Friday, October 1, 2010
Friday Morning Question for Our Readers
Whom do you think are the best CEO's in the spine industry, and who are the worst? Let's face it, there are a few charlatans in our industry. TSB was speaking with one of our colleagues and we were wondering why do some people keep getting hired over and over, even after they have failed miserably in previous ventures. Isn't that Einstein's definition of insanity? What does it say about BOD's and investors. Recently, it was reported to TSB that a top notch Regional Manager was fired who had achieved 100% of quota in his territory for the past two years, only to be replaced by another Medtronic lackey. Is this leadership? Are these people networked with the investment community? Have some of these people ever sold in this industry? How incestuous have we become? One of our bloggers made a great point, there has to be someone out there that really knows what they are doing. So in the spirit of a good debate, identify that individual and provide us with your rationale. Does that individual possess integrity. Does that person bring business and clinical knowledge of the industry. The same rules apply for the individual that you would name as the worst. It could even be someone that no longer holds this position. With the 2010 People's Choice Awards around the corner, TSB wants to know what our bloggers think.
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Ben Shappley CEO and president at Amedica has a possible integrity issue
ReplyDeleteRetreads:
ReplyDeleteCraig Corrance, Jud Carlson, Michael Will. How many companies will each of these guys run into the ground, and still get jobs afterwards?
Stars:
Gary Fischetti - Pres of Depuy Spine - he has integrity and plays the game the right way.
Alex Lukianov - he didn't make the rules, he just plays by them. Created a culture of can do attitude and aggressiveness.
Craig Corrance, Rick Simmons...how do these guys keep getting jobs?
ReplyDeleteCraig Corrance has sunk or sold every company he has touched. He has never made anything. Rick worked with Nuvasive and Trans1. both still kicking. That being said neither are CEO's?
ReplyDeleteLance Denardin is the single biggest tool and has serious work ethic issue, has zero clinical knowledge or salesmanship. I can't begin to tell you how many surgeons have said that they stopped usining or drastically reduced the amount of Medtronic they use due to Lance and his ignorance......the same fate will befall Lanx if they ask Lance to come off the golf course and go out in public.
ReplyDeleteCraig Corrance. Just look at the trail of destruction behind him.
ReplyDeleteMUSCULOSKELETAL MAN You never answered my question; What surprises or new products will we hear about before or during NASS next week?
ReplyDeleteEarl Fender. Just because he walked on the campus at Harvard, doesn’t qualify him as a leader or a good CEO. His past accomplishments do not exceed his failures as a leader. He talks the talk, but can’t walk the walk (typical sales). Depuy Spine is fortunate he's gone. The good leaders are the ones who don’t have a high turnover rate- even though they are the one who hired these employees in the first place. Sh%t falls down hill.
ReplyDeletedenardin is not a ceo. lets keep to the topic
ReplyDeleteSo far I haven't seen anything worth getting excited about. DS is dead in the water. There will be some new ISP devices, who cares? Different color, different company. There will be some new pedicle screws, some that haven't received their 510(k) approval. If anything TSB will be curious to see which biologic draws attention. As for SiN, right now its all show, and not that much dough, at least in spine. What do our readers think will be exciting?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 7;25 ditto that comment
ReplyDeleteBioDLogics
ReplyDeleteLifeSpine CEO! That is my vote for worse.
ReplyDeleteGotta be Craig.
ReplyDeleteCurious to hear comments about Kuyper at Alphatec...From: SpineSeller
ReplyDeleteMM, you need start a blog on this same topic, but with Regional Sales Managers (the most worthless job in our industry). These are the guys that can could screw up their own funeral! ...SpineSeller
ReplyDeleteHave to second the Lukianov vote. Had the vision to take a really, really rough diamond and assembled and ran the factory that polished it. Perfected the latest service models and they are where they are now. Kudos. (And if he can manage to make even more out of the company than it is now, he'll be a genius in my book.)
ReplyDeleteATEC's Kuyper and NuVa's Lukianov should top the list.
ReplyDeleteAgree with 8:38 Lukianov polishing that rough diamond.
With Kuyper; steady, forward thinking progress and worked from ground up; sales. Great moves recently in biologics.
Gotta agree with Alex of NuVa's-aggressive, personable, and dynamic
ReplyDeleteKurt Stephenson of Seaspine-low turnover, leader, and surrounds himself with some pretty good people.
SpineSeller,
ReplyDelete"Regional Sales Managers (the most worthless job in our industry). These are the guys that can could screw up their own funeral!"
Are you kidding me? Have you ever held this position? Corporate, distributors, surgeons, hospitals, travel, etc. They have to deal with all that and more.
I'm biased but that job was a lot harder then the one I have now (I'm up the food chain a little). Thank God I can sleep in my own bed most nights.
There are some bad Reg Mgr's out there but there are some good one's too.
Healos Suckas....Word!
ReplyDeleteBest CEO's look no further than southern cal,
ReplyDeleteNuvasive, Alphatec Spine, Sea Spine. Alex formalized the dream, Kuyper recently stock hits but still knows the overall game, and Kurt slides under the radar. All three have progressed and built sound infrastructures.
NuVasive's marketing direction was critical to their progressive success and Kuyper (ATEC) playing catchup and building wider bag. Kurt moved SS into larger ops, spending wisely and not jumping gun into going public.
Let's see what direction(s) all CEO's take in the termoil of health care reform.
Worst CEO's; will ponder that for while.
Worst CEO All Time? Ross Simmons
MSM: the suspense is killing us. when will thow ask us best/worst Regional Managers?
Worst CEO - Lifespine, suits look like they are props from the tin man in the wizard of oz. History of questionable inventory control practices on consignements, when you end relationship you get demmand letter from legal about inventory you never had. Then a follow up of calling local PD to raid your residence looking for stolen property?
ReplyDeleteGranted there are bad RSM's out there, but the undeniable fact is they don't make the rules. They can enforce them and risk being labeled a prick, or ignore them and risk getting canned. I would wager their average tenure is under 24 months. Scapegoats in many situations, paying for the incompetence of their CEO.
ReplyDeleteTSB, as Enrique Iglesias would say, “We’re going to party, karamu, fiesta, forever”, or was that Lionel Richie? Anywhoo, keep the transparency moving eh!
ReplyDeleteHow about David Paul? By numbers maybe among the best, by ethics (among) the worst.
ReplyDeleteIt was Lionel Richie, Enrique Iglesias isn't intelligent enough to write those lyrics.... All Night Long
ReplyDeleteNed Lipes was one of the best CEO's that I ever worked for. He led by example, Stryker truly did Ned a disservice by not naming him to succeed JB.... Unfortunately, he did not meet the mold. And everyone knows what that is... Image, Image, Image... Hopefully he is playing a lot of golf and laughing all the way to the bank.
ReplyDeleteNed Lipes was also the best CEO I ever worked for, when he was New Zealand Country Manager of Baxter Healthcare way back in the late 1980's. A genuinely good guy, great organiser and business strategist, and he had an incredibly fast grasp of complex scenarios outside of his technical knowledge or experience/training.
DeleteKuyper? Seriously? Come on!
ReplyDelete11:04 Have to agree on Ross Simmons. Was he actually British or did he fake the accent? Kinda like Tina Turner or Madonna.
ReplyDeleteDidn't work for him long but Ross Simmons was and is the worst. Hands down.
Best CEO, Mike Will, totally insane, anecdotal at best, never knew how to shut up, said the same thing over and over and over, came from the Leon Hersch school of business. How does this guy keep getting a job?
ReplyDeleteNed Lipes was a great leader, but once again stick to the topic, spine industry, not overall orthopaedics
ReplyDeleteNice job policing the blog, kudos to the blogger police
ReplyDeleteI worked for Andy Greenberg and absolutley love him!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely second the Greenberg support. But interestingly, making things happen in a small company for a new technology and running a large scale organization with a broader product line and customer base as CEO is an apples to oranges comparison. But hey, it's a blog, so why not make it.
ReplyDeleteDoes Andy still work at the insane asylum, oops I mean Disc Motion. Andy if you are still there run for the hills. Has Judd still come down from the magical mystery tour?
ReplyDeleteHey MM, here's a question. When did it become a good idea to ask a surgeon nobody has ever heard of come to your booth to endorse your product? Flipping through the ten million pre-NASS mailers and there are a lot of no-names on the speakers list. Back in the day (sorry to be old), if you had someone endorsing your product whose academic credentials didn't speak for themselves, folks wondered why that was the best you could do.
ReplyDeleteLukianov may have his flaws, but he has built more shareholder value than any other CEO in this industry - so by that measure he's the best.
ReplyDeleteAs for the worst, here is one more vote for Corrance. A triumph of style over substance.
Anyone know Corrance's Path of Destruction? Was Scient'x his first victim?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 3:04 You know what Jimmy Durante use to say; "Everybody what's to get into the act."
ReplyDeleteScient'x , Altiva, Wasn't he at one of the V Brothers ventures eventually banished, then Applied Spine? What's this guys story. O/4 looks like he won't be batting clean-up for anyone soon.
ReplyDeleteMike Butler, CEO Life Spine. If he isn't Crazy Eddie, I don't know who is. Loves to threaten people with litigation, a lawyers. Look at the executive management team attrition, actions speak louder than words. Guy loves himself.
ReplyDeleteSince Michael DeMane left Sofamor Danek hasn't had a quality executive leader. Bill Hawkins and his ilk are ruining the company Pickard built!
ReplyDeleteMike butler without a doubt. So paranoid it almost is unbelievable that anyone gave him money to build a company
ReplyDeleteI hate to demean the title CEO or President by connection to his name. Maybe better to refer to him as "He who started Bacterin".
ReplyDeleteGuy Cook. A legend in his own mind.
I have a serious question.
ReplyDeleteI consider Craig Corrance a friend of mine. He has never screwed me over in any business dealing.
I do realize his track record is suspect but I do know what transpired at each of his companies and alot of it was out of his hands.
My question-can some of you be specific on what he has done to you (without giving away your identity) to deserve this abuse. I realize this is a blog but the man is getting hammered by the mob.
In fairness, it would not take much work to figure out who was responding with regard to the Corrance question. The question to me is, "Is it the success of the company that determines their value or their treatment of those that work for them ? Ethics or lack thereof at the top have toppled many an ethical manager.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for Anonymous 7:23
ReplyDeleteHave any of the commentators ever stated anything regarding Mssr. Corrance's personal qualities? There is a distinction between being nice and being competent. You are entitled to your opinion, but the record does speak for itself. To state that his track record is suspect, may be an understatement. If you want to lead, regardless of what is, or isn't in your control, you must be held accountable. That's part of the deal. One failure, most people understand, two failures, people will give you the benefit of the doubt, yet, to continue to place yourself in a position of failure says something about one's disposition. You can't place the blame on extenuating circumstance each and every time. Leading a corporation is much more intricate than being nice, especially if you run a start-up or early-growth stage. If you analyze the comments, many of the CEO's that have received kudos are individuals at larger companies. It seems that more of the criticisms are levied against those in start-up or early growth stage organizations. Maybe, that's why people love to use Einstein's definition of insanity. Investors, Board of Directors and Inventors fail to perform the proper due diligence necessary to identify good and knowledgeable leaders. There is something to be said about knowledge. So in closing, thanks for your opinion and keep reading, and remember it's a blog for whatever its worth.
I don't work for them, but it seems like Eric Major has done a great job with K2M. Your thoughts?
ReplyDelete9:43, Touch him and you turn into gold.
ReplyDeleteWhat could some of the CEO's that are considered to be the worst, have done better? Is there anything that could be learned from our readers? Why is it that some succeed, while others fail? Is it a lack of experience bringing a product to the market? Is it the inability to identify a guiding coalition with experience in execution, and not your friends? Is it a lack of leadership? Is it a lack of management? We live in interesting times. Money is equated with intelligence. Yet, Is this really a viable metric? There is a difference between making money, leading a company, and executing. A leader is supposed to be confident enough to surround himself with people that are smarter. Remember the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. So what is it about these individuals that makes them fail? Who knows maybe they can learn something about themselves at the expense of our bloggers. Keep the feedback coming, maybe the investment community will learn something about itself, you never know, they may leave their arrogance at the door.
ReplyDeleteHow about the President at Zimmer Spine? He's done an amazing job.
ReplyDeleteZimmer Spine is a sinking ship...
ReplyDeleteHow has Doris Blake not made the worst list yet?
ReplyDeleteA second for Doris. Ran US spine into the ground. Forced to sell to Amedica for pennies.
ReplyDeleteJan Rinnert/Dr Andre Kobelt - ever heard of them? - CEO/CFO`s of the medical division of a company serious about entering spine shortly, and bigger in turnover than Medtronic. These small NASDAQ companies, are in the limelight due to investors wanting to make a quick buck on a buy-out, the private companies remain stable, just ticking away. So how do you measure results? Share price growth or EBIT? I`ll take the latter, its eliminates the hype.
ReplyDeletebest: recupero
ReplyDeleteworst: gary grenter. that guy blows.
Middle management is an awful position. RMs are catching shit coming and going. They are held accountable for what their SCs do and have little or no control over it. They are reamed by their SCs for not helping them enough when it is the VPs that decide where support goes. RM= worst job ever.
ReplyDeletePaul Sendro's stunt at Vertebron was proof enough why he should never be trusted to run a damn thing again.
ReplyDeleteCan't blame Bill Hawkins since he does everything possible to avoid Spine and will soon be shown the door. So you have to look to the "leaders" of the Sofamor Danek division. Many come and go but Doug King keeps bobbing to the top like a turd that can't be flushed.
ReplyDeleteI can be tough on Sendro but he was a window mannequin, but Khalili, Afifi and Natarajan? They brought him in for window dressing, i.e. new President and CEO, new Regional Managers etc....... so it looked like there was a functional infrastructure. The founders never trusted each other, each one back stabbed one another, no one was truthtful, and most of all the initial owners were all greedy. How can you sell a company? Funny that they were sold in a bankruptcy auction for pennies, when they were offered dollars. Go figure, old news is old news. Hopefully, we all learn something from others mistakes.
ReplyDeleteLet's end the discussion of who the worst CEO is right here.
ReplyDeleteMSD's
Doug King
He has single handedly brought the spinal division to it's knees.
Is that a Freudian slip under “Management Team” (haa)?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.corespinetech.com/company.html
Corrance started at Corin USA. He is, was and always will be slippery.
ReplyDeleteAlex Lukianov earns my vote for #1. He walks the walk and talks the talk. The culture of his company is real and they live it. He believes in his company, has experience in the trenches, listens, provides solutions, and exudes a winning spirit. Good on you, Alex!
ReplyDeleteAll good points and very true! If you can't keep good incentivized RM's your F#####. Cheap CEO's will fail. Watch the smoke and mirrors.
ReplyDeleteHow DOES a guy like Butler at Life Spine survive in this space? Of all the companies out there, he is by far the most unethical, tyrannical, and biggest liar in the industry. When he first opened shop in '05, he said he would never take MD money, then got in bed with arguably one of the most unethical surgeons in IL who thrived on doing 3-4 level cervical fusions on primary workman comp patients--until they figured it out. Today, my guess is 85-90% of their revenue is POD driven. I only wish some whistleblower would take them down hard. I know as fact that he routinely steals reps from distributors so that he can pay them less and then will use his corporately retained counsel to out-spend the distributor while litigating. I've been in this industry for a long time, and have worked for the best, (SDG back in the day under Pickard) the mediocre, and those who simply didn't know what they didn't know. However, based on personal experience with Butler, consider him the lowest of the lowest as a CEO. It is a character thing and he has none.
ReplyDelete