Intro: The following SHSMD Podcast is a production of DoctorPodcasting.com.

Bill Klaproth (Host): On this edition of the SHSMD Podcast, it is a special SHSMD Connections 2025 preview as we talk with Tucker Bryant. He is our opening keynote speaker on Sunday, October 12th in Dallas. Tucker is going to reveal how poetic tools-- yes, I said poetic tools-- can enhance creativity, collaboration, and competitive advantage in the healthcare industry. This is going to be a great keynote. We're going to talk about it right now.

This is the SHSMD Podcast, rapid Insights for healthcare strategy professionals in planning, business development, marketing, communications, and public relations. I'm your host, Bill Klaproth. And in this episode, we talk with Tucker Bryant. He is our opening keynote speaker at SHSMD Connections 2025 on Sunday, October 12th in Dallas. Tucker is an entrepreneur, innovation strategist, and nationally renowned poet. He helps leaders unlock creativity and innovation through storytelling, and he's going to help you as well. Tucker, welcome

Tucker Bryant: Yo, Bill, so good to be talking to you. Thanks for having me on today.

Host: And it's so great to talk with you. I am looking forward to your keynote. So, tell us what can we expect?

Tucker Bryant: Oh man, expect the unexpected. So obviously, coming into a healthcare strategy conference and hearing from a poet, it's not the most expected connection. But we're going to be talking about how people in the audience can think like poets to unlock opportunities for transformation. An innovation that poets put into practice in their work to keep that craft and evolution.

So, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Folks are going to be probably a little bit surprised by the way they receive the information, but I hope it's going to get put to good use and I think it will.

Host: Ooh, I like surprises. This is sounding great already. So, you said you're going to teach us how to think like poets. So, what are the Poet's Keys?

Tucker Bryant: So, the Poet's Keys are essentially a set of tools that poets use, whether knowingly or not, to kind of continuously push their art forward. I noticed that there are all these things that professionals in general are trying to do related to thinking outside the box, getting outside their comfort zones, taking risks that sometimes don't happen if we don't have a really distinct pressure to do those things. But poets, right? Like, no one is breathing down a poet's neck, telling them, "You better drop the hottest metaphor of 2025 if you want to keep your job." Like, poets are doing those things because they pursue this natural, proactive curiosity. And so, I noticed that there were these tools that poets use to sort of push their craft forward that professionals can adopt as well. And so, the keys are these six concepts of which we're only going to be exploring a few given our time constraints. But they'll hopefully help folks see how they can unlock these opportunities for change in their own work and actually pursue that change when they leave the room.

Host: So, what inspired you to develop the Poet's Keys? How did this all come together? How did you put two and two together and say to yourself, Hey, here's what a poet goes through and we can transfer this to other businesses.

Tucker Bryant: Yeah, it's so funny. So, a bit of a backstory. In college, I was obsessed by poetry, writing, performing, you name it. And by the end of college, I noticed that all my friends were going off to pursue these really impressive internships at JP Morgan, Facebook, et cetera, while I had been sitting in my bedroom writing, you know, little sonnets about Jasmine tea and things like this.

And so, it occurred to me at some point that I thought that was going to have to put poetry away because of how different that is from what people do in a corporate environment, and pursue that corporate job. And so, I went to work at Google, got my nice buttons up and tried to do that path. But after about a year or two of being at Google, there was one of these sort of moments in which the director on my team must have seen an old video of me performing poetry. And it became one of these sorts of things where it was like, "Oh. It looks like you could do a good show and tell for the team. Why don't you share a poem or two?"

And so, I semi-reluctantly put together a little presentation, but I didn't want to just perform a poem. I wanted there to be some value between what poets do and what my team, which is a product marketing team, could take advantage of, or what they were trying to do in their work.

And so, I tried to find these connections between like, okay, you know, we were looking for new ways to communicate our value propositions, new ways to collaborate with our teams. And for whatever reason, folks just felt stuck. And so, I thought, okay, what are the ways that poets do that? And is there some different perspective that these marketers might be able to adopt, if they take this into account?

And so, I put together that presentation and really enjoyed that exploration and the conversations that it sparked. And so, over the next few years, working at Google, I continued to sort of explore those connections as I realized, "Oh yeah, these are the things that poets are doing." That are really valuable to continuing to innovate on their work. And they're things that all of us, whether we're professionals or just people going throughout this world, are trying to do in some capacity as well. And so, I think there's a lot of value that those tools have in helping us take advantage of our biggest opportunities and our biggest challenges.

Host: Well, you're going to be in a room with a bunch of great healthcare marketers, so I know they're going to be receptive to your message on this. I can't wait. So, how can poetic tools enhance creativity in the healthcare industry?

Tucker Bryant: There are so many ways. I'm going to preview just one here. Obviously, healthcare has been done in a particular way for a long time, but there are these new opportunities that are arising. You know, a demand for a more consumer-centric way of engaging with our healthcare providers, folks who are demanding a sort of retail-like experience that's really seamless and efficient.

And in order to deliver that kind of experience, there's a lot we have to let go of. And so, one thing we're going to be talking about in the keynote is this concept of writing by erasing, which is something that poets have to do in order to distinguish between language and ideas that are actually productive and effective for their work and ideas that they just return to because those ideas feel familiar and feel safe. And so, what we're really going to be trying to do first is getting folks equipped with this idea that sometimes getting rid of what we rely on can be the best way to clear path forward and clear the path forward a new idea. And on the back of that new foundation, we can really recreate and reinvent all the systems and all the ways in which we engage with each other to sort of build that next generation of healthcare. So, I'm excited to have that conversation with folks.

Host: Yeah, that's kind of cool. So, writing by erasing and getting rid of what we rely on then will kind of open the door to a new, more creative process. Is that right?

Tucker Bryant: Exactly. Yeah. It both gives us an opportunity to look at our work through fresh eyes, and it also just challenges this idea that innovation is just about doing more things faster and better. In some ways it is, but also in order to make room for those new ideas, we often have to first get rid of what we rely on or assume that we have to keep in our wheelhouse in order to move forward. And so, writing by erasing is challenging that idea and giving us permission to create spaciousness in order to fill it with something better.

Host: So, I know in your keynote you're going to cover how to be more creative. You're also going to cover collaboration, and you're going to talk about how using your format can create a more competitive advantage, if you will. So, we just talked about creativity. Let's talk about collaboration. Can you explain how the Poet's Keys fosters collaborations within healthcare teams?

Tucker Bryant: There's something that I think all poets recognize at some point, and people who are non-poets who just have had the drama of a really confusing poetry class in junior high or high school, which is that the same line in five different ears can mean five different things. If I say the line, the glass holds the world, I might interpret that as meaning the window outside that I'm looking at right now has a world of opportunity. I'm looking at trees. I see people walking down the street. There's so much going on out there. But to somebody who is a biologist looking at a Petri dish, the glass holds the world, is going to mean something very different as it will to somebody who is, you know, 20 years sober, who thinks about their experiences having overcome alcoholism and looking at a time in which that glass held the world.

And so, where the Poet's Keys come into collaboration is really identifying this opportunity for us to get closer to other perspectives that allow us to tackle the challenges that we have in a way that we just don't have access to because our experiences are different. And so, obviously, a challenge that SHSMD has made apparent to me in my earlier research is super siloed departments within the healthcare industry. And so, this will get us thinking about what's possible if we break those silos down and sort of collaborate across lines that might not appear intuitively valuable or even clean or easy for us to do, but can really unlock opportunities that'll help us build this next era of healthcare that we all care about putting into practice.

Host: Well, opening up the blinders, if you will, and getting closer to others' perspectives, I think, would really help and really foster that environment of collaboration. You also said you can open up What's possible if you break those silos down? So, teams working together, pushing the wheel all together the same way certainly can help a healthcare organization as well.

So, let's talk about competitive advantage. How do the Poet's Keys offer us a competitive advantage in healthcare?

Tucker Bryant: Yeah, it's really this question of differentiation, right? Healthcare is obviously this somewhat saturated market as mergers, partnerships, and provider options grow. And so, standing out as a brand, a healthcare brand, is more important now than ever. And in order to sort of take advantage of that opportunity to stand out, it's going to require that we take some risks and do things that are somewhat different and experiment.

And at the beginning of that experimentation phase, it may often feel like we're trying things that don't quite land or that need further refinement, but what poets try to adopt is this idea that there's a lot of value in being wrong in the right direction, right? Like experimenting so fast and so often that even if we are accumulating what feels like a sort of pile of trash of ideas that we toss out or don't end up using, one of those ideas will be the one that we can nurture into that differentiation that gives us a competitive advantage. And so, by getting folks to experiment, they'll end up at a place that differentiates them from the other competitors that they want to stand out from. And I'm excited for folks to think about how that can apply to the challenges they're facing.

Host: Well, differentiation, really important. I love how you said that being wrong in the right direction. I've never heard it put that way, but that's very interesting. So as you said, you've got to take risks and experiment. But as long as you're doing that, you're taking risks, you're experimenting, sometimes things aren't going to work. But good to know what doesn't work as you're getting closer to the things that actually do work. So, you've got to go through that process to get to the things that do work. So, you're being wrong in the right direction. Is that right?

Tucker Bryant: Exactly right. And it's really tough in the professional environment, especially one like healthcare where folks are really competent and analytically driven, and so able to identify what the most precise way is to take a strategically valuable or sound approach. In an environment like that, it can be really tough for us to remember that the little micromistakes that we make are insignificant relative to the trajectory that we're on. And if we're building towards a better future, it's going to require that we take some risks that do go a little bit awry. And of course, because we're in healthcare, we're not asking anyone to like put literal lives on the line. But before we get to that point where our ideas are landing with our users and landing with our customers and the people that we serve, how are we inviting in this experimentation so that we expand the sort of scope of possibility available to us and can see, okay, there's more than one way to do this. There are three or five or a hundred, and only once faced with all those paths do we really have the opportunity to choose one that has the ability for us to innovate in a direction that we all care about.

Host: I like how you put that, micromistakes. That's a good way to put that. So, we're all looking to be more innovative, if you will. In the keynote, are you going to share advice on how our healthcare marketers can be more innovative and implement innovative strategies?

Tucker Bryant: Absolutely. And the way that we're going to be approaching this, first and foremost, is really, like, it's the shift in the way you think about yourself and the environment that you are operating within. Because of course, there are tactics that we all want to be able to walk away with. But the only way that we'll be able to put those tactics into action is if we have a different way of approaching our day-to-day perspective on the environment that we're facing. And so, what we're getting folks to think about how can I think about the constraints I face a little bit differently? How can I think about the daily routine that I go through in a way that allows me to see, "Oh, is there one or two things that I might be able to do differently that could open up an opportunity for me to change what I'm doing here?" And so, by starting at that perspective of like what could be different will then be getting folks to a point of innovation in the work that they're doing.

Host: So Tucker, we're always looking for ways to be more creative. So in your keynote, are you going to share examples or ideas or will the Poet's Keys give us a roadmap to being more innovative, being able to implement innovative strategies?

Tucker Bryant: Totally, that is a hundred percent the goal of the Poet's Keys. And they're both a roadmap but also a sort of menu. There are these six different skills that are going to apply to different folks in different measure depending on what challenges they see themselves as facing. Again, we're only going to be, actually discussing a few of them, but somebody who sees their environment as super constrained might get a lot of value out of thinking inside the box. Somebody who does struggle with perfectionism and has a bad relationship to experimentation might get more out of aiming for the trash can. But this really will be a journey in getting us to rethink the environment that we operate in every day so that, when we do get to the point of having the chance to go through our regular routine or change one thing slightly to open up an opportunity for us to do something differently, we're more likely to take that second route. And so, we will be getting folks to rethink their perspective on the environment they navigate so that they can be more innovative in whatever decision comes next. And I'm excited to see how folks apply those ideas in their work.

Host: So, it sounds like if we assess what we do on a day-to-day basis, we review that and what we do, maybe there are a couple areas or a couple things throughout the day or our daily routine that we can change that will inspire creativity and innovation. Is that right?

Tucker Bryant: Yeah, totally. We all have the capacity to be extremely creative. I don't subscribe to this belief that people are innately creative geniuses or whatever. It's a skill. And the skill starts with having the ability to pause where we would normally, you know, barrel down our typical path and just say, what might I be able to do differently here to open up a new possibility? And so, what we're really be going to be getting folks to do is take that action of pausing and stopping so that they create more optionality for themselves.

Host: Absolutely. So ,let me ask you this. If look into your crystal ball, what do you see in the world of healthcare in the next 10 years? Looking ahead, the evolution of healthcare, what do you think?

Tucker Bryant: Man, it's a great question, and this is where I might be a little bit above my pay grade as a lowly poet who's hoping that I can provide the tools that will equip folks in their crystal balls, but I am believing and imagining a world that is much more human-centric in which care is truly personalized in ways that we currently may not be able to imagine, and in which people are healthier and there's a sort of flexibility in the way that care is provided and received.

But honestly, I'm really excited to have conversation with the folks who have been in the trenches, who've been doing this work, who know a lot that'll equip me with the ability to sort of validate or refute what I imagine. And I think it's going to be a great time when we get on site.

Host: Yeah, for sure. I like how you said that much more human-centric. That would be great if we could achieve that in the coming years. So, last couple of questions. What are your key takeaways that you hope people will come out of your keynote with?

Tucker Bryant: I really want folks to not treat innovation as the airbag that we deploy once we've already hit a crash, but as the seatbelt that leaves us better equipped to meet those moments of opportunity, but those moments of danger and urgency, just feeling a little bit more resilient. I think if we can get folks to try something new every day, we build this trajectory of excellence and this trajectory of innovation that is so much more valuable than when we just wait for the you-know-what to hit the fan and then try to catch up to make course corrections. And so, if I can get folks to a place where they're 10% more likely every single day to be trying something new, that'll be a win in my book because these folks have everything they need to build the healthcare of tomorrow. And all it might take is that little bit of a push to get them to try something they might not have otherwise. And I know we'll discover it.

Host: Yeah. And it sounds like it's not a major change. You just said, if if I could get people to change maybe 10% of their everyday routine to try something new, that would open the door for possibility. So, it sounds like this isn't a major overhaul. Just maybe a little different thinking here or there in your day-to-day routine can make a big difference.

Tucker Bryant: It's that accessible and it can apply to things as grand as what is our market development strategy. But it could be as narrow as how do I structure my recurring meetings and how might a change in that open up the possibility for different thinking in the way that I approach my challenges?

And so, we're really going to be trying to get folks to apply those concepts on both the really tactical day-to-day level, but also in the way they think about the whole environment they operate within. But what I hope folks are going to discover after we have this session is that whether you're operating at that really specific tactical level or the broader, more aspirational level, it's really accessible and all it takes is stopping and having the time to ask yourself one question differently in order to turn the page.

Host: Yeah, this is going to be really interesting. I'm so looking forward to your keynote at SHSMD. This has been great, Tucker. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Is there anything else you want to add? Anything that we didn't cover that you'd like to cover right now?

Tucker Bryant: If anyone at the conference happens to be a death metal fan, come and find me because I love talking to people about music, especially music that involves really effective guttural pig squeals. So if you're a metal fan, find me at SHSMD. I can't wait to talk to you.

Host: Okay. So when we started the interview, I didn't think that would be your close, but okay. I didn't think we'd be discussing death metal on this call today.

Tucker Bryant: Yeah, lots of surprises. Like I said, the keynote is going to be unexpected.

Host: Which is going to be great, you know? So now, I have to ask, favorite death metal band?

Tucker Bryant: Oh, man. Okay. Right now, favorite death metal band, I think it's got to be Rings of Saturn. I know there are lots of kids who would think I'm an old fogy for that. But, if you look up some Rings of Saturn music, I think you'll quickly understand why.

Host: Rings of Saturn. I will be running to Spotify right after this interview

Tucker Bryant: I bet you will.

Host: Okay. So, Tucker has put down the challenge. If you're a death metal fan, make sure you come find him after the keynote and tell him how wonderful the keynote was and how much you learned. And then, you can ask about rings of Saturn as well. Tucker, this has been great. Thanks so much for your time.

Tucker Bryant: Bill, I've had a pleasure talking to you. It's been a pleasure talking to you. In fact, I just decided to poetically change up the language there.

Host: I like it.

Tucker Bryant: And I think that Dallas is going to be a great time.

Host: It's going to be an awesome time. So, thank you again. I really appreciate it.

Tucker Bryant: Have a great day.

Host: And once again, that is Tucker Bryant. And don't miss Tucker's opening keynote. It's going to be unexpected. You just heard him say that. So, we're going to be at SHSMD Connections 2025. Tucker will be giving the keynote on Sunday, October 12th. It's in Dallas. Make sure you get yourself registered. And of course, if you found this podcast helpful-- and how could you not? Please share it on your social channels, and please hit the subscribe or follow button to get every episode. And to access our full podcast library and other topics of interest to you, visit shsmd.org/podcast. That's shsmd.org/podcasts. This has been a production of DoctorPodcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See ya!