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CASE STUDY
Grace Under Fire

An Interview with Joe Almeida, Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of Covidien, plc

How would you characterize or describe your most important mentor?

My most important mentor was not a high-level, senior company executive. He was the third boss I had in my life. He was a vice president of operations for a company that I joined seventeen years ago. He had all the characteristics of a person who has gravitas. He had grace under fire. He was a calm person, and he had a drive for results. He led by example. He had an incredible ability to understand and acquire talent, and he was a very kind person.

A Marine platoon commander in the Vietnam War, my mentor had spent time on the front lines. His sergeant and soldiers depended upon his leadership. He’d seen many people die, and much human tragedy, so he understood what was important in life. Sometimes people are skewed about what is important and overreact to insignificant things. He showed me that sometimes you’ve got to make hard decisions under fire, so it’s best to make them with a clear, calm mind. This way, the outcome is more predictable.

What were the traits you found most instrumental in your mentor’s work with you?

My mentor taught me to do exactly what I just described. When I started my career, I was a hyper type of person. I overreacted to many things that were not tremendously important or significant. Grace under fire was a great, great trait for me to learn. My mentor was very humble, which I was not. I learned from him how to leave my ego at the door every day when I came to work. And, finally, he was a great listener. He listened with intensity. He actively listened. I learned this from him.

What is one example or incident or illustration of how this person was helpful to you?

Some time ago, I received very bad news about a product we were making. We’re in medical technology, and there were three deaths associated with one of our products. This rattles any senior executive who makes products designed to save people’s lives. Sometimes the products are designed and produced right, but sometimes there are unintended consequences that can’t be predicted. I was told what had happened by telephone on a Friday night after work. My usual tendency would have been to come up with solutions on the spot, have twenty things going on at the same time, and have everyone scramble to get things done and get back to me. But instead, I hung up the phone, called a group of four very senior executives, and very calmly told them what had happened. In thinking about what my mentor would have done, I told the group that we were going to come under fire, that there were going to be consequences, and that we needed to act quickly. I told them that we needed to take a little time and think about how we were going to face the crisis. We had a resolution in less than twenty-four hours. Not only that, but we were able to speak with the FDA and handle the situation in the right way, with patient safety as the top priority. If I had taken charge in my natural, hyper state, without thinking it through and without using the example of grace under fire that I had learned from Mike, the outcome would not have been good.

What advice or feedback did this person provide that was helpful to you?

My mentor told me a story about being calm. He didn’t usually speak about the war, but one time he gave me an example of what he was trying to teach me. He told me that he had been down in the trenches, taking a break before going back out to fight. He said there was another soldier in the trench who was fighting the rats instead of resting. My mentor said to the soldier, “What is most important to you? To fight the rats and tell the enemy where we are, or to live to fight another day?” It took me a while to understand what he was trying to teach me with this story. But now I understand that he meant to sort out your priorities, not only in business, but in life. Ask yourself, what really makes a difference? Understand the long-term consequences of the things that you do. They may seem very small in themselves, but they are great in terms of future impact.