Today I read a comment on LinkedIn by Mace Horoff about loyalty in medical devices. It is a message that is more than applicable to the spine implants world, where strong and long-lasting relationships with customers are built over many years.
In this business, we don’t just manage accounts. We build real human relationships. We get to know families, share trips, attend celebrations, and spend countless hours together in the operating room and outside the hospital environment. Over time, professional relationships naturally become personal.
And yet, one day, something changes.
Suddenly, relationships that once felt unbreakable come to an end. Not because anyone did something wrong, but because circumstances shifted and decisions had to be made in the best interest of the surgeon or the hospital.
Loyalty in the spine industry exists, but it has limits. The well-known phrase remains true: it’s not personal, it’s business. Even when it feels personal, it is always business.
The real mistake is confusing loyalty with permanence. No account lasts forever. No business relationship is guaranteed.
This is not a call to be cynical. The spine industry is still an incredible place to work, full of talented people and genuine relationships. The key is to enjoy the journey, value the trust while it lasts, and avoid building your identity or security on something that is, by nature, temporary.
Keeping it real doesn’t make you cold. It makes you resilient.
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