turned-entrepreneur's recipe for success? How did Movva grow to a $300 million valuation in just five years and become a member of United Healthcare? Movva shared the following practical recommendations explaining how his approach to hiring transformed business outcomes.
1. Create a scorecard to identify what matters most. For Movva and his team, the “scorecard” was critical to optimizing both recruitment and business outcomes. He explained: “Sitting down and thinking deeply about a scorecard is at least 50% of the challenge of recruiting, because in any job there are very specific, key actions and outcomes that matter the most. You need to identify what that is and make that the central criterion for hiring people. The scorecard helped us express what we were looking for.”
2. Interview for whom do not have It's not about who you hire. to hire. Movva has learned that deciding who not to hire is just as important as deciding who to hire. He explained his in-depth interview method: It ruins the story they were trying to tell. Some candidates loved interviewing. It's very important to understand where they really want to go in their career and whether the role is something that excites them. ” By conducting data-driven interviews, we were able to review past likability and qualifications to see who would be best suited for the role and most likely to enjoy it.
He shared an example of identifying who do not have We decided to hire him because his company had reached $20 million in revenue. “I was interviewing with the VP of Operations. He has all these great credentials from Stanford University, Harvard Business School, and worked in logistics at Amazon. In the past, I would have simply called him However, through the interview, the data showed that while he was great, he didn't match the level of ambiguity and creativity required for the role. He couldn't believe I wouldn't hire him. But a week later he called me and said, “I saw a disconnect, but you were right. It is.”
3. Hold yourself accountable for your hiring mistakes. Even with the best practices, hiring mistakes are inevitable. The results are acknowledged by his Movva. He unveiled a transparent, action-oriented approach to firing people who are deemed unsuitable. We may be wrong sometimes, but we cannot be wrong for long. I practice considerate shooting. I am very open and responsive because I believe we need them to start on their next path. I say, “I'm firing you.” I understand this is a big event. I understand that there is a lot going on in your head at this moment. We'll be happy to explain all the reasons why. Or you can just tell me you'd like to go home today, try to digest this news, and call me later. ”
Looking back at talent as the key to startup success
While 90 percent of startups fail (National Library of Medicine, 2023), Mova was an outlier among the few doctors who succeeded as entrepreneurs. I recommend this to all interested entrepreneurs. I have never heard of a business owner or CEO using this method without success. While CEOs tend to focus on other areas such as product or finance, it is those who focus on people who build the biggest and most influential companies. ”
2021 saw record funding of nearly $30 billion across healthcare startups (National Library of Medicine, 2023). However, according to an Accenture report, 51% of these startups go bankrupt within their two years (Mobi Health News, 2015). To maximize the odds of success, technology professionals transitioning from the clinic to the C-suite are encouraged to follow her Movva recipe for success: Prioritize recruitment.
