Lessons in Medical Device Sales from a 30-Year Veteran with John Lynch
Have you ever wondered what drives professionals in the medical device industry?
Join us on this week's episode of The Girls of Grit as we dive deep into the world of medical devices with industry veteran, John Lynch. In this conversation, John shares his journey from the early days of his career to becoming a respected leader in the field. They explore the profound impact of medical technologies on patients' lives and the relentless passion driving professionals in this dynamic industry.
John reflects on the challenges and rewards of working in medical device sales, emphasizing resilience, professionalism, and the pivotal role of mentorship. He paints a vivid picture of the industry's evolution, from groundbreaking innovations to personal stories of transformation through life-saving technologies.
This episode is a testament to the power of passion, perseverance, and purpose in driving meaningful change within healthcare.
Tune in to hear firsthand insights from John Lynch on what makes the medical device industry not just a career choice, but a calling.
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Importance of People: John Lynch stresses the crucial role of individuals—from engineers designing devices to healthcare professionals implementing them. He underscores how their dedication to improving patient outcomes is central to success in the medical device industry.
Impact of Medical Technologies: John discusses how medical devices are not just tools but life-changing innovations that impact patients on a profound level.
Resilience in Sales: He highlights the importance of resilience in sales, where setbacks are part of the journey but do not define one's success.
The Role of Mentorship: John emphasizes how mentorship has played a crucial role in his career, providing guidance and perspective during challenging times.
Leadership Philosophy: His leadership philosophy centers on authenticity and servant leadership, creating environments where teams feel valued and empowered.
Personal Stories of Impact: John shares touching stories of meeting patients whose lives were transformed by medical devices, illustrating the human side of healthcare innovation.
Character and Integrity: John Lynch underscores the importance of character and integrity in the medical device industry, emphasizing ethical practices and the trustworthiness required when dealing with patients' health and well-being.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“I've always been a believer that people are the most important asset that a company has.” — John Lynch
“Tough times don't last forever, tough people do. Just stay persistent, stay professional, and stay passionate about it.” — John Lynch
“I think if you can touch one person's life in the career that you make, whether it's directly or just working for a company or supporting a case that makes an impact on someone's life. I just think that is just so profound.” — John Lynch
“It's just really valuable to have someone that you can lean on, you can trust in and will give you the unvarnished truth — feedback that was pretty hard, but true.” — John Lynch
“Being genuine, being authentic, being fair and open-minded are all important things.” — John Lynch
“I think at the end of it, what you're trying to create is a culture and an environment where people feel valued and people feel respected.” — John Lynch
“I think for young women today, the medical device industry is a great place for a career.” — John Lynch
“Nobody said it was easy, but we continued down that road.” — Anneliese Rhodes
“We are there for the women and we want them to understand that now's the time. There's no better time to get into medical devices than right now.” — Anneliese Rhodes
“We've also really tried to remind people to always be themselves and be authentically them.” — Cynthia Ficara
“Those little steps are what become those big steps. It's all a journey and it's pretty amazing.” — Cynthia Ficara
Mentioned on the Show:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Trust and Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others
About John Lynch:
John Lynch has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare and medical device industries. Beginning his career with Siemens Medical Systems and later transitioning to Johnson & Johnson, he specialized in sales, finding his passion in this field. In the mid-1990s, John ventured into software sales with major firms like Oracle and PeopleSoft during the internet boom.
In 2004, John returned to healthcare in Sarasota, Florida, joining Datascope to sell capital equipment. He later moved into medical devices, spending nearly a decade with Medtronic before transitioning to Zimmer Biomet in orthopedics. Currently with Abbott focusing on cardiovascular technologies, John's career spans various sales roles across pharmaceuticals, capital equipment, and software, with experience in managing teams and handling corporate and enterprise accounts.
John values relationships and emphasizes the importance of people in his career, cherishing enduring friendships and professional connections from his early days at Siemens and Johnson & Johnson that continue to thrive today.
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A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
John's Journey in Healthcare and Medical Devices
Anneliese Rhodes: Good evening, everyone, and thanks for tuning in to another episode of Secrets and Medical Devices. We are so happy you are here tonight with us, and we have a special guest with us, don't we, Cindy?
Cynthia Ficara: Yes, we do. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for listening. I am very excited to have our guest with us this evening, and I'm going to let Lisa give the introductions.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. So John Lynch and I have known each other for 15, 16 years, something like that, and John Lynch is a very special person to me because not only is he a mentor of mine, but he came into my life at a place where I was working in a company and was looking to take the next leap to get into a specialty selling devices that I wanted to do.
And I was told by several folks that maybe it wasn't a good fit for me. I wasn't quite ready for my career to take that leap, but I knew inside that I could do this job. And John took the gamble on me and told me, I remember when you sat down with me, John, and said, Lisa, I believe in you. You can do this and you're going to get this position and I'm going to be right there behind you to support you.
So, that obviously took me to places that I never believed that I could go. And I have you to thank for that, John. So thank you so much for joining us tonight, and I can't wait to hear all about what you're going to tell us.
John Lynch: Yeah, well, first of all, thank you both Lisa and Cindy. It's a great honor to be here.
I am excited to spend some time with you and just share anything about my experiences that, hopefully, some of the listeners would find valuable. But, it's great. I love the program, I love what y'all are doing.
Anneliese Rhodes: Thank you. John. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your background first? Kind of your story and then we'll dive into some of these questions that I know our listeners are dying to ask.
John Lynch: Sure. So, I will give you the reader's digest version because I've been at it a lot longer than you two young ladies, but I have been in healthcare for probably 30-plus years.
All told I started my career way back, coming out of college for Siemens Medical Systems. This is when I lived up in New Jersey, and then, after about 3 years, moved over to Johnson Johnson. And along that, early, I guess, path, one of the things that I was able to be exposed to a lot of different disciplines within an organization, and one that I found really interesting and just really like a great fit was the sales area.
And so that's really what led me to leave Siemens to go to Johnson Johnson to pursue a sales position. That's where I started my sales career and had a wonderful ride with those two companies. Interestingly, I decided to leave in the mid-nineties to pursue a software sales profession in the high-tech world and did that for about 10 years.
I worked for some big software companies, Oracle and PeopleSoft. I worked for a few startups. It was a dynamic time to be in that industry was the late 90s, and early 2000s. So this thing called the internet was just emerging, and so a wild experience, great experience. But decided in early 2004 to come back into health care and at the same time, my family and I made a decision to move down to Florida.
And so we left New Jersey and settled in Sarasota, Florida, and started a career back in the healthcare industry. With Datascope selling capital equipment, and then from there, took the leap into the med device, went to Medtronic for the better part of 9, 10 made a switch about 5, 6 years ago, and did a stint in orthopedics with Zimmer Biomet, and then about 3 years ago, came back to the cardiovascular world with Abbott, where I'm at today.
So I would tell you what a wonderful journey it's been. I've had the honor of working for some great companies. I've had successes and just a great diverse background of selling, pharmaceuticals, capital equipment, software, you name it, I've carried the bag of managed people.
I've done corporate sales, national accounts, and enterprise accounts. So a diverse background, but I would tell you the thing that sticks to me most is the people that I've met along that journey. And, I've been blessed. Cannot tell you the quality of people, the number of people that I've met and had the good fortune of working with over those years is just something that I always cherish.
The enduring friendships that I have with people that I have known since Siemens and J and J are still thriving today. So it's been a great ride. I've been very blessed, very fortunate.
Navigating Sales, Software, and Healthcare Transitions
Cynthia Ficara: All those different companies and you said that you had gone into sales and that you love people and I can see how that intertwines.
So I want to just kind of ask a little bit about focusing on the sales aspect. So, something that struck me as very interesting in your background was how you were in health care and then you took a 10-year hiatus in looking at data. What did you just say it was again? It was high-tech software.
John Lynch: Yeah, that's okay.
Cynthia Ficara: And then back into medical devices or the healthcare whole arena, what did you find different between those 2 industries when it came to people? Like, if you're interviewing candidates, what's different, what's separate? Because I thought that was very interesting.
John Lynch: Yeah, great question, Cindy. So I will tell you a few things. I think the type of sale in software was much different. It was much more a solution sale because if you think about software, it's that black box that you can't touch, feel, or see and so the selling process was completely different. I think a lot longer, a lot more complex.
So I can't necessarily say in terms of people, there was a big difference, but certainly, the environment selling was much different. The people were probably a little bit more tech-focused and some of them came from software backgrounds, software engineering, and people who wrote code that was technical and had great technical skills.
But I met a lot of talented people that I learned from a lot during those years and again, I think what it taught me that kind of took with me that the future was just the ability to look at a sales process a little bit more holistically, thinking about some other things that I might not have been aware of had I not had that experience, other stakeholders that, I probably wouldn't have thought about if I wasn't exposed to that kind of complex sale. So, that was probably the biggest difference, but wonderful people, I can't say anything one way or the other. I think just a little bit different focus in terms of the types of people that I've dealt with and met within healthcare,
Anneliese Rhodes: You know, what that reminds me of is AI. Software, like you just said, is the big black box, right? Like you can't touch it, you can't feel it. You know, it's going to work, but you're not a hundred percent sure how it works. I feel like that's just like AI and here we are in 2024 and AI is making a push in the med-tech space.
And I think John, man, you might have your next calling because I mean, if you already understand the verbiage, right? And you could dialogue with those folks. I mean, that's amazing and I think that there are so many opportunities in the medical device arena, and AI for sure is making a big push now.
John Lynch: It's amazing Lisa and Cindy, I think where AI is today. And then if you think about 5, 10 years from now, what it's going to impact and what it's going to look like, it's surreal. It's kind of like the Jetsons, right? There's a lot of great promise with AI and it'll be exciting to see all the different applications across all the different areas of healthcare. I think it's just got a lot of universal appeal and universal usage.
Anneliese Rhodes: So switching gears, you mentioned, and I know you were my manager and I know you as a person and I know how you manage, which is a wonderful way to manage, but I'd love for you to tell our listeners when you're looking for a candidate and you're looking to hire someone, or in my situation, I was already hired, but you moved me to a much higher level position.
What are you looking for in those candidates? What are some of those qualities that stand out, or what are the things that matter most to you that will not only be a team player but will drive sales for the company? At the end of the day, that's what we're looking for.
Essential Qualities for Sales Candidates
John Lynch: Yeah, great question. I think the first thing I would say is that I’ve always been a believer that people are the most important asset that a company has. I think I've worked and been exposed to a lot of situations, and a lot of companies, that have had great products and I've also worked with a lot of great people.
And if you asked me which one I would choose, I would choose people. And I've seen it, you know, time and time again, where if you have an A team of people, even with a B product, you're going to win. So, first and foremost, people are to me the most important thing, whether it's as a manager, just as a coworker.
The things that I look for, Lisa, character is important. It's just, again, the way I live my life. I think those types of things, both personally and professionally, have good character, people that are true to their word, professional people that know how to handle themselves, and people that follow through all those things.
When you think about character, it's kind of this, all-encompassing, but I think character is probably one of the biggest things for me.
I always like to understand the personal side of somebody like what are they doing professionally? Why did they choose that personally, what they're doing with their lives, whether it's with families or just interest and hobby? So, understanding what that person is about, what motivates them, what their passion is.
I think those are some key things. Having a work ethic, it's something that I think everyone just kind of takes for granted, like, you know you check the box, everyone works hard. And I think a lot of people do, but there are differences out there and there are people that will go above and beyond when needed. I think those are important.
I think being able to be a part of a team, especially today is our world is going to continue to change and you're going to have to be able to deal with a diversity of people, diversity of thought. I think having people who can thrive in a team environment, again, is the role that you're looking for in sales to me, as much as it's about the individual and your quota, it's also about the team.
I think having people who can do well and bring out the best in themselves, but also bring out the best in the team, I think are important things. These are probably some of the top things.
Cynthia Ficara: I love it. The character was one thing as we've had many discussions over this past year about what makes people stand out and character being number one, and that's something that we've also really tried to remind people to always be themselves and be authentically them. So, this brings me to my question. The 2nd thing you mentioned was work ethic, so, let's say you're interviewing a candidate and somebody, I think worth that work ethic kind of comes up in conversations or whether they're asked and somebody may say they have a good work ethic, but I'm going to ask you, how do you not knowing a person? How are you able to see that? Or can you give us an example of a way? Somebody can describe the work ethic that truly defines it?
A definition where maybe all of us agree on what work ethic is, and somebody out there may see it differently.
Defining Work Ethics in Medical Device Sales
John Lynch: That is a great question, Cindy. And it's always one of the challenges when you're interviewing people to know what the truth is. Right? And think, just asking people like to get into a lot of them, tell me about your success, how did that come about? What did you do, and whether it's a specific deal that they closed or had a one year and they achieved or exceeded the plan? I kind of drill into some of those things about how did that happen? I talk about failures and want to know about their failures.
And then, how did they grow from that? What they learned from that, specific to work ethic, just always ask, what does a typical day look like? What does a typical week look like? Maybe give them a situation where, it's Friday night, 4:30 and you get a call from your colleague that's 3 towns away that needs product for a case on Monday. How you handle it and again, there's no perfect silver bullet that you can always get to the core of that. But I think just asking and learning more about the individual and kind of like I said, some of their things, what drives them, what makes them, how they dealt with adversity, sometimes that can help you get a good sense of the work ethic.
Anneliese Rhodes: Those are great, that's a great point. And what I'm thinking about as you're talking is medical devices are such a specific and unique industry. I mean, it's so different than even probably software or working at, and I always say this Lululemon or you know, one of these other places, it's just so specific.
And I think one of those things is it's an individual job. I mean, yes, we talk about teams and working on a team, but you are in charge of your schedule, your hours to a certain degree, along with cases. But, I think one of the big things that reps sometimes struggle with is how to manage their territory and how to understand these problems that they have, these hurdles that they hit.
And I just can't seem to get it. What advice would you give to reps out there when they just have those days or weeks where they're just like, nothing is clicking, John, I cannot get Dr. so and so to buy this product? I can't hit my number, this is bad. You know, and then they go down the train of, I don't think I can do this job anymore.
Maybe I should look for a different job. I mean, I'm sure you've had those situations arise. How do you handle that as a manager, but also as a leader and a mentor? What would you tell those folks out there?
Learning to Embrace Rejection
John Lynch: So a couple of things, number one, think anybody that comes into a sales profession has to understand that a big part of this job is dealing with rejection.
Dealing with no, I mean, I don't care what you're selling. You're going to probably run into it, I don't know what the right statistic is. I can remember when I was trying to get my first sales job, I interviewed probably with 30 different companies and even some divisions within Johnson and Johnson, and it was just no, you don't have sales experience.
Okay, well, how do you get sales experience? Right? So I'm a firm believer that people who want to pursue sales, need to be level set then have a realistic kind of view as far as what it is and its rejection and how you deal with that rejection, how you overcome that, and figure out a way.
That's the 1st thing I think as it relates to medical devices. I tell people all the time, especially if they're new coming in, it's a lifestyle and it's kind of one of those things that, we're all out there trying to find the right balance between work and your personal life and it's hard, but the demands, for a medical device sales professional and sales team, it's very demanding.
And it's one of those things that unfortunately you don't get to turn on and off. It's there 24/7. And again, try and emphasize to people going in that, if you want to have nice, normal, predictable Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 or whatever, this isn't the place for you. It's just not.
And that's okay, it's not for everybody in terms of the repeated rejection and how to get through this. There are a few things that I've learned over my life, and my career that think the persistence and the professional persistence and, just being able, because, look, there's a lot of times that people will put up roadblocks just to see how you react, to see much passion you have, how much belief you have in yourself and your product. It's almost a test, right? And, some tests take you through a full semester or full year of those rejections to finally get through.
But I think professional persistence and maintaining touch with that individual looking for creative ways that if you haven't been able to get through, maybe you try a direct route or indirect route or somebody that they know, or one of their colleagues or mentors that you can tap into, for other people.
One of the great things about working for companies like Abbott Medtronic and we've got so many resources across our organizations that if I'm having a difficult time getting in to meet a doctor, but yet someone in another division has a great relationship. Well, I'm going to try and attack that avenue.
So I always tell people, like keep going, right? Tough times don't last forever, tough people do, just stay persistent, stay professional, stay passionate about it, look for any little thing that you can, kind of wedge yourself into, whether it's a different relationship or a different angle, it's just a lot of persistence and resilience.
Cynthia Ficara: I was just going to say, the girls are great when it comes to persistence. We're all for it, but you said it, the three P's which are persistent, professional, and passionate. I mean, that's it, and clearly, did say you pretty much had like, your 30 applications or 30 interviews before you got your first job. So it's something ingrained in you as well.
John Lynch: True story, and again, everyone's got their engine or motivator or whatever drives them. I'm a sports guy, I've played sports my whole life. I love competition and I probably learned more about myself. From the failures that I've had, and then the successes that I've had.
And I think that's always what drives me is like, you know, if I have a great year, and exceed quota and I've won president's clubs and the ones that always stick to me are the ones that I lost are the ones that I'm like, what could I have done better? And so I think if you have that mentality that you're just going to keep driving through and find a way, good things happen to people that stay with it. I'm a firm believer in that.
Cynthia Ficara: And I love our listeners to hear that because what you just said is so much of what we live where there's a failure and you're like, Oh, what could I have done better?
And then, like you just said, good things come, but you know, if you just want to reiterate to the listeners, you don't have to give a specific example but I think it's so important. You just really said something that needs to be repeated. And that is, you're going to fail, you're going to fall forward.
It's all part of a process, but just that, if you stick with it, of those failures, even after winning president's club, was there one that you were then able to tackle that you didn't at first?
Medical Devices Sales is not an Easy Path
John Lynch: Yeah, a number of them. Let me try and figure it out because there has certainly been. I've had my share, I can go back to the software, because again, coming into software, I was so, guess, naive to the process. I just felt like, hey, I'm going to show up and I'm going to figure out what this customer wants and I'm going to be able to get through it and get this deal done. I learned quickly.
I was very humbled about how much I didn't know and going through some tough sales cycles that seemed to drag on forever, seemed to go nowhere, and just, ultimately didn't get me where I wanted to go. You kind of take a step back and I was lucky to have a lot of people around me that, you know, we're mentors to people that had software experience and kind of opened my eyes to what the sales process was.
So for me, it was a great learning experience, just because you think you're all that in a bag of chips, you're not and you have to take each step. There are no shortcuts, so again, I went from, probably struggling the first 6 months to 9 months, which I had never done in my sales career.
I had always had success and had already won a couple of presidents' clubs at that point. So it hurt my ego, it was a really painful lesson. But when I look back on it, Cindy, I'm so glad that I went through it because it made me better. It made me more resilient, it made me think about things that I had never thought about before in ways that I had never really even imagined.
And so I give that example as just one in my career that could have sat and pouted in the corner and licked my wounds, but I think if you're willing to accept and then look for ways that you can improve and grow and develop, you can take those difficult, challenging situations and turn them into, again, things that will positively stay with you for the rest of your career.
Anneliese Rhodes: That's a great way to say it. I mean, I can't think of a better example than medical devices being humbling, or for that matter, sales in general, because you're right, John. When you think you've got it all, man, you, get brought back down again. It's like that little reminder of guess what? You're still just human.
It is true, and I think that's resilience, professionalism, persistence, and passion for what you do. And I think it comes through in you because you can see it, and at the end of the day, I think we are all here just because of the products and the patients, obviously, but the people as well, and the experiences, the life experiences that it teaches us and, Cindy and I get a lot of questions of why do you do medical devices?
Why are medical devices so awesome? Why does everybody want to jump into it? And it's multifaceted and it changes, I think for everyone, you know, depending on your goals, but you can look at any one of those facets and it all checks the boxes on every single one of those.
And I think at the end of the day, that's why we continue to do what we do. Nobody said it was easy, but we continued down that road.
Impact and Innovation in Healthcare
John Lynch: I'll give you my own two cents on it because again, I've been blessed. I've had a great career, I've worked for great organizations like I've told you, with great people, on the way.
The thing that I always come back to with healthcare and specifically medical devices is that you can call it my why, you can call it my passion, but still in awe, first off, that there are people that are brilliant enough to design these devices. And then thankfully, some talented physicians know how to get them and implant them in the body and make a difference in people's lives.
And I know that sounds corny and all that stuff, but I will tell you, some of the most rewarding moments of my medical device career will be meeting people, sometimes total strangers that come up to you and say, oh, my gosh, you work for Medtronic or you work for Abbott, so and so has advice or so and so did this.
And I mean, that to me is as it can get in terms of representing a company and representing products that have an impact on people's lives that change. Never forget one of the first was interviewing with Medtronic and I happen to be up there towards the holidays and they have this tradition that they bring in patients to talk to the entire company. And so I happened to be walking through the cafeteria and was listening to this and it's just, it was so moving and so incredibly inspiring. And so that's always in my mind and kind of in my heart, what drives me and what, again, I think MedDevice is at its core all about.
Cynthia Ficara: I love that you said that because I even feel your passion for that when you talk about impacting patients and something that we know every day, there's a patient at the end of the table that we are ultimately trying to help, and yes, it's hard. There's a lot of noses, there's a lot of rejection, there's a lot of frustration, and then like you just said, nothing good comes easy, but when you get that something good and that impact that you make, it's just such a tremendous feeling that I think you just really kind of uncovered a little secret of medical device that it's a feeling that those of us who get to experience it are more privileged than anything else, hard work or not, it's a true privilege to be part of something like that.
John Lynch: I think if you can touch one person's life in the career that you make, whether it's directly or just working for a company or supporting a case that makes an impact on someone's life. I just think that is just so profound. And so many people will never get to experience that.
So I think we're blessed and very fortunate to work in this. The other part about the med device that just, again, I'm in awe of, is just the advance of technologies. We used a TABR device before and TAVR, it was an open procedure and long, post-op recoveries. Now it's done, in an hour, it's just incredible to see Lisa, the AAA stents before they came into the market.
So the innovation and the minds and the brainpower that bring these things to market are incredible.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, it is. I sometimes forget that when you're in the heat of battle and you're struggling with something or you can't seem to get over this hurdle. You forget why you started at the beginning of all this and you just brought it home, John, and you reminded me of, I remember those days with Medtronic 2 and Earl Bakken. I mean, it was like, it was such a big deal to have those patient days.
When you hear their stories or somebody stops you in the hallway they see your Medtronic sign or Tarumo or whoever you're working for J and J, and they have a product of yours, either in them or their child, for example, Medtronic and diabetes, and the mini med when you're stopped in the hallway and somebody asks you, even if you can't answer them completely, what a feeling of like worth that you get just by working for those companies.
And that, I forget about that a lot, but that's such an intangible thing that you can't just explain that to somebody, but you just did a great job of it.
John Lynch: Thanks.
Anneliese Rhodes: So one of the other things that we wanted to ask you is, and you mentioned it briefly, but I think it's really important, is mentorship.
And like I said at the beginning of this call, you are one of my mentors and I called you recently for some advice. I think it's Cindy and I talk a lot about mentorship and how important it is, especially in the medical device arena to have those mentors. So we'd love to hear your thoughts on mentorship, what you think is important, and who maybe some of your mentors are.
Building Relationships and Growth through Mentorship
John Lynch: Yeah, again, feel blessed to have had some great mentors that I'm still very close with to this day throughout my career, Lisa and Cindy, just great people. They've become great friends, but they were there to kind of give me perspective, guidance, encouragement, and direction when I needed it, sometimes just, that I couldn't see.
Things that they could objectively do. So I'm a big believer in mentorship. I think it's so important, with my children and a lot of the young friends that I've gotten to meet through them or just our family friends. I love mentoring young people and helping a few of them right now. And it's just a rewarding thing for me to kind of share my experiences and hopefully give them some guidance that my two mentors gave me.
I think in medical devices, I think in any industry and profession, it's just really valuable to have someone that you can lean on, you can trust, and will give you just unvarnished truth. Sometimes the feedback that they gave me was pretty hard but true.
And so you need that as well. But yeah, huge believer in mentorship.
Cynthia Ficara: That is something that I think some of us are struggling with out there. It's a moment to just pause and seek mentorship, they may have mentors that they don't even realize they can go to and ask for help and have questions, but they lead the path and I'm very glad that you're one of Lisa's mentors.
I think that's phenomenal, and to have the mentorship, the sales experience that you have, and then to kind of roll into leadership. So I did want to just take a few minutes to ask your direction on when to wrap it all in one, I've enjoyed listening to you talk about people and you're inspiring and competition and your sales process.
So when all of this comes together for medical devices, and you are in a leadership role, what does that look like for you? And I think most importantly, like, would you describe leading a winning team?
Authenticity, Servant Mentality, and Creating Positive Energy
John Lynch: It’s a great topic to discuss. There are so many different angles to it. So many different experiences that we've all had with leaders. I think for me, I've had the fortune of working for some great leaders. I've also worked for some people who were not good leaders and tried to learn from both sides, good and bad.
And you know, I think some of the things that I think about when either myself or when I look at strong leaders, I think, just being genuine, being authentic, being fair and open-minded, I think are all important things, kind of the servant mentality. I have a team of seven that I work with today and I'm blessed to have them.
They're fantastic. My thought every day is getting up. What can I do to help them take care of patients? And whether that's removing a roadblock or getting them a resource or whatever it is. So I think, the servant mentality, I think, positive energy and passion, especially when things aren't going well, right? I mean, everybody can be a great guy and gregarious and laugh when things are going well, but when things are going tough, that's when you learn a lot about people. And I think having that ability to keep people inspired, keep people positive and moving forward as opposed to just getting dragged down into the negativity that we all can fall into. I think those are important things.
You know, it's just accountability, setting expectations, being fair, and communicating. I think there are so many things that go into it. I think at the end of it, what you're trying to create is a culture and an environment where people feel valued, people feel respected.
They feel good about what they're doing day in, and day out. And if I'm doing that daily then, I'm doing okay because that leads itself you do that well, and it takes care of all the other issues and all the other problems and challenges.
Anneliese Rhodes: And that my friend is a manager you want to work for. I'm in. Seriously, John, you, spoke from the heart and you can tell it and hear it and feel it. That's not only a person you want to work with, but you want to work for as well. And you just nailed it right on the head. So thank you for that. I greatly appreciate that.
John Lynch: Absolutely. I've been very lucky to be a part of a lot of good teams and good people. And, it's been fun, and we celebrate the wins. Too many people were always looking for, especially as a sales professional, you're always looking about the next month's quota and all, and that's important, but I think also taking time to celebrate and enjoy, kind of smell the roses, that's important too.
Cynthia Ficara: Those little steps are what become those big steps. It's all the journey, it's pretty amazing. One thing Lisa and I always love to ask about is any type of great book that is your favorite book or a book that you've read recently, whether it's leadership, mentorship, sales, or just anything you would recommend.
John’s Book Recommendations and Empowering Women in Medical Device Sales
John Lynch: So I guess from books, and I am not in full transparency, not the best reader. I'd love to read, but I just never seem to stay disciplined enough to do it on a routine basis. But I'm a big believer in Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. I've read that probably 25 years ago.
And I still look at it from time to time just to kind of remember and remind myself of some of the principles that he lays out because they just, for me, made a lot of sense and it just helped me, again, think through who I was as a person, who I was as a professional.
He's got another book, I think it's Trust and Inspire. So I'm a big Stephen Covey guy. One of my managers at Medtronic gave us this book. It's called The Precious Present and it's Spencer Johnson, it's a short read. It's a great book from one standpoint and it's to stay present and how often the wheels are always turning and I'm always thinking about what else I have to be doing or could be doing and having that ability to stay in the present, I think it's such an awesome skill if you can do it and master it because I think it's so important, whether it's your personal life, whether it's your professional life. So that book, for whatever reason, just always stuck to me because it helped me kind of, again, maybe slow down and take a deep breath and engage in what I was doing or who I was with at that particular point in time.
So those are a couple of things. I will tell you a great movie that I just saw recently is The Boys in the Boat.
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh, I read that book, I love that book and that movie, but I haven't read the book.
John Lynch: The movie was off the charts, I love that. So those are, I guess some of them, I love it. As said, I have plenty of books that my kids and people have bought me over the years.
I probably started reading and got partially the way through but one of these days I'll find time and find the focus again to start looking at them.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love it, I'm going to have to pick up that precious present because that's something I struggle with staying within the present time, always thinking about the next thing.
John Lynch: It's a hard thing to do, especially in the busy lives and busy worlds that we operate.
Anneliese Rhodes: John, this has been awesome and lightning. I love your humility and your authenticity. It resonates with everything that you've said tonight. I cannot wait for this episode to air because I think some of the things that you said are good important reminders for everyone out there. I do.
John Lynch: Awesome. Well, I appreciate the opportunity to spend time with you and just share some of my wonderful experiences. I've been extremely blessed first, professionally, as well as personally, I've got a wonderful family and a lot of friends and just great experiences, and great moments, and been a great ride.
Cynthia Ficara: Well, I loved getting the opportunity to meet with you as well, and you certainly sound like it and sound like with all your passion, still got a lot more in you. So I think the people that you work with will be very pleased to still work with you. I think that sounds great and I can't thank you enough for coming to speak with us and truly sharing your passion.
John Lynch: Stay well, can't wait to see all the wonderful things. The girls have written one last thing and I did want to key in on, I think, Rob Williamson talked about it in his podcast with you recently and I am a firm believer in this.
I think for young women today, the medical device industry is a great place for a career. And I can look at that reflecting 30 plus years, in my experience, and just seeing the evolution and positive evolution of women and becoming leaders and being more embraced in this industry.
I think it's wonderful, and I think I talked to a lot of these young ladies today about this industry. I just think it's a great place today and for the future for young ladies. So, I would highly encourage all of your listeners who are thinking about it or in it, it's a great environment. I think it's just going to continue to get better for women, which is an awesome thing.
Anneliese Rhodes: John, thank you so much for saying that. I think that is so important. It's a great reminder and I mean, our listeners are both men and women, but man, we are there for the women and we want them to understand that now's the time. There's no better time to get into medical devices than right now.
John Lynch: Yeah, it's a great opportunity. I think the landscape and the embracing women and their just all the talent and I go on and on but it's wonderful to see, over my years. And I just can't wait to see what the future holds.
