Adam Torres and Ransel Potter discuss FII PRIORITY.
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Show Notes:
Listen to FII PRIORITY coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres and Ransel Potter, Founder & Managing Partner at C3 Summit International LTD, explore healthcare diplomacy and FII PRIORITY.
About C3 Summit International LTD
C3 Summit was founded in 2012 under the simple yet powerful notion that fostering a community of like-minded leaders would encourage collaboration and promote the free exchange of commerce. In the wake of the Arab Spring Movement, our founder Ransel Potter believed there was an opportunity to increase bilateral cooperation between the West and the Middle East. President Clinton shared Mr Potter’s vision and agreed to be the keynote speaker for the inaugural C3 Summit – the first time President Clinton ever inaugurated a summit.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, so today my guest is Ranell Potter and he is the founder and managing partner over at C3 Summit International.
And I’m proud to say that this episode is part of our FII Priority Summit series that we’ve been putting together. Ever since I did attend in Miami and I’ll tell you, my mind was blown. It was just such an amazing summit. I met so many great people that I, definitely wanted to create a series and, bring many of the people that I either met or wanted to meet onto the show and Ransel one of those people.
So, first thing, first, Ransel, welcome to the show. I’m delighted to be here and we’re on opposite coast, so I know you’re a little bit earlier than I am and I know you travel around the world already long before I probably even got up or went to bed, so it’s nice to be here. Wonderful. Well, first thing I just wanna make sure, ’cause I know FI does quite a bit of summits and , there’s quite a few different events.
You were at the Miami one, correct? I was with president Trump and Elon Musk and a host of wonderful people. Hmm. Now have you been to these before? Was this a, first one or have you been before no, I’ve been to a number of them and I’ve been very blessed to really know Richard. So it’s been always a pleasure for me to be invited and to attend it.
Now, this is my first one, and I’ll just tell you, I cover conferences all over the place. I mean, one, for example, I’ll be doing milking global conference. I’ve been covering that for years in Beverly Hills in my backyard. And and I just cover a lot of different conferences and I was, so, I didn’t know exactly what to expect.
But a good buddy of mine, he is like, you gotta come off to this. You gotta do this. And I’m like, so I went and I, my mine was blown. I’m like, okay, this is definitely getting added to the list. Now you mentioned that you do know Richard, but other than that, what keeps you coming back?
why is this such an important thing for you to make sure that you’re at. Well, it’s a great question, and I have said that it is the one conference that I will never miss. Mm-hmm. ’cause it really is about, that’s a bold statement, man. I love that. Go ahead. No, no, no. I, I can tell you the same. It’s the only other conference I wouldn’t miss is my own.
But no, it really has a very solid, I would say. Agenda. It’s all about bilateral multilateral engagement between governments, institutions, how we work together to address shared health challenges such as pandemics, which we’ve all been through capacity building. It is wonderful from the standpoint of really the expertise to strengthen healthcare systems, not just here, but across the globe.
Mm-hmm. Crisis response coordinating international efforts, which we all need to do when we look at what Ebola and COVID-19. Mm-hmm. And trust building. There’s something about the summit, the FII, where you really know that it’s going to foster goodwill. It’s going to have an open dialogue, and it’s going to create very accessible channels where traditional opportunities will exist.
Hmm. And you did mention your conference, so I do wanna transition and spend some of the time that we have here today speaking about that as well. So C3 Summit International. I see the title founder. So you’re a founder of the conference. Like what, take me to the early days, how did this start?
That could take a whole session in itself, Adam, but I’ll tell you how it, how it started. I was at Morgan Stanley in private wealth management and I had an Arab American in my portfolio and he invited me to come over to Bahrain and basically this was in 20 I. 10. And he said, we’d love you to speak.
And I said, well, what will I speak about? And he said, well, we really don’t care. We just want the Morgan Stanley moniker. I said, okay. Been there, done that. I, I, I have a China trip that I went on like that. They just wanted the Charles Schwab moniker. So yeah, ive been there, done that. Go for it. I’m like, oh really?
I’m like, what? What about me? Yeah, come on. That’s fine. Yeah, go ahead please. Ran. I don’t care, you know. But I went over and I came back and I have six children and I said to my wife God rest her soul. I said, you know, I’m going to leave Morgan Stanley. And she said, no, you’re not. I said, yes, I am.
She said, we have six mouths. She said, what do you think you’re going to do? And I said, I think I wanna start an international. Healthcare Summit. She said, alright. She said, I know that you’re from five consecutive generations of doctors, but you can’t stand the side of blood. So why are you thinking this?
And I said, because I really had my eyes open that healthcare is something, an umbrella that we all share, right? And so it really evolved from that. And she said, well, I’ll back you, but you’re going to have to need something big. And I said, no, I know that. So ironically Adam, where I live.
President Clinton Summers right across the street from me. Mm-hmm. So I saw him walking down the path and he was with, you know, the dogs, with Chelsea, Hillary, all of them. And I thought, that’s it. That’s my opening. So I saw there were no. Obviously secret service. Mm-hmm. And I started walking across the cul-de-sac, and then I now know why they call ’em moles.
They popped up from everywhere and it was like, no, no, no. I, I just, I live right across the street. I just wanna talk to President Clinton. So he said, let him come, let him come. So I walked over and he is so gracious and so I told him when he. I wanted to do. And he said do you have an inaugural speaker?
And I said, no, I don’t. He said, well, I’ll be your inaugural speaker. And I said, that would be wonderful. And I said, but I can’t afford you. I’m a startup. And he said, well, I’m gonna do something for you because I think this needs to be done. Somebody needs to do it. And he’s revered over there in the Middle East still, Adam.
Mm-hmm. So he. I’ll do this pro bono, but you have to do me a favor and you have to promise me that if anybody asked, you made a promise to President Clinton that because of. What he did for you. You can’t basically do something in terms of any kind of honorarium. And if it’s the deal breaker, I get it. So long story short, he launched it with me at the museum of Natural History here in New York in 2012.
And I have to tell you, Adam, he doesn’t do first time conferences, but because he believes so in the Middle East and having. The opportunity to really form something, a platform where we could move lockstep together. That’s what motivated them. And since then, it’s been a wonderful journey. It’s opened up the State Department for me.
It’s opened up the United Nations for me, where we’re actually on the UNGA agenda, which I’m very proud about. It’s brought on a number of different, I would say, leaders, politicians all of whom are coming together. And it’s not about any kind of. Policy. It’s really about, I call it healthcare diplomacy because at the end of the day, and actually Adam, we are actually, I shouldn’t say that yet, but we are trademarking.
But because it’s a powerful statement and it’s really about facilitating soft diplomacy through shared priorities. Using healthcare innovation, using patient-centered care, all of the things that we need to do to keep advancing ourselves. And with that we’ve been able to form global partnerships, and one of which I’d love to touch on in a minute, but it.
Really is about thought leadership and knowledge sharing. That’s what the healthcare diplomacy really comes down to, and capacity building and innovation exchange and change. So I’m probably rambling on too much. I should stop and let you jump in here. No, no, no. This is good if you, I have no problem cutting people off if they’re just rambling.
So you’re, you’re fine. You’re not at all. And it’s been around for 14 years or so, how long some have been around. This will be our 14th year. We started in 2020. And what, what, go ahead. I gotta ask 14 years. For us, we, just did our second annual leadership conference here in LA for my company.
Mission Matters, and we’re two years in it. Every single year. There’s obviously new learning and we’re just, we’re babies. Right? Like two years. You’re 14 years in. What are some of the lessons you’ve learned , over that journey and , just from hosting this conference, what are some of the lessons or takeaways.
That’s such a great, great question. The takeaway is that what I said to my wife, I’m really not as smart as I thought I was. All these brilliant people. That’s a good way to start to stay in your wife’s s good graces. I mean, go ahead. Well, I, I’m kidding you. I’m not. I see the people that come, you know, we get the top, top doctors.
We just did our 20 24 1 in Bahrain. Mm-hmm. And that’s where we really ended up getting the. Davos of healthcare trademarked because I was asked to come in and help launch the American Mission Hospital, which is the oldest hospital in the region, and King Hama bu it from the ground up and it is state of the art.
And they’ve been one of our sponsors for probably 10 of the last 14 years, 12 of the last 14 years. So they said, would you bring the C3 platform over and help us launch and get the international effect and impact that C3 can bring to the board? And I. I would be honored. And in doing it, I was putting it together and I thought to myself, I ended up getting like 10 of the top 12 hospitals ranked by Newsweek, John Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, Cedar Sinai, Mount Sinai, Baptist Health, MSK.
And I thought to myself, this is like, this is like a Davos of healthcare. So I. And I said, can you see if we could possibly trademark Davos of healthcare? He said, I’ll get back to you. He called me the next day, Adam, and he said, not only have we trademarked it, you’re in registration for it. So you know, it, one of the lessons I’ve learned from it is to be humble, and I think that more than anything, and never think you’re the smartest person in the room, you know?
Mm-hmm. Because mm-hmm. When you have a lot of smart people, you know, you’re not right. But somebody said to me, actually, my wife said to me, she said, but you have a different talent. You’re able to bring people together and they’re coming together because. I’ve always said, Adam, it’s like attracts like, and that’s why they keep coming back and that’s why it keeps growing.
And every year, as you know. You have to raise the bar. Mm-hmm. You have to do something different. Right. That gives people a reason to come back because the content is important, but you need the audience because the networking opportunities are incredible and they meet people, as I say, that they’ll never, ever cross paths with, and they’re nine to five jobs.
They just won’t. And because of what we offer, and it’s , very, I would say. Intimate in terms of the settings and in terms of the agenda and all of the networking opportunities. So it’s really been about I would say I’ve learned to really look at how innovation and how diverse stakeholders have a shared mission that really is better for all.
And that’s one of the biggest, I think that I’ve learned is that we’ve been able to unify and bring people together under one umbrella with one voice, with one. Goal. And that really is, you know, advancing healthcare diplomacy by building meaningful cross-border relationships that center on a shared global priority.
So I hope that answers the question. I hope I didn’t ramble too much, but you know, those are, I, I, go ahead. So what’s next? I see what you’ve built. I see where you’re at, , what’s next? Give us the a vision for the platform going forward. That’s, that’s a wonderful, wonderful question.
We’ve just been engaged by King Faisel Specialist Hospital and Research Center which is the gold standard in the Middle East. And they’re out of Riyadh, as you know. And they’ve asked us if we could do a summit in Tokyo because they would like to basically, and we’ve done one in China and we did it in 2019 right before the world fell apart.
So that gave us a lot of great. Exposure, background and learning. So we were absolutely thrilled and we said, yes, of course. So working with the US Embassy, who we’ve worked with for 14 years with the Saudi Embassy and with the Tokyo Embassy, we’ve now put together a summit that is going to be on September 24th, and it’s going to celebrate.
The National Day of Saudi Arabia, which is on September 23rd, and they’re going to host a reception at the embassy in Tokyo for all of our speaker. Mm speaker. VIP people. But the beauty of it is then we’re going to be doing a trade mission following that, and we’re actually gonna end up Adam, which is really the big icing on the cake at the World Expo and Osaka.
And they’ve already given them, wow. They’ve done heart launch with tickets to go through all of the pavilions without waiting in line. That’s. That’s my biggest thrill. That and the bullet train. But you know, I I, I think that, you know, broadening it now, we are in different regions, we’re in obviously the Middle East, we’re obviously in North America, and now to be back in Asia, I think that’s kind of the way forward for us because there’s so much opportunity there and there’s so much knowledge transfer that can really.
Continue to create the bond that healthcare provides through diploma soft diplomacy. So that’s really where I’m looking at for the next the next, I would say future for whatever that takes. But I, I’m very excited by it. And I’ve never been to Tokyo either, so that’s even more what I’ve heard of a gift.
Hmm. Ran. So this is, first off, this is amazing. It’s big. I’m excited to continue to follow the, the conference. How do people follow up? How do they learn more? Well, that’s a wonderful question. They can go to our website. It’s c3 INT for international.org, so it’s all one word, C3. See the letter three, the number IN t.org and they can see both.
Conferences, the one that’s going to be September 8th in New York with unga. ’cause we always pair with unga and then it’s going to be September 24th over in Tokyo. And all the agendas are there. The plans, the speakers so that’s probably the best way. And even they can see all of our past summits.
It’s really a, historical recap of what we’ve been doing for the last 14 years and going forward. Amazing. And for everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll definitely put the links in the show notes so you can just click on it and head right on over. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button.
This is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way on your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And ran. Thanks again for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. It’s a great honor to be on your show.
I’ve heard such many wonderful accolades and you deserve every one of them, Adam, and thank you.
