Sheikh C. Ali | Founder & CEO, SC Medical Media | Building LinkedIn Authority, Personal Branding, & Strategic Networking in Medtech

Sheikh C. Ali, founder and CEO of SC Medical Media, discusses why medtech executives must become findable online and how LinkedIn visibility creates real opportunity. Sheikh shares his pivot from medical school to entrepreneurship during COVID, then breaks down personal branding as values, applicable expertise, and personality. He unveils his “Four Ps of LinkedIn” framework—Position, Polish, Publish, Pursue—covering target audience strategy, profile optimization, consistent content, and relationship-first outreach. Lindsey & Sheikh explore balancing personal and company brands, using split content strategies for different stakeholders, and why commenting daily can expand reach and build trust. Sheikh also discusses leadership through service, strategic networking, and his IRL series that turns online connections into meaningful offline relationships.

Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheikhali007/

Charity supported: Feeding America

Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at theleadingdifference@velentium.com. 

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen
Producer: Velentium Medical

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Episode 093 - Sheikh C. Ali

[00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.

[00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.

[00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.

[00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.

[00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.

[00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference.

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I am delighted to interview Sheikh C. Ali. Sheikh is the founder and CEO of SC Medical Media. Most medtech executives don't think about being findable online. Sheikh C. Ali thinks about nothing else. He's a former medical student turned entrepreneur and national speaker who helps clinician and healthcare executives build authority on LinkedIn through personal branding, strategic networking, and content that attracts real opportunities. He believes that the right people can't hire you, partner with you, or refer to you if they can't find you.

Welcome to the podcast. I am so excited to finally get to meet you. I know it's only virtually, but we've also been communicating virtually for a while now, and it's still just a virtual connection, but it's a great one. I'm so excited to speak with you today. So thanks for joining me.

[00:01:45] Sheikh C. Ali: Thank you so much, Lindsey, for having me. I'm so excited to finally meet you virtually after all of our months of communication, and I'm excited to talk about how medtech leaders and executives can really build out their LinkedIn presence and create new opportunities for themselves.

[00:01:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Amazing. Great topic, really important, but let's start with a little bit about you, your background. What led you to healthcare, medtech specifically, but just healthcare in general?

[00:02:09] Sheikh C. Ali: Yes. S-so when I started, when I was seven years old, I wanted to be a private practice surgeon. That was always a dream of mine since I was young. Fast-forward undergrad, medical school, and then between third and fourth year of medical school, that's when COVID happened, and that really changed the landscape in terms of how medicine was practiced.

And what I observed was that a lot of private equity and big hospital systems were buying out the private practices. So for the young and upcoming physicians who wanted to pursue private practice post-residency, like what I had intended, I noticed that that wasn't really a viable path anymore. And so that was the impetus for me to shift into entrepreneurship.

Just so everybody knows, I actually come from a family of entrepreneurs. My grandfathers from both sides were entrepreneurs. My dad was one back in his 20s, and so we always had that entrepreneur streak. And it's funny, Lindsey, because I used to always joke in medical school that I had the heart of a doctor but the mind of a businessman.

So I always knew that I was gonna be in entrepreneurship in some way, shape, or form, and then I decided to pivot to social media. And I know this is something that we can relate to because you're into marketing just like I am. Social media was becoming rampant during COVID, and what was happening is a lot of private practices were going more virtual, and so I noticed that there was this huge need for social media in healthcare. And so that was the huge motivating factor for me to pivot into that industry specifically.

When I started the business, SC Medical Media, my company, when I started it January of 2023, I was doing Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And then fast-forward a year afterwards, I decided to hone in on LinkedIn specifically. I like the business-to-business nature of LinkedIn, and I also like that the users on LinkedIn tend to be more established in their careers. And also, I like writing, and LinkedIn at its core is still more of a writing platform as opposed to f- Instagram and TikTok, which are more video. Facebook is a little combination of both, but that's also writing. But LinkedIn is really the main writing-based platform. So it's really finding a platform that aligned with my strengths but that also had people that I was looking to connect with.

Now, the medtech connection actually kind of happened more of a happenstance because when I started, I was targeting more healthcare professionals, and then as I started-- and then October of 2024, I decided to get some high-ticket coaching. I'm a big believer in that because coaching can really give you an additional perspective that you may not be seeing. And I worked with this coach, and he said, "Listen, if you wanna focus on LinkedIn, you need to focus on healthcare executives in general." And so medtech is a big part of that because people who are in medical device sales or any kind of pharma sales, oncology sales, anything that's medtech related, these executive leaders understand the blend of medicine and business.

And so I really am very inspired by you and also by a lot of people that are in our mutual circle-- we were talking right before we started recording-- because the medtech space really does a great job of blending that science and that business. And so that was-- As that audience started to build on LinkedIn, I said, "Okay, there's also something here too." And I've been very blessed in that I've worked with a few senior executives in medtech, and also even a couple of independent distributors as well, who wanted to build out their LinkedIn presence and then create those opportunities.

[00:05:19] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Amazing. Great intro.

[00:05:21] Sheikh C. Ali: That was a lot. I know that was a lot.

[00:05:23] Lindsey Dinneen: No, that's... No, it's great. It's great. Yeah, there's so much I wanna dig into, but I- let's just dive right in. I think one big thing is, how do you convince leadership that social media is a really key important component for thought leadership? Just I'd love start there.

[00:05:41] Sheikh C. Ali: Yes. So, fantastic question. I think that the executive leader of the past was somebody who you had to go through maybe one or two different assistants. It was somebody who was in a suit in the ivory tower sort of mentality, and that was more the past. But the modern executive and the f- executives of the future are people who are visible online, because visibility equals opportunity. So the more visible you are online, and the more searchable and the more findable you are online through AI and through Google and through the other searches, the more likely opportunities are going to open up to you.

And for a case in point, for example, this podcast, you invited me to be on the podcast because we built digital trust with each other over time. And so being active on social media-- especially LinkedIn specifically, because LinkedIn is the largest business-to-business platform with over 1.3 billion users worldwide-- and so being active on LinkedIn specifically as an executive leader is how you're going to open up opportunities for yourself, for your organization, and also more importantly than anything else, Lindsey, is it i- it will also produce a magnetism for recruitment.

Because all executive leaders are always-- any executive leader, any medtech organization that's worth their salt is always looking for who are gonna be the next generation of leaders, and utilizing a platform like LinkedIn and connecting with people of all different generations-- because they're Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and boomers on LinkedIn-- being able to connect with a wide variety of people at different stages in the medtech journey is really effective for medtech leaders, and I think it ca- it's going to be the way of the future. In fact, 90% of all recruiters look at your LinkedIn presence before they even think about, about resume and all that other stuff.

[00:07:28] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, yeah. Incredible. Okay, so when a leader is first interested in building out their LinkedIn presence, you know, I, I know sometimes there's, and again, w-we'll get into all of the good things...

[00:07:39] Sheikh C. Ali: Yeah, the details,

[00:07:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Comes ... The details, yeah, exactly. But when it comes to branding, I think one of the challenges that I've heard or, or concerns is the difference between a personal brand and a professional brand in the sense of, especially let's talk about some of these startup founders who they're, they're, they are their company. They are the face of the company. Eventually what they wanna grow beyond that necessarily, but how do you, how do you prop up both in a way that makes sense, that's a little differentiated, but still helpful as, as you continue to grow independently and with your organization?

[00:08:12] Sheikh C. Ali: Yes. So if you are an executive leader and you are working for a company, I would imagine and I would hope that the values of the company and yourself align. If they don't, then in Miami we say "no bueno."

[00:08:25] Lindsey Dinneen: Correct.

[00:08:25] Sheikh C. Ali: That's a, that's a, that's, that's a big problem. So if the values are aligned, then I think it becomes actually a lot more straightforward than people might think. LinkedIn personal accounts get ap- there are different studies. Some studies say eight times more traction than the business pages, some say 12 times more traction than the business pages. But the fact of the matter is, Lindsey, is that people do business with people, and the only way to really build that digital trust is through building out your personal, your personal profile, your personal brand.

Now, that is going to be a reflection of the company, and having those guidelines and those principles, whether it comes to compliance or those issues, I understand that and I think that that's a very legitimate concern. But I think sharing, leaders who are sharing their leadership insights or maybe just industry insights that don't necessarily conflict with a certain product or a certain service that the company is selling, I think that that's an easy way to kind of thread that needle between the pr- representing the company but also representing yourself.

And I would also, just to put a pin on this, I would also like to say that any really good business or any really good company wants to elevate their leaders, wants to elevate their leadership, because at the end of the day, people do business with people. But one of the shifts that we've been seeing, Lindsey, in probably the last five to 10 years with just marketing, branding, and social media in general, is people are less focused on the organization as an entity and more the people who are inside that organization and who are actually running that organization.

[00:09:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes, team is critical, and it's a theme that has been coming up time and time again, especially again with medtech founders who are, you know, they, they want their technology to succeed, of course, they want their business to succeed, but the team can be such a make it or break it component of it. And I think to your point, elevating the thought leadership of the entire organization is a great strategy. But let's, let's get into some of your tips, tricks, and essentials we need to know about branding and, and your methodology in particular.

[00:10:23] Sheikh C. Ali: Yes. So the core definition-- So f- a lot of people don't understand what personal branding is, so let's start there. The core definition of personal branding is what people say about you when you are not in the room. So you can think about it as your digital reputation. There are three components to a personal brand. The first is your core values, and I think that this is something that's not talked about enough because your core values serve as the filter through which every micro and macro decision is made.

The second part of personal branding is what I call applicable expertise. So just because you might have specific, very in-depth, nuanced industry knowledge about something does not necessarily mean that it is going to translate on LinkedIn in a way that people are going to understand. And so what I always recommend for this is to write at a fifth-grade level.

And then the third thing is personality because you have to put your personality in personal brand. And so for me, for example, I call myself the James Bond of LinkedIn, which I love because I love James Bond. I've loved James Bond films for 25 years now, and that has become part of my branding. And then the other thing is fountain pens as well. So I'm a big, big fountain pen collector, and people can't, people can't see because it's audio only, but I'm showing Lindsey my fountain pen right now. So I'm a big fountain pen collector, and that has become part of my brand. But it's not something that I'm inventing just to be a character on LinkedIn. It is something that is congruent with things that I'm doing already.

But it's one or two quirks that allow me to stand out among the sea of sameness, and I think that this personality part is really important for these executive leaders because a lot of times there might be this distance between people who are in the industry and these leaders. And if you just share something, you don't need to share everything about your family and every single nuance of your life. But if you just pick one or two quirks, that's really going to allow you to stand out among the sea of sameness. And so adhering to those three core tenets, that's how you build your personal brand strategically and intentionally, and then that is the first of many steps to building out your LinkedIn presence.

[00:12:22] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. Okay, well let's, let's talk about your particular methodology. You have Four Ps of LinkedIn, yes? Yes, let's, let's, let's dive straight in.

[00:12:31] Sheikh C. Ali: Yeah, I love it. So the Four Ps is a framework that I've used for myself and with over 60 healthcare executive clients of mine, and it is a methodology that I came up with where it allows you to transform your LinkedIn presence from zero to hero. So the four Ps: number one is position, number two is polish, number three is publish, and number four is pursue.

So let's go in order. Number one is position. So that's your strategy layer, because if you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. And so having a very deliberate target audience in mind is essential if you want to grow on LinkedIn strategically. The second part is polish, which is your profile. The profile is the first impression layer because that profile represents-- it's like having a digital handshake at an in-person networking event, and that is going to leave a first impression. So when people look at your profile, is that profile speaking to your target audience? If the answer is no, then some work needs to be done there. So number two is polish.

Number three is publish. So that is the actual content piece. That represents the visibility layer, because here's a fun fact: Most people don't know this, but only 1 to 3% of all LinkedIn users post at least one time a week. So that means that if you post one time a week, you are automatically in the top 3% of all LinkedIn users, and that's why I say my tagline is, "If you don't post, you're a ghost," because if you don't post, you are a ghost in the sense that people are not going to know who you are and what you stand for.

And then fourth is the pursue part, so that is the outreach. Now, this is not a spray-and-pray approach. This is not a pitch slap, which the, for those of you who are listening that don't know, that's when you add somebody on LinkedIn, and then five minutes later, you get three, four, five, six, seven paragraphs about what they do, and "let's hop onto a call." No, no, no. That's not what we do. It is a soft touch outreach approach where you are just connecting intentionally with people who are in your target audience, and that's really where the relationships are built, and that's where the opportunities are created because opportunities are not given, they are created.

And so by being intentional with your outreach, that's really going to help take your LinkedIn to the next level and, and potentially strike up some really good opportunities. Now, there's one thing that I want to mention, Lindsey. A lot of people come to me and they say, "Oh, I want more leads," or, "I want more content," or, "I need to post more." I say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We need to take a step back here because I don't know who you're speaking to, and your profile needs a lot of work." So that's why I have that four-step process, and it's done in sequential order for that exact reason.

[00:15:02] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. I think something that I was even thinking about is, yeah, the whole speaking to everybody is speaking to no one.

[00:15:11] Sheikh C. Ali: Yeah, that, that we-- well, that's a marketing thing, as you know. That's what we say in marketing. Yep.

[00:15:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Exactly, and it's something that, um, I've been talking about with some founders recently of it's kind of the same thing, too, say, when they're building out a pitch deck, and I'd be curious to your perspective on this, too, of, you know, yes, you, you want to make something that can, in theory, go everywhere, but depending on your audience, you're gonna be talking to them differently because your stakeholders have different concerns and questions.

And so to that point, though, so let's, let's say that there's, a startup founder who wants to build out their thought leadership. They wanna speak one-- like, would you not recommend that, you know, one day they wanna speak to kind of more of the science and the technical components, so they're a little bit more nitty-gritty in the details, versus another day they might think, "Well, I kind of wanna speak to who might be the end user here," and so maybe that's more about the outcome and the feeling or something like that. So how do, how do you kind of manage those kinds of things when you're talking to various stakeholders potentially within the same sort of audience?

[00:16:12] Sheikh C. Ali: Yeah, I think that this goes back to my applicable expertise part of the core values. So why is writing at a fifth-grade level so important? Let's, let's break that down for a minute. If you are an industry leader, you have very vast technical knowledge, and the ability to disseminate that information and communicate it at a fifth-grade level does two things.

First of all, the people who are at your level, at the industry level, will respect you because you had the wherewithal and the ability to break it down. But the people who may be coming-- who may be up and coming and who may be coming into the industry or may-may be at a more novice level in the industry, they will also understand it too because you've broken it down at the fifth-grade level. So it's a win-win situation. So that's number one.

Number two, about the science and the technical knowledge versus the thought leadership-- i, I would recommend for that more of a split strategy. And so what that consists of is the best way to do that, because simple systems scale. And so the best way to do that is to allocate a specific day when you discuss more of the scientific stuff and then on a certain, on another day, make sure that you talk about the thought leadership part of the equation.

In addition, there's also--there are a few benefits to this. First of all, LinkedIn loves that because everybody talks about the algorithm, this and that. The fact is the algorithm is really a black box. We don't really know what the true nuance of the algorithm is, but we do have user-based behavior that we can use to kind of make deduc-deductions and inferences about what's going on.

And one of the things that LinkedIn loves is consistency. So for example, I believe you have your Medtech Monday Marketing Moment sort of post. And so because you're posting that consistently, LinkedIn loves to see that, and it's gonna know who to, who to send that post out to. The other thing too with the scientific versus the thought leadership is know who your target audience is for both of those, and then use keywords in each of those posts so that you're telling LinkedIn who you're reaching out to.

So for example, I'm gonna use myself as an example if that's okay with you just to, just to illustrate this point clearly. So for example, I post only three times a week and--because that's all that I can handle. However, I make sure that they're high-quality posts because LinkedIn is all about quality over quantity. My Monday posts are very ICP-driven, which for those who don't know, ideal customer profile-driven. And so that means every single Monday I'm gonna be posting a more shorter, snippier, this is more like outcome or here's the pain point and then here's the outcome. But I'm gonna always make sure that I mention clinician and healthcare executive. That phrase needs to be somewhere in that post because that way LinkedIn's gonna know, "Okay, I'm gonna push it out to these people."

And then for example, on Thursday I have my IRL series which is the In Real Life series where it's somebody who I meet on LinkedIn and then we take it off platform and I hope one day we can do one, Lindsey, 'cause I'll be more than happy to highlight you. And then I basically highlight the person. It's like highlight an entrepreneur sort of series. And for that, because LinkedIn sees IRL and this and that and the other or healthcare or so on, that's gonna go out to a wider audience. And so different pieces of content can serve different purposes.

And so to go back to your question, having a specific day that you post the science stuff and having a specific day that you post the thought leadership information is essential because not only does that help with the algorithm or with the user-based behavior, but more importantly than that, Lindsey, your audience is also gonna be cued in as well. So for example, my audience is so primed now that they know, "Okay, Thursday, Sheikh's gonna be with somebody else at some other restaurant and he's gonna be talking about somebody." So it also builds that expectation in your audience as well and so it's a, it's a very effective dual method. Yeah.

[00:19:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. No, I appreciate all of that practical advice and guidelines, and I think that one of the things that I've really appreciated about you, and I'd be curious to know what made you come to this and, and why, but one of the things that I think you do really well is amplify other people. And so you're very much participatory within the platform. So you might not be posting, you know, your own content every single day, but you are helping to amplify and encourage. And so I'm curious about that particular element of sort of giving back as well.

[00:20:13] Sheikh C. Ali: Yes. Yes, so the number one trend for LinkedIn for 2026 and for the immediate future and beyond is commenting, because commenting is so, so important, and that goes along with your question about engaging with the community. I always recommend e- to all my busy executives out there, let's say they can't even post twice a week. Let's say they can only post once a week, 'cause remember, one time to be in the top 3%. So let's say they only post once a week. You should be commenting every day, really. Like, you put aside 15 to 20 minutes, even if it's just 20 minutes, and maybe you're doing something. Maybe you are waiting to pick up your child from school. Maybe you're waiting in the airport doing something.

Go on LinkedIn and start commenting on other people's posts, because commenting is a great way to engage with the community, as you said, to encourage the community, and there's also something that's called the second-degree superpower when it comes to commenting. This is something that I came up with. So for example, Lindsey, you and I are connected, so we are first-degree connections. So if you comment on my post, then people who are in your network that are not in my network, so that would be second degree to me, will see my post in their feed.

So it's gonna say, "Lindsey Dinneen," I think you're two, you're a double master, right? MS and MBA. Lindsey Dinneen, MS, MBA, double Jedi master. So you commented on Sheikh C. Ali's post, so they're gonna see my post in their feed. And so what it allows you to do is it allows you to expand your network even more, and I have signed clients through the comments section. I met them in the comments section first, then we took it to a DM, direct message. We had a conversation, then we hopped onto a Zoom, and then they said, "You know what? I really like what you're doing, and I really need help with LinkedIn, so let's, let's go."

And so for those executives out there who might be a little hesitant to post or maybe they only have one thing a week to post, comment every day, whether it's to your team, whether it's to others, people that are in the industry, people that are adjacent to your industry is also very important, too. But commenting intentionally is a great way to engage with the community, because the more that you comment on other people's posts, the more likely it is that those individuals will see your post when you actually do post in their feed. So it goes, it really does go both ways. So the LinkedIn ecosystem consists of commenting, posting, and direct messaging. You do those three things, and LinkedIn becomes an opportunity machine for you.

[00:22:28] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, thank you for that. One, one thing that I picked up on when I was, you know, kind of perusing in, in more depth your profile and some posts and things is you have 63 recommendations.

[00:22:42] Sheikh C. Ali: It's 67 now.

[00:22:43] Lindsey Dinneen: 67 now. Okay, so even... Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Yeah, tell us about how you like to work with people. Maybe a little bit about how it helps those people to, to wrap their minds around it and, and get organized and ready to go.

[00:22:57] Sheikh C. Ali: Yeah, so the-- so going through the Four Ps framework that I discussed already. So number one is position. So that first call that we do, that initial discovery call is 30 minutes, it's complimentary, and it's, it's first meant to figure out if they're a good fit or not. Because some-sometimes people are not a good fit, and that's completely fine. So after we figure that out, then it's discussing what their actual brand strategy is gonna be on that call. Typically, what I like to do is I ask a lot of questions, and I like to solicit their feedback, because for me, it's about what are their goals on LinkedIn and what are their strengths? Because different executives have different strengths. So, so meshing those two things together helps me come up with their brand strategy effectively.

Then after that, the actual process of working with people, it varies between 15 to 60 days, so it's more of a short window. But there is opportunity for retention afterwards. If the person is working with me for more than six months, we have a problem. Either I've done something wrong or they've done something wrong on their end, so you shouldn't need to work with me for more than six months. But the, but the secret to building those relationships and to, for those testimonials is I only do one-on-one coaching and consulting. I do not do group coaching. I do not do group cohorts. I have many colleagues, including our-- shout-out to our friend Kat Hurd, our mutual friend Kat Hurd. She's incredible with that. She does phenomenal in that.

That doesn't align with my strengths. I'm more-- I'm, I just do one-on-one. And so I do the one-on-one, and then I have the speaking, which we can talk about a little bit later. But with that one-on-one, those clients, those testimonials that you saw are m- primarily, I would say 90% of them are people that I have worked with one-on-one. I did have something that just came up recently, Lindsey, that I do want to mention on this podcast because I think it shows you the power of LinkedIn.

So I actually had a surgeon who came into-- who a trauma surgeon who inboxed me directly and he said, "Shaik, I've been learning so much on your podcast that it's actually been improving my business. It's been improving my consulting business and all this," and we haven't even worked together. So that shows you the power of impact over impressions, and this is always my philosophy when it comes to LinkedIn, is that it's about making a meaningful impact.

So when he did that, you already know I asked, "Okay, well can you at least write a testimonial for me?" Because that way, because that way a testimonial from somebody like that who's heard me but who has not worked with me, it resonates differently compared to somebody who has paid me and who's actually worked with me. And so a big part of that is I am very-- I'm pretty hawkish about my follow-up and making sure that people do write the testimonial. And some people, you know, some people the working relationship necessarily isn't as close, so I may not ask them, but that's just part of the process.

[00:25:26] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Okay, nice. And, and that's a good reminder also for founders when they do have those moments of people coming to them and having had a good experience, capture those moments. My goodness.

[00:25:37] Sheikh C. Ali: You have to. Because if it's not documented, then it didn't happen, whether that's through a photo that you and the business colleague take and then you post about it on LinkedIn and make a content piece around that, or whether it's a testimonial. And the other thing too, when it comes to collecting testimonials, you must collect them at the-- towards the tail end of working with that person or as soon as it's done. You have to strike while the iron is hot because that's when they remember you the best and that's when their memory of working with you is going to be the strongest. Don't wait five, 10 months afterwards to try and get that testimonial because number one, it's gonna be a lot harder and number two, the actual testimonial itself will not be as detailed and land as effectively

[00:26:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Could not agree more. Timing is paramount. Okay, so I'm curious, as you've gone about and you've really embraced the, the healthcare community i-in particular for this, are there any moments that stand out to you as just really affirming, "Wow, I am in the right place at the right time, in the right industry"?

[00:26:37] Sheikh C. Ali: My IRL series, my In Real Life series, which is where I meet somebody on LinkedIn for the first time, we have a communication through the direct messages, very much like us, and one of these days I'm manifesting it. One of these days we will meet in person and, you know, we'll take a photo together and I will post about it. That has become my signature property on LinkedIn because that really has resonated with so many people all over the country. Lindsey, I get pictures from people who are in California, Nebraska, Texas, the DC, Maryland, Virginia area, and other parts of the country who say that, "Look, Sheikh, we're doing our own LinkedIn IRLs. We are meeting... We have met on LinkedIn, and now we're meeting off platform." And I'm not even involved with them necessarily arranging that, and I think that that's so incredible.

So I think that moment when I saw that people were doing it and then they were tagging me on LinkedIn, or they were sending me the photo privately to my phone and I said, "This is amazing. Make sure you post about it and don't forget to tag me." And so, and so really seeing that resonate shows how much we crave social interaction. I don't care whether you're introverted or extroverted, that has nothing to do with it. We are just-- we crave that social interaction by nature. And again, people do business with people, and the ability to take that virtual relationship online offline and meet that person in person or IRL, as I say, in real life, I think that's really, really powerful, and I think for the near and distant future, people are going to be treasuring that even more. Because you really don't know-- there's only so much that you can learn from somebody through LinkedIn or through a social media platform. But when you meet them in person, when you hear what their hopes and dreams are, I'm inspired by them as much as they say that they are inspired by me. So.

[00:28:12] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, 1,000%.

[00:28:14] Sheikh C. Ali: Yeah.

[00:28:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Love that. Great answer. Yeah. Okay, so let's talk about leadership for a minute here. So I would just love to hear, especially for people who are potentially a little bit younger in their career, they're looking to get into leadership roles, what are some tips, tricks, best practices, things that you've seen either on really good examples or maybe not as great examples, and how do you approach leadership?

[00:28:37] Sheikh C. Ali: Yes. So I think that leadership is really the ability to guide and gather people together towards a common goal. And so that's kind of the core definition of leadership, and I have always adopted a service over self approach to leadership. And I think that people who are younger and upcoming, or maybe let's say somebody who's breaking into medtech and they want to ascend to leadership, I think that the best way to do that and how to implement that whole service over self is to network strategically.

But let me break that down because networking has a little bit of a bad rep now, 'cause for me, network is your internet connection . That's not, that's not actually... So networking is really building those relationships intentionally and coming from a place of service over self, which means that your leading question needs to be, "How can I help you?" rather than necessarily, "What are you going to do for me?" It's a completely different mindset, and I think that when you come from that mindset of how can I help you and really focus on building those relationships, I think that is the key to leadership.

Because at the end of the day, when somebody-- let's say that somebody is in a big leadership position in a huge medtech company and they are at the cusp of retirement. They're not going to necessarily post a job opportunity on LinkedIn or whatever. They're going to look at their inner network first, and they're going to tap into that. And if they don't know somebody directly who would be a good successor to them, they will ask people around them. So you never know who, what, or where the opportunity is going to come from.

And so connecting with people, building those relationships, even if it means just grabbing a coffee for 10, 15 minutes, let's-- 'cause I know that in medtech, nobody has time. Nobody has time. But we, but we make time for things that are important, right? And so I think that if you make that time and you just say, you just tell-- talk to a leader or approach them, or you can use LinkedIn, by the way, as a way to direct message them and say, "Listen, I'm now new in the industry. I wanna learn more about it. Can you spare, like, just 15 minutes of a Zoom call?"

So, so when you are reaching out to that medtech leader or to that executive, make sure that you have very specific questions in mind. Do your research. Again, LinkedIn is a phenomenal way to do this. Look at their profile, do your research, maybe do a little Google search, search them on ChatGPT, and see what you can find. Find a commonality that you could-- some sort of commonality to break the ice, and then after that, make sure that you ask them very intentional questions. Because if they're giving you 10 to 15 minutes of their time, that is very valuable time for them. You need to make it worth their while.

And so make sure that you have-- you come prepared, you ask those questions, and then when you do that and they see it on their end, the executive leader's gonna think, "Wow, this person is actually genuinely curious, genuinely interested." And they will be much more likely to give you more of their time, and then the relationship builds from there bit by bit. And just remember, relationships take time to build. Like, before Lindsey asked me to be on this podcast, we had known each other I think for a-almost over six months, and she saw what I was doing, I saw what she was doing, we were supporting each other, and then bam, I got the, I got the message in my inbox to s- that said, "Come on."

[00:31:32] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, exactly. Amazing. I love that. Yeah, and that's a good reminder. Good relationships take time regardless of whether they're in person or online, and you want that. So that's, that's a good thing. Okay. Well, this has been amazing so far, but I do wanna pivot the conversation a little bit just for fun.

[00:31:50] Sheikh C. Ali: Let's go.

[00:31:51] Lindsey Dinneen: All right. So I know you do a lot of speaking, and we can about...

[00:31:53] Sheikh C. Ali: Yes, I do.

[00:31:54] Lindsey Dinneen: ...that on this. But also imagine that you were to be offered a million dollars to teach a master class on anything you want. Could be within your industry, doesn't have to be. What would you choose to teach?

[00:32:05] Sheikh C. Ali: How to network effectively to get anything that you want out of life. Because I do believe that anything that y- anything that you want in life is within reach. It's just about finding the right people who are in that position that you want to be in and start building those slow intentional connections with them, and eventually you'll get there. So I would, I would present a framework, and also part of that presentation would be how to combine LinkedIn with IRL, like what not only myself but some of my colleagues have been able to do very, very effectively.

[00:32:35] Lindsey Dinneen: Amazing. Okay. Do you wanna touch on a little bit of your speaking before I ask my next couple of questions? Just in general, yeah.

[00:32:40] Sheikh C. Ali: Absolutely. Thank you so much. So my speaking, I speak nationally and on the stage. I also do in-person podcasts, which we didn't do this time, maybe next time, and then virtual podcasts like this one. But essentially, my speaking is centered around how to build out your LinkedIn presence strategically so that you will create those opportunities that you may not even foresee. How to gain a ticket into rooms that you may not, at this time, have, quote-unquote, "no business entering," but how do you build out your digital presence so that you can gain access to that stage or to that podcast invite or to that leadership council, for example?

So that's one part of it, and then the other part that I also talk about is just networking and communicating in general, how to be an effective communicator and how to never run out of things to talk about on the IRLs-- because I know sometimes, especially for people who are a little bit more shy and introverted, and everybody, everybody is different-- but some people who are a little bit more shy might have str- might struggle about that. So I have also frameworks on that as well, how to communicate effectively. So that's what my speaking is all about, and it's a blast, and I'm looking forward to doing more of it next year, and maybe even collaborating with you, Lindsey. We'll see.

[00:33:48] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes, indeed. Yes. I definitely tend to loop my friends into... I, you know, gently volun-tell, you know, but...

[00:33:56] Sheikh C. Ali: Of course, of course.

 

[00:33:57] Lindsey Dinneen: You know, I like to, to loop my friends into those opportunities. So yeah, that's, that's gonna be exciting. Great. How do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world?

[00:34:06] Sheikh C. Ali: Ooh, that's a really good question. I wanna be remembered as somebody who brought joy and positivity into people's lives, and also being known as a connector. Because I think one of the things that's most beautiful to me, Lindsey, is when I do an introduction to two people through LinkedIn, so a three-way LinkedIn direct message, and then I find out months later that they're doing business together or they- they're taking both of their kids out to soccer practice or something along-- especially if they're more local to each other.

I think that that's just so meaningful because at the end of the day, Lindsey, you only have one life to live, and the money, the status, and all that, that's fine and dandy, and that's lovely, but the relationships that you build with people, that goes beyond the grave. And so for me, really being remembered as that is something that I would love, and I love that you asked that question, by the way.

[00:34:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, I always love to get at the the heart of, of whoever it is, you know? And if I can, if I can-- if you're willing to give that to me, I think it's a, it's a gift, so I appreciate you sharing. Okay. And then final question: What is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it?

[00:35:11] Sheikh C. Ali: Okay, so two things for this. We are actually recording this on global James Bond Day. So of course, anything, anything that's James Bond related will always make me smile. And on the other side, which is, like, a little bit more serious, but for me, seeing the success of my, what I call my alumni clients-- so, like, those people that you saw that wrote all of those gracious testimonials. I love when they come back to me two, three, four months later and they say, "We were able to secure this business partnership," or, "We were able to secure this deal after our work that we did together." Because again, that shows me that the work that I'm doing is impactful and at the same time, there's only so much that I can do, because at the end of the day, it's also the action that my clients take that will allow them to soar to the next level

[00:35:56] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, yeah. Great reasons to smile. I love that. Yeah, the James Bond thing, that, that did get me earlier when I was... I love it. I love that so much. All right. Well, this has been an amazing conversation. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing so much just practical insight, advice from your perspective and your experience, and oh my gosh, I'm just grateful that we are connected and friends. Looking forward to the next time we get to connect again, and like you said, manifesting for real life soon. And...

[00:36:26] Sheikh C. Ali: Thank you again, Lindsey. Thank you so much for this opportunity. And if anybody wants to contact me, just Sheikh C., my middle initial. Make sure you put my middle initial 'cause there are other Sheikh Alis on LinkedIn. So Sheikh C. Ali. Inbox me anytime. Even if you're not connected, you can send me a LinkedIn direct message, and make sure you say that Lindsey sent you.

[00:36:42] Lindsey Dinneen: There you go. All right. Well, thank you again, and we are honored to be making a donation on your behalf as a thank you for your time today to Feeding America, which works to end hunger in the United States by partnering with food banks, food pantries, and local food programs to bring food to people facing hunger, and they also advocate for policies that create long term solutions to hunger. So thank you for choosing that organization to support. and I just wish you the most continued success as you work to change lives for a better world. So till next time.

[00:37:17] Dan Purvis: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium Medical. Velentium Medical is a full service CDMO, serving medtech clients worldwide to securely design, manufacture, and test class two and class three medical devices. Velentium Medical's four units include research and development-- pairing electronic and mechanical design, embedded firmware, mobile app development, and cloud systems with the human factor studies and systems engineering necessary to streamline medical device regulatory approval; contract manufacturing-- building medical products at the prototype, clinical, and commercial levels in the US, as well as in low cost regions in 1345 certified and FDA registered Class VII clean rooms; cybersecurity-- generating the 12 cybersecurity design artifacts required for FDA submission; and automated test systems, assuring that every device produced is exactly the same as the device that was approved. Visit VelentiumMedical.com to explore how we can work together to change lives for a better world.