Stryker has had only three CEOs since 1977, and each one roughly doubled or tripled the company. John Brown built the 20 percent growth culture. Stephen MacMillan scaled it. Kevin Lobo spent 14 years buying into robotics, extremities, and adjacencies and tripled sales again, from $8.7B to more than $26B.
This January, Spencer Stiles becomes the fourth—and the first in a generation who grew up inside the company. He does not inherit a turnaround. He inherits the machine, and the harder job of keeping a $26B compounder growing like a much smaller one.
Tiger's 5 observations
1/ The 20 percent machine
Stryker has had only three CEOs since 1977, and each one roughly doubled or tripled the company. John Brown built the 20 percent growth culture. Stephen MacMillan scaled it until a personal exit and a hip recall. Kevin Lobo spent 14 years buying his way into robotics, extremities, and adjacencies and tripled sales again. Spencer Stiles inherits the machine, not a turnaround.
2/ The insider versus the outsider
Brown was the professional manager who professionalized Homer Stryker’s company. MacMillan came from Pharmacia. Lobo came from Johnson & Johnson. Stiles is the first CEO in a g...
