Push harder for diversity
Lobo had made diversity, equity and inclusion clear priorities when he took over as CEO in 2012. The company made progress bringing women into senior management and the sales team, but Lobo conceded that Stryker hasn’t made progress in bringing in more people of color.
Lobo credits Stryker’s early push for diversity with fostering a dialogue following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The outrage following Floyd’s death convinced many medtech companies, including Stryker, to condemn the act and pledge to improve diversity in their own workforces. Lobo, who is of Indian descent and grew up in Canada, shared his own thoughts and experiences as well.
“I wrote a note to our employees that was fairly raw and talked about that,” he said. “The fact that we’ve been talking about this all this time already, [meant] it wasn’t a new reaction.”