From Talent to Legacy

In this episode of Success in Doses, I sit down with George Okpamen for a powerful conversation about legacy, leadership, and redefining your relationship with failure.

From being denied fellowships to becoming a senior leader at Genentech and co-founding a national leadership organization, Dr. Okpamen shares the real story behind success, one filled with setbacks, pivots, and relentless growth.

We talk about what it truly means to move from talent to legacy, how to build something that outlives you, and why failure is not the end, but the fuel.

If you’re navigating career uncertainty, starting over, or trying to build something meaningful, this episode will challenge how you think about success and what it takes to create lasting impact.

To learn more about PILs Enterprises visit https://pilsenterprises.org/

Thank you for supporting the show. Follow @successindosespod

career advancement, negotiation skills, pharmacists, personal development, confidence, asking for what you want, mindset shifts, professional growth, self-advocacy, boldness

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Success in Doses. I'm your host, Saleh. This podcast is about the real journeys behind meaningful careers, the pivots, the risks, the moments of doubt, and the lessons that shape who we become. Each episode, I sit down with people who are building impactful lives and careers, and we break down the experiences that help them get there. Because success rarely happens overnight, it happens in doses. Let's dive in on becoming on purpose. Welcome back to season two of Success in Doses, on Becoming on Purpose. Today the focus is going from talent to legacy. This episode focuses on the shift from personal success to building something the last, moving beyond being good at what you do to create systems, opportunities, and platforms that will absolutely outlive you. And so to help us facilitate that conversation, I could not think of anyone better than Dr. George Opamen, a senior marketing leader at Genentech and CEO of Pills Enterprises. He earned his doctorate of pharmacy from Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2012, where he made history as the first alumnus to receive a visiting scientist fellowship at Eli Lilly and Company. Following his fellowship in global public policy and corporate affairs, he became the first fellow to transition directly into a brand marketing role. Driven by passion for creating systemic change, Dr. Opperman co-founded Pharmacists Initiative Leaders, PILS, Inc., an organization focused on empowering pharmacists to lead at every stage of healthcare. After his national leadership on SNAFA board as vice president, inaugural executive chairman, and inaugural executive consultant. He later earned his MBA from the University of Michigan Raw School of Business and went on to serve as vice president of the Lilly Foundation, helping to lead the corporate's 25 million innovation fund. Today, he plays a key role in advancing direct-to-patient strategy and future pipeline innovation at Genentech across two franchises. Beyond his professional achievements, Dr. Ukbamen is the son of Nigerian immigrants, the older brother of two HBCU alumni, yeah, boy, and the husband to a Dr. Portia Ukfaman, who is also in pharmaceutical industry. Please, I am over the moon to welcome to the Success in Doses podcast, Dr. George Ofman. Hi, George.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Hey, I'm so excited to be here. We've been looking forward to this for some time. We've been so happy to have this publicly with you.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I am so excited. And I think for me, respect is a huge thing. I am trying to make sure that my audience has an opportunity to hear from and interact with people whose authority, voice, posture, and position and pharmacy and beyond. I genuinely respect and admire. So when I was thinking about and building my list of people, I really wanted to have a conversation with. I just really thought, I'm like, yeah, I feel like George has to be part of this conversation because of that reason. And I couldn't believe when you said yes, like immediately. You were like, absolutely. I was like, So I appreciate you being here very much.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yeah, I appreciate the opportunity. Similarly, respect sees respect and just knowing what you've done and continue to do for so many. It's the the pleasure and privilege is actually on mine.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

I think all of you listening understand her power and her power. So I'm excited to be.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Thank you. I wanted to start. I start with everyone by wanting to know this. Reading your bio and all of what you've accomplished, being first, being first. And I think like that carries with it a lot of pride. But I can understand that also it a sense of responsibility. Like, cool, I'm first, but I cannot be last, right? I'm so curious for you. That first fellowship offer out of your school. What are you thinking in that moment as your definition of success? Because at that point, I'd say you've been incredibly successful already.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Yeah, it's it's funny. For most that have had the opportunity to hear me speak at all, I always talk about to your question the failures that came before the success. And I think going down the pharmacy path was and continues to be something that's truly taught me how to punch above my weight and how to achieve or strive to achieve for something bigger than me, how to take failure and some of my biggest failures to then go to success per se. To your question of fellowship, that came on the back of probably being the most decorated pharmacy student, i.e., the national vice president for the largest pharmacy organization. I had just become executive chairman with first ever because the year prior, I did not get a fellowship. It was three fellowships, and I did not get it. Um, and for those that know me now, just for clarity, I applied to the Rutgers Program, Regulatory Affairs, and I applied to the Lily Purdue FDA Fellowship, Regulatory Affairs, because I believed that was my path. If you know me, I have no business doing anything regulatory affairs. So that was God, part one. But part two, for the organization that has given me so much, I got the opportunity to do what is still happening to this day in terms of building a pipeline and another role and opportunity for leaders to continue to lead. And so again, becoming the first executive chairman to your point meant that there was another executive chairman that followed after me. And ironically, I'm the first being a national vice president. That role since me has predominantly been held by presidents. And so, even to the point of getting a fellowship, my bigger pride was I got to work with an organization to continue to build a pipeline of leaders at SNAFA and continue to share the failures that happened to get me to where I was. And so that's how I would answer that question. And more importantly, yes, for the elephant in the room, it was definitely a aha. I have arrived person to get the fellowship. But I knew it was only the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Okay, so real quick, if you're enjoying this conversation, go ahead and rate and review the podcast. It helps more people find the show and keeps the conversation going. Okay, so let's get back to the conversation. Yeah, and and it has been. Looking at that intro, it was just kind of like watch me work type of moment instead of you just being like, okay, I've crossed the finish line. But it seems like you've kind of just used it as an opportunity to keep stepping for more and more and more. You've touched on something. I didn't know that you were not successful first time around when you applied. Can we talk a little bit about the fortitude and the conviction that it must take to stand up to that and say that you would try again? And I'm curious to know like what you kind of attribute that conviction to have come from.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Yeah, I think I attribute it specifically to my parents, my dad and my mom. My mom is the first of 12 from Nigeria, and my dad is the baby of five from Nigeria. And so just coming from Nigerian parents where you only had the option of being a doctor, a lawyer, or engineer. But then more importantly, literally, not figuratively, this is not a metaphor, this is a fact. Growing up with like roaches on the floor and seeing my mom and my dad work and then still be assistant pastors at one of the largest Nigerian churches in Houston, which Houston has the largest amount of Nigerians outside of Nigeria and the United States. Google it right now and see it will say Nigeria, it will say London, and it will say Houston. So the fact that they were assistant pastors on top of that allowed me to see just how much work goes into not just providing for your family and caring for your family, but caring for others. But also the grit it takes to continue to go. Um, so where my father obviously um has multiple houses, and I should say obviously he now has multiple houses. And my middle brother and baby brother, middle brother has a house with a gated community, and my baby brother is a medical student. And and just continuing to take, I wouldn't even call it failure, but obstacles, um things that you need to overcome to truly be called an overcomer. And so if I had to say all that and put it into one sentence, my ability to have fortitude and conviction comes from those that came before me, which allows me to understand my privilege is to have this obstacle. My privilege is to have this thing to overcome so that I can do it to be quote unquote first for others so that it can be better for them.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Do you have any idea how profound that is? Thinking of the obstacle and the challenge as a privilege. I think that that's so profound because no one's visceral response to failure or challenge is like, thank you, God, for this obstacle. Thank you for not giving me all this thing I've been working hard for. But what I'm hearing you say is that it's an opportunity to rediscover again, like what you are capable of, right? And I I feel like without those like speed bumps and redirections that tends to be called failure, we really and truly have no idea what we can do. So that's why like I think that that statement is really, really profound. And so as you are going through this journey, you're in this fellowship. What do you remember being your biggest point of hesitation or uncertainty? Because you're here now and you're first. And I think that there would have been some degree of kind of pressure that you felt about showing up for the moment, right? Like, can you take us through a little bit about like what that would felt like for you?

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Yeah. Yeah. I I would say I would flip that and say it was truly an excitement. I am not gonna lie and say that I was there's hesitation in my fellowship. Yeah. We can maybe move past that in a second. But I would say what had prepared me for that are two things. I as maybe I kind of alluded to, the fact that the first year I didn't get a fellowship really made me go back to literally my roots, um, staying back home with my parents. I lived in apartments at University of Houston and Texas, other than before then. And so I had to go back home and doing chores, um, ensuring that I was helping my parents thinking I was gonna leave somewhere, and I did it the year before. But then also my last two rotations were my first time ever being outside of Texas for a long time. My last two rotations were at the FDA and Bristol Myers Quib, respectively. So that gave me the vision. When you see something, when you have someone close to you, when you taste what you can have to the point it's like, hey, I know I can get back there. It might take me a little longer, but I can't get there. And my opportunity to then have another full year to clarify what I'm truly trying to do or clarify what my vision truly is, allowed me to be so excited for that fellowship, which again did not allow me to take the fellowship for granted. And I think the first two things that I did because I was in Texas and I moved to Indianapolis, and big shout out still to this day to Lilie for paying for everything. These programs, there are, how do I put this, unspoken costs in terms of moving somewhere that sometimes programs don't take care of. Um, but the fellowship did. And so I was excited to have my car moved, my one bedroom in my parents' house moved to a bigger apartment and really get there a couple of weeks before and have deep time before any work was was given with our fellowships, with our fellowship team. And we got to see the city of Indianapolis and still to this day, I think Indianapolis specifically has slept on. My biggest excitement in my fellowship year was getting to be on a team again. I think in the pharmacy profession and why I do love community so much. Let's go back to my big family. Let's go to the fact that I'm uh part of Alpha Phi Alpha. Let's go to the fact that the national SNAFA leadership team is at minimum 15 to 20 people per year. It gives you a lot of uh, I'll call it, community guidance and warmth doing dope things, big things with people, new things with people. So it did not really give me hesitation until after the fellowship, where now you had been a student for so long and maybe you had training with being a fellow. Now you're about to go into your quote unquote first big boy role at a company, and now you have to perform. There's no more training.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Oh my gosh, like you've touched on so many things. A few weeks ago, I was speaking with Shara Reed. Shara is amazing, and she was talking about the importance of having a tribe and community. Um, and as we continue to define, redefine, shape, reshape what we believe success is. And as we ascend, where we draw that sense of community and the importance of having this core group of people that you can always be like, no matter how shaky where I'm going, get this group is right there to help me and re-remind me the vision, the mission, and why I wanted to start. And this really does anchor me into the next phase where I want us to spend a whole lot of time talking about. And this is where your vision and your role as co-founder of Pills and what Pills is, what it represents, and this vision that you have as we start talking about legacy, right? So talk to me about where are you professionally when you first conceptualized Pills? What are you thinking in that moment about what this thing could be?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Yeah, I love it. And in my intro, um, you read, thank you so much for reading that amazing intro. Very specifically, it talks about Pills Enterprises and Pills Incorporated, and that's intentional. Pills has now in 2026 expanded to two different but unified entities, i.e., a for-profit and a nonprofit. I share that because the concept of pills was not mine, and that by itself is a learning. For someone who has so much vision, so much pioneering attitude, so much innovation, it's the first time that I actually joined someone else's vision. And so that person was Dr. Brian Sackey from Howard University. And he started Pills, and still to this day, Howard is the only school, only chapter that has a Pills chapter. Although not connected to us, the seed is still remains that Brian started Pills as actually an asset to help himself. And like many others that have come from where we've come from, his journey was not easy. He failed over and over again, undergrad, but then his ability to get to pharmacy school with the help of the people around him, he saw the opportunity to operationalize it. Hence where myself, Dr. Joshua Blackwell, and Dr. Onye Onanogu joined him, all three of us national SNAFA officers, and going back to our experiences and our exposure of seeing an organization that had been around for 40 years before us continue to put out leaders that look like us, how could we do so with specifically one big insight? There's multiple, but the one big insight is how do we help people get their first choice, residency or fellowship with just the knowledge that we have? And so in 2016, to your point, my fellowship year was 2014 and 2015. We knew, Brian knew, Josh knew, and Onye knew. If we did nothing else, we could collectively together coach two people to do what we just did last year. That's it. No program, no group meet, just Zoom calls and sharing with people how we did what we just did right behind us. It's crazy. We've grown to over 2,000 people who gotten the residency and fellowship. And we do now have a specific platform. We do now have a leadership team. We do now have a 2045 vision and mission that we're operating now to this day. And so for us and for me specifically, the vision of making sure that pharmacists are represented at every stage through just going through what we've gone through is how it started and how it's grown.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

It's so wild to me. I because and it's why I I ask you for that origin story, because I think people really think that like it's all clear, it's all worked out, but it really does just begin with the desire to want to step in and fill a void, right? And it's why like I think I'm such a huge fan and supporter of the work that all of you do. But as an HBCU grad, the resource scarcity that we have to overcome in order to compete cannot be overstated. And so for me, after going through residency and seeing how I was hungry to be coached and mentored and guided and directed by people who look like me in these spaces, I was just like, where are we? And we are out here. And how come we're not organized around this and wanting to include more of us and push more of us into postgraduate training? So when I found out about Pills, I was just like, this is so cool. This is so amazing because that's the idea. Because I think everyone in their mind has this different definition of what representation is and what the importance of representation is. But I always tell them, like, to me, it isn't like some strategic infiltration plan. I think for me, it's just when I see you guys doing and having the impact you have, it motivates and inspires me to think like, oh, it's not magic. It's just organization and clarity and desire to want to fill a void. And so that's why I love the origin story that it really just did begin with Brian overcoming his own obstacles and thinking, if all I do is think about what it was like for me and share that with other people, I think I can tell them how to go through this a little differently. Uh, so I just think it's really fascinating and so cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Yeah, and I want to dig deeper on that because Brian specifically could have quote unquote kept it small to me where it's at. And he had the vulnerability to share it with Josh first. And some of it is serendipity because Brian was at Howard and he was doing his residency in Houston with Josh. They went to church together, and right after church, they shared the message. That is a true thing that happened. And Josh helped make sure the vision was clear because he had just been president nationally. He knew a guy, George, who knew his sister, Onye, and all of us together, which is another insight. So the first insight is to just help someone with what you have. The second is to never do it alone. Yeah. Two of our big tenets. And so Brian's, I'll call it vulnerability, but then also his faith in sharing his vision with someone else and also not being selfish with having a hundred percent of something locally versus having a piece of something nationally and globally to work. Because we've now gone to Ghana and Nigeria. How have we been able to grow together collectively, not just in helping people, but as lives? All of us were at each other's and have been in each other's weddings. We've been life partners throughout. And so it's really, like we talk about at every stage, also big on the third component of being personal and professional. It's a thing that we continue to share to this day in terms of professional wins. You'll see us on LinkedIn now, shouting out each other and being cheered to every single one of our successes. Big shout out to Josh, who just became a fellow of one of the ones.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yes. I saw that announcement.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

It's not some small thing, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

No, it's not. Okay, so real quick, if you're enjoying this conversation, go ahead and rate and review the podcast. It helps more people find the show and keeps the conversation going. Okay, so let's get back to the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Uh I I want to big give a big kudos to Brian. Big kudos to Josh and big kudos to Onye, who's also a woman leader, who's also a professional at the University of Houston with her own startup, with a family, uh still to this day helping out with pills. So very blessed to have this team to continue to grow the mission and vision of helping pharmacists lead at every stage.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah. And so for the, for the, I'm gonna say the P1 student that is just hearing about pills and this organization that is focused on leadership and development. What do you want them to know about pills as they start crafting their very, very young pharmacy career? What should they be checking for?

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah. So I'll take it a level up. Yes, pills, but let me just say, let's pretend you're not even interested in pills. But what we're starting to see, and I am seeing this directly from pills and other areas, is that um, it's less about you being smart enough and knowing what you need to do to help a patient. I mean, that's what pharmacy school is about. It's more about exactly what you said leadership and development. Because no matter where you go after your P2, P3, P4 year, you still are gonna need to be a leader and developed. And having a collective group of people, both physically and digitally, that are on the same journey, one, on and ahead of you, too, and then that are teaching you in the fire, as you are, yes, having a tough time with school. How are you still taking time amongst your day to understand that life is not meant to be lived for you and by you alone? And you're still as a P one, because I know what you're thinking, hey, I don't I don't haven't made it yet. I'm not a P4 that can help anybody. There are so many people that are in high school that are even not P1s that applied the year before you that just want to understand how you did what you did. So even as a P one, you can still be helping people. So we What you're gonna get from pills and people around us is a proven curriculum to help with that. You're gonna get a proven community of people that want to be leaders and want to be developed. And then lastly, specifically, you're gonna get a coach in your P4 year, but even as a P1, you still get coaching and guidance along the way. And we used to focus only on P4, but we've now expanded to the question that was asked P1 through P4s, because we understand we got to start a little bit earlier. And in most real, because you know we have professionals that are a part of our community. Shout out to the host of this podcast, the same playbook for people in the clinical or corporate world for professionals kicking off later in April.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Yeah. And and this is where I thought like uh you would be super appropriate for the topic of from talent to legacy, because I think the the the breadth and the the the broad reach that pills is intentionally about and going after it. It's about not just the talent recognition, but really cultivating it. And I think it's one of the things that I really admire. Like when I talk to you, it's the passion you have about we want to find it and recognize it early and help cultivate it so that like a major hurdle or like a failure along the way doesn't just completely beat people down to the point where they lose sight of the real potential that they have. And I think that if there's a P1 or P2 listening, I know I have some of you that do listen. I hope you really hear that message and keep the organization at the forefront of one more resource for community that exists out there to support you. For respect to legacy, I say to you, I say, hey George, what does legacy mean to you? Talk to me about like as you hear that word, what does that word kind of mean to you and translate for you?

SPEAKER_01 24:01

I love that word, and I uh if I'm being honest, I've been thinking of that word since I went to Nigeria. And that's what really pivoted me from becoming uh an athlete scholarship football player in Texas to now becoming a pharmacist because really I don't know this story. Hey, listen, listen, Linda, listen. I'm breaking a heat. But no, it's it is it's it's public in general, because I love to live a life out loud. Legacy is something that being Nigerian, having the last name of Kamen, which translates into heavy rain. And I say heavy rain. However, you're thinking about it, it's true. Heavy rain, as in rain that's a lot of thunderstorms that waters, and then after the water comes fruits, or heavy rain, like a king or queen of a kingdom. Raining heavy with power and might, thinking of everybody. Both are true, as just like I'm both an African and American. And so my legacy as I've thought about it um since again being a senior and pivoting to honor what my father and mother wanted me to be because of my last name and my first name means putting your your your last name first, i.e., taking it translated, putting your your community first before you, but then also remembering you are first. And I say you as a person, but then in terms of everybody else, Osuzuwa translate to God's gift of wealth. And so, how am I legacy, thinking of generations that I live in, generations before me, and generations after? And um, if I have to put that in one word, legacy or one sentence technically. Legacy to me means multi-generational, multi-generational. How is the impact that I'm having having a multi-generational impact? And sometimes that impact is today, but most times that impact is a seed that I'm planting that I might not ever see. And I'm aware of that. And so knowing that I don't have to sprint, I can truly, truly walk. And as long as I'm walking, not by myself with others, being truly thoughtful and intentional about what is my path going to look like as I walk. Am I making my path wider so other people can walk alongside of me? Am I making my path longer so people know that it has been done before? Am I making my path back and harder and deeper so that I go back to where I came from, i.e. SNAFA, next to the University of Houston, Nigeria, intentionally. That's what I think about when I think of legacy multi-generational.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

That is so profound. Why are you so deep and stop?

SPEAKER_01 26:20

I give all thanks and glory to God.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

It's so profound. It's so profound. Like I am an immigrant, and I always tell people, I was like, when I go back to Africa, so my husband is Nigerian, so I've been to Nigerian twice. Yeah, I've been to Lagos twice, but every time I am home, it has a very unique way when I go back to Guinea of humbling me and reminding me why I push as hard as I do. I don't know, I don't know how it does that. Maybe it's because of what I'm surrounded by, right? Like the lack of access to everything that I see. Guinea is an incredibly poor country and the need to do something small to move that community forward through promoting women literacy because it is a country that continues to face challenges with that. But I tell people like, I'm driven by something that is different than what others are driven by. Other people, their drive is I want the Louis bag, I want the Bugatti, I want the Lambo, I want the other people. That's their drive. And I don't look down on it, but my drive is it transcends the things that I'm going to buy with the success because I'm really genuinely thinking about what you're saying, the seed, right? Like a scholarship program, raising money to help an orphanage help children have a better Christmas this year. But I identify with it in a very meaningful and deep way. And I want to do anything I can to support if I can. You've given us so many gems. I feel like a few of these, a few of these should be on a t-shirt. Okay. What is one dose of advice that you have for anybody right now that is just starting out? It could be that they're thinking of a second career, so they feel like they're starting from zero. Or people that are going through phase two right now, like they're starting over from a process that they've already gone through. But what is a dose of advice for anybody that is thinking right now, today, I have to start all over again.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

It's funny because I just came off stage at the SNAFA National Conference. Let me reframe that SNAFA regional conference in Texas. Where I was the first person to host the conference in 2010, 2011 for Texas Southern. So this is the first time since then they were hosting it again in all of SNAFA history. And my message to to the broader, broader attendees there was around redefining your journey. And I I more specifically said redefining our journey. But if I were to take that statement with the context of what you just asked right now, it's more so around redefining our relationship with failure. Because I think that failure is a fuel to getting the fruit that you're looking for. And I share that in terms of every major step I happened, I had failed right before. Specifically, for me to get into pharmacy school, I had to literally turn down scholarships to go to pharmacy school after going to Nigeria. And I failed at my dream for the benefit of my parents' dream. And some people might say, like, oh, that's wrong, this and that. No, because it again gave me the honor to people who had been here before me, my parents who were immigrants. And after them sending me a paying for me to go to Africa and meet to see my grandparents for the first and last time, it reminded me that my life is not lived to be for me or by me alone. Then fast forward, then putting on that journey, fourth year, you're supposed to get in a pharmacy school. Like I scored 21 on the PCAT. Third year, sorry, third year. Yeah. So that's what put me in contact with Dr. Williams, who is a living legend at the University of Houston, has helped so many people get into pharmacy school. And he connected me with Rebecca Forte now, Scott then, who was the SNAFA president who got me an interlock with SNAFA, mentored me. Then I got into Texas Heather. Fast forward, I got A's in organic chemistry. So I was a little bit too cocky and I didn't take medicinal chemistry seriously in pharmacy school, failed it. Not one time, not two time, but a third time where I almost got kicked out. I was very close. I got suspended. And so as I think of that, a suspension. If I look at that, I graduated off track. But that off-track graduation meant that I had started already politicking to get into the FDA and Brissa Myers for my rotations because we didn't have it at Texas. And if I graduated on time in May, I would not have it. My graduation was in December. My last two rotations were at the FDA and at Bristol Myers Squib. So again, got the rotations and then I failed again because I didn't get fellowships. Most decorated person ever. Got the executive staff, got all the rotations, and I failed. But that failure, that one more year, meant that I was not a regulatory affairs fellow, which I had no business toin. I a corporate affairs fellow and being the first visiting scientist because corporate affairs gave me an overarching visibility of the company, which allowed me to be the first person to get into marketing directly, which then fast forward, I got the opportunity to be in marketing, got the opportunity to get sponsored by business school. And then guess what? A failure happened again. I got sponsored, I got it paid for, but I didn't get into business school my first time, not my second time. Three times. And my first two times, I never applied to Michigan. I applied to only Stanford and Harvard because I thought I was that guy. But I did not- You're that guy. I did not get in. As I think of going to the University of Michigan, and this is a fact too. You look it up, they have the largest amount of living alumni. You go to Michigan anything, not just business school, Michigan Anything, go blue. They are active alumni. They answer your phone. And so God knew that he was saving me for that. To then come back to Eli Lilly and Company. And this is my final failure that I think is important to share. Because now I've done it all. And I got quotes in the air if you're not looking. I got quotes in the air. From visiting scientists to vice president in 10 years. All of the failures along the way to think that I truly finally made it. Married the love of my life and Portia Jordan. And then in December of 2024, the company that I still adore, I get let go unexpectedly. And in that, in that journey, which I want to, I'm sharing that on purpose here because I think it's important, could have been that was what was my hardest failure. I should have and could have brought it hurt. I cried for a couple of weeks and truly hurt. But that's when the clarity came for what is now pills enterprises. And I say that because I still gave my first speech of 2025 at the SNAFA conference, not knowing that I would be keeping that same energy in the West Coast with Genentech, which has a specific tie to Eli Lilly. Genentech developed the first insulin that was commercialized and given to Lily to start. So it's amazing for me to take all of my learnings from a 150-year-old company and then go to a 50-year-old company. This year is both Eli Lilly's 150th year and Genentech's 50th year. And only God has designed. And going back to your original question, I feel like now, the same way that I felt getting my first fellowship is the same way I felt here. This I'm starting my first company on the West Coast with my wife in a new place. It's like now, though, I know the playbook. Yeah. How can I do that and have that impact in five? And that's my vision. That's my target. And so that is to go back to your original question. What is one piece of advice? I'm living it. Redefine your relationship with failure. It is the thing that will fuel your fruit.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

Like I always tell the students, like, when you fail, I want you to immediately think there's data here. I need to, I need there is data here. It is a unique opportunity for data collection. Because when you succeed, if there are opportunities there and someone has feedback for you on how you could have done it better, you're not gonna hear that. You're not gonna get that because you succeeded. Like you got that, you got the thing. But when you don't get it, it's a unique opportunity to ask people for information and insight. And that starts with what you're saying, that mindset shift of seeing failure as something other than I'm not enough. Because that's what we do, right? Like we internalize the outcome as I'm not enough. See, I knew I had no business stepping up. Like you said something, punching above your weight class. And I was like, I don't even understand boxing, but I understand that analogy. You don't need to know boxing to know exactly what you what you mean by that, because that's just thinking that you're ready for something bigger than what you perceive you're ready for, but it's the only way we are ever truly going to know what we can do, what we're capable of. And the mindset shift is paramount to us being able to make any type of monumental step forward. I I cannot thank you enough. I feel like because I'm I'm I'm punching above my weight class. I'm a quick study. I'm a quick study. I am going to ask you for your time again because we need to talk about the failures in detail. I want a conversation. And I really wanted to start at the the football player part. That's where that conversation needs to start there. And I really want to learn more about how you went from that guy to now.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

So, two things that you said that I want to make sure we dig deep on. Internalize the failures because you're thinking about it with yourself. That's the power of community. My wife, my family, so many people poured into me to remind me just how much I've done, yes, but how much I've done for others and how much this is the real God loves me and how this is the game. So that's part one. Part two of the football player, that's a very specific real analogy. I played running back. So I got tackled so many times and I fell on the ground because you get tackled, you have a vision, you have a play. But it's understanding that just because you tackle don't mean you lose the game. You still get up, you try again, you juke, you do the sip arm, and it gives you the ability to know that even if you've lost that play, you've lost a game. There's still an opportunity. So to win for the season, even if you win, you there's not a team that exists today, anywhere, any sport that has been undefeated since the end of time. Even when you're the champion, you start all the way back over again. So even when you're at the top, yeah. Next season, you might be defending champ, but you got to defend the champion. That is the setting, that is where we're gonna start to your point. Come back for the next episode.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

I want you to right-click on that so bad, but it has to be a right-click that I get to bring you back for a completely different episode for that conversation because I we're gonna put a pin in it, right? We are gonna because uh we could really go on for a really long time. I am so grateful. I am so thankful, and I I truly appreciate you taking the time to do this, do this with me and do this for me. I thank you, doesn't seem sufficient, but I don't have another vocabulary. Um, so I just I'm so grateful for your time, Georgie. Thank you for doing this. And I truly wish you the best, the new venture, the ventures that are existing. If I can ever be of assistance in any way, shape, or form, I hope you genuinely know that that is not even a call. It's like a very random text message that I will absolutely respond to. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Thank you. And for everyone listening, she is a member of Pills. And what people might see is that, oh, we're in competition, but we're not. And I think both of us have high respect for each other and we're helping each other. I did do this for her, but I also did it for us and the people we serve. So if you're not following either one of us on Instagram, we are there, we're public. Follow our socials, follow us on Instagram, and we will be there. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

A hundred percent. You guys, now that it's just us, I am like so excited. I love, first of all, I love good storytellers, right? Like you guys know that about me. And George is such a dynamic speaker, and you can you can feel the passion in the way he speaks and the way he talks. I am so excited that I have had an opportunity to introduce hopefully so many of you to him and pills and what they do. Um, but I really wanted to talk about his takeaway message today and the advice he had for us in that redefining our relationship with failure and the fact that we give failure so much more credit than it deserves, right? Like he's talked about, like I love the football analogy. You you guys know I don't know football, American football at all, right? But him explaining as a running back that he gets tackled, but he gets back up, he gets tackled and he gets back up. And the fact that you may lose a play, but you haven't lost a game. And even if you've won, there's an opportunity always for you to have to either defend that position as a champion. These are excellent analogies, I think could be really, really powerful in the way we think about the setbacks we experience and the failures and challenges that we face. And so I hope that for this episode, I really hope that it left you excited the way it did for me, and that it left you inspired the way it did for me. But it also left me very encouraged seeing somebody that has been able to be as successful as George talk about the fact that he's had multiple failures, even at the height of his career. He still continues to experience failures in certain aspects of his professional career. That's such a sobering moment for someone like myself that's still super ambitious about all the ways I want to grow and push my career. Uh, so I hope that you found meaning and encouragement and um a challenge to shift your mindset around failure with this episode. And I'm just really, really glad. And I'm definitely gonna bring George back for our conversation about failure in particular and the way we think about it, and how and what he may be able to share with us about how we can reframe our thinking around it. As always, I am so grateful that you choose to start your Monday mornings with me. And um, today, yeah, you're going to have an exceptional week after you've heard this episode because it should leave you nothing but feeling like there is absolutely nothing you cannot do. I'm grateful for you being here and have a wonderful week. Okay, bye. If this episode gave you something to think about, something to hold on to, or even something to act on, I want to ask you for one more thing. Take a moment to write and review the podcast. It feels really small, but it's actually one of the biggest ways you can support this show. It helps more people find these conversations and become part of this community we're building right here on Success and DOC.