Episode Transcript
Hello and welcome. I'm Kayleen Brown, and you're listening to the next episode of DeviceTalks Women in MedTech podcast, the podcast where I try to reverse engineer the making of a medtech leader. Now, if you caught last week's episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, this shouldn't be a surprise, just a delight. And if you haven't, please make sure to check out that episode featuring Prana Surgical's CEO. And a reminder: please join me for the next episode of the DeviceTalks Tuesdays with my friends at Resonetics. Visit devicetalks.com, and hey, while you're there, please register for our Orthopedic Technologies Week. Okay, so today's episode is extra special, and I know I say that about all of the episodes, but I have been right. So with that in mind, I'm joined today by Linnea Burman. She's the senior vice president and president of Medtronic Neurovascular. Now, Linnea didn't start her career in engineering or product development. She started in communications, and you know I wanted to unpack that, so I did. How does someone go from telling patient stories to leading the business responsible for creating and developing those technologies. We talk about the chapters of her career where she learned to listen to patients and colleagues, and how her understanding of accountability changed as she took on even more responsibility. And there's one moment in that conversation that I want you to particularly listen for, Linnea describes facing evidence that called for a very painful decision, one that meant changing the course, not just the plan, and that's what brought me to today's episode's theme: accountability moves innovation forward, because what you do with difficult evidence matters. Recognizing it and acting on it, no matter how painful, that's just how we move innovation forward. That's part of the job. So before we get into my interview with Linnea, I want to bring in someone who means so much to me, who's so very, very special. She's on our editorial team, and she's personally one of my very, very good friends, Skyler Rivera. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.
Hi, Kayleen. It's so I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
Skyler. You know that I wanted you on the podcast. I think this entire year I kept saying like, "Are you ready? Are you ready?" Like, I got to get you on the podcast, and I happen to have picked the week that you have the flu. I'm sorry about that.
It's all good, Kayleen. I mean, it was totally unexpected. Influenza came a lot earlier than they expected. I had actually got my flu shot on Monday and got the flu the same week. You know, I got the flu shot a little late. They said the flu came earlier than expected here on the West Coast, but you know we're working through it.
Well, I appreciate that, and I appreciate that you did try to get your flu shot. Samezies, and I have to tell our audience that I specifically told Skyler not to do the in studio interview with me that she needed to rest, and Skyler muscled through and made sure that she was here today because she believes in the podcast and what we do so much. So Skyler, thank you, thank you, thank you. I know that I have gotten the pleasure of getting to know you over this last year, but our audience doesn't really know you. So I want to start with your background first. How did you find your way into journalism?
Yeah, I mean, so we go way back because I knew I wanted to be in journalism when I was probably 12 years old. Initially, I wanted to be the president of the United States, and that really wasn't like a childhood goal. That was a legitimate childhood goal. So I guess it was a childhood goal, but it was pretty legit, you know. I had a plan, but that totally changed when I was 12. I did a stint with the Dodgers. They had a program called Junior Dodger Broadcasting, where they brought in elementary, middle school aged kids to do play-by-play of the game, and that introduced me to sports and to journalism. And I knew that's exactly what I wanted to do. So I went to college and I went to Syracuse and I got a degree in broadcast journalism. So I'm a little bit familiar with podcasting. You know, I have I have a voice, but I'm not using it right now. But we can get into that later. My special broadcast voice. I did sports journalism after college. I worked at the Athletic, which is now part of the New York Times and then Major League Baseball, but I really wanted to do something a little bit more fulfilling. You know, working in sports and entertainment was great, but I really asked myself, like, what legacy am I going to leave behind once all this is done? And I'm not quite sure if what I was doing exactly was where I wanted to be at that moment, so I went back to school. I got a master's in science writing, and then I did a contracted role at Edwards Life Sciences in their research department, where I was writing technical reports for them, and I loved it. Given it was so different from what I was doing. I mean, people think technical writing is not fun. Technical writing is fun, you know, following the rules and everything. I mean, I thought it was fun. Um, so I fell in love with this world of medtech and all the promise that the innovation had, and here I am. You know, I still need to describe that journalism itch. So I'm back in journalism here at Aerofly. You know, I'm working with mass device medical design, and outsourcing, and device talks. Um, you know, to get a little bit taste of but best of both worlds: medical device, med tech, and journalism. So that's a little bit about me and my how I wiggled my way into med tech.
I love it. And for our audience, pull out your bingo cards because I'm going to say what I always say: one of us, one of us. Welcome to the MedTech family, Skyler. I know that you're never going to leave our family because once you're in MedTech, you never leave MedTech. There's no better place to, I think, pursue our mission and being able to share meaningful technology with the world. I don't think that there's a better use of time. So I love this journey. I know that we joked a bit about sports before we started recording here. My sports knowledge is limited to go team sports, and can't we all win? So I have been learning a lot from you. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm about sports, and then your enthusiasm about medtech with us all. Now, before I shift us over, you mentioned a broadcasting voice, and I'm not going to pass up that opportunity. So, give me your best broadcasting voice.
I'm Skyler Rivera, reporting live from Women in Medtech podcast.
That's fantastic, and I appreciate you indulging me, even though you weren't recovering from the flu. And now you're making me like I feel like I need to do a broadcasting voice, so I'm going to take a minute. Hello and welcome. I'm Kayleen Brown, reporting live from Women in Medtech podcast. Join us, news at 11. What did I do? Did it work? I'm learning all these new skills. I sang to Chris on the last episode that we had on Friday, and I didn't know I could actually hit the nil. And then now I have a broadcasting voice. Like, what can't we do as women? Ugh. Good day, Skyler. Good day.
That was fantastic. You caught my attention like that. I'm. I'll be there at 11.
Yes. All right. So, Skyler, give me the dish on your role on our editorial team. You mentioned that you write for MDO, Mass Device, and of course, you support us on the device stock side. So, what are you covering? Um, what are you working on that our audience should keep an eye on? Lay it on me.
Right. Um, like you said, I'm associate editor across all of these brands. Um, so what I really cover is medtech success stories on our platform, whether that be news about like a breakthrough device at MassDevice, which is more of our news website. Um, or you know, speaking with an engineer who's led R and D efforts, like for a first of its kind device, just really getting into the nitty gritty of what they learn from development and what they learn from failure, what they learn from their successes. Kind of like to weigh both of them. That's more on the MDO side, so more long form success lessons, innovation stories. So my work is really about highlighting medtech success stories, and so others can learn from the ups and downs of development, regulatory strategy, and really the entire product lifestyle to really be inspired and implement those lessons in their own projects. So, like Linnea says in in your guys's wonderful conversation, it's not always about the success, but it's about what you learn from those failures, and so that's kind of what we do here at at Arrowfly. You know, we highlight the success, but we also highlight lessons from failures and lessons from moments of struggle.
So again, I'm speaking directly to my audience here. You get why I had Skyler on the pod, right? Like the mission of this particular podcast, my personal mission, and then Skyler's mission with the work she does so aligned together, and it is just such a privilege, Skyler. Thank you again. You mentioned Linnea, so let's talk more about Linnea and the episode's theme, which again targets right to what we're talking about here. So accountability moves innovation forward. So thinking about our own work as journalists. How does that idea resonate with you specifically?
Yes, Kayleen, I loved this question because you know accountability is such a core pillar of journalism. You know, all the president's men holding those people accountable, holding those in power accountable. It's so historic, and but I feel like that's an aspect, you know, holding those in power accountable to investigative journalism and more of that, you know, hard-hitting news journalism. Where I see accountability for us as medtech journalists is more about accountability accelerating innovation in the types of stories that we tell in that in that storytelling. For example, we write about the latest innovation. And the impact it has on patients, and you know the weight that that success holds is accountability to the industry to raise the bar and continue to raise the bar. For example, like this is this amazing new product that a big company came out with. How are how are the other companies going to raise that bar to continue to meet patient needs and continue to meet those unmet needs. So, for for me as a journalist, and for me as a journalist specifically in this industry, accountability is in the type of storytelling we do and how that storytelling can push the boundaries of success, and that really drives my work and and in turn it drives medtech forward.
Ooh, I love the quote. We quoted Linnea, and I continue to quote her. But now I'm going to quote you pushing the boundaries for success. That's gonna. I'm gonna. I'm telling you, Skyler. I think in the next few years, I'm gonna create a coffee table book. That's just like the best quotes that I've heard, and that one is gonna get a place of honor that I think speaks to the industry's gosh, what would be the word here? Like the theme of our industry, what brings all of our different personalities together is this like common theme of pushing boundaries, but being accountable for what that means and having those hand in hand just helps build better devices. In the episode, and I know that you got a chance to listen back to it. Linnea was willing to talk about a really painful recall decision, and then what the team learned from investigating it. And I think that goes back to your earlier point that you like to cover success stories and then maybe challenges, not necessarily failures, but opportunities to learn from things that didn't go the way we wanted them to go. So, what comes up for you when you heard Linnea talking about?
Yeah, what really struck me about your conversation with Linnea was her vulnerability. I think vulnerability is one of the most instrumental aspects and traits that a leader could have, especially in an industry like med tech. You know, it tells your team and others in the industry really that failure isn't a dead end, or challenges aren't really a dead end. They're just simply a diversion to get to success. And through that diversion, as Linnea mentions, you learn so much along the way. So, like you said, part of what I do at MDO is ask these leaders about what they've learned, and a lot of about about being a journalist is building trust to allow people to share those vulnerabilities, and that's something I really value about working here at Arrowfly. My job is people trust our editorial team. But yeah, what really struck me about Linnea's conversation with you was that vulnerability and taking that accountability is so valuable to spur success. If we only spoke about the success, like you said, everybody would be making the same mistakes that we that others have already learned from, and that doesn't bring innovation to patients faster. If that's a case, like what's the what's the point in only sharing the success stories? And so I think if everybody in med tech wants to to bring that mission forward in getting care to patients faster, being vulnerable and taking that accountability and sharing what you learn with others is is probably the most important thing you can do as a leader.
I love that so much, and I love that you named Linnea's vulnerability. Being vulnerable, I think, is the greatest sign of courage. It's there's nothing more difficult than being vulnerable and speaking the truth and sharing a story that's a painful story that you might have wished that you could forget. So thank you, Linnea, for showing all of us just how strong you are and the courage. And I hope we can all be inspired by you because I know that I am. Last question for you, Skyler. So you are relatively new to the industry, but you've gotten this opportunity to speak with so many med tech leaders. So, for somebody who's early on in their medtech career, or even considering medtech, what's one takeaway from Linnea's approach to accountability that they could bring to their own work?
Yeah, I think Linnea's approach to accountability it wasn't just a silent experience because she brought her team in with, and everybody learned these valuable lessons. She spoke to you, Kayleen, and she shared with your audience everything that she's learned. And so it was not a siloed experience. And so, while while while taking accountability is a very personal action, it also demonstrates leadership to your team, and everybody benefits from learning from the mistakes, and it makes everybody better at what they do and better as a person, and I think that's applicable in anybody's work, and whether they be early career med tech, late career med tech, med career, or really any section of med tech you're in, neurovascular, cardiac, anything. You can learn a lot about accountability and and leadership, and just become a better teammate and a better person as. As as a part of it, and so Linnea's approach is just a masterclass in accountability.
Skyler, I love that so much. I am so pleased that you joined me on the podcast. We've already had a lot of fun, so I hope that I can get your agreement in the future to join me. In fact, I'm not even gonna ask. I'm just gonna tell you: join me, join me, join me. Okay, I'm gonna ask. Is that okay?
Be there, Kayleen. Any day, any time. I got you with the flu, without the flu. I'll be there.
Ah, done. It's a done deal, my friend. All right, let's give the audience what they want at your earliest convenience, Skylerr. Please introduce our keynote guest.
Well, it's my honor to introduce Linnea Burman, Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic Neurovascular,.
Linnea Burman, Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic Neurovascular. Welcome to the Women in MedTech podcast.
Thanks so much, Kayleen. I've listened to you a lot. It's a pleasure to be here.
Well, let's just stop the podcast now because that's all I need, and I have everything for the rest of the year, so thanks for that. But really, that's far too kind. Normally, there is this, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that there is this impression that to be a leader in the medical device industry, you have to have a major engineering and technology background, and if you don't have that, then you're not going to find success. And in my two decades, I have found that to be incredibly wrong. But we still have this impression. So I'm hoping we can start with how someone who puts effort and passion into communications, after nearly 25 years, holds the position of president of Medtronic Neurovascular, which if I had bells and whistles, they'd be going off right now. So let's start there. I mean, Linnea, did you always know you wanted to be in communications, or did you have a direction that you were trying to go in your early career in education?
Well, it's such a great observation about medtech, and also a great question. When I was in high, well, I always loved to write, and when I was in high school, I was lucky to be exposed to this very rigorous journalism program, and I did that for four years, and I loved it. But I knew I didn't want to go into print journalism, and so I picked a university that had a very broad communications program. I chose Virginia Tech, and I immediately fell in love with public relations. And I think I was drawn to that because I saw it as the intersection communications, strategy, and leadership, which is really played out over time. I think those three areas come together in public relations, and it was a great place to start. If you think about it, coming into med tech, my early days joining Medtronic was telling patient stories, and there's no better place to start to understand the impact that we have on people. I met people in my first few years at Medtronic that I still stay in touch with today. I've literally watched them grow up, and they're they're good friends. So it's really an impactful place to come in, but then want to be able to have a larger and larger impact on what we do, the products and therapies that we make available, the impact that we have on the world. And so I never knew the destination, but I I just found a passion and allowed it to grow.
Medtech is not only full of passionate people who are making a difference, but it's really familial. It's like once you're in medtech, regardless how you're in medtech, like you're always in medtech. There's just it's something special about that. Do you have that same sort of feeling?
Yes, absolutely. You know, I you mentioned purpose, and I had three roles outside of Medtronic before I joined the company in the year 2000. And I was looking for either high tech or something with purpose, and actually was able to put those two things together. So my husband worked at Medtronic before I did, and he actually left and and went out to a different opportunity, there was a gap of about a year, and then I joined. But from his time at Medtronic, I knew about the mission, and so I knew it to be a big company. But I knew that the impact that we can make together, and that the the common purpose of the mission, was something I was really drawn to, and that's just continued over time. And now you see, as you build a network across medtech and around the world, we're all drawn to that same mission. So it really is a big extended family.
Love that. I mean, it's like all I say all day, every day, because I believe it in every fiber of my being, and I see it in every conversation that I have. When you reflect on your time in communications pre medtech. What maybe would those roles have taught you about trust and clarity?
Yeah, the first company that I worked for out of school was Marriott, and what a great company to start your career at. Not only were they the market leader, so it. Me a lot about marketing. They had it was a time where they had really finished segmenting the hospitality market, and they had a brand for every segment of the market. They had one of the first very successful loyalty programs, and so just as an example of a market leader, it was very strong. From an internal culture perspective, it was also a really strong experience. And then I worked for three leaders on the public relations team that I still admire. Kind of what I learned from them over a short amount of time, and it was a critical time. It was the year 1996. There were two political conventions, Republican and Democratic, the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and then it was a time of significant international expansion for Marriott. So I just learned a lot about not only the company as a leader, but the company company as a corporate citizen, and how they handled themselves both in terms of you know preparedness for big national events. They had developed a crisis communications plan before the Atlanta Olympics, that they ended up deploying when the bomb occurred. So just a team that was always very well prepared, and I think really a great example of again corporate leadership.
I would actually be really remiss. I feel like if I didn't ask you to expand on that global crisis communication center, it is so applicable to medtech. And then to know that there was a prep plan that had to be enacted, talk to us about that and some of the other lessons that you learned through that experience.
Yeah, my time at Marriott was fairly short, but I learned so much in that period of time, and the reason it was short is I met my husband. He was working at Medtronic. I moved to Minneapolis, but in that time, the example of the crisis plan ahead of the Atlanta Olympics was there, and it was a time of very significant international expansion. And so, the international leader for public relations wanted to pull together a crisis communication center, knowing that some of the properties that were being opened at the time could potentially be exposed in a time of conflict, and so it was really early internet type timeframe when all the resources weren't readily at the at the press of a button, and so it was just a matter of bringing together the right resources, news agencies, government contacts, etc., so that everything was kind of at fingertips should anything occur.
That sense of preparedness. Do you feel like that has been a through line in your leadership?
I think there's been a yes, for sure. I think that background in public relations lends anybody to be thinking about moments that could happen and being prepared, and so that when something does happen, it's not the first time that you've thought about it. So yeah, I think it's definitely ingrained in me.
Love that. So you mentioned 2000 ish is when you did become one of us, one of us in medtech. Also, fun fact: another way way that your life and my life is a bit parallel is I was in medtech first, and then my husband and on my first date with my husband, he asked me what I did, and of course, I told him about medtech and how much I love it and what I do, and he was like, "Oh, I was really interested in that," and I got him to be part of MedTech too. So we are a MedTech couple as well. So beautiful. So you had your husband, who was already at Medtronic. When you were building up your communications career, was the goal always to try to get into Medtronic specifically, or just to get in medtech? Like, walk me through that path.
Yeah, I was actually thinking I was really interested in high tech, but around the year 2000, the.com bubble was bursting. It was not a great time. I had interviews with two target companies in Minneapolis, but things were freezing in terms of hiring and scaling, and so that's where I really tuned into the desire for purpose and kind of combined the thought of high tech being more med tech and and surrounding that with the ability to have a an impact. So that's what brought me to Medtronic. It was there's definitely moments in in my career, a few where I feel like it's a little bit close your eyes and leap, and you don't always know what's on the other side. But some of those moments are really worthwhile. What would you say to somebody who's hearing you say that now, myself included, to get us to just leap? I remember saying to a friend, "I don't know what's going to come of this, but I have a feeling it's going to be good. And I never would have guessed it would be 25 years. You know, I think there's just a lot of opportunity and risk taking, and I think that as a as a business leader as well, that sometimes you just have to take a chance and leave behind what you knew. So the same thing is true for career.
I'm going to underline that later. When you look across your roles at Medtronic, what would you say is the simplest way to describe that through line, the the kind of work that kept pulling you forward or toward whatever that goal is? Can you just talk to that on a general idea?
Yeah, I think in every role that I've had, it's been about creating something. In the very beginning, it was opportunities for people living with severe spasticity associated with neurological conditions. Later, it was solutions for chronic pain with the backdrop of the opioid epidemic, and then freedom for patients with overactive bladder. And in many of these cases, we were the first in a market. We were establishing things or scaling things, and and really there there was no playbook. We were figuring it out as we went, partnering with physicians and societies, and oftentimes patients to really develop kind of the the impact of these products and technologies. I had the opportunity to be part of cranial and spinal technologies when we built out the Able ecosystem, and really bringing together all of the different digital aspects of the CST organizations, and now in neurovascular, get to continue to drive access. So a lot of it is about creating and growth, and seeing opportunities to have products and therapies have a greater impact on people living with chronic conditions, and so that's been probably the through line.
25 years is a beautiful long career, and if I were to ask you about your roles, it become a conversation about your resume. So I don't want to think about it like that, I want to think about your time at Medtronic maybe in chapters. So, if you were to think about what was chapter one of your time at Medtronic, what roles did you hold within that time?
I think chapter one would be just a whole lot of learning. I was in neuromodulation for that. I what I would call the whole first Chapter first probably 14 years in neuromodulation targeted drug delivery and spinal cord stimulation, and then had a chance to become general manager of pelvic health for five years, also neuromodulation based therapy. And in that time, it was a lot of figuring things out. So I started in marketing communications, and that's where I started telling patient stories, working on content for physicians, did some very early direct-to-consumer campaigns, and then moved into market development roles where it was a lot of partnering with societies, partnering with medical education, partnering with clinical, learning a lot about clinical evidence generation that has really come back to serve me now in the neurovascular part of our organization. So just learning from so many people who were generous with their time, and so I was the beneficiary of so many of those great relationships. And I'll tell you, I I feel like I've worked as hard in every role that I've had, regardless of the title, so I definitely put in my time and energy. But I was just so fortunate to be surrounded by people who love to teach, and I also joined Medtronic in an organization that had a very close connection between sales and marketing, and so that became a bit of the model and my expectation for how sales and marketing work together, and and I came to realize over time that that's not always the norm, and that building that is something that once you see how powerful it can be, it's a it's a reference point that I that I go back to and kind of have a high bar for how sales and marketing operate together. So that was chapter one.
Sales and marketing, I've always considered two sides of the same coin.
Exactly. Yep.
Thank you. They're so important. They have to communicate, and you're you're communicating with patients. You're communicating with teams. You're communicating with organizations. You need to communicate effectively because these are all very different communication styles and very different people with different agendas and different goals. How do you manage that?
Being a listener first, I think that listening has been a part of of what I've always done. Who I am, listener observer, and so with patients, I got to spend time and with people in their homes or go to school with pediatric patients, which is just incredible to see life through their eyes, and then understand what it's like to live with their condition and to have the benefit of technology. Similar to be out in the field, spending time with our salespeople, spending time with physicians in their own clinics and operating rooms and labs. There's nothing more powerful than observing the their environment. So I think that's a really important part of it. And so no matter what you do, whether it's relating to our international colleagues, having an in-person opportunity to see them and their environment is one of the most powerful things you can you can have in order to establish. A really effective long distance relationship and get things done despite the miles between you.
They always say that once you have that connection, to your point, the miles don't matter.
Oh, I love that. Going to write that one down.
Oh good. We have two underlined things. What would you say was the transition or pivot point that brought you to chapter two.
Well, perhaps that was the first general management role, which was the pelvic health experience, and that was such a positive chapter of my career. I stepped into a team that I still love today. Just how we worked together and how much fun we had together, and it wasn't always easy, but it was just a tremendous team and a great opportunity to learn to be a business leader. And I love general management roles, and I really think they have an important place in our organization to teach business leadership skills, to learn how to operate the P and L and make trade offs in order to find the right investments, and to be truly accountable, to be the person where you know, no matter what's happening, whether it's something that we did or something that was something that happened in the environment, at the end of the day, you're accountable for it. So, learning to play that role and and accept it and and really run with it as as a leader.
You know, I'm always intrigued by going from a support role, and I'm generalizing that statement into a GM position. Did you have to unlearn something, or what comes to mind when you think about that transition, and not in the way of like, oh, lessons learned, but like something that you had to leave behind?
Right. I think I learned that in my previous the role that came before that one. So by the time that I had my first general manager title, it was a little bit easier than I anticipated that transition would be. But in the role prior, I went from being an individual contributor to being a global marketing director, and this was in days that kind of predated our general manager structure. And so, as a marketing director, we are expected to be GM-like and and kind of wear that hat in addition to being a marketing director. And in that role, I really had to learn how to be a strong people leader. I had to be kind of a mini GM and and represent the part of the business that I led to lead a cross-functional team, be a part of the marketing leadership council, so and be a part of the neuromodulation leadership team as well. So you learn to wear many hats. I pulled a lot of all-nighters in that role. I'll be honest; it was one of those where I could feel my growth every hour of the day, and it was worthwhile. It was exciting, but it was also exhausting because I was on such a steep learning curve that by the time I became general manager, I think I had gone through that significant growth curve and was ready to kind of put more of it into action.
I always say that to get to the other side of something, can't go over it, can't go under it. You have to just go through it, and it can be painful. It will be painful. Not even it can be painful. It can. It is painful, and it is tiring, and it stretches us in ways that we never expected. But that's the only way to get to the other side.
Absolutely, and I do want to make a call out because I don't want female leaders who are listening to think, you know, this is without help and partnership. I will say my husband has always been almost the first to say yes to some of the opportunities that I've had, and he's had more flexibility in his career, the way he's navigated to be to play a larger and larger role as the kids were growing up, and so you know, there eventually he became the the drop off and the pickup. And I I've always traveled a lot my time at Medtronic, and so he's certainly carried a big weight. And but I I do think it's a it's all about the partnership.
Let's talk about that for a little bit. Again, my husband and I are both in med tech, and similar. I mean, we Linnea, we we might be twins. I'm not really sure, but I am very excited at that concept. So my husband also, he is. I couldn't do what I do without him, and I do travel a lot, and he just picks up so much of. I want to say slack, but it's not slack because I think that implies that I'm not doing my part as a mother and a wife. I mean, he I think he sees where he can step in to support to move us all forward in a really positive way, and that's huge. We spend a lot of time talking about how we got here, and to take a moment to talk about the partners in our lives is incredibly important.
Yeah, couldn't agree more. And we navigated already. One parent, my father, who had Alzheimer's, and we kind of adopted him on that journey, and. Moved him to Minneapolis and went through three different homes, and and he eventually has passed away. But my husband was a tremendous partner in that whole journey. Just all of the times where I was traveling, and he would be able to go visit, or if he ended up in the hospital, and he was the first one there. So just can't thank him enough. But the fact that we're on the same page in terms of how we want to be there for our parents, now we have thankfully three parents who are living, and we really cherish these years, but want to be there for them.
You've emphasized the importance of community, which is the entire reason I wanted to take some time to talk about this, because medtech is nothing without community, and then the importance of communication. Yes, talking to a communications expert, it is. It's like it's it's critical to know that we have to take the time to communicate our needs, and then to your point, Linnea, listen to the other party's needs, and then find a way to move forward that works best.
Yeah, yeah, couldn't agree more.
So let's bring us to your final chapter at Medtronic, which brings us to at the end of it. You know, your senior vice president and president of Medtronic's neurovascular group. Walk us through that transition point to where you are today, and then I want to dig into your role.
Okay, yeah. So after pelvic health, I had a couple of roles. I led strategy for neurosciences. I led Latin America and Canada from a commercial perspective for neurosciences, and then I had the great opportunity to become general manager of enabling technologies as part of our cranial and spinal technologies organization when we put spine and enabling tech together, and that was a tremendous experience because I got to work with all kinds of technology ranging from shunts up to robotics and navigation and imaging, drills, even data-based products and personalized implants, and so loved everything I learned in that chapter because the technology was really different and is a very complex and large organization. So I learned to work across seven different sites and cultures and stitch things together around a common strategy that's really powerful, and we call that the Able ecosystem. I did that for four years, and I commuted to Colorado during that time. And then the opportunity to become president of Neurovascular came along. Been in this role for two years, and our kids were in college or soon to be graduating from college, and so it was a perfect time when Mark and I were able to finally pick up and relocate and start a whole new chapter together.
So, when the position for neurovascular president did open up, what did you think that the organization as Medtronic needed next?
Yeah. So, this is a division of Medtronic that has made significant contributions to the field of neurovascular over time. It hasn't always been Medtronic. It's a series of acquisitions that have become Medtronic Neurovascular. But I felt a tremendous responsibility because of several breakthroughs that this organization has contributed to the field over time, and so I saw it as my opportunity and mandate to form the next inflection point for the organization and unlock future breakthroughs for the field. So I don't like when organizations are have a lot in their past, but and then rest on their laurels. I think you need to unlock the DNA that's in in really the the organization, and I really believe that to be true. That there's certain things that sit in the DNA of an organization that a leader can unlock, and for me, that meant the entrepreneurial spirit, the innovative spirit, the urgency for the market that we have the opportunity to serve, and finding those future breakthroughs.
I love everything about what you're saying, and just what's coming to mind for me is that you're you're sort of shaping a sculpture of what you see Medtronic Neurovascular being, and you're just kind of uncovering it a piece at a time to see like what's there and how you can make that shine. Did you face opposition? And when I say opposition, I'm an incredibly positive person, so I don't think that confrontation or opposition is inherently negative. So, did you face anything, any challenge or obstacle trying to uncover that DNA and and make that part of your your mandate to move forward?
I think a lot of it was here, and it was a matter of putting people in the right seats or getting organized in the right way. But I did bring in a number of new leaders, so I want to first acknowledge there are some people who have been a part of this organization for a long time. I really admire the way they have continued to grow through all of the change that I've inflicted on the organization. And that's true for people around the leadership table, and then deeper in the organization. And just incredibly grateful for the way people have put up with so much change as we've set ourselves up for this chapter ahead. I was also able to identify a number of leaders that I thought were an important part of our success equation as we went forward from inside the company in different functions like finance and clinical, human resources, as an example, communications, and then there was another set of leaders that I thought outside in influence would really have a great impact on us and the way we think. So R and D and marketing, sales was from inside somebody I'd had the chance to work with prior, but there was a lot of opportunity regulatory to bring in some outside influence from organizations of different sizes, intentionally some much smaller organizations because again the DNA that I was trying to unlock is about entrepreneurial spirit, and to do that, I think we needed a mix of different leaders who are coming from different companies. So really feel so honored to work with the leadership team that we have right now, and it's the most talented team I've ever been a part of. And every day get to work together, it really feels like a gift. We also added a chief medical officer or somebody that you've had on the show, Adam Arthur. This is the first CMO that we've had in neurovascular, and it just adds so much dimension to all of our decisions and our everyday work. So it's been a whole lot of fun.
So I'm hearing a lot of making sure that you're looking within the organization to see who really would be a terrific fit and a good mesh, and then making sure that there's diversity of perspective, and that's by bringing in others so that they can come in with those fresh ideas and then move all of that forward. For somebody who's listening, who wants to go from let's call it a GM position into a presidency position, that's a lot of responsibility. What would you say, advice-wise, to them as they're trying to figure this out themselves?
I think early in your career, when you take on leadership roles, you tend to move more slowly on critical decisions because you want to handle them just right. You want to be sensitive to people-related issues, and over time, you learn how fast each one of these roles go, and you have to make every day count in order to have a lasting impact. If you want to have a lasting impact, and so moving faster on decisions that are painful and just forcing yourself through that can still be very compassionate and help people into the the most appropriate roles. But I think talent is a really big part of of helping things succeed, and so that's been a pretty significant part of my first two years in this role.
Talent is key, and then I've heard you before talk about innovation roadmaps. So something tells me that talent plus a strong innovation roadmap equals success or a better outcome. Can you give me your definition of what an innovation roadmap is?
Yes. So two of my strengths are futuristic and strategic, and I really like looking at the longer term horizon, and I guess that's a part of that thread that we talked about through my career at Medtronic. Not everything we do has an impact today or tomorrow. I like those things, but a lot of the things that we're building are things that'll come to fruition in even five or 10 years, and planting that seed today so that that tree is there tomorrow, and so I love to lay out kind of the the path forward and and make sure that we have innovations in the short, medium, and long term, a mix of invention and continuous innovation. And you know, Medtronic I think has all the ingredients for not just continuous innovation on products or therapies that are out there and known, but also for creating whole new categories. And so we're doing a mix of both. We will continue to kind of shift some of the categories that we are focused on in order to help new things come to be, and then also continuing to innovate on certain product categories where we're known for product leadership. So it's a big mix of those things in neurovascular. It's not just product innovation; that's a huge part of it. And we're lucky to have a really tremendous team under the leadership of Bill Patterson, but also clinical regulatory strategy. There's many ways that all of this has to come together before it ever reaches sales and marketing. And so, whether it's Suda and clinical or Amy and regulatory working together with Bill, there's an innovation roadmap that comes together across many different functions. Of course, quality and operations become really important. So just having strong people in every one of those seats is super important. More recently, because some of these products that we put on our roadmap. Are starting to pop. We have really put a great emphasis in the over the past year on commercial strength. Just brought in a new marketing leader in Nick Byma, who's joined forces with Jake Johnson in the United States and our leaders around the world, where we're really getting ready to launch these products that we've developed internally. This five-year roadmap that we've been working on.
Well, let's dig into that some more. Maybe before we talk about the product specifically, we can just take a step back and take it from the patient perspective. So, a patient sits down with their primary care practitioner. They have some issue challenge that they want addressed, and then they are diagnosed with a condition, what are the conditions that Medtronic Neurovascular are trying to support or help? And then from there, we'll go into the portfolio and where it fits in into larger Medtronic.
Sure. Yep. So the biggest product categories are aneurysms, and so we have a number of different products for aneurysms. Stroke, acute ischemic stroke is another condition, and we have products for that. Really led the way towards setting new standards of care in stroke, and then chronic subdural hematoma, which is a collection of fluid on the brain, which can really diminish quality of life. And our Onyx product received an indication adjunct to surgery for chronic subdural hematoma. So those are kind of three important conditions that we treat today. And then as we go forward, we're pushing in a couple of different directions as well. As you mentioned in this five-year roadmap, some products are about to pop. So can you walk us through all of that and what Medtronic Neurovascular looks like today and what it might look like tomorrow. Yeah, sure. We've talked about some of this very publicly. So I think in in many product categories, we're going to continue to innovate on what we've done. One important product where we've shared this very publicly, going back a year or so, I actually had to make a really important decision to recall certain sizes of our pipeline vantage flow diverter, and in that category, we are a market leader worldwide. But we had a product that, because we collect so much evidence on our products around the world, we were able to see signals that showed us that that particular product had a higher rate of braid deformation compared to the product that we had had on the market, still have on the market pipeline shield. So very painful decision to have to recall that. But I bring it up in the context of product roadmap because as we dove in and studied through modeling and simulation the root cause of that issue in that product design, it had we have learned more in one year than the previous 14 years of working in flow diversion, and so that work has allowed us to develop the next two products that we expect to come out in the flow diverter category. And I'm really proud of the team in that work, not only for being honest, making a bold decision, but also accelerating our the way we've innovated in that product category. So expect big things from us in flow diversion. You can imagine around our Onyx Liquid and Bolic that there will continue to be opportunities there. Now, as we take chronic subdural hematoma as an indication around the world, that's an important neurovascular disease state because we expect that over the next five years it may become the most common neurovascular condition that's being treated even above stroke. So very large population, and then as we push forward into the future, really excited about the opportunity to get into stroke rehabilitation. So we are saving more lives today than ever before, but there's too many people living with long-term disability, and so what do we do about that? We have a concept that we have started sharing in some scientific forums, combining neurovascular with some neuromodulation technology that we have into new possible therapy.
Can you remind me what the condition was that might be more in the next five years than stroke.
Chronic subdural hematoma.
What is chronic subdermal hematoma?
So chronic subdural hematoma is a very common neurological condition, and it can be associated with trauma, but it doesn't have to be. And it's a buildup of fluid on the brain that our CMO Adam Arthur likes to describe as leaky vessels, and previously it was really treated through draining through a neurosurgical approach. But now we know that we can also embolize using products like Onyx Liquid Embolic, and through a fairly minimally invasive approach, help seal the source and treat the disease, and so this is the approval that we just received from the FDA after running a very large study, and will now be making sure that patients around the world have access to this treatment.
I want to just round us out and circle back to the namesake of this podcast because we are. With women, again, I'm a very positive person, and we can unpack the challenges of being a woman in medtech. But that's not what this is about. It's about the opportunities that our perspective as women and our experiences, how they inform the way that we lead, how they inform the way that we shape med tech. So, what about being a woman makes you better, or helps make the industry better in general.
Well, first, I want to make a shout out to the Medtronic Women's Network. It's a place I've spent a lot of time, volunteered a lot of time. I'm currently the executive sponsor of Aspire, which is our Women in Sales part of our organization, and I have found that the women's network at Medtronic and just all the relationships along the way have been an incredible part and support system as we all navigate our careers and gain confidence for different roles. It's just been, I think, a really important network and part of my experience at Medtronic. There's a couple things that I think are traits that maybe aren't exclusive to women, but they're more common in women. I would say collaboration is an incredibly important one. Communication is is one. Listening is one, and really connecting. So I think those have all been kind of parts of different roles that I've had and important ingredients and in success, and they're just things that are important part of my value system as well.
You've just mentioned Medtronic's Women Network. Any other shoutouts come to mind? Are allies or other women leaders that we should know about?
You know, I think it's mentors, sponsors, physician partners, all the relationships along the way that have made this so much fun, but also contributed to my growth as a not just a leader but a human being, helping to see things through the eyes of other people and just how many things I've been exposed to along the way, and people around the world. So it's just been an incredible journey, and so grateful for all the different connections.
Here, here, Linnea Burman, Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic Neurovascular. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. I really loved every second.
Oh, thank you so much, Kayleen. It's a pleasure to be here, and I appreciate all of your great questions.
And that's a wrap on another episode of the Women in MedTech podcast. Now I have some really bummer news. This is likely going to be the final episode of the Women in MedTech podcast series. I have to put my efforts into a single podcast. There's only one of me, and that, of course, should be our flagship podcast, DeviceTalks Weekly. However, I know that this podcast is very meaningful for so many other people, in addition to myself, of course, and I'm very passionate about this project. So, if you want to hear more Women in MedTech podcast episodes? Please, please, please let me know, and then I will make a case for myself and for the team to keep this podcast alive. Otherwise, I hope that you have enjoyed two seasons of the Women in MedTech podcast. I hope that I can continue this in the future, maybe in 2027. But right now, this is likely the last episode. Okay, so I'm gonna stop crying to start saying thank you. Thank you to Linnea Burman, Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic Neurovascular, for joining me on the pod and for being willing to talk about decisions that aren't easy. And then of course for talking about accountability. Whether something happened because of a decision that she made or her team made, she was still responsible for what came next. So I'm really grateful that she was willing to talk about the recall because that allowed us to see what that responsibility looks like in practice, which is acting on the evidence. Thank you to my amazing colleague and fellow editor Skyler Rivera for joining me in the studio. It took way too long to get you here, and now I'm never gonna let you go. You always brighten my day. And speaking of who brightens my day, thank you for listening. Before you go, make sure to subscribe to the DeviceTalks Podcast Network. Next week, I promise you, I'll bring you back another episode of DeviceTalks Weekly. So stay tuned for that, and be sure to connect with me, Kayleen Brown on LinkedIn, and all of my guests, and of course, DeviceTalks. Now that we're at the end, I want to leave you with this question: When evidence challenges the direction you're heading, what helps you act on it? Message me on LinkedIn and let me know your thoughts. Thank you, as always, for the privilege of leading these conversations, and thanks for listening.
