Philadelphia is riddled with problems. We know this, of courseits what guided the creation of The Philadelphia Citizen and its focus on championing solutions.

In a fascinating conversation on Wednesday night between Citizen co-founder Larry Platt and Penn Medicine Chief Innovation Officer Roy Rosin, it became apparent to the nearly 250 guests in attendance that you cant solve any problemwhether its reinventing razors or tackling the challenges of a pandemicwithout asking the right questions, and corralling the right experts.

[People] cant reveal to you the solution very often. You have to get deeply embedded and just see everything and see all the things that they cant articulate or cant remember or are not even aware of, Rosin said. Once you get that deep into what the problem is, you can generate a whole bunch of different directions.

Over the course of the hour-long event, Rosin made clear that he believes deeply in the potential for Penn Medicineand the people who work thereto solve some of the biggest obstacles facing our city, including most recently when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

From the time I walked in the door at Penn eight years ago, what I found consistently were people who support the idea of making things better, he said. These are mission-driven individuals who want to make the world a better place.

If you missed the chat, you can watch the full interview here (weve even edited out the technical glitches!). Or keep reading to find a handful of the many insightful takeaways we gleaned from the man Platt once dubbed the smartest person in Philadelphia you havent heard of.

1. He focuses on how not can

On innovating, Rosin said its more transformative to ask how can we do something, versus can we do this. When you ask the latter, youre likely to get a nobut when you ask how, you open the door to progress. If thats not a mantra we should all adopt, what is?

2. Hes got passion in spades.

Its clear that passion and compassion drive Rosins work. Yes, he has a Harvard degree in economics, an MBA from Stanford and nearly two decades of experience in Silicon Valley under his belt. But the health care sphere is so clearly where hes meant to be.

Just one example: When an event attendee asked Rosin for insight on how to improve doctor-patient communication, Rosin talked about the importance of finding the right doctor, making sure the time spent together is being used well, being part of a health care system where doctors use electronic consults during office visits to connect with specialists (and thereby fast-track the answer-getting process for patients).

And he acknowledged that theres no silver bullet to solving the problem. When the questioner divulged that she personally lived with health issues related to a rare birth defect, he offered to talk to her after the event to help her find a Penn doctor who could help. It was a poignant moment, the likes of which you dont typically see in online events with experts.

I dont want to oversimplify, he said. When you have a complex chronic disease [] it really takes a special person to work with you and work with you carefully. Luckily the clinicians I work with are these wonderful, mission-driven people who put in the nights and weekends to do that kind of thing. You find the right one, and great things happen. [There are] people who are just brilliant physicians, and Ill see if I can connect you with one of those people.

3. No crazy ego here.

Rosin took advantage of every opportunity to credit his Penn colleagues and sing their praises, over his. Its an admirable leadership trait, and one that Rosin mightve picked up during the 18 years he worked at Intuit under the tutelage of legendary leaders like Scott Cook and the late Bill Campbell.

Bill was an incredible leader, he was an incredible people person. And I think his success in some ways was because so much of business is about humans. Business is fundamentally human. [] Any one of us wouldve followed him up any mountain that he told us to charge. He made us feel special, he made us feel important, he paid attention to me before I deserved it, he said

4. Hes not an early tech adopter.

He may have the word innovation in his title but, no, he doesnt have every new gadget, or robots serving him meals at home.

Im like the last person to adopt new technology nowadays, he said, conceding that hes the only member of his team not on Slack. (I probably drive my team crazy not being on it.) But, as he explains in the video, an advantage to being somewhat of, well, a luddite:

One of the things that I actually think helped me in Silicon Valley was my ignorance. I was willing to ask dumb questions. Im willing to say when I dont understand things. I frequently dont understand things. But I try to think through them logically and try to make sense of it, and being a non-expert actually helps people who are truly experts to sometimes step back and say wait a minute, Im seeing that through a new lens, Im seeing that through new eyes, he said. Sometimes it is that ability to be a little bit behind that doesnt harm you so much and it does sort of start an interesting conversation.

And even though he doesnt have the glitziest toys, he of course appreciates and celebrates technology. I think technology is the only way we really scale innovation. Its very hard to scale new things without technology underneath it. So Im obviously a big fan of technology.

5. He believes the word innovation is hackneyed.

Its probably the most overused word out there these days. Its one of those words that because it now means everything, it means nothing, he said. I find myself being drawn more to terms like creative problem-solving than innovation just because it is such a beaten-up, overused word nowadays.

And he made clear that the way to creatively solve for any problem is to start by listening. Deeply.

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Five things we learned from Penn Medicine innovation guru Roy Rosin - The Philadelphia Citizen