What CMOs Can Learn From The Comedy Store

For decades, The Comedy Store in Los Angeles has been where serious comics cut their teeth. Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, David Letterman, Shane Gillis. Some built careers there. Others used it as the proving ground that shaped the rest of their careers. 

The best CMOs serve the same purpose for engineers.

Think "Engineer's Engineering Company." 

The best CMOs give engineers the opportunity to work across multiple product lines, technologies, customers, and quality systems. One month they are supporting a Class III implant. The next they are helping scale a startup or solving a manufacturing challenge for an established OEM. That kind of experience is hard to find inside a company focused on a single product.

Too many CMOs compete with medical device companies on salary and benefits.

That is the wrong battle.

Instead, embrace what makes your organization different.

• Hire engineers who are driven by variety, ownership, and the chance to build products that improve lives.

• Show them why a few years at a great CMO will make them a stronger engineer than almost anywhere else.

• Celebrate the two year mark.

If there is a long term future, invest in it. If they are ready for a medical device company, write the recommendation letter and send them proudly.

That is not losing talent.

It is building a reputation.

Become the place every great engineer says they cut their teeth.

Become the Comedy Store of Medtech.

Become the Engineer's Engineering Company.

For more information or to discuss your CMO’s hiring strategy, please reach out to Bill McGuckin bmcguckin@oxenhamgroup.com.