114: The Art of Learning & Healthcare Innovation

Book Review and Commentary: The Art of Learning and Healthcare Innovation

Every year, I try to read 1-2 books a month. Most of the time, those books come from outside the healthcare world; business books, personal/spiritual growth books, and books on leadership & learning. Sometimes, I read books explicitly about healthcare, like Called to Care; but often, I like to read and pull insights from other industries. Just because these books don’t explicitly address healthcare, they may have some nuggets that we can apply to our profession and industry. When I read The Art of Learning earlier this month, I pulled out some ideas that I thought were applicable to healthcare innovation, go to market strategy, and addressing barriers to change in healthcare.

So, this week, I’m deviating from the normal format of the show and diving into a book review and commentary of sorts. I cover the main points or insights I gleaned from The Art of Learning and then discuss how I see that they apply to healthcare innovation. I’m doing a bit of an experiment here, so if you like this episode shoot me a note and let me know and I’ll do a few more episodes like this.

What we cover in this Episode:

• Investing in Loss and how it applies to Go to Market Strategy
• Making Smaller Circles, and how putting in repetitions leads to unconscious mastery, especially in business development and marketing in healthcare innovation
• How the process of learning usually comes with discomfort and leaving your comfort zone behind
• The difference between entity thinking and growth/development thinking when learning and innovating
• Hiring team members to build out capabilities on the team
• Ways to leverage data for learning and growth
• Achieving Better Outcomes by focusing on mastery and growth

We’re starting to create videos of certain podcast episodes, including this episode, which can find on the YouTube Channel.

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• LinkedIn (Rafi Salazar)
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For More:

If you enjoyed this episode: Join Rafael E. Salazar II, MHS, OTR/L (Rafi), principal of Rehab U Practice Solutions and host of The Better Outcomes Show as he explores the possibilities of a new healthcare. Guests range from clinicians trying new techniques and treatments to executives and entrepreneurs exploring new service delivery methods, business models, and organizational structures. You can sign-up to receive new episodes delivered directly to your inbox by filling out the form below.  Learn more about Rehab U Practice Solutions by reading The Manifesto for a New Healthcare, or listen to Episode 000. Or, grab a copy of the book: Better Outcomes: A Guide to Humanizing Healthcare.

Are You Ready to Humanize Healthcare?

If you run an innovative healthcare company and are looking to develop a strategy that leverages best practices, new technology, and marketing/messaging in a way that returns the focus of healthcare to people, please reach out. I’d love to talk with you about how Rehab U Practice Solutions can help help you craft an business development strategy that leverages positioning, market research, UVP stakeholder alignment to drive business development strategy for specific healthcare stakeholders.

Work With Me

Are you building something innovative in healthcare—like a digital health product, service, or platform that’s aiming to truly improve the patient experience?

I help healthcare startups, SaaS platforms, and forward-thinking provider organizations develop clear positioning strategies, identify high-value offers, and build go-to-market plans that actually resonate with both users and buyers.

Whether you're launching a new product, scaling an existing service, or navigating digital transformation, I bring 12+ years of experience across clinical operations, healthcare innovation, and strategic development.

How I help:

• Clarify your product/service positioning so customers “get it”
• Align your offer with real market needs
• Build a Digital Health Roadmap to scale your healthcare organization effectively
• Support business development with industry-informed strategy

I’ve consulted on projects from multi-million-dollar state initiatives to early-stage product launches. My work’s been featured in Forbes, and I also speak at healthcare events and conferences on topics like innovation, digital health, and humanizing care. I also speak and train at healthcare conferences, events, and organizations on topics related to technology-enabled care, healthcare innovation, healthcare positioning, and humanizing the healthcare experience.

👉 Let’s connect and see if we’re a good fit.