From 1989 to 1997 I had a front row seat on the rocketship called U.S. Surgical Corp.

My ticket for the ride was punched in 1982, when I started as a sales rep at U.S. Surgical. I was fortunate enough to work through the ranks to senior director of sales and later became a VP of sales, responsible for half of the U.S. Over my more than 15 years with the firm, we went from just over $100 million in annual sales to $1.4 billion by 1997, the year before Tyco Healthcare acquired us for $3.3 billion.