Fibers of Change - Andrey Ostrovsky, MD

The Fiber of Andrey Ostrovsky, MD Part 1

by Al Hardy

“When we left Ukraine, I thought I was on a field trip.”  Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky chuckled.  This was the type of chuckle that only retrospection can bring.  The type that emphasizes a few things: first, it’s really not all that funny;  second, sometimes, life was pretty tough; third, there is still only a partial understanding of how we made it through.

Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Care ^atHand

Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky is a pediatric physician, CEO and co-founder of Care ^atHand, and social entrepreneur.  While there is a place, he believes, for healing one patient at a time, he wants to affect entire populations, starting locally, then regionally, across the globe.

But what is a social entrepreneur?  For that matter, why does the designation even matter?  We will not even bother to drift into the deliriously distracting debate as to the value of social entrepreneurs in capitalistic societies.  A social entrepreneur’s initiatives may be focused on people or problems that are not seen as prime for investors.  Simply put, a social entrepreneur often sees success as both:

- a resolution of a “social” issue in a way that benefits the targeted populations

- the solution will still render good returns for investors

Dr. Ostrovsky understands the criticality of patient by patient treks back to health.  He even goes to the point of helping patients understand the interactions with her/his environments.  He will get down to the dirty details to figure out what’s going on within the patient’s ecosystem.

            Dr. Ostrovsky remarked, “I am not just concerned about treating asthma in a child.  I want to know about what is setting off the asthma.  For example, are there cockroach feces in the apartment?”

The value of the work at Care ^at Hand as a social entrepreneurial venture may be best understood through Dr. Ostrovsky’s journey to becoming a physician.  Dr. Ostrovsky was born in Ukraine.  Just before the infamy of the Berlin Wall was transformed into market demand for pieces of collectible relics, Dr. Ostrovsky’s parents were classified as refugees and fled to the U.S.  His father, who ran a construction company, buckled down into the hard hustle life of a cab driver.  His mother left her position of running a metal refinery to being paid under the table in a pizza parlor.  Imagine this transition for his parents.  Dr. Ostrovsky was a child and had a child’s perspective.  
   

“When we left Ukraine, I thought I was on a field trip.  Later, we lived in Baltimore City Housing Projects. I thought it was normal hearing gunshots. I remember going to work and having to make pizza boxes in the back room.  I was awful.  I was terrible because I kept eating pizza.” 

The family lived in Baltimore City Projects for three years.  That could have been the perpetual ending of the story.  Not everyone wins the fight to find a way out.  Not everyone wins the fight back to the semblance of a previous life.  His parents did.  I am sure with great costs and great rewards.  Those of us, who have never had to escape home and permanently settle in a foreign country and call that home… we may never really be able to appreciate the depth of those losses or gains.  I certainly would not want to experience such a thing just to gain that appreciation.  But, I can surely appreciate those who do live that experience.

His parents built new careers.  His father owns and manages Network Solutions of Maryland. His mother is the Vice President of Technology at Deutsche Bank.   It is obvious that Dr. Ostrovsky did not follow in their footsteps - career wise.  I asked how that happened.

           “You don’t have much choice as an immigrant child.  You have to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer,” he gave a quick laugh. 

            I asked, “Were you resistant to it?”

            “I had no idea.  It is only in retrospect did I come to understand the grooming that was laid out before me.” He chuckled.  My parents were very supportive and always said they would be proud of me no matter what.  I see, though, the subtle suggestions by them… and the not so subtle suggestions from the not so tactical grandparents.  They said.  You will shame us unless you become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer.  It was never anything I was forced into.

“I was very lucky at the time.  When I was about eight or nine years old, my mom and my then step-father were running one of the largest Russian restaurants in Baltimore.  It kept them very busy.  During my most formative years, I grew up raising my sister, this small child.   I coached basketball for several years.  I was good in science in high school.  I fell in love with being around kids and voilà, pediatrician.

“But, when I look at all the privileged kids or the kids that were able to escape that environment and compare it to all the kids that weren’t able to escape that environment, why is that?  These are the things that piss me off on a daily basis and why I do what I do.”

Part 2 Coming Soon,

Someone Noticed - A Generation Without Labels

WSB-TV, Channel 2 Action News, Atlanta, Georgia interviewed David for his part in helping an unresponsice woman.  Yes, David is my son.  The report should air tonight on the 11:00  News. We will post a link to the interview when and if it becomes available.  Say a prayer for the woman he helped.  See the news video intro below.

 David, your family is even more proud of you!

David Hardy
http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhardy62
#WSBTV #pass2drescue
WSB TV News Intro to the story http://2wsb.tv/1u1Inxq 

Part 2, Developing a Brand? Spend Your Money Wisely

Part1 introduced Allan Hess, discussed the definition of a brand, and what entrepreneurs should be doing to establish a valuable brand, especially during the initial phase.  

Begin Part 2:
“So, Allan, in maintaining and using a brand, what are some key concepts there?”

            “You have to move toward a Type A personality when it comes to your brand.  It’s a control thing because you don’t want people recreating your brand logo, jingle, or whatever.  Your brand is your image, and you need to manage it, or its value can be lost quickly. Don’t place a logo on any and everything.  That mistake can be made by employees, owners, executives, even business partners or well-meaning people trying to do a good thing.  Going back to the food scenario, placing your logo on the bottom of a baby diaper may not be a good idea.”

“Yes, especially a custard or chocolate shop….”

Allan chuckled.  “So, control the look, the feel, the sound of your brand, not for control sake, but for consistency – to build that correct mental (brand) image.”   

“Okay, Allan, we have talked about the creation of a brand and some of the physical presentations of that brand.  We have hinted at maintaining the value of a brand.  What happens when a brand needs to be retired?

“As far as value, basically, don’t let your brand or brand representation be associated with anything that does not support your core business and direction.

“Retiring a brand, sometimes it’s not about retiring a brand as one would normally see it.   That is, replacing one logo and name with another.   Sometimes it is subtle tweaks.  The physical representations of the brand logo or slogan may change to keep current.

            “At other times, when it comes to retiring a brand, a new direction does require retiring everything that is associated with a poor customer experience.  The automobile industry gives a great example of an old brand retired because of perceived quality and reliability issues.  With lean initiatives and manufacturing improvements, a better company emerges.  That may be time to retire a brand to reinforce the new image of quality or just a different company.  This would be similar to the case of Datsun changing to Nissan."

The Nissan GT-R is one of my favorite cars.  I figured I could work that in effectively. “I understand that happened quite some time ago.  But, I did notice that, more recently, Nissan re-launched the GT-R with a price structure that would seem to be a better fit for Infiniti, their luxury brand.  I think that is very interesting.  I saw one on the street before I knew the new model was out.  I thought, ‘What’s that?’  A few luxury brands went through my mind but nothing really fit.  I maneuvered in traffic to get a better look.  ‘Nissan! You gotta be kidding me.’   My view of the Nisan brand changed that day.  The history, the race videos, successfully pitting the Nissan GT-R against other brands that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more, Usain Bolt’s gold GT-R announcement, I say that’s a great way of maintaining and utilizing a brand.

  

“One can be retired as part of an acquisition as well, continued Allan added. “There are cases where the acquired brand takes the lead because of the strength of the brand.  This was the case with SBC Communications and AT&T.  AT&T had a long history of telecommunication development and global brand recognition. The consumer did not know the SBC brand.  It was better to leverage the AT&T brand than to establish the SBC brand to the consumer.”

“Allan, thanks for your time.  Can you give us a wrap up of some key points on the lifecycle of a brand?”

“You are welcome, Al.  I’ll be glad to. 

1.                          Your brand tells a story.  To businesses that are relatively new to seeking customers inside the U.S., there is a difference between translating a story well and telling a story well.  Translations are not enough.  I suggest investing in someone you can relay your value proposition in a way that resonates with the population.

2.                         Know your current audience and your future audience. Understand what they are looking for, and what they think.

3.                         Build your brand assets to consistently convey the image that you want, in the most economical manner. Work to get it right the first time, while understanding that as a company grows, the brand assets may need to change to reflect that growth and positioning.

4.                         I always recommend to work with a professional marketing company with experience in branding. That logo designed by your neighbors kid might be fine, but maybe not, or maybe it needs the right tag line or slogan to solidify it and make it more powerful.

5.                          Lastly, be a Type A about your brand; control the look and the feel of the physical representations – The logo and any tag line, image, jingle etc. and be diligent in where and how you allow it to be used. The brand assets are your image, your promise to the market. You need to deliver on your promise.

“Understand that it is often difficult, expensive and even prohibitive to fix a broken brand. I strongly recommend getting experienced professional marketing/branding assistance.  Don’t be afraid to spend money, and do it wisely with where you are at the moment.”

Developing a Brand? Spend Your Money Wisely

“When it comes to the lifecycle of a brand, entrepreneurs should understand how to best spend money for where they are at the moment,” stated Allan Hess, Director of Digital Marketing Automation and Customer Relationship Practice for Ascension Growth & Innovation Strategies, LLC .  Ascension offers growth strategies for businesses by improving client engagements (http://www.ascensionstrategy.com/) 

Allan’s interview is intended to follow up on comments from the December 2, 2013 post on RFID/RTLS markets on my healthcare blog.  The post talks about market segmentation and how it can be used to help manage the lifecycle of tangible and intangible assets.   A brand shares similar characteristics.  A brand can be purchased.  A brand has to be maintained.  A brand is utilized.  A brand can be retired.  A brand can be resold once the owner no longer wants it. 

Allan started our conversation by saying, “A brand is a promise or an image, a reputation, an intangible.  It can be physically represented by a logo, name, tagline or other types of designs.”

I added, “All connected in the mind of the audience?”

“…connected in someone’s head, recognizable to products and services.”

“Allan, what is important at the beginning of establishing a brand?”

“When it comes to the lifecycle of a brand, entrepreneurs should understand how to best spend money for where they are at the moment.  They need to understand who they want to be.  Not everyone starts at the same level. If you are working out of a garage and money is tight, it’s not like you can go spend a million dollars on market research for logo and slogan design and testing.  But, there are ways to get the information you need to focus on your audience and the feel that you want your brand to convey. “

I thought about the words, where they are right now.  A brand is abstract.  A vehicle has physical mass.  What Allan implied is very similar when starting a courier company or logistics company - anything that requires a vehicle.   If an entrepreneur has the capital and the business plan to match, buying 20 new vehicles may be a great way to start.  If he/she is starting out of a garage, buying one used vehicle may be the best way to start.

Allan continued, “A logo pulled together by a high school student may be good for a very short while.  When the bottom line and customers increase, that logo may be insufficient for what’s needed to increase market presence or even sustain business.

“For a logo, choose something clear, distinguishable, and recognizable.  Be consistent in reproducing that image.  The key is that a consumer recognizes the image as associated with the company and what’s sold.   For example, people know what a white swoosh is despite the fact that no word may be associated with it.

            “Terminology is important as well.  There are nuances but the fundamentals are the same.   There is a need to understand, who is your target audience?  What resonates with that market?   What problem is your audience trying to solve?  There is a difference in calling something sushi versus cold, dead, raw fish.  This has to do with developing the image you want to portray and understanding what the market will buy.”         

Allan made a great point that resonated with my personal experience.  I grew up in a place where deep-fried fresh or salt water fish went from the wire basket to the plate.  Eating sliced, raw-looking, or nearly raw meat… that was not even close to acceptable.  That included raw oysters.  The word sushi helps a great deal with me when it comes to thinking of cold, dead, raw fish… with cold rice and seaweed as a delicacy.  Even the root of word sushi has more to do with rice than fish.  Yet, while I do have my limits, I do eat sushi. 

Part 2 will cover maintaining brand value, retiring a brand and some closing thoughts from Allan.