Ep 34. From Clinical Medicine to Product: Dr Jackie Rabec’s Journey to Heidi Health and Google

Calling Operator with Laura Nicol

Today, I'm connecting with Jackie Rabec, Product Manager at Google. Jackie’s product leadership story is all about transitions—from corners of the globe to non-linear career paths and reframing impact beyond just our work. In our conversation, we discuss: The importance of “doing your homework”; Growing up in South Africa and following her mother’s path into medicine; Definitive decision-making versus directional decision-making and how it guided her transition from medicine to tech and product; Visualising your career as a pond of lily pads; Her journey from being the first PM at Heidi Health to a non-health tech product role at Google; Moving from the balcony to the dance floor and back again as a product leader; Lessons from transitioning from a 40-person startup to a global corporation; How to avoid overcomplicating product by indexing on three things; Her vision to improve healthcare access and delivery in low-income countries and under-resourced communities in countries like Africa.

Find Dr Jackie Rabec:

• LinkedIn

Dr Jackie’s Northstars and Frameworks:

• The Balcony and the Dance Floor
• Lenny’s podcast
• Tim Ferriss
• Kirsten Mann (Chief Product Officer at Prospection)
• Peter Cronin (Founder and Director at Prospection)
• Paul Redfern (Chief Product Officer at Big Picture Medical)
• Dr. Thomas Kelly (CEO and Co-Founder at Heidi Health)
• Waleed Mussa (CFO and Co-Founder at Heidi Health)
• Yu Liu (CTO and Co-Founder at Heidi Health)
• Trung Ton (Partner at Foundry Health)

ANZ Operators—Ones to Watch:

• So good we named him twice: Paul Redfern (Chief Product Officer at Big Picture Medical)
• Eliza Hillary (Senior UX Designer at RACV)

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A note from your host, Laura:

My goal for Calling Operator 2.0 is to open-source stories with startup operators across various functional areas and learn how they excel at building and scaling companies. As a Chief of Staff, I often find myself in (virtual) rooms with people tackling similar challenges. I want this podcast to open a line for operators in Australia and New Zealand to learn from each other—diving into the execution behind big ideas, pivotal career moments, successes, failures, lessons and personal stories.