S5E5 - Shaping Tomorrow: Meet AXREM’s Future Leaders Council

Join Melanie Johnson and Sally Edgington as they dive into conversation with James Bill, Business Line Manager at Ergéa and AXREM's Future Leader Council Chair, alongside Jack Bond, Business Development Manager at EIZO and AXREM's Future Leader Council Vice Chair. This enlightening episode explores the journey and priorities of AXREM's Future Leaders Council, providing unique insights into how the council is developing industry-wide solutions aligned with NHS priorities. Both leaders share their backgrounds—from Jack's fascinating transition from diagnostic radiographer and children's science entertainer to medical display technology, to James's path through biomedical sciences into healthcare commercial roles—illustrating the diverse expertise within the council.

The discussion highlights key initiatives including the Digital Pathology Special Focus Group, the State of the Nation report, and value-based procurement strategies that align with Department of Health and Social Care priorities. The Future Leaders Council, now expanded to 20 members with diverse backgrounds, represents AXREM's commitment to fostering new talent whilst creating a platform where industry perspectives can come together to address NHS challenges collaboratively. With professional development opportunities through Skilled Personnel and networking across the medical technology sector, the Future Leaders Council demonstrates how taking an "industry-agnostic approach" can drive meaningful innovation and support for healthcare services across the UK.

Ergéa

EIZO

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Transcript

[00:00.000 --> 00:03.000]  Hello, I'm Melanie Johnson and I'm here with Sally Edgington.
[00:03.000 --> 00:06.000]  Today we have the pleasure to be speaking to both James Bill,
[00:06.000 --> 00:11.000]  Business Line Manager at Ergea, and also Axrem's Future Leader Council Chair,
[00:11.000 --> 00:15.000]  as well as Jack Bond, Business Development Manager at EIZO,
[00:15.000 --> 00:18.000]  and Axrem's Future Leader Council Vice Chair.
[00:18.000 --> 00:20.000]  So let's get started.
[00:20.000 --> 00:24.000]  Hello, I'm Melanie Johnson and I'm here with Sally Edgington.
[00:24.000 --> 00:27.000]  Today we have the pleasure to be speaking to both James Bill,
[00:27.000 --> 00:30.000]  and Axrem's Future Leader Council Vice Chair.
[00:30.000 --> 00:34.000]  So welcome both, James and Jack, and thank you for being on the show today.
[00:34.000 --> 00:37.000]  Now let's get started by finding out a little bit more about you both.
[00:37.000 --> 00:40.000]  Jack, do you want to go first? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
[00:40.000 --> 00:43.000]  Yeah, sure. So I'm Jack Bond.
[00:43.000 --> 00:46.000]  I am the Business Development Manager for EIZO.
[00:46.000 --> 00:50.000]  I am formerly a diagnostic radiographer.
[00:50.000 --> 00:56.000]  I joined EIZO about seven years ago because I was looking for my next challenge, I guess.
[00:56.000 --> 00:59.000]  I'm a very techie, geeky person.
[00:59.000 --> 01:02.000]  As much as I love being in the world of radiography,
[01:02.000 --> 01:06.000]  I thought, what's going to be my next challenge?
[01:06.000 --> 01:11.000]  And I happily stumbled onto the world of medical displays.
[01:11.000 --> 01:14.000]  And I've been here ever since.
[01:14.000 --> 01:17.000]  I think you've missed something in that as well.
[01:17.000 --> 01:21.000]  A children's entertainer. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that?
[01:21.000 --> 01:28.000]  Whilst I was at university studying, I was looking for my part-time job.
[01:28.000 --> 01:33.000]  And I dabbled in a few supermarket jobs, kind of the run of the mill.
[01:33.000 --> 01:38.000]  And as I said, I'm a very geeky person. I love my science.
[01:38.000 --> 01:44.000]  I found a company who employed me to go and work with local schools
[01:44.000 --> 01:48.000]  and children's birthday parties where I dressed up as a scientist.
[01:48.000 --> 01:53.000]  And I did very basic science-based shows for children
[01:53.000 --> 01:58.000]  of anywhere between 10 to 20 kids in an after-school club,
[01:58.000 --> 02:01.000]  right up to 800 or 900 for an entire assembly show.
[02:01.000 --> 02:05.000]  It was probably one of the best jobs I've ever had.
[02:05.000 --> 02:09.000]  Probably the most stressful but fun standing in front of children
[02:09.000 --> 02:13.000]  and getting them all interested in science, which was really, really rewarding.
[02:13.000 --> 02:16.000]  It actually really helped me in my current job in presenting
[02:16.000 --> 02:20.000]  because I can stand up in front of any room of people and talk about nearly anything.
[02:20.000 --> 02:24.000]  And I can almost guarantee the questions I get back are not going to be as brutal
[02:24.000 --> 02:30.000]  as they were from the year two and three children I used to teach.
[02:30.000 --> 02:34.000]  You can always rely on youngsters, can't you?
[02:34.000 --> 02:36.000]  Definitely, definitely.
[02:36.000 --> 02:38.000]  Brilliant. And James?
[02:38.000 --> 02:44.000]  Yeah, I'm James. So I went to university and studied biomedical sciences.
[02:44.000 --> 02:49.000]  I originally actually wanted to do medicine but ended up in biomedical sciences
[02:49.000 --> 02:53.000]  through getting rejected multiple times by universities.
[02:53.000 --> 02:57.000]  But then I went on to then want to move into industry.
[02:57.000 --> 03:02.000]  So I moved on to a company called BTG and did a rotational graduate scheme there.
[03:02.000 --> 03:07.000]  So gained a little bit of experience in many different sort of business functions
[03:07.000 --> 03:13.000]  within the healthcare industry, so market access, clinical trials, manufacturing.
[03:13.000 --> 03:20.000]  And then had a bit of a, I enjoyed the commercial functions like sales and marketing.
[03:20.000 --> 03:27.000]  So I moved on to Ambu into the endoscopy space and was in a marketing role there
[03:27.000 --> 03:30.000]  and then was there for a few years and then I've now moved on to Ergea.
[03:30.000 --> 03:38.000]  So we sell biomedical engineering services and it's a smaller part of the business
[03:38.000 --> 03:44.000]  that Ergea kind of look at taking vendor neutral MES to another level.
[03:44.000 --> 03:50.000]  So it's a really fun space to be in and I think we can do some cool things to support the NHS.
[03:50.000 --> 03:52.000]  That's me really.
[03:52.000 --> 03:56.000]  And you haven't got any sideline careers such as children's entertainers?
[03:56.000 --> 04:00.000]  I'm not a children's entertainer. I'm a fairly boring guy.
[04:00.000 --> 04:04.000]  I like a bit of running and that's about it really.
[04:04.000 --> 04:09.000]  I like a bit of travelling, you know, pretty normal guy.
[04:09.000 --> 04:13.000]  Fab, thanks guys. And just to kind of set the scene for our listeners,
[04:13.000 --> 04:18.000]  so Melanie came up with the concept of creating a Future Leaders Council
[04:18.000 --> 04:25.000]  probably almost two years ago now and we did a presentation to the executive committee
[04:25.000 --> 04:30.000]  and we launched a Future Leaders Council back at the beginning of 2024.
[04:30.000 --> 04:35.000]  So we started with 10 Future Leaders and James, you were one of our originals.
[04:35.000 --> 04:40.000]  So you've been with us now for over a year, nearly 18 months as a Future Leader.
[04:40.000 --> 04:48.000]  And then at the back end of 2024, we advertise for another 10 Future Leaders members,
[04:48.000 --> 04:54.000]  which we started in January. So we're going to have a rolling 20 Future Leaders going forward.
[04:54.000 --> 05:01.000]  So I've seen some fantastic work over the last 12 to 18 months.
[05:01.000 --> 05:07.000]  So I wondered whether you could give us kind of a rundown of what the current priorities for the Future Leaders are
[05:07.000 --> 05:10.000]  and what have you been doing and why do you think that's important?
[05:10.000 --> 05:12.000]  So shall we start with James?
[05:12.000 --> 05:19.000]  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I think we've, as you said, we've got 10 more people that have joined the Future Leaders Council.
[05:19.000 --> 05:30.000]  So I think we're now in a position where we've got a lot more resource to help deliver on what we did or deliver more on what we did last year.
[05:30.000 --> 05:40.000]  So obviously Toby brought about the Digital Pathology Special Focus Group as well as then Sam had brought about the State of the Nation report.
[05:40.000 --> 05:45.000]  So I think like the priorities are kind of to build on what we've done last year.
[05:45.000 --> 05:54.000]  But I think given that, you know, the demographic of the Future Leaders Council is typically sort of entry level positions to middle management,
[05:54.000 --> 06:01.000]  we kind of operate in a space that's perhaps a little bit closer to the customer than members of the executive committee would be.
[06:01.000 --> 06:08.000]  So I think given that, you know, a lot of us are dealing with clinicians on a regular basis,
[06:08.000 --> 06:12.000]  we kind of have our finger in the pulse of what's actually going on in the market.
[06:12.000 --> 06:21.000]  And I think then we can take a industry agnostic approach to solving NHS problems or at least just bringing awareness to particular problems.
[06:21.000 --> 06:27.000]  What I really like about the Future Leaders Council or just about Axelrum in general is the fact that we put kind of our industry hats,
[06:27.000 --> 06:32.000]  we take our company hats off and look at problems from an industry perspective.
[06:32.000 --> 06:41.000]  And I think that industry has a duty and capability to help solve problems within the NHS, really.
[06:41.000 --> 06:45.000]  Yeah, I agree. And Jack, do you have anything you wanted to add to that?
[06:45.000 --> 06:48.000]  Yeah, I mean, James summarised that beautifully there.
[06:48.000 --> 06:55.000]  It's one of the things I'm really looking forward to being on the council is having my industry knowledge,
[06:55.000 --> 07:05.000]  both from being a clinical-based member of staff to being someone who talks regularly to clinicians and managers about what some of their issues are and what some of their pain points are.
[07:05.000 --> 07:13.000]  And how, as a display manufacturer, can we help improve some of those services and take away some of those issues?
[07:13.000 --> 07:21.000]  And bringing that to a forum where there's lots of different industries who are coming together in the collaboration to say this is one of the issues we're seeing.
[07:21.000 --> 07:28.000]  Is there anyone else can kind of assist with some of their knowledge they've got from their own market teams, from some of their customer base?
[07:28.000 --> 07:39.000]  And how do we work collaboratively as a neutral industry to better improve the NHS and the service we provide to our customers?
[07:39.000 --> 07:47.000]  And as James said, we are the people who are talking directly to them. We are the people with our feet on the ground, so to speak.
[07:47.000 --> 07:51.000]  So we've got quite a good insight to what's been required.
[07:51.000 --> 07:59.000]  And some of the conversations that have been steered is looking like it's going to be a very productive year coming ahead.
[07:59.000 --> 08:05.000]  Yeah, absolutely. And I think as well, what's really good is having that two-way communication with our executive committee.
[08:05.000 --> 08:15.000]  So James, as the chair of the Future Leaders Council, you will sit on the executive committee so they know what you're doing and you know what they're doing.
[08:15.000 --> 08:19.000]  And you can feed back some forwards between the two groups.
[08:19.000 --> 08:33.000]  And I think that how I envisage, you know, it kind of working moving forward is that the exec committee will pass things down to or across to the Future Leaders Council so that you guys can work a little bit more closely.
[08:33.000 --> 08:40.000]  And I think that that's great experience for you guys and to kind of see that high level view of AxRAM as well.
[08:40.000 --> 08:46.000]  So I think looking ahead and horizon scanning, what do you think is next for the Future Leaders Council?
[08:46.000 --> 08:49.000]  And I'll go to Jack first on this one.
[08:49.000 --> 09:00.000]  So obviously we're doing some pieces of work such as like the State of the Nation report and how we are looking at what's going to happen next for the industry and what we can best support,
[09:00.000 --> 09:05.000]  say building on the work that Toby and James and the others have put forward.
[09:05.000 --> 09:11.000]  And I guess it's mostly just how we're going to carry on improving the services and some of the ideas we bring forward.
[09:11.000 --> 09:15.000]  The Digital Pathology focus group has been a huge success.
[09:15.000 --> 09:21.000]  And as a member of that group, I've seen some of the benefits already from the meetings we've had.
[09:22.000 --> 09:30.000]  There are several conversations that are happening and especially with the recent news of NHS England and what's the next priorities going to be?
[09:30.000 --> 09:44.000]  I think one of our key focuses is going to be aligning with the Department of Health and Social Care and saying what are the priorities that have been put forward to help the NHS move forward in the next years or so of the new state?
[09:44.000 --> 09:50.000]  And what best can we bring forward as industry to make sure these goals are aligned to?
[09:50.000 --> 09:57.000]  Yeah, I think as well, that's actually a really valid point because the Department of Health and Social Care have got their med tech strategy.
[09:57.000 --> 10:06.000]  Maybe that's something that could be reviewed within the Future Leaders Council to kind of help you strategize what your future holds.
[10:06.000 --> 10:13.000]  And just to kind of mention in there that part of the med tech strategy for the Department of Health and Social Care is value based procurement.
[10:13.000 --> 10:22.000]  So we're actually doing a piece of work at the moment where we're writing a paper or we've commissioned for a paper to be written and our members have inputted into that.
[10:22.000 --> 10:25.000]  And we're actually going to be launching that at UKIO.
[10:25.000 --> 10:27.000]  So I'm sure we'll get the future leaders involved in that.
[10:27.000 --> 10:31.000]  We're running a session within the exhibition hall in one of the hubs.
[10:31.000 --> 10:33.000]  I've just literally had that confirmed.
[10:33.000 --> 10:37.000]  So we'll be putting out more information about that in due course.
[10:38.000 --> 10:47.000]  And I think it would be great to have one of the future leaders on the panel session talking about value based procurement as well, because that is such a big focus for the Department of Health and Social Care.
[10:47.000 --> 10:55.000]  And David Dawson, the director of med tech there, has been talking about that a lot lately in a lot of the meetings and events that I've been to.
[10:55.000 --> 11:02.000]  So, James, do you have anything you wanted to add to that in terms of horizon scanning and kind of what's next for future leaders?
[11:02.000 --> 11:06.000]  Yeah, I think both Jack and yourself have summarized it well.
[11:06.000 --> 11:22.000]  I think what you've then touched on, Sally, is the fact that the executive committee could then pass down opportunities or perhaps if you're looking at tasks that are urgent and important, the executive committee can lead that.
[11:22.000 --> 11:39.000]  And then there's perhaps opportunities or initiatives that are important but not urgent that we could take the time to really go into the detail on, given that there's 20 of us that could lend a hand.
[11:39.000 --> 11:49.000]  And so I think there's the opportunity for us this year to improve on the output over last year, just given that there's more resource.
[11:49.000 --> 11:59.000]  But I guess outcome is more important than output and ensuring that the initiatives that we are delivering are aligned to the strategic priorities at Axelrum.
[11:59.000 --> 12:08.000]  How can we output initiatives that are aligned with sort of technology to influence patient outcomes aligning and ensuring that those are aligned with NHS priorities?
[12:08.000 --> 12:13.000]  So I think an exciting year is ahead of us.
[12:13.000 --> 12:24.000]  There is. And just to say that I think in terms of the Digital Pathology Special Focus Group, we'll definitely be calling upon the Future Leaders Council to help develop the membership of that group because we want it to be as representative as possible.
[12:24.000 --> 12:28.000]  So I think there's absolutely a role to play for you to help develop that group further.
[12:28.000 --> 12:37.000]  The State of the Nation report that was published last September is going to be updated and that will be published with an updated version in the autumn.
[12:37.000 --> 12:45.000]  And that's obviously got a touch on the abolishment of NHS England and what that really means for industry, patients and the NHS as a whole.
[12:45.000 --> 12:52.000]  And then obviously we've got a government engagement strategy, which was signed off just a few months ago.
[12:52.000 --> 13:02.000]  So I've started work on that. So it would be really great to get the future leaders, especially those that have got an interest in kind of public affairs work to be able to assist in that.
[13:02.000 --> 13:08.000]  And just by way of example, I've started writing to members, local MPs.
[13:08.000 --> 13:16.000]  And recently I wrote to Ray Block, who are based in the Midlands, to their local MP, who happens to also be a minister.
[13:16.000 --> 13:26.000]  And he actually visited them last week and did a visit, found out more about their manufacturing, found out more about Axrem and I've followed up since around that.
[13:26.000 --> 13:31.000]  So I think that there's definitely a role for you guys to play in helping with that activity.
[13:31.000 --> 13:35.000]  So today I've actually written another letter to another member's local MP.
[13:35.000 --> 13:39.000]  So we're really going to kind of ramp that up. And I think that adds a lot of value to the membership.
[13:40.000 --> 13:48.000]  But it also helps raise the profile of Axrem and the work that we're all doing, including the work of the Future Leaders Council.
[13:48.000 --> 13:53.000]  Yeah, definitely. So I'm really excited. I feel like obviously this was a new initiative last year.
[13:53.000 --> 13:59.000]  It takes time for any initiative to kind of bed in as such. And I feel like we've got the foundations right.
[13:59.000 --> 14:06.000]  We've grown. We've got Future Leader representation that sit now on each of our Axrem special focus groups.
[14:06.000 --> 14:12.000]  So again, you're going to have that real good understanding of the whole of Axrem, which is fantastic.
[14:12.000 --> 14:16.000]  And like I say, we can kind of we're going to be giving you opportunities.
[14:16.000 --> 14:20.000]  So like the BEMUS session last year, we had a Future Leader representative on there.
[14:20.000 --> 14:23.000]  And again, we're working on that for this year as well.
[14:23.000 --> 14:32.000]  Our Axrem session at BEMUS. And again, it's going to be lots of networking opportunities and different events where you can attend to speak and represent Axrem.
[14:32.000 --> 14:40.000]  So yeah, I'm really excited. And obviously we've had a recent meeting where we've kind of scoped out what we're going to do this year.
[14:40.000 --> 14:44.000]  So again, I think there's going to be some fantastic work. We've got everything in place now.
[14:44.000 --> 14:50.000]  We've got lots of resource now, obviously growing the group. So yeah, I'm really excited about that.
[14:50.000 --> 14:54.000]  So fantastic. Slightly moving on a little bit now.
[14:54.000 --> 15:02.000]  So what do you think the benefits of being involved in the Future Leader Council and Axrem are professionally and personally?
[15:02.000 --> 15:15.000]  Yeah, so I guess personally, it's a really great platform to see where I can kind of grow and understand from other companies about how we can improve the services providers.
[15:16.000 --> 15:22.000]  I think up until we joined, obviously I was aware of all the other organizations and companies.
[15:22.000 --> 15:27.000]  But being a monitor manufacturer, we are sort of sidelined a little bit into some conversations.
[15:27.000 --> 15:32.000]  We're not always aware of all of the wider conversations happening.
[15:32.000 --> 15:41.000]  And it's been really interesting to get to network with even within the Future Leader Council itself to talk to the other people, see what kind of experiences they've had.
[15:41.000 --> 15:46.000]  Some of the conversations they're having and how they're navigating some of their issues.
[15:46.000 --> 15:48.000]  So that's been really, really interesting to me.
[15:48.000 --> 15:57.000]  And so professionally, it's an incredibly valuable source to have with the training that we're getting from Body.
[15:57.000 --> 15:59.000]  He's a very, very interesting guy.
[15:59.000 --> 16:04.000]  Some of his ideas and some of his training sessions are incredibly valuable.
[16:04.000 --> 16:11.000]  So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing what's going to happen in the next two years of being on the council for it.
[16:11.000 --> 16:15.000]  And I must just add a little just to elaborate just slightly there.
[16:15.000 --> 16:26.000]  So we work very closely with Skilled Personnel as a partner to Axrem and 4D has been offering our future members some leadership training at the end of every meeting that we have.
[16:26.000 --> 16:33.000]  And we've just started that and that's to help kind of professionally and personally develop our future leaders.
[16:33.000 --> 16:34.000]  James?
[16:34.000 --> 16:43.000]  So, yeah, just to echo Jack's points, I think getting that personal development piece from 4D and Skilled Personnel has been brilliant.
[16:43.000 --> 16:59.000]  But as I mentioned earlier, I really like that we take our company hats off and look at industry wide problems and look to deliver initiatives that can look to solve those problems or raise awareness of them.
[17:00.000 --> 17:06.000]  I find it really rewarding to sort of play a part in delivering those initiatives.
[17:06.000 --> 17:28.000]  And then personally, it's just great to network and meet people of a similar vintage and just find out sort of how they got into their roles and sort of how they're finding sort of the problems within the industry and how they're tackling them and just get ideas from different people.
[17:28.000 --> 17:31.000]  So it's great in that way, yeah.
[17:31.000 --> 17:33.000]  Super. Just to put you on the spot then.
[17:33.000 --> 17:40.000]  So what would you say is probably the one thing that you're most excited about for this next year for the future leaders?
[17:41.000 --> 17:57.000]  I think I'm excited to see how the state of the nation has developed from last year and just seeing sort of the trends that have developed over the past year, especially as Jack has mentioned with the removal of NHS England.
[17:57.000 --> 18:01.000]  I'm quite interested just to see sort of like what comes of that.
[18:02.000 --> 18:04.000]  Yeah, absolutely.
[18:04.000 --> 18:20.000]  I think what's going to be interesting is to see, we could say that the state of the nation could almost be the same, but actually we can see the differences already and when we've already started talking and scoping that out, we can see that there's going to be very, it's going to be a very different report to what it was last year.
[18:20.000 --> 18:31.000]  So I think that's going to show progress and evolution and change within, and that's what's constantly happening within our sector and within the NHS and obviously with the new government and different things.
[18:31.000 --> 18:40.000]  I think that's going to be a really interesting read in September and if we did a comparison, I think it will be a completely different scenario.
[18:40.000 --> 18:48.000]  I'm just going to say quickly, that's quite scary really to think that in a year that much can change.
[18:48.000 --> 18:55.000]  It's just, there's not many sectors and that would happen in, is there? It's just crazy.
[18:55.000 --> 18:58.000]  So yeah, Jack, sorry, over to you.
[18:58.000 --> 19:20.000]  No, no, thank you. I mean, I'm involved directly with the state of the nation report so that's one thing I'm very excited about and some of the insights I'm hoping you can bring forward to this from my experience in industry, especially with some of the conversations that have happened recently with medtech and what I think their directions are, how we can basically put some ideas forward to that, I think that's going to be really interesting.
[19:20.000 --> 19:28.000]  As well as the value-based procurement is something that we've always been looking at internally for a number of years.
[19:28.000 --> 19:41.000]  It's very interesting to see whether that's going to, how much weight that's going to be bringing forward into future procurements and whether the idea of true value is going to be overseen.
[19:41.000 --> 19:44.000]  So yeah, I'm very, very much looking forward to those two pieces.
[19:44.000 --> 19:54.000]  Yeah, and I think there's a real drive from the Department of Health and Social Care, you know, value-based procurement isn't something new, it is already happening.
[19:54.000 --> 20:02.000]  But what I think is really good is they're working at the moment and we're on like a working group with the Department of Health around an actual methodology for value-based procurement.
[20:02.000 --> 20:10.000]  So as we see across the NHS, there's sometimes a lack of consistency and they want to ensure with value-based procurement that there's a lot of consistency.
[20:10.000 --> 20:22.000]  So I think that's also going to be really interesting to see what that methodology looks like, how it is rolled out and also whether it is actually adopted truly like you say, Jack, real value.
[20:22.000 --> 20:30.000]  And you look at the bigger picture, it's not just about the cost of what something costs now, but it could offer cost savings further down the line in social care.
[20:30.000 --> 20:35.000]  And we see a lot around health and social care don't really always speak to each other.
[20:35.000 --> 20:38.000]  And obviously that can cause a lot of issues as well.
[20:38.000 --> 20:39.000]  So I absolutely agree.
[20:39.000 --> 20:46.000]  And I just also wanted to make the point what I think is really good about the Future Leaders Council is the sheer diversity within the council.
[20:46.000 --> 20:55.000]  So when we were looking through the application selecting members, we wanted to get the broadest skill set possible.
[20:55.000 --> 21:00.000]  So and the broadest kind of, you know, the different modalities that members cover.
[21:00.000 --> 21:02.000]  And we really have got that.
[21:02.000 --> 21:07.000]  And I think that's probably why meetings can be so dynamic and interesting.
[21:07.000 --> 21:15.000]  And that offers you that really interesting networking because everyone's doing a different role within different companies with different products.
[21:15.000 --> 21:22.000]  And I think that that's what's going to be kind of the winning combination of the Future Leaders to be super successful.
[21:22.000 --> 21:26.000]  Yeah, actually, I think that's a good point about the diversity element.
[21:26.000 --> 21:30.000]  That's something that perhaps I've overlooked until you've brought it up.
[21:30.000 --> 21:39.000]  But I think the fact that it's not just people like myself who've just been in the health care industry since they've left university or since they've started their career.
[21:39.000 --> 21:43.000]  It's actually people who have worked in the NHS and come across the industry.
[21:43.000 --> 21:52.000]  So I think you've then got like a more comprehensive perspective on the problems that are existing at the moment within the NHS.
[21:52.000 --> 21:53.000]  Yeah, absolutely.
[21:53.000 --> 22:03.000]  And that was a deliberate thing from us to make sure that it was as diverse as possible so that we can make sure we encompass our entire membership and that nothing gets left without.
[22:03.000 --> 22:12.000]  And that's the biggest thing for me running a trade association is that we are open, transparent and everybody has the same opportunities.
[22:12.000 --> 22:17.000]  And I think that that's what we've been able to do certainly more in recent years.
[22:17.000 --> 22:27.000]  So I'd like to move on. So what would you like to see companies do to encourage and support early career professionals and our Future Leaders Council?
[22:27.000 --> 22:31.000]  And I'll go to James on that one first.
[22:31.000 --> 22:36.000]  I am a little bit biased in this one on sort of early career professionals.
[22:36.000 --> 22:40.000]  So I did a rotational graduate scheme, as I mentioned at the start of this.
[22:40.000 --> 22:48.000]  So what that gave me was kind of an insight into multiple different business functions within a company.
[22:48.000 --> 23:00.000]  And it was just it was super interesting to see not only the different types of people and the characters along the way that worked in these individual business functions, but sort of how it all linked together.
[23:00.000 --> 23:08.000]  And I think then it's helped me massively in my career to know sort of like who do I need to work with to help get something delivered?
[23:08.000 --> 23:16.000]  But also, selfishly, it helps you understand then what do I not like and what do I like?
[23:16.000 --> 23:26.000]  So I think rotating someone that you deem worthy through different areas of a bit of a business is was incredibly valuable for me.
[23:26.000 --> 23:33.000]  Because I think you see then as well, health care professionals come in the industry and typically sit in a commercial function.
[23:33.000 --> 23:42.000]  But there's so many different opportunities within a business that potentially a different personality would be suited to.
[23:42.000 --> 23:48.000]  So that's one thing that I would advocate for rotational schemes.
[23:48.000 --> 23:57.000]  Excellent. And what about with companies encouraging, you know, early career professionals within member companies to apply to become a future leader?
[23:57.000 --> 24:00.000]  What would kind of be your advice there?
[24:00.000 --> 24:09.000]  Not to keep banging the drum, but being able to take the company hat off and look at the industry as a whole.
[24:09.000 --> 24:15.000]  It gives you a completely different perspective on where your role and company sits within the industry.
[24:15.000 --> 24:27.000]  So I think it's incredibly worthwhile to come in and not only network, but to sort of look at industry, what the industry is doing well and what the industry could improve on.
[24:27.000 --> 24:29.000]  Brilliant. And over to you, Jack.
[24:29.000 --> 24:35.000]  So I came into industry from health, from an NHS position.
[24:35.000 --> 24:38.000]  This is my first commercial job.
[24:38.000 --> 24:42.000]  I don't have to wear a lab coat and pretend to be a scientist.
[24:42.000 --> 24:47.000]  So it was a very different kind of bringing up through this.
[24:47.000 --> 24:58.000]  And I guess from my kind of from my company's perspective is that they were very, very good at just letting me kind of find my feet and understand what I want to do and how I want to progress
[24:58.000 --> 25:01.000]  and where I want to kind of where my career to go.
[25:01.000 --> 25:14.000]  We all work in fairly high pressure, high time stressful jobs where we've got a lot of customer interaction, a lot of meetings, a lot of things to keep on the go and a lot of places to spin at once.
[25:14.000 --> 25:18.000]  And for a company to kind of almost take a step back and say, OK, well, that is your job.
[25:18.000 --> 25:25.000]  But then we're also going to help you develop yourself as a person and professionally find out what what best fits for you.
[25:25.000 --> 25:31.000]  If I'm honest, when I first started, we weren't too sure if I was going to be sales or technical support or anything else.
[25:31.000 --> 25:34.000]  It was a very much, let's see where this direction goes.
[25:34.000 --> 25:42.000]  And over the course of my career, it's been a very nice gradual transition into my sales role I'm in today.
[25:42.000 --> 25:49.000]  And the way they've done that is just by allowing me to explore different areas, such as joining the Future Leaders Council.
[25:49.000 --> 25:59.000]  And they've given me time to develop myself and to find out what I want to do and make sure I've got my skills in line.
[25:59.000 --> 26:06.000]  And I guess that's one thing for any companies or anyone who wants to apply for the Future Leaders Council in the future.
[26:06.000 --> 26:11.000]  It's such a positive, brilliant environment to explore and work in.
[26:11.000 --> 26:20.000]  And companies to allow to have that developmental time to encourage that at the same time without having the pressure of your day to day work.
[26:20.000 --> 26:23.000]  It's incredibly beneficial.
[26:23.000 --> 26:33.000]  Fantastic. And one of the things I say to new members, but I would say to any member that is part of any of our meetings or groups, is you get out of Axrem what you put in.
[26:33.000 --> 26:39.000]  And I think that's the if you join Axrem and you just sit there and wait for it to happen, it's not going to happen.
[26:39.000 --> 26:47.000]  You actually have to attend meetings and the more meetings you attend, the more newsletters you read, the more informed and empowered you become.
[26:47.000 --> 26:52.000]  And the more it can help your companies commercially, you know, development.
[26:52.000 --> 27:06.000]  So, yeah, and I think in terms of the Future Leaders Council, we're kind of offering members a service to help develop their staff, you know, without them having, if you like, the time constraints or hassle, whatever it might be to do that.
[27:06.000 --> 27:08.000]  We're actually doing it for them.
[27:08.000 --> 27:09.000]  So it's really good.
[27:09.000 --> 27:11.000]  And I can't believe the popularity.
[27:11.000 --> 27:19.000]  So I think that when we went out for our latest 10 Future Leaders, I think we got over 40 applications.
[27:19.000 --> 27:24.000]  So it really is kind of growing arms and legs and becoming ever popular.
[27:24.000 --> 27:35.000]  And that's why we want to take 10 new Future Leaders each year so that as many people get the opportunity to work within that for a two year period as possible.
[27:35.000 --> 27:38.000]  OK, so moving on to my quirky question then, guys.
[27:38.000 --> 27:45.000]  So if you had a time machine, would you choose to go to the future or back to the past and why?
[27:45.000 --> 27:48.000]  So, Jack, do you want to go first?
[27:48.000 --> 27:51.000]  It's a very difficult question.
[27:51.000 --> 27:56.000]  As a sci-fi lover, I'm kind of torn between which way do I go.
[27:56.000 --> 28:00.000]  I'm a big believer, in a way, of the butterfly effect.
[28:00.000 --> 28:07.000]  I guess going in the past, I was a bit scared about what I would do, who I'd see, who I'd speak to.
[28:07.000 --> 28:09.000]  So I guess I'd have to go into the future.
[28:09.000 --> 28:18.000]  I don't know when I'd want to go into the future, but I want to go into the future at a time where space travel is normal as getting a bus to town.
[28:18.000 --> 28:24.000]  I'd love to go out and see the university, see the different planets.
[28:24.000 --> 28:26.000]  I guess that would be my one thing.
[28:26.000 --> 28:33.000]  And yeah, maybe only a year in the future or 10, 20 years in the future, who knows?
[28:33.000 --> 28:35.000]  But I guess that would be my way.
[28:35.000 --> 28:38.000]  I'd want to go to the future so I can go and explore space.
[28:38.000 --> 28:49.000]  I just have you jumping on a rocket, just popping up to just be in this for the day, just having a little look around, a little shop or something.
[28:49.000 --> 28:54.000]  Because I heard on the news yesterday, Katy Perry is going into space, apparently only for 20 minutes.
[28:54.000 --> 28:56.000]  But she is going into space.
[28:56.000 --> 29:01.000]  So, Jack, I don't think it's as far in the future as maybe we might think it is.
[29:01.000 --> 29:09.000]  Who knows? I might be doing my next science-based presentation from the space station.
[29:09.000 --> 29:12.000]  If anyone's listening, who wants to send me up there? I'm more than happy to go.
[29:12.000 --> 29:17.000]  I've got my passports up to date, so I'm happy to jump on the next available shuttle.
[29:17.000 --> 29:20.000]  We'll make sure that we're going to tag NASA in this next podcast.
[29:20.000 --> 29:22.000]  Comments then?
[29:22.000 --> 29:23.000]  Please do.
[29:23.000 --> 29:26.000]  For a European space agency, I'm not thirsty either way.
[29:26.000 --> 29:29.000]  Whoever wants to take me, I'll go either way.
[29:29.000 --> 29:32.000]  I love it. Brilliant. James?
[29:32.000 --> 29:37.000]  For me, I'm a little bit torn as well between future or past.
[29:37.000 --> 29:44.000]  I quite like the idea of maybe going not too long into the past, immediately pre-smartphone.
[29:44.000 --> 29:48.000]  Maybe it's like the 80s or 90s, just to get a break from my phone.
[29:48.000 --> 29:53.000]  But 80s or 90s, I am from Belfast, so maybe not.
[29:53.000 --> 29:56.000]  Perhaps, I tell you what, actually, final answer.
[29:56.000 --> 30:03.000]  20 years into the future, I'm quite excited to see where AI takes us and where society is as a result of it.
[30:03.000 --> 30:08.000]  I'm an optimist. I think it's going to be a huge benefit to all of us.
[30:08.000 --> 30:11.000]  But I'm interested to see how it plays out, actually.
[30:11.000 --> 30:13.000]  Only 20 years as well?
[30:13.000 --> 30:16.000]  Yeah, I think the near future is quite cool.
[30:16.000 --> 30:21.000]  James, you cannot be old enough to remember pre-phone, whereas I am.
[30:21.000 --> 30:24.000]  I remember a simple world.
[30:24.000 --> 30:31.000]  I wonder when we talk about going into the future and AI, sometimes the world does a complete 360.
[30:31.000 --> 30:35.000]  We look at fashion, we look at different...
[30:35.000 --> 30:39.000]  At the moment, one of my biggest bug-bearers is we don't speak to people.
[30:39.000 --> 30:42.000]  We go into a supermarket, we go to self-checkout.
[30:42.000 --> 30:44.000]  We don't actually interact with people.
[30:44.000 --> 30:51.000]  I feel like that affects young people's ability to network and interact with one another.
[30:51.000 --> 30:54.000]  I know one supermarket has just retracted that and has said,
[30:54.000 --> 30:57.000]  we're taking away all self-service checkouts.
[30:57.000 --> 31:00.000]  I feel like when I've used to working sales,
[31:00.000 --> 31:04.000]  and I've sold a whole host of products and services as a national sales manager,
[31:04.000 --> 31:10.000]  and people buy from people, so it's all about that they trust me.
[31:10.000 --> 31:13.000]  I may not have been the cheapest for their product, but they trust that I can deliver.
[31:13.000 --> 31:18.000]  I always do what I say I'm going to do, and I bring that into AXREV as well.
[31:18.000 --> 31:21.000]  I'd love to see whether, going into the future,
[31:21.000 --> 31:29.000]  I wouldn't want AI to lose that people interaction and having that networking.
[31:29.000 --> 31:31.000]  Even now at AXREV, we have less meetings in person,
[31:31.000 --> 31:35.000]  but it's really important to still have those in-person meetings.
[31:35.000 --> 31:38.000]  It'll be quite an interesting future. Let's see what AI does.
[31:38.000 --> 31:41.000]  I don't mind AI coming and cleaning my house, that's fine.
[31:41.000 --> 31:44.000]  Come, I'll open the door.
[31:44.000 --> 31:46.000]  Exactly, that's what I want.
[31:46.000 --> 31:50.000]  I think AI has the potential to make us more efficient,
[31:50.000 --> 31:56.000]  but I don't want it to be at the expense of social interaction and a bit of crack.
[31:56.000 --> 32:00.000]  Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.
[32:00.000 --> 32:04.000]  Thanks, Jack and James, for your time today.
[32:04.000 --> 32:08.000]  We've learned a lot more about both of you and the Future Leaders Council.
[32:08.000 --> 32:12.000]  A big thanks to Jack and James for joining us, and thank you to all of our listeners.
[32:12.000 --> 32:15.000]  If you would like to find out more about the Future Leaders,
[32:15.000 --> 32:19.000]  please do look on our website, or you can reach out to myself or Mel.
[32:19.000 --> 32:20.000]  Thank you.
[32:20.000 --> 32:24.000]  Join Sally and I again next week when we will be speaking to Chris Lawman and David Britton
[32:24.000 --> 32:27.000]  about the AXREM Patient Monitoring Special Focus Group.
[32:34.000 --> 32:36.000]  Thank you.