Thoughts on Justin Lampropoulos

For the person who loves to bash Mormons, can you comment on the layoffs at Merit? Is this a hallmark of a well run company?

 

Comment on the stock price on October 10, 2019? It's around $27...

 

The stock is now $19.50 in after hours trading on October 30, 2019.

Comment anyone on why this happened?

 

The bluff has been called.

 

This company has been hiding one bad acquisition into the next one for years and then telling us there is all this organic growth. Fred and Justin don't want to hear from anyone that they might be making, or made, a bad decision. Todd Freese (head of US comm team) is a yes man and he is blind to the incompetence around him, including his latest promotion. Glad Wall St finally got wise to it, now maybe things will change. Doubt it, but maybe.

 

If this is true, it’s very serious. It sounds like they need new management.

 

It appears that the Street have not learned anything. When you read the basis of the lawsuits, it seems very grounded and think about "how bad" you really have to be to miss your eps by that much!

 

Justin is the most dangerous type of leader there is. He is a sociopath. This is not said lightly. I work closely for him and he does not care about anyone. Seriously. He is not his father. Fred cares immensely about his people and his company. I have seen him distraught over the last six months having to make the tough calls. Justin however delights in firing people or causing them to be extremely uncomfortable. I have seen him play with people just to Illicit stress.
Justin exhibits his lack of true talent daily. Two VPs of product management just left solely because of him. I am not on the sales side, so I get to see the full business cycle working for him. I also see the finances. He is the reason our stock price has taken a hit. When things went bad in Q2 of last year he did what all incompetent leaders do and found scapegoats (instead of looking at how to improve himself and the business). He fired the head of Europe, blamed product management for poor sales, berated the US sales force and then shuffled the whole deck. Which made matters worse and led to a poor Q3.
Fred only has one poor quality and it’s his blind spot for Justin. Justin will never make CEO, even Fred knows that now, but if Fred is not careful he is going to let this blind spot destroy his company and legacy.
Many of you have complained about Todd. Unfortunately everything negative you have said about him is actually Justin. People under Justin have the terrible job to try and shield their teams from him while having to manage his megalomania and half baked strategy. Todd and the rest of Justin’s leadership team is in a tough spot. Try to help support employees we love and a company that has a strong pipeline of amazing products all while taking real abuse from a dictator. I have heard almost every internal member of Fred’s staff complain about Justin and how he is hurting the company. Sad, but true. Fred needs to act quickly and if he does so each your work lives will get immensely better and Merit will head quickly to $2 B. If not, hold on for a very rocky ride.

Side note: there are many passionate, incredibly talented executives at Merit. Most of Fred’s senior staff are some of the brightest people I have ever worked with. The care about the company and employees.
If you care, please call the anonymous hotline and voice your concerns.

 

I agree with everything you say except the part about calling the anonymous hotline. Where does it go? To the board that reports everything directly to Fred and green lights all of his decisions?
A blind spot is one thing but someone had to clear the path for Justin, hide his under performance and exaggerate his experience and education. Not to mention the failed acquisitions.
Blind spot, bad decisions, ruthlessness. It’s all there but how can reporting it to the very people that willfully let it happen help?

 

Everything written is correct. The executives did not care enough to put up a fight or voice their concerns for the talented people at merit. The preferred their high paychecks instead of actually making sure that the right decisions were being made. The company needs new management. Every department VP who reports into Fred needs to be removed and new people brought on board who has the interest of the shareholders in mind and not beholden to Fred for their jobs. They are the ones that really screwed the employees.

I hope that the board is also removed with new people on it.

 

Merit just needs a CEO and Chairman that encourages feedback and input from the people around them. Merit has been a one man show since the beginning and it’s only recently that things got out of control. Maybe it’s time to hear from some other voices. We have no idea what the Board actually thinks. Maybe they are like everyone else, aware that if they disagree with the boss they will lose their seat. I’m sure people have been fired or pushed aside for speaking their mind.

 

Separating the Chairman role from the CEO role is a great idea for Merit. Fred should take on the Chairman role and allow a successor to take on the CEO role. As long that person is not Justin. Good lord, he is the worst. Not qualified for something like that by a country mile. I have been impressed with other Merit leaders though. Fred has built a great company and for his legacy to continue he should think about the next phase.

 

Only Justin needs to go. Jr is a train wreck. Empower the others. Many great leaders at Merit who do care.

 

Remember that one sales meeting where Justin demoralized us over and over again with cost cutting, more cost cutting and than high level financials that us reps could care less about? Fred then got up and inspired. Todd did a great job putting out the fire, only to have the moron get up there and hammer us all with cost cutting and numbers again?? oh yeah that was like 2 weeks ago.

It’s not rocket science- Here’s how to inspire a rep like me and drive your goals. Tell us where to focus and then provide reward. Focus on high margin solid products and then put goals in place for us to run through and drive your strategy. Shit, maybe I should take that step up in to sales leadership. Na, not until Justin is gone and leaders are empowered.

 

Checks and balances. Board will care and take it serious. Fred doesn’t control them. Abuse and poor leadership needs to be documented. If no one says anything than change will never occur.

 

Why then with so many great heads of departments (meaning the VPs), have not one gone to the board to complain about the abusive environment? Because the board is stacked with Fred's cronies.

 

While it is painfully obvious that Justin Lampropoulos is inept, has done a terrible job and is only in this position because he is Fred's son there are many people in leadership roles at Merit who are unqualified. The vast majority of people in sales leadership roles over the past 3-4 years have been placed in those positions because of relationships with Fred/Justin and not due to their experience, skill or ability to lead/inspire. It is also obvious the decision was made several years ago to replace the majority of those on the sales team who had proven track records with less skilled individuals who would agree to work for a fraction of the compensation. One of the other reasons for the increasing problems at Merit is the poor decision making ability of Fred and the senior leadership team which has led to a multitude of bad acquisitions. Fred often brags about the bargain basement price he paid for the acquisitions, when in truth the reason for that was the companies/technology acquired were on a downward spiral and other companies were no longer interested.
When a company makes decisions as to who to promote or place in sales leadership positions based on their relationship with Senior Leadership instead of the skills/abilities of the candidates it will show as is the case at Merit. When decisions are made in hiring/retaining a sales force based on how cheap they can be had that will soon show, that is painfully evident today at Merit Medical

 

The one thing that stuck out to me at the last sales meeting was how many reps were looking to leave

 

Thank you. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

 

Fred has a heavy hand. There needs to be a separation of his power. He should either be chairman of the board or CEO- not both. He is incredibly talented, but everyone needs someone who can balance them. Unfortunately, at this moment no one can. People have to be very political and careful with him. He does listen, but because of his power things have to be done in the right way. If his role were to split, this company would change on a dime. The stock were soar.
The first to go would be Justin. See you later asshole. US sales would jump right away as leaders would be empowered again.