“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” Lucie Landová’s lessons on leadership and innovation

In this article

• The myth of the brilliant manager who knows everything
• Why technology startups hit a wall
• Go and see what happens in a hospital. Now
• A new generation of leaders

She began her career as a student working part time in a quality department. Today, Lucie Landová leads innovation and strategic teams at LINET and serves as Programme Director of an MBA programme at NEWTON University. After more than twenty years in business, she is clear about one thing: developing a great technology is the easy part in MedTech. The real challenge is getting it to the patient without being defeated by regulation or unrealistic assumptions about the market.

When we hear the words healthcare innovation, most of us picture laboratories and high tech robots. According to Lucie Landová, however, the reality looks very different. If you want to enter the field of MedTech, you should set aside the textbook theories and go directly into the field.

The myth of the brilliant manager who knows everything

Lucie Landová’s journey into senior management did not happen overnight. She admits that, early in her career, she struggled with a common weakness among young leaders:

“I used to think that a good manager had to have an answer to almost everything. Today, I believe the exact opposite. My role is not to be the smartest person in the room.”

The secret of successful leadership lies in bringing the right people together.

“I do not need to know more about product design than an experienced developer. My role is to provide context for the work and help the team reach a decision together. A senior team is not there simply to agree with you. The best discussions are the ones I leave with a different opinion from the one I had when I entered the room,” Landová says.

Why technology startups hit a wall

MedTech represents an enormous opportunity, but it is also full of potential pitfalls. Thousands of innovative ideas emerge, yet only a fraction succeed. Where do young companies and startups make their biggest mistake? They underestimate the ecosystem.

“The biggest problem is that startups deal with each issue in isolation,” Landová explains. “They may have a fantastic technology, but realise too late that they do not have sufficient clinical evidence. Or they only begin addressing the strict requirements of the European Medical Device Regulation, known as the MDR, shortly before entering the market. Sometimes they have a fully certified product, only to discover that hospitals have no economic incentive to buy it.”

Success therefore depends on far more than code or hardware.

“I sometimes say, perhaps a little provocatively, that inventing something is not the hardest part of MedTech. The hardest part is getting a good idea to the patient safely, with credible evidence and in an economically viable way,” Landová warns those who try to innovate from behind a desk.

Go and see what happens in a hospital. Now

According to Landová, innovating from behind a desk is another critical mistake. Even a technically perfect product has little value if it makes the daily work of a nurse or doctor more difficult.

“The reality of a hospital is far more complex than any technical requirement in a project brief. When you stand beside a nurse during a real shift, you understand within minutes what you would never learn from ten workshops in a meeting room. You see the time pressure, the ergonomic demands and the physical limitations of the environment,” Landová says, drawing on her practical experience.

In her view, the best innovations do not begin with a fascination with technology. They begin with an exceptional understanding of a real problem.

A new generation of leaders

The MBA in Innovation and Strategy in MedTech, led by Lucie Landová as Programme Director, was created for people who want to understand this complex system and avoid unnecessary mistakes. Its purpose is not only to advance technology, but above all to develop the people behind it.

If you are considering a career at the intersection of technology, business and healthcare, Lucie Landová’s advice is straightforward: surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, respect the realities of the market from day one and, most importantly, go and see how things work in practice.

That is where the real key to innovation lies.