THE FIRST HELLO. THE LAST GOODBYE.
Written By Larry Stevens
Back in the 1990s, when Med One was born, there was a popular song performed by an artist named Roger Whittaker. Some of the poetic phrases in this song include:
They say, when you gain a lover, you begin to lose a friend, That the end of the beginning’s the beginning of the end. They say the moment that you’re born is when you start to die And the first time that we said hello began our last goodbye. We know that summer’s coming means that winter’s waiting there, And gold would not be precious if we all had gold to spare. You only know how low is low the first time that you fly And the first time that we said hello began our last goodbye. If I could live forever, it is certain I could never know another single second so sublime. That moment of our meeting when our hands first touched in greeting how I wanted to hold back the hands of time. When they begin the overture, they start to end the show, When you said, I’ll never leave you then I knew that you would go. The sound of all our laughter is now echoed in a sigh And the first time that we said hello began our last goodbye.
I still have a beautiful wife, but now I’ve happily been married to her for 55 years, and she doesn’t seem to ever get any older. It is almost incomprehensible to me how much can happen virtually in the blink of an eye between the first hello and the last goodbye.
Back then, at its beginning, Med One had a total of 4 employees. Brent Allen had all of his hair, his good looks, and a file drawer of funny stories. We operated out of a small, rented office space. The extent of our technology consisted of a land line telephone, a fax machine, an electronic spreadsheet program called Lotus, and the Word Perfect word processing program. That was how we sent proposals out. Microsoft Windows was just starting to emerge as the next big thing.
“WHEN WE FIRST SAID “HELLO” TO MED ONE ALMOST 35 YEARS AGO, THERE WAS NEVER ANY RECOGNITION OR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT THAT AT SOME POINT, IT WOULD COME TIME TO SAY GOODBYE.”
Today, in another blink of an eye, there are only 2 of the original employees left (Brent and Larry). Brent still kind of has his good looks, (although they are much more refined these days), he still has some of his hair, and he now has two full file cabinets of his classic funny stories. Med One has 250 employees working throughout the United States. We own two beautiful buildings at our headquarters in Sandy, Utah, as well as 13 offices in key cities across the country. Our sales force is now 30+ strong. With the advanced technological capabilities Med One has created and developed over the years, we are perhaps one of the most technologically advanced companies for our size in the nation. It is estimated that we have active leases with over 50% of the acute care hospitals in America and we rent equipment to over 25% of them.
Med One has developed capacity and capabilities that we never dared dream could happen. We are privileged to do business with some very highprofile banking partners, and some of the most recognizable healthcare organizations in the world.
Notwithstanding all of the growth and financial success we’ve had, the main accomplishment that makes me proud and happy about what we have done is that during the past 31 years, we’ve been able to make life easier for thousands of hospital administrators by simplifying and taking the “pain” out of the process of acquiring needed clinical equipment that may not have been budgeted for in the time frame under which it was needed.
Indicative of this is an interaction I recently had. One of many, many long-standing relationships that we cherish is our relationship with the largest non-profit hospital system in the United States – Common Spirit which is part of the Catholic Health Initiatives organization. I’ve had a relationship with Chris Lovett, the System Director of Capital Services for many, many years. Chris recently said to me, “We need this equipment immediately and the only way we can get it is through our Med One program, because it takes a minimum of 1 year to complete a contract within our system that would allow for us to deal with this new vendor.” That statement sums up literally hundreds of similar conversations that our team members have day in and day out with the institutions we are privileged to serve. This sentiment probably provides more personal satisfaction about what we have accomplished in the past 33 years than anything else I can think of.
This will be my last regular article for Med One to One. It has been an honor and privilege to be able to regularly contribute to this world class publication. I am extremely proud of what Med One to One has come to mean to many of our customers and associates. It has grown and evolved from a simple employee newsletter first conceived during Robb’s college internship here at the company. It has grown from those humble beginnings into a high-quality publication which is published quarterly and boasts a circulation of over 3,400 hard copies mailed out and over 3,700 electronic subscriptions. Med One to One is a primary and powerful tool that we use to tell the Med One story and connect us with our many constituents. Hopefully I’ll still have an opportunity to make an occasional contribution to this impressive publication in the years to come.
While I have been somewhat “retirement adverse” over the years, I understand that the time has come for me to step away and allow our very impressive senior management team, which has effectively and efficiently operated the company for many years, to fully assume their stewardship and take Med One to the next level.
As independent owners, Brent and I have high expectations that Med One will continue to grow and expand in a very intelligent and disciplined way. Our expectations for the years ahead are very aggressive and very lofty. The team will have their work cut out for them. It will require great vision, exemplary unity, and focused effort to meet our expectations. We have great confidence in this great team that we have assembled over many years. Collectively they share an important stewardship. I believe this group is indeed a world class, championship caliber team. I have great confidence in Robb’s ability to lead this team to excellence. In addition to my confidence, I am extremely proud of the fact that my oldest son has become one of the key producers of revenue, has embraced this new role, and has developed the skills and qualities necessary to lead this company.
I have no sadness as I prepare to step away from active, day-to-day involvement, but I have a great deal of satisfaction and pride at what this little “experiment in entrepreneurship” has become and will yet achieve. Both Brent and I will be pleased to be able to stay involved in supervision at the board level.
During my career, I have embraced many key principles which have become important to me, shaped my philosophy, and driven my input into the culture of Med One. I’d like to say my goodbye as the Chief Operating Officer of Med One by highlighting a few of the significant elements that I believe are important ingredients in the Med One culture.
People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
When people are financially invested, they want a return, when they are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.
You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude, you can always teach skills.
You can judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
Bad leaders care about who’s right, good leaders care about what’s right.
We achieve more when we chase the dream instead of the competition.
Customers will never love a company unless the employees love it first.
Be the leader you wish you had.
Nothing is forever in this world – not even our problems.
The first hello was uncertain and somewhat frightening. The last farewell may be bittersweet and even awkward. The in-between, however, is a journey that I will continue to cherish all of my days and I am so very fortunate to have taken that journey with people whom I admire, respect, and love.