John Gaines - Versatility

11/14/23 • 35 min

1 Listener

Rising - Conversations with Leaders On Their Way Up

John Gaines is the VP of Marketing at Cohere Health and has over 20 years of diverse, go-to-market leadership experience across health plans, health systems, physician organizations and healthcare IT vendors. Prior to joining Cohere, John led efforts to help grow the health plan UM businesses at McKesson/Change Healthcare, Cognizant Trizetto and InformedDNA. John holds a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University. He shared with Josh and Mat about his trajectory, grasping all aspects of a business, product management, the value in non-marketing experience and opportunities in healthcare.

In This Episode
01:15 - First Job at Macy’s & Running Your Own Business
04:32 - Navigating to Management Consulting
06:00 - Choosing Healthcare & Next Roles
08:02 - Motivation Behind Job Switching
13:49 - Establishing Preferences
15:31 - The Importance of Non-Marketing Experiences
19:10 - What's Next?
20:13 - Opportunities in Healthcare
22:32 - About Cohere Health
26:11 - Mistakes
28:38 - Thank You Note
31:26 - Top Picks

Links Mentioned

The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin

Beautiful AI

House of Suns, Alistair Reynolds

Subscribe to never miss a show! Hosted by Josh Boaz and Mat Zucker, Rising is produced by Direct Agents and Prophet. For more information or to nominate a guest, please visit rising-podcast.com or email us at [email protected]. Original theme music created by Movers + Shakers.

Links Mentioned

The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin

Beautiful AI

House of Suns, Alistair Reynolds

Previous Episode

Jeffrey L. Bowman - The Next Playbook

Jeffrey L. Bowman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Reframe, where he has pioneered a change operating system with software that helps people leaders build the most culturally inclusive employee and customer experiences at scale. Bowman is also a two-time award-winning published author. Before Reframe, Jeffrey was senior partner and managing director at Ogilvy & Mather in New York City, where he created the industry’s first cross-cultural practice. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Economist, Fast Company, and NBC’s Today Show, and he speaks frequently at industry and trade events. On Rising, Jeffrey talks about his career from brand management to corporate strategy — starting at Pepsi and moving to Procter & Gamble, Miller Brewing, Whirlpool, Ogilvy & Mather, and finally founding Reframe. He shares what he has learned, how he sees moving the industry ahead, and advice for the rest of us.

In This Episode

01:19 - First Job Client Side to Business School for Brand Management

03:01 - Procter & Gamble, Miller Brewing & Whirlpool

06:40 - Motivation Behind the Switches

19:23 - About Reframe & the Market Response

27:00 - What’s Next?

28:48 - Advice for Others

31:12 - Thank You Note

34:06 - Top Picks

Links Mentioned

How to Master the Art of Selling, Tom Hopkins

We Should Not Be Friends, Will Schwalbe

Lemon: A Novel, Kwon Yeo-sun

Reframe

Jeffrey L. Bowman

Next Episode

Bob Sherwin - Value in Variety

Bob Sherwin has 20 years of operating experience as a Strategist, Chief Marketing Officer, Retail Executive, and Advisor. He’s a board member at Articore (parent company of RedBubble and TeePublic) and an independent advisor to public and private companies on a range of strategic, marketing, and organizational topics, such as creating innovative and data-driven cultures. His most recent full-time corporate role was as Chief Marketing Officer at Wayfair, where he was responsible for the entire family of global brands. Prior to Wayfair, he was a consultant at McKinsey and began his career at IBM’s Business Consultant Services. He shares with Josh and Mat about his trajectory, why he got an MBA, the early influence of data, important attributes for a career, the value of variety in what you do, and what to prioritize early in your career vs. later.

In This Episode

0:00 - Seeking Variety & Learning Analysis in Consulting

6:01 - Getting an MBA

7:04 - McKinsey & IBM

9:02 - Wayfair

11:32 - Trade-offs, Titles & Building Teams

15:22 - Scope & Struggles

17:12 - Managing 1,000 People

19:14 - Having a Support System (Including The Marketing Academy)

21:02 - Being on a Board

22:57 - Career Attributes

25:42 - Prioritizing Skill & Content Accumulation