Medtronic founder Earl Bakken knew how to inspire his employees

Medtronic founder Earl Bakken loved teaching and meeting patients. He died in October 2018. Earl Bakken made history when he invented the battery-powered, wearable cardiac pacemaker in a Minneapolis garage in 1957. But three years later, the company he co-founded was floundering and desperately needed cash. To show the board of directors that the $200,000 they had raised would be put to good use, Bakken wrote a mission statement for the company. Nearly 60 years later, that mission statement continues to guide Medtronic and inspire its 86,000 employees. Each receives a medallion that encapsulates the mission statement’s six tenets thus: “Contributing to human welfare by the application of biomedical engineering to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life.” Bakken died at his Hawaii home on October 21, 2018, at the age of 94. He spent 40 years at the helm of Medtronic, the world’s largest medtech company, which generated $29.7 billion in revenue in 2017 and had operations in 140 countries around the world. CEOs who succeeded him and other executives extolled Bakken for his leadership and vision, and for his drive to invent and teach, during an event in December in Minneapolis. Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing. The post Medtronic founder Earl Bakken knew how to inspire his employees appeared first on MassDevice.
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Bioelectronic Medicine Blog Business/Financial News Cardiac Assist Devices News Well Medtronic universityofminnesota Source Type: news