Health Tech: Joe Miller On How Pocketalk’s Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness
… Perhaps the most overlooked: for products to make a social difference they have to find a social audience. Do not overlook getting the word out — good PR, social media, and giving users a place to tell their story must be considered when launching a new product. People love to share success stories and wins so make sure you provide the platform and fuel to do so. Otherwise no one will hear about your great ideas!
In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Miller, General Manager, Pocketalk.
Joe Miller is a Silicon Valley marketing and sales executive with 20 years experience bringing new products to market. Miller has served as a senior executive for successful and notable companies such as DirecTV, TiVo and eero. Areas of expertise include: crafting go-to-market plans, building teams and managing day-to-day business operations. Miller’s roles at Pocketalk include running the US operation and bringing the product to market for the Americas, UK and Europe.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
My father was an entrepreneur and this allowed for me to work closely with him by going to business meetings, factories, and trade shows at a young age. This opportunity exposed me to real business and business within a different era. Being introduced to the business world at such a young age gave me a good level of experience and understanding, and allowed me to cultivate valuable relationships at the start of my career.
I worked at my dad’s company from ages 10–16 and 2 years out of college, but ultimately decided to pursue passions outside of the family business. While my dad and his company provided me with a lot of unique and valuable experiences early within my career, our approaches to business differ. I could be described as more pragmatic than my father. He thinks about how to get to the story he wants vs. the one in front of him.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite life lesson quote is the horse race, “why just be good when you can be great”. Within a horse race there is not a huge difference in speed between #1 and #4, so it’s important to figure out what can get you that extra inch to be #1. It’s important to recognize that it’s not always the fastest or smartest that wins, but the ones who put in the work. So, to win, put the work in to figure out the big difference between 1- 4 and how to close the gap.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The three character traits that I feel are the most instrumental are:
Quiet confidence : take in the situation by reading the room and put language in a way the other person will want to hear it.
Self Acknowledgement: Be confident in what you know and don’t know. Make sure to surround yourself with people that know what you don’t.
Delegate to Elevate: Give others the ability to succeed. People need to feel like they have the authority to make decisions. If they fail, you can always fix it, but you have to give them the chance to be successful.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?
The main problem we are aiming to solve is critical conversations in moments that matter.
How do you think your technology can address this?
With Pocketalk you’re able to quickly and accurately have effective conversations. The technology is fluent in 83 languages, which removes those language barriers and puts people at ease by being able to communicate and accelerate caregiving or critical assistance when it is needed the most.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
The main inspiration was based on language and critical conversations, but, prior to the pandemic, the company was mostly focused on travel. During COVID-19, they quickly pivoted the focus on healthcare professionals as that field needed support.
An example of why we’re passionate about this cause is the Apprentice Cruise Line into Yokohama Harbor. We donated 15 Pocketalk devices to the Japanese Port Authority because there were 30 different languages on the boat which resulted in people having issues running out of medicine due to language barriers.
This was a life or death situation and people had relatives dying that they couldn’t get to. Even with New York and Seattle triage centers, people were in desperate need of help and if you didn’t speak the same language, it became difficult.
How do you think this might change the world?
Communication and language is at the root of a lot of good and bad things. The need to be heard and respected is so important and when someone can’t speak the dominant language, it’s really tough.
Situations can be more joyful if people understand each other and make human connections, which is very liberating and satisfying for both sides.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Voice translators or AI translators are great for about 85% of translations needed. However, they are only as reliable as the user themselves. There are situations where you have to deliver heartfelt news and need direct human to human connection. Tonality in voice is so difficult for any AI machine, so while translations may be accurate, you are hearing a neutral voice vs. a compassionate one.
Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)
- In the most basic terms, find the true mission objective for this technology/product. I believe you need to have a simple stated charter for any new product from the very beginning. Without this, the team cannot rally around the problem worth solving and this leaves the door open for a change of mission. This can lead to a change in the product itself. Modifications and overloaded features can be confusing and costly, both in delaying the launch and traditional cost overruns. Consider writing the press release first and see if your work measures up to that. If not, you might have lost the mission.
- Is the problem worth solving? Sometimes you might find that customers are not willing to pay for the most elegant solution, as other solutions seem “good enough”.
- User research along the way is critical. It’s easy for companies to build things for users under the notion that they really do not know what they want so we will show them!
- Make the product easy to use, and make the experience joyful! Perhaps it is a sound, a tactile feel or even the way a product reflects light. The smallest thoughtful details will be noticed by users on a daily basis. UI and boot times are noticed and become a bother when used every day. If the product is not used actively it cannot make a big difference.
- Perhaps the most overlooked: for products to make a social difference they have to find a social audience. Do not overlook getting the word out — good PR, social media, and giving users a place to tell their story must be considered when launching a new product. People love to share success stories and wins so make sure you provide the platform and fuel to do so. Otherwise no one will hear about your great ideas!
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
What would matter more to you than the environment or social impact? Society is only as good at the individuals within it. The environment isn’t ours. How are you going to take care of it? Value add or not. Deposits or withdrawals? To me, it is as simple as that.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Follow Pocketalk on Instagram @Pocketalk
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.
Health Tech: Joe Miller On How Pocketalk’s Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.