"Tell me when..."

Our latest co-creation venture is building a professional development platform for doctors. It’s been a fascinating ride. To help us avoid making the wrong thing, we’ve done 100+ interviews with actively practicing doctors. There’s one question that reveals far more than anything else…

Around halfway through we’ll ask: “Tell us when you first wanted to become a doctor….”

The answer usually starts with being good at science, or wanting to help people. We reckon there's more. So we nudge them back to the start: to the first moment of realization; of sensing possibility; of when their curiosity was piqued.

The real catalysts? 5 years old, breakfast every Thursday with their doctor grandfather; a close-up view of a family member’s health issues; even playing a particular role in a 3rd grade school performance. 

This simple question seems to act as a reminder: why they do this work, and who helped them along the way.

It’s also a reminder for us that doctors aren’t really ‘healthcare professionals’, or ‘users’ of our product. 

They’re real people, with real stories. Just like the rest of us.

It’s strange that part gets forgotten so often. 

P.S. Not all of us are following a vocation, a calling. But this simple question can still unlock something. Just substitute [job title] for [strength], [ skill], [curiosity]. Tell me when…

...the idea of hospitality first entered your life?

...you realized you were good at writing?

...you became curious about making charts and graphs?

And whatever your first answer is, go back. Can you go back a little further…?