The leadership lessons of John Brown, the man who built Stryker

For a man who took a company from $17 million in sales to a $4.5 billion publicly traded juggernaut and is listed at #307 on Forbes 400 billionaires, John Brown is a remarkably humble man.

However, he is, by all intents and purposes, the man who put Stryker on the map during his 32 year tenure as CEO, which stretched from 1976 to 2009. Today, the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based medical device company nets nearly $10 billion in annual sales and is considered one of the largest and most important orthopedic players in the world, thanks to the moves Brown made.

Brown took over at Stryker in 1976, following the death of company president Lee Stryker, who was killed in a plane crash with is wife while on vacation in Wyoming. Brown was recruited to join the company but initially turned the offer down, worried that he wouldn’t be able to duplicate his predecessors style of mingling business and personal relationships. However, after being assured by the Stryker family that he would be able to run it in his own style Brown accepted the position.

Brown’s initial goals were to take Stryker stock public, to grow earnings per share 20% and to grow the company through acquisitions. He achieved those goals and then some. Stryker went public in 1979 and then entered the orthopedic implant market in 1979 by purchasing Osteonics, a New Jersey-based company. Brown said his best acquisition was Howmedica, the orthopedic division of Pfizer Inc., which the Stryker bought for $1.65 billion in 1998. The deal doubled Stryker’s sales and put it in a leadership position in the orthopedic industry. Brown retired in 2009 and still serves as an advisor to the company. He also sits on the board of St. Jude Medical.

In this episode of DeviceTalks, recorded at the recent AdvaMed 2015 conference, Brown spoke to us about how he built such impressive results during his tenure at Stryker and his deceptive ambition.

“Most people don’t realize I’m very competitive,” Brown told us. I can’t stand to lose.”

It’s apparent from his record that Brown hasn’t experienced much losing in his career.

Did you know that you DeviceTalks is also a live event? Check out our website to find out how you can participate in a live taping of this terrific podcast. Check out the lineup for our upcoming DeviceTalks West show in Irvine, California on December 9, 2015.

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