The chief executive of $13 billion medical device company Fisher & Paykel Healthcare makes decisions today based on a 30-year time horizon.
Lewis Gradon told Markets with Madison he was aiming to double its global revenue every five years - a plan that required discipline.
“The available market would see us doubling our business every five or six years for at least 30 years.
“And it gets harder and harder and harder.”
FPH sells breathing apparatus such as sleep apnea machines and neo-natal chambers. Its nasal high-flow respirators were used on Covid-19 patients in hospitals around the world.
In total, its products were used on 20 million patients in hospitals or at home last financial year.
Gradon said there were 250 million more patients it could help.
“One of the stories for our business is that we are active in markets that are large and we are active in markets that are under penetrated.”
His leadership style was on brand with FPH’s campaign against ‘short-termism’ - a phrase used by chairman Scott St John at its annual shareholder meeting last week.
Gradon has worked at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare for 40 years - the past seven as its chief executive.
In this interview, he explains his long-term thinking and why the company is spending $275 million on a 105-hectare site south of Auckland to fulfill its growth plans.
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Madison Reidy is the host of New Zealand’s only financial markets show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.
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