WM asked 18 Wabash entrepreneurs:
What’s the most important thing you know about being an entrepreneur?
What should Wabash be doing to instill this "entrepreneurial spirit?"
How Can I Do It Better?
Dr. Frank Kolisek spent two years mastering a minimally invasive surgical technique for hip replacement, then combined it with infrared navigation technology for the first time on a patient in the summer of 2004. The results of this method have been dramatic: shorter recovery period, less pain during recovery, and a quicker return to normal use of the joint.
The procedure is just one example of the leading edge work Kolisek performs and encourages as president of OrthoIndy, one of the most respected orthopaedic practices in the Midwest.
What is the most important thing you know about being an entrepreneur?
I see the "entrepreneurial spirit" as a way to keep from getting bored, as well as a way to expand the field in which you work. We are all responsible for trying to make things better for the future. We can’t be satisfied with the status quo.
As president of OrthoIndy, I am constantly trying to figure out ways in which we can improve the delivery
of health care so that our patients,? our employees and my partners can be more satisfied. This may not have
anything to do with medicine itself but, again, with trying to look at things beyond what our core business entails.
I think this is what a medical entrepreneur does—at least that’s what I do.
As a joint-replacement surgeon, I’m constantly trying to figure out ways I can replace a patient’s hip or knee in
a less invasive fashion that would allow them to return to their normal activities much sooner after surgery. How can I change the implant design or the instruments? How can we better educate the patients so they will recover faster? How can I use computer navigation to improve the alignment of the implant? Should the implant be aligned the way we’ve always been taught or is there a better functional position? What am I missing?
The most important thing I know about being an entrepreneur is that you can never stop questioning. We
must learn how to use our knowledge to figure out how we are going to apply what we learned to the real world.
To instill this in Wabash students, teach them to constantly ask why: Why are things the way they are, and how can I do it better?