Our 40 Under 40 Healthcare Innovators of 2015

12. Richie Etwaru

Richie Etwaru wears many hats, and he manages to pull them all off with ease. He recently published his first book, Corporate Awesome Sauce, and hopes to bring his second book to market soon. Etwaru is also hosting his second TEDx conference next month, all while helping to navigate IMS Health, where he is Chief Digital Officer, through the digital and life sciences landscape.

Trend spotting is inexact science, but Etwaru believes that the vertical silo soon will break and companies will be forced to work together and exchange a steady flow of information. “Change is inevitable in healthcare. Which organization will withstand it depends on whether said organization is horizontal and ready to co-create,” he says.

His recommendation for success? “You just have to do it,” he says. “We are becoming a generation of thinkers, tweeters and bloggers that all share and wait. Thinking differently will get you fame, and fame is easy; fortune is difficult. You have to get up and do it. I can’t stress the difference enough.”