Workshop Wednesdays Radio with Host Tony Gambone and Special Guest Dana Oliver:

Dana Oliver is a kind of “rags to riches” business success. I grew up the son of a career military father with little to no disposable monies where neither of my parents attended college. The expectations were to be a good person and find a profession. In short, I worked full time during the day and attended night school at Northeastern University, Boston, MA for ten years while receiving partial reimbursement from the businesses I worked for with the remainder supplemented by myself. I began as an entry level minimum wage draftsman working my way up until my present day career.

As a brief biography, I am the Senior Director of Research & Development at Medtronic’s Surgical Technologies ENT / NT division and have helped grow this business unit from $100 million to approximately $2 billion in annual revenues over fourteen years. I have approximately 30 years of experience in the field of medical devices, working for such companies as Medtronic, Genzyme, SIMS Level 1, Kirwan Surgical, and Strichman Medical. I have applied for over 30 patent applications and has been granted over 20 US patents to date and I am the author of two self-help business books; “Mantra Leadership – Don’t Become the Emperor with No Clothes!” (The book focuses on emotionally intelligent leadership skills that can result in as much as a 30% or more improvement in productivity). More recently, I published “Mantra Design – Innovate, Buy, or Die! Discover the Secrets for Profitable and Lasting Innovation” (The book reveals the secrets to identifying your customer’s unmet needs and transforming them into patent protected, premium priced, market share leading products).