Moving Midmark’s executive team to Dayton just over a year ago was the right thing to do, Klamar believes.
“I have discovered an amazing amount of great leadership here,” she said, adding later in an interview: “I was committed when we made the move; now I’m delighted.”
The company has about 60 employees in Dayton, about 900 in Versailles and about 1,600 globally. Klamar splits her time in Midmark’s Dayton, Versailles and West Chester Twp. offices.
Klamar joined Midmark — a medical, dental and veterinary products company — in 2000 as president and was appointed CEO in 2003, the fourth generation of the Eiting family to hold a leadership post at Midmark, according to a company bio.
What many people may not know is that Klamar began her career as a doctor, practicing medicine at Family Practice Physicians in Urbana in 1993, and serving as director of the Well Child Clinic. But she was never far from Midmark, being elected to the company’s board in 1993.
We recently sat down with Klamar to talk about her and her company. This is an edited, condensed transcript.
Q: You were a doctor for children and families before you were CEO. How did working as a physician ready you to lead a health products company?
Klamar: "In some ways, it prepared me very negatively. Because doctors tell you what to do. They don't collaborate on your health care. So the style that works in medicine, the style of communication that works in medicine, you're going to tell me your problem, I'm going to work to solve it. We may get some outside professionals, and then I'm going to get back to you with an answer. That works great in medicine; it doesn't work so well in business, because business has to be a lot more collaborative.
“So on the negative side, I had to redo my entire leadership style. My prescriptive, directive medical style of communication — I just wasn’t very effective as a leader. That’s the down side.
“The up side is that you learn in medicine to be a very good listener. And you take in all sorts of visual clues. And you have to solve problems quickly, you have to process quickly. Those characteristics were really helpful for me.”
Q: Do people try to tell you what they think you want to hear because you’re the boss?
Klamar: "I just came out of a meeting where the non-verbal cues that people were exhibiting were more important than what they were saying. And then you can call them out and say: 'Tell me what you're really thinking.' (The answer could be) 'Oh, it's all fine.' No, it's not. Look at the way you're sitting. I can see your face. Your face just got two shades of red.'
“Again, non-verbal clues. I’ve been told that’s an unfortunate reality. There’s always this thing called the ‘boss factor.’ And it’s uncomfortable — it’s uncomfortable for them, and it’s uncomfortable for me, because I would like the most transparency possible.
“Often times because of that, I’ll circle back to people and kind of re-question. Or see if I can get with them one on one and see if I can get with them a little bit differently.”
Q: Tell me how you’re dealing with the Affordable Care Act, including the tax on medical devices.
Klamar: "I have a saying, 'Hope is not a strategy.' … I feel as though we are structured as best as we possibly can be for that tax at this point. I would love it if it went away, but I'm certainly not going to count on it. …
“Medical device tax aside, the Affordable Care Act has been really positive for us. Because A), there are more patients. Some of the things that are core to what we do, in Versailles for example, such as the Toyota Production System principles, we’re now taking those to the physician’s office space. So … we can make effective and efficient patient care more prominent by bringing (Toyota) manufacturing principles, of all things.
“We piloted this, and now we’re launching a service business with it. So it (the ACA) has provided us with opportunity, as well. There is a higher need for seeing more patients, and seeing them more rapidly and more cost-effectively.”
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