If a philosophy of life can define a career, then Said Hilal, president and CEO of Applied Medical Resources Corp., is one of the most successful people on the planet.
"I've had a lot of opportunities to meet a lot of givers," said Hilal, a CSULB alumnus who earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1972 and M.S. in 1976. "In my opinion, you go through life meeting net givers and net takers. And net givers are ones who are not comfortable if you do something for them; they're not comfortable until they pay you back, until they do something for you. And if they don't do that, they feel like they're kind of freeloading, somehow. Net takers, it doesn't matter what you give them; they wonder if they should have asked for more."
Hilal was born in Lebanon but arrived in the U.S. when he was 18 to attend college. He chose Cal State Long Beach for its well-known pragmatic, hands-on engineering programs. Hilal credits educators, and particularly those professors that mentored him, with being net givers.
"You think of a (CSULB) professor like Simon Desoto, Hillar Unt or (Barclay) Gilpin, where they put all their hearts and souls into teaching the students and work with them after hours," he commented fondly. "I think I wrote most of my thesis at Dr. Desoto's house, and he's spared no time or energy. Dr. Gilpin helped while I was in school and after.
"Definitely, my wife is the ultimate net giver," added Hilal, who met Linda while she was pursuing a degree in sociology at CSULB. "One of my favorite stories is about that critical time when I was doing really, really well in the corporate world, but our corporation was acquired by a smaller corporation and the culture really changed. One day I woke up and all the folks that I respected and looked up to had moved on and a new culture had moved in. I went from enjoying every day, waking up at five, waiting for the sun to come up a little bit so I could go to work, to not really enjoying my work that much. Her immediate answer was, 'All I need is a two-bedroom apartment. Go do what you need to do,' and I knew I had her backing."
Thanks to support from his wife and many people along the way, Hilal took on a new journey that today is contributing to the future of health care.
"Flat screen TVs, cameras, telephones, computers-all of these things have seen considerable innovation, a lot of improve__ment, increased durability and reliability, capabilities. But the prices have come down," Hilal commented. "When you come to health care, a device or a treatment that is the same as last year would cost more, not less. And if it's slightly improved, it costs 10, 20, 30 percent more, and if it's considerably improved, it can cost two, three and four times more. So one has to ask oneself, what's going on here? Why isn't the same thing that applies to other consumables not applying to the most pertinent thing to peoples' lives and loved ones?"
Determined to find a solution to this health care conundrum, Hilal founded Applied Medical Resources Corp. in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., which creates devices and technologies that enhance surgical techniques in minimally invasive surgery, as well as cardiovascular, vascular, urology and general surgery. One of the company's first products was a surgical device for people who have ureteral strictures between the kidney and the bladder. This former three-and-one-half-hour surgery with general anesthesia now takes approximately 20 minutes and can be performed with a sedative.
TOP: Said Hilal, third from left, employs a number of CSULB alumni at Applied Medical Resources. ABOVE: Linda and Said Hilal both are CSULB graduates.
"The idea was if you're going to offer people value, if you're going to offer them innovation and at the same time not charge them more, then in a pure sense, you have to do more with less," Hilal said. "And for that you need dedication, you need pride, you need excellence, you need exceptional people. So the idea was that regardless of what you set out to do, in order to get that excellence, you need to concentrate on listening to the customer and addressing (their concerns) in the most effective way. When we walked up to venture capitalists, our first investors, we really didn't walk up with technology, which is what they're used to seeing. We walked up with an approach. We're going to start with a smaller product, get some success under our belt, pay the rent, make sure we have the staying power, and then invest in bigger endeavors."
As of 2007, Applied Medical has revenues of approximately $145 million, a portfolio of more than 600 pending or issued patents spanning 25 technologies and over 700 products, and employs more than 1,100 team members, many of whom are CSULB alumni.
"We've developed this culture, if you will, this work environment that consists of people who really truly want to make a difference, and they're not going to wait until they make the money," Hilal said proudly. "They understand that while pursuing their own dreams and their families' dreams for a better life, they can also pursue better medicine and participate and make it a little better as they go forth.
"Business has got to be more than the bottom line, and this really erroneous saying that business is business is just absolutely a farce," Hilal added." Business is the business of fairness and of making a difference with each and every customer. We define customers to include our team members, community, environment, patients, doctors. When you define those as the customers, and you set out to take care of them, you take care of everybody. You take care of your constituents instead of simply concentrating on maximizing one group's well being. You concentrate on doing it on a more massive scale and ironically and interestingly, and I think happily, you end up taking care of the investors."
