The tremendous success of Intuitive Surgical over the past two decades seems clearly to argue that robotics is more than a techy's pipedream. Intuitive has already revolutionized at least one procedure - laparoscopic prostatectomy - and it figures to make significant progress in a range of others, in men's health, women's health, and cardiovascular surgery, to name just a few relevant clinical spaces. Even more impressive has been its success as a publicly traded company; for much of the middle years of this decade, Intuitive's stock was the strongest performer among all medical device public offerings. And perhaps most interesting: until recently, Intuitive was virtually the only robotics company to achieve any kind of success at all. In Vivo interviews Lonnie Smith, the CEO of the company for much of the 1990s and 2000s, to whom much of the credit should go.
Raising Robotics: An Interview with Intuitive's Lonnie Smith
Article preview from IN VIVO - July, 2010
The robotics revolution may still be years away, but one company has already proven the technology has legs. A look back at the origins of Intuitive Surgical with its long-time CEO.
by The test of any medical technology, particularly highly engineered medical devices, comes when concept meets reality. A physician or engineer has a fascinating idea for a new approach to a procedure or technique that looks great when drawn on a piece of paper – but will it work? And will other physicians adopt the new procedure/technique in their everyday practices? Nowhere is this truer than in surgical robotics, an area in which there is a huge potential to transform the practice of surgery, and an equal measure of skepticism about its applicability. To its advocates and supporters, robotics are the future of medicine – not just surgery, but interventional procedures as well; to its detractors and skeptics, it's folly, part Rube Goldberg, part flying machine.
Even for its skeptics, however, the tremendous success of Intuitive Surgical Inc. over the past two decades seems clearly to argue that robotics is more than a techy's pipedream. Certainly, adoption challenges remain, and some surgeons may never fully accept the notion that robotics provide manipulation and tactile sense every bit as good as, if not better than, those of conventional surgical techniques. But Intuitive has already revolutionized at least one procedure – laparoscopic prostatectomy – and it figures to make significant progress in a range of others, in men's health, women's health, and cardiovascular surgery, to name just a few relevant clinical spaces. Even more impressive has been its success as a publicly traded company; for much of the middle years of this decade, Intuitive's stock was the strongest performer among all medical device public offerings. And perhaps most interesting: until recently, Intuitive was virtually the only robotics company to achieve any kind of success at all. To be sure, Intuitive's success is the result of the contributions of many, but a large share of the credit has to go to the person who was CEO of the company for much of the 1990s and 2000s, Lonnie Smith.
A bit of background: Smith grew up in Idaho, where his father had a small construction company. Smith himself thought he'd be a civil engineer, but when his father died in a car accident when Smith was a sophomore in college, he came home to briefly take over the family business. When he eventually returned to school, Smith no longer wanted to be a civil engineer and changed his field to electrical engineering, which led to his first job, working for IBM Corp. At IBM, Smith joined a program, new at the time, to train promising young managers. Soon after, Smith decided to go to business school – but not before being drafted into the army during the Vietnam War. Celebrated as a manager, Smith says his experience in the army was formative. "I discovered that you can learn from what people do wrong as well as what they do right; you learn from everybody," he says. "It was also a good experience in that in the army, you're stripped down to nothing and have to again reassert and build your relationships with other people in terms of the value you bring, and you only bring value in terms of leadership." When his military career was over, Smith turned down a regular army commission and returned briefly to IBM before going on to business school, this time choosing Harvard University over Stanford University.
By David Cassak
Purchase this article online as a PDF and receive it immediately via email. Questions? Call (800) 332-2181. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.
Elsevier Business Intelligence announces the publication of a new Special Report "Bigger, Tougher,Faster"- Preparing for the New FDA. When the inspector comes calling ... will you be ready?
This 16-page report originally published in "The Silver Sheet". Learn more...
Limited-time offer: Single-incision laparoscopy or natural orifice surgery: Which will win the day, or is there room for both? Are You Ready For The New Scarless Surgery Revolution? Download your FREE report now!
Comments