Thirty Minute Mentors Podcast Transcript: Interview with Billionaire Inventor Gary Michelson

I recently interviewed Dr. Gary K. Michelson on my podcast, Thirty Minute Mentors. Here is a transcript of our interview: 

Adam: There are very few people in the world who are self-made billionaires. Our guest today is one of them. Dr. Gary K. Michelson has an incredible story. From student to doctor, to inventor and entrepreneur, to leading philanthropist. Gary was raised by his mother and grandmother and Gary's grandmother suffered from a debilitating spinal cord injury. Inspired by his grandmother's suffering, Gary became a spinal surgeon and practiced for over 25 years. Along the way, Gary developed new technologies, implants, instruments and procedures that have helped spinal surgeons treat millions of patients around the world more effectively. In 2005, Gary sold many of his patents to Medtronic for over a billion dollars. But he still holds more than 340 patents today. A noted philanthropist, Gary joined Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge and he's created several highly impactful foundations. Gary, thank you for joining us.

Gary: My pleasure, Adam. Thank you.

Adam: I would love to start with your days as a student. You worked two jobs in college. You were almost kicked out of medical school in your third year for refusing to participate in procedures that you deemed inhumane. Can you describe the key moments and important lessons that ultimately shaped the trajectory of your journey and your success?

Gary: Well, I am one of four brothers. My parents had gotten divorced when I was a child. And my mother was working full time and trying to raise them for us. I ended up leaving home a year out of high school and I was really on my own. And I think two things came from that; the first is you have to grow up very fast and the second is you- I recognize that the Calvary is not coming. It's not like the old Lassie show with a dog goes and help comes. I really had to learn to stand up on my own, take care of myself. And I think that that influenced the rest of my life. For most of those patents we were talking about, I was a sole named inventor. They weren't the products of a group. They came together with just me. And I think I came to rely on myself. And also then to believe in myself. I think that's what came from that.

Adam: What skills do you think everyone should develop early on in their careers? And how can they develop them?

Gary: Well, I'm not sure if it’s a skill, but you really do have to believe in yourself. And I think that people have to have dreams. But then of course, that's really just the goalpost, that tells you what direction to move the ball. You have to be willing to work to achieve those dreams.

Adam: You once told me that your success was spurred by, I'm going to quote, “a level of focused single-mindedness to the point of being willing to give up a lot of things that most people would not be willing to give up.” Can you elaborate on that?

Gary: Yes. People commonly say that they're going to prioritize things. I think what they mean by that is you're just going to place them in some kind of numerical order. But that's not the way life really works. You don't get to do all of the things. And it may be that your very first choice is, do I work longer? Or do I spend more time with my family? Just think about that one predicament Two; I go out and party Saturday night or go to church for Sunday morning. Some of these choices don't allow any room for the other things you might think would go on your list of priorities. And I wouldn't wish it for my children. The choices I made that were right for me, but I didn't get married. I didn't have children for all my professional career. Because I was too busy doing the thing I was trying to do which was doing the advantage.

Adam: If you had to turn back time, would you have done things differently or would you have followed the same journey that you follow?

Gary: Adam, I'm the most blessed person that I know, probably the most influential piece of poetry in my life was Frost. That poem about the road not taken. And I think we're all familiar with that. However, the point of it is, you do come upon choices in your life. You're forced to choose, you go down one of those paths, you really don't know where it's going to be, but you chose it over the other and you never get to take it back. And in my life, I actually got to go back and take the other. So for the first 50 years of my life, I single-mindedly pursued just one thing. And that was being the best spine surgeon I could be. And that involves inventing the things that dramatically improve spine surgery. And then after that was all over, I met a wonderful woman, a gift from God. Got to have children and then travel that other road. Few people get that gift.

Adam: You said that a lot of the things you did you would never wish upon your children. What do you tell your children? What is your advice to them?

Gary: Well, my wife and I both have the same philosophy, to expose them to as many things as we can. Whether it's swimming, or gymnastics, or horseback riding or snow skiing, whatever it is, let them feel which things they're inclined to want to do. So I just want them to be themselves, but to have every opportunity to find out who that is.

Adam: What was your daily routine when you were building your wealth? And what is it now?

Gary: Well, that's an interesting question because my routine wasn't about building wealth. I would get up every day at 5:30 in the morning, and I would spend some time meditating because that was the time I knew I'd set aside for that. I would get dressed to have breakfast, go to the hospital and start making my rounds on the people that I had operated on the day before. And then at seven in the morning I would go down and see the families and the patients that I was going to operate on that day. When surgery finished, which was sometimes in the afternoon, I would then go to the office to see patients. After that I would go home, and I would work on my inventions till I went to sleep. So I never really did what I did with the goal of becoming wealthy. It seems to have been an accident actually.

Adam: That's amazing. Can you talk about what a typical day in the life is like for you right now? I know that you're heavily focused on making a difference through your philanthropy. And I'm curious to know how someone who has been so dedicated to endeavors from practicing medicine to inventing medical devices, shifts to a new focus and how you spend your time today?

Gary: Yes, it's a great question, Adam. So, I think that if you're used to working hard, it's not easy to give that up. So while I don't practice spinal surgery anymore, I think I put the same amount of time and effort into the various foundations that we run and some efforts that are beyond our own foundations. So this past year, by way of example, I was very involved in trying to engage the government to do things that I thought would be beneficial to society, in the whole and to my own interest about how I would like the world to be. So we work very hard in California to get this firm and pass a law that now makes it illegal to get this fur ban passed. It’s now illegal to sell fur into commerce in California. We got an exotic hydes bill passed in a similar fashion making it illegal to import, for example, hippopotamus skin, or other exotic animals as articles of clothing into California. The year before we got the Cosmetics Cruelty Free Act passed where you can't import in California any cosmetics that were tested on animals. So we've been very involved in trying to engage the government to do things that we think are good. We've been very engaged in the area of higher education. And my wife and I have been spending substantial amounts of time in our Medical Research Foundation.

Adam: You touched on this a little bit before but I would love for you to expand upon your thoughts and advice on how listeners can most effectively manage their time and competing priorities. What are your best tips around improving focus and prioritization?

Gary: It's actually what we mentioned earlier, people think that they're going to be able to simply prioritize all the things they would like to do. And they can't, they really have to choose which things they're going to do. And each one will have a cost. So if you want to make more money and stay at work longer, the cost to be you have less time with your family. If you want to prioritize spending time with your children while they're growing up, because you're never gonna do that again, then you're gonna spend less time at work and make less money. And I think all that goes to what your own definition of success is, and what their own definition of being happy is.

Adam: What is your definition of success and what is your definition of happiness?

Gary: I think the two are intimately related. I don't think you're going to be happy if you're a failure and on the other hand, what would success be if it doesn't bring you happiness? So those two have to be interrelated. But I would say that there's something that goes beyond that. If you feel that you've been given too much, if you feel that you've been blessed, that goes, in a sense beyond success, beyond happiness. And it makes you feel from inside yourself, that hey, you know what, the world really is not a fair place. And somehow I've gotten too much. And that motivates you to reach beyond yourself. And that's another source of happiness.

Adam: A lot of your charitable work focuses on education and developing people in different ways. So along those same lines, what are your messages to people on how they can, if not emulate your level of success, become the most successful versions of themselves that they can possibly be?

Gary: Yes, I really liked the way you put that because I think that while we all look around and see people that we might want to be like, be able to jump as high as a Michael Jordan, or anybody else who's some kind of a hero. But you have to be careful because looking out there, the dark side of that is when you feel envious, like, why do they have that? And I don't. And I think that's a danger. But if you look to yourself, I can only tell you that by way of example, I watched my young child learning the multiplication tables. I don't think they understand why it's important. But as I watched that happen, I say to myself, this is part of that person? They're going to acquire this for the rest of their lives and nobody can take it away from them. And there's going to be a million more of these and in total, they help make this person who they are. So when you talk about people learning, education is clearly the engine of social mobility that's accessible to most people in this country. It's everything.

Adam: How did you start inventing medical devices? Can you discuss both the creative side and the business side and any tips and advice that you have for listeners?

Gary: Well, invention is a very broad term. And there are certainly different ways of going about it that day. So some people have simply observed things in nature and realize the value of those. That's how we got Velcro. In other cases, people were witnesses to accidents that they could recognize the benefit of. That's how we cut the vulcanization of rubber or Teflon. But most of the kind of inventing that I did is purpose direct and land acquisition. And the man who invented the Polaroid process, describes that as linear progression. So you have a goal. In his case it was I want to have the film developed in the camera, you have a starting place, which is he certainly knew how dark room or there were various chemical bands that had occurred a dark room, the inside of a camera store, he could put the chemicals in packets that would sequence if the film pulled through. And so he just went step by step by step to get from where he wants to where he wants to go. That's his purpose trip. So in spine, most of the inventions arose because of inadequacy of what we had and a failure for those procedures to reliably produce good results.

Adam: What do you think holds people back? How can people overcome their inhibitions?

Gary: That's the best question you've asked all day. It's a great question. So somebody wants to get inside of every person. That's a novel we didn't get out. Listen, everybody could be an inventor. So the first thing that holds people back is fear. It's a fear of failing. And when you try something and it doesn't work, if you give up then it is a failure. If you don't give up and you allow yourself to process that lack of success To learn why it didn't work, you thought it was going to work, it didn't work. So either your thought process was wrong, or it's something else is going on, try to figure out that and that would direct your next iteration. So unless you're going to give up when you don't succeed, they're not failures. That's the first thing. The second thing is you have to give yourself permission to color outside the lines. And there's that old song about a creative adult is a child that survived. But it's true. every person had an experience of bringing home the drawing, they colored in and they show it to their mother and they're all happy. And then mother goes, Yes, son, that's very nice, but I think he's supposed to color inside the lines. Well, that's not where invention occurs. Invention always occurs outside the lines. And so you have to give yourself permission to color outside the lines. And the third thing that you have to give yourself permission to do is to deconstruct things back to the essential elements, without the certain knowledge that you can put them back together again, people are very afraid to do that. And so in most people's lives, there's unlimited opportunities to invent. I was just skiing last week, and everybody's now selling these little tiny covers that you slip over your goggles to protect the lens. It seems so simple. But even two years ago, those didn't even exist. There's always an opportunity, even in ordinary people's lives, to invent things that are useful to them, and useful to everybody else.

Adam: Can you describe your support system on the way to the top? Who must we surround ourselves with?

Gary: Well, I can't answer that question for you because I had none. And the proof of that is that I actually have over 900 patents that have been issued around the world. And only two of those have a second name but on all the other ones I’m the single named inventor. So I always work by myself. I wasn't part of a group thing. And maybe I have a jaundiced view on this. But there's a saying that a camel was actually a nice horse that was designed by a committee. So, yeah. So in my own life, being by myself, goes all the way back to the first question you asked me about what I learned early in my education. When I put myself through college and I put myself through medical school. It was a standalone. The cavalry is not coming. Don't look for outside help. Do it on your own. And that's how I've lived my life. It's not right for everybody, but it was right for me.

Adam: What was the biggest risk you ever took in your career?

Gary: It was this situation in medical school. You actually mentioned it. I was in medical school. I had already invested four years of my life in pre-med. I was more than two years into my medical school training, and we were presented with this laboratory where we had to put these dogs to sleep. And the curriculum was that every single week you would come back, operate on the same dog and take out a lung, the first week, a kidney, the second week, half of the stomach the third week, after the liver, just on and on. So these poor dogs wouldn't even heal from one operation. And you'd be operating on it again and again again, and again, for 12 weeks. They would give these dogs no pain medicine. And the worst part was when I walked in the very first day, they said, okay, you need to put these dogs to sleep. Well, these dogs were licking your hand, you'd say sit, they would sit, tell them to lie down. These were people's pets. So this was horrible. I wasn't going to do that. And I was going to medical school that had been around for at least 100 years. The Dean said to me, this is not optional. You either do it or we expel you and I said I'm not doing it. So that was probably the most difficult, most challenging decision, it was the greatest test of my moral character. Because, as the Dean said to me, so we've been 100 years, no one has ever refused to test

Adam: On a scale of one to 10. How important is ethics to leadership? I mean, from that story, it sounds like a 10. Would you agree with that?

Gary: I think you're either all in or you're not. I don't think you get to stand in the middle ground. I think we could look at what's going on in Washington today. And you see the people who truly had a hard line ended up leaving the administration, there was a line they would not cross and it's like dancing with the devil. I don't think you get to stand in the middle. You either are committed to doing what's right and paying the cost or you're not. And in this case with the dog lab, the cost was everything. I just couldn't do it. I wasn't going to do that, I wasn't going to have to look in the mirror and look at myself. If I did that, I couldn't do that.

Adam: Can you describe moments of self-doubt that you remember over the course of your journey? And how are you able to overcome those feelings?

Gary: That's interesting. I have to ask you, have you ever just been startled? Sure. The first flash that you get is fear. And if you're anything like me, that's instantly replaced with anger. I don't know if it's anger. But with me, that fear just instantly changes into a cut. I'm looking at what to be angry about. So I have a son. And just recently I was watching him and he tried to climb up the side of a very steep snowbank. And just to get to the top, the snowbank turned nearly vertical. And he would slide all the way back down again. And I watched him do it over and over again. I said to myself, okay, this has got to be the last time. It wasn't. He went up one more time and we got to about five feet to the top. He’s put into the snow on each side and literally embedded the front of his boot into the snow until he got to the very top of the summit. So anybody else would have been overcome by the sense of helplessness, disappointment. He somehow converted that into determination. And the reason I'm telling you that story is because that's as I look back on my life, the same way that I was, in those moments where I should have been overcome by fear is sort of more of just like that sense of being startled did to being angry and worked into might and overdetermination. Like, I can't allow this to beat me. I need to overcome this, and I had more energy to do it. So. That's the tie between those two stories.

Adam: I love it. I think it's great, tremendous advice for our listeners. How can leaders create a culture that fuels innovation?

Gary: So, five years ago, there was not a single college or a university in the United States that taught an undergraduate course, work, credit on intellectual property. Now think about that for just a second. We've got Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Snapchat, eBay, Amazon, Airbnb. Every one of these powerhouse companies are worth more than General Electric, worth more than General Motors, were started by people who were in the college demographic. How could it be that if the purpose of colleges is to prepare people for the future, no college, no University was teaching intellectual property? If you look at a company like Uber, that's all they own. Sure. They don't own the cars that you get picked up in. They don't have physical assets. They have intellectual. So to correct that, through my 20 Million Minds Foundation, we actually created the first freely downloadable intellectual property textbook. Anybody who wants can access it right now. Just go to 20 million minds. org. And you can download books. We then converted that into a course in a box, so that any university or college could offer that course for credit. Four years ago, USC became the first university in the country to do so. And now there's 40 universities in the United States that are offering that exact course for credit at the undergraduate level.

Adam: That's great. I'm a USC alum, and I'm happy to hear that they're on the forefront of this. So that's exciting.

Gary: Yeah, they've been willing to be innovative and take risks. I have great respect for that. That's great.

 Adam: What are the biggest misconceptions that people have about wealth?

Gary: So there was a great study done, it was published in 2018. People can go online and access it. Where this group in New York, actually, were able to interview and assess people who had won the lottery for at least $100,000. So many had gotten millions. Five to 20 years after they had won, to see if they were happier. And the conclusion was, both by self-assessment, and other assessments that they were no happier by the 22 years after winning the lottery than they were before. So money does not buy happiness. Now, what money does too, so we can all get on the same page. If you're spending a lot of your time worrying about how to pay the bills. That's not a good quality of life. So there is some level of Well, I don't think it's great, but at some level, that takes that off the table. So your life is more satisfactory in that regard. With a lot of money, it won't get you happiness And if you look at David Koch he could just die. He won't buy health either.

Adam: Sure, I would imagine your approach by every good cause that's ever existed. How do you approach decision making in philanthropy? And in general? And what are your best tips for listeners on how to make hard decisions?

Gary: So there is no limit to the number of worthy causes. And yes, you have to make decisions. So some people like to take the powdered sugar approach. You know, you just sprinkle that on top of the doughnut or whatever, and it's not very deep, but it goes far. And other people like to make real deep commitments. I would say that, at least for me, it's important to do what makes your heartache, do what you're passionate about. If it's animals, then it's animals. You don't have to apologize to somebody for that. If it's people, it's people, but do what makes you happy. And then, while your decision about what to do was driven by your heart, you need to engage your brain to make sure that you get the best return for every dollar invested in what you do, and I use that word invested quite deliberately. You're not looking for money return. But what you're looking for is how much good can you get per dollar gift, whether it's saving lives, improving lives, educating people, whatever it is. So I think that's the formula that's worked for me.

Adam: You've worn many hats throughout your career and have worn them successfully; Doctor, inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist. In your view, when is the right time to move on to your next act?

Gary: Well, first, I must say that's a great question from you because I should be interviewing you.

Adam: I'm flattered- beyond flattered to hear that from you. Thank you

Gary: I mean, you've worn more hats than anybody I've read about. So I think that, you know, it's really two things. First, it's circumstantial, our life circumstances change, and sometimes that redirects us. And sometimes it comes from within.

Adam: What is one thing that everyone should do to pay it forward?

Gary: The very first thing, and the very most important thing is that it has to genuinely come from within you. And for that to happen, you have to stop and take stock of how blessed you are. Now, there surely are some of us who are, but most of us are far more blessed than we appreciate. And when you do take the time to appreciate how blessed you are, then you genuinely want to reach out and help other people. I think that's the single most important thing. Secondly, that it should start with your own children. You should mindfully want to have them have a better life than you then. And there's all kinds of ways we go about that. But comes back at the end of the day, to that book that Scott Peck wrote, The road less traveled, we give our time to that which we love. So, money is not going to do that. Your children will tell the difference between what you buy them and the time you spend with, and so will everybody else. And there's nobody listening to your show that is too poor to give their time. And at the end of the day, whether it's visiting somebody in the hospital, or going down to the animal shelter, and walking a dog, a pitty that's going to be put down the next day. We all can make a difference with our time.

Adam: Gary, thank you for the tremendous advice. And thank you for joining us.

Gary: Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

Adam: Pleasure was mine.