The adults were so weak they had to be carried off the shipwreck onto shore… Today, I lead the diabetes business in Medtronic, a global leader in medical devices. The business is about 2.3 billion, with over 5,000 employees. The story of “the person most likely to rule the planet in the future”
20 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE:
I find myself not in the mainstream part of these companies, but having a big impact on the future of those companies.
A bit of a nomad - three million miles of travel approximately, 3 continents, 3 children, 3 C-suite roles, 7 cities and 10 addresses.
My background is in software, in tech, Microsoft was really formative, doing all things on consumer software and services, the precursor to cloud technologies. I then joined Tyco electronics, and then Honeywell recruited me to be its first Chief Commercial Officer, and then I was promoted to lead the software business.
A lot of people say [about Medtronic] “Well, that's very different from some of the industrial companies, as well as the software world” and the funny thing is, the concepts are exactly the same.
I used to think working on software apps was really exciting and was going to change the world... Let's say, if you make a game on the iPhone, is that as thrilling as applying your brain power and your energy towards something like the area of diabetes, where you can really help people's lives? It's just not!
The biggest challenge… I think actually having kids and having a career is a juggling act for everybody, it always comes back to the question of how much should you work.
ON TOPIC: Grit and leadership, rags to riches, the making of a leader
When you grow, life gives you certain tools depending on how you get brought up. And when you grow up poor, you get a lot of tools. I had to support my mother, I had to find a way to go to college. So I had to think about how do I make a lot of money while going to school.
At 16 I started a business and after about a year I had a hundred students. So I converted the garage, my bedroom and the living room into classrooms and I taught all weekend. I made more money doing this than when I got my first job at McKinsey.
It takes courage to confront necessity and accept that bad things happen. Half my life I was living in poverty or close to financial ruin and I missed out on a childhood, but every day I picked myself up...
Changing the events that are outside you is not possible, but you can change how you view them, that's possible. So why don't you go and focus on changing what's possible and I think to me those lessons help you deal with adversity.
Don't be a poser, actually contribute, figure out what is your unique contribution, be really, really good, build your talent stack and then the opportunity will find you. You can compete by being political, by being self-promotional, but you're not really adding value and I want to go to bed every night knowing I did my best and contributed.
It's helpful to have a personal board of directors, it's people that you trust and you've built relationships over time that can pull you back from the brink of your excesses or when you have blind spots.
Cultivate relationships, do it because they're your friends or they're people you respect and admire, not because it helps you get ahead.
ON TOPIC: Diabetes, medtech, health
25% of healthcare is spent on diabetes, that's a lot, in the world.
There's about 7 million people that have type 1 and type 2 insulin-dependent, that's a lot of people. If you then go to the broader type 2, you're talking about 200 million people that need some sort of medication.
Innovation here is: you're putting something in someone's body.