Written by Maci Killman
Laurence Birch, founder and, until recently, CEO of Evolve Audiology Group brought to you by Concordia University Chicago’s, College of Business, in partnership with Global Midwest Alliance spoke on Oct. 4th, for the Global Speaker Series. A “finance guy” is what he describes himself, Birch attended the University of Illinois to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Finance. From there, Birch went to Northwestern’s Kellogg School to earn his MBA.
“I didn’t have a vision of what I wanted to do,” said Birch.
Baxter Healthcare is where Birch landed his first job that jumpstarted his career. There he was able to enter the healthcare professional world with connections that would last him years to come.
“Your life will be impacted by these people you work with,” said Birch. Large companies, such as Baxter Healthcare, had the opportunity to bond employees for results and friendships in the workplace, this was something Birch was able to carry away from this company as he obtained different opportunities in the career world. Birch compared Baxter Healthcare’s culture and values to a fraternity or sorority. Baxter Healthcare and other large companies have the opportunity to “bring people together,” and the company accomplished that, said Birch.
As Birch acquired different careers, he came to the position as CEO at DataTrak and it was able to give him new challenges from reconstructing the company to doing a 180 turn, and getting it back on track in the business world. Different employees will cross your paths and when one says “I didn’t sign up for this,” get far away from that person, said Birch. Those words are what not to say if you want to step and be a leader. To be the leader, you have to step up and take charge, said Birch. Unfortunately, with being in charge and taking responsibility you will get blamed, but putting the interest of others before you will benefit in the long run, said Birch.
“When there’s a challenging situation, you either step up, or step out,” said Birch.
A challenge from Birch appeared early in his career when he had to take a company that wasn’t producing and reconstruct it so it could get back on its feet. The company had 225 employees that’s job was to create, market, and do all the things necessary to sell a product, but there was no product, said Birch. He came in and reconstructed the company to around 25 employees and hired some new people who valued what the company was producing, said Birch.
Being CEO gave Birch many challenges, but when unsure of what to do Birch said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” because you’re never sure of the opportunities it may bring.
