The Pillars of Med One

It’s been correctly observed that with the courage to begin and the discipline to endure, victory becomes a matter of time. What does victory look like for a business? Throughout a company’s lifespan, the proverbial needle is constantly on the move. For entrepreneurial Med One founders, Larry Stevens and Brent Allen, victory looks like consistent growth and a sustainable business plan in which the torch can be confidently passed to a new generation of leaders.

Nearly 34 years after founding Med One, Larry and Brent have officially stepped away from full-time work in 2024. We say, “stepped away” because they are almost allergic to the word retire and they will both have active involvement from their seats on the company’s board of directors. These two great men have shown tremendous courage, optimism, and discipline throughout their careers. Having endured through the early pivotal years of Med One and for 33 years since, they have rightly observed on more than one occasion that they are now “more than three decades into this overnight success.”

From the first courageous steps it took to start the company to the discipline it has taken to see it through these many years, Larry and Brent have built a wonderful and successful company that is truly unique in many ways – particularly the company’s structure. The successful blending of a medical focused leasing company with a strategically complementary rental business puts Med One in a class by itself. While many lessors do medical assets and several medical renters and resellers exist, we’re not aware of any others that have blended the two functions in the way that Med One has done.

The creative and optimistic vision of our founders for what Med One could become has had a powerful impact on the culture. In the lore of Med One, there have been slogans, catchphrases and words aplenty (“we do one thing well, whatever it takes”), but the real and lasting impact on the company’s culture has ultimately been powered by Larry and Brent’s action and examples. They have set a strong tone of simple, innovative, customer-focused solutions in a financial services world that is all too often commoditized. The importance they have always placed on being relentlessly responsive to customers has been contagious company-wide and has led to many satisfied and loyal customers from day one. The company’s relentless commitment to customers continues to this day. In short, their approach to the world of medical equipment leasing and rental has been practical, smart, and refreshing to all who’ve encountered it.

Larry and Brent first became friends while serving in New Zealand together as church missionaries in the mid 1960s. Their paths then crossed professionally for the first time in 1971 at a Utah-based leasing company called FMA. When that company sold, they moved down different paths for a few years, but were then reunited when Medirec, a medical equipment rental company brought them on board to start a leasing division they called Cura Financial. Leasing patient care equipment quickly became a passion which later fueled their coura-geous decision to start their own company, Med One Capital in 1991.

Ours has been the privilege and opportunity to witness the unfolding of the Med One story from day one up through the present day. With front row seats, we have been keenly aware of the ups and downs, trial and error, uncertainties and triumphs, frustrations and joys that have come with this Med One experience. In 2002, after 11 years in business, we were brought on full-time to help expand the company’s lease originations efforts - which to that point had largely been done by Larry and Brent personally.

What have we observed and learned from these two great business leaders? They both have a fantastic work ethic. They have set a gold standard for doing whatever it takes to earn business from a customer. While working hard, they also taught us the importance of playing hard and striking a good balance between the two. The most direct application of this work hard/play hard principle has revolved around their shared love of golf. Over the years, when there have been customers to visit or conferences to attend, more often than not, a round of golf factored prominently into those business trips. Some of the best golf courses in the United States also became a place where customer relationships were built and solidified, and business deals were completed. Golf has become a prominent feature of our company culture as a business tool, a favored means of charitable giving, and certainly a favorite non-work activity for many within the Med One community.

Work ethic is more than just putting in the hours and hard driving toward goals and dead-lines. Part of Med One’s secret sauce has always been the demonstrated importance of giving every customer a world-class experience. Every company has internal drama and constraints, but Larry and Brent have always emphasized the importance of shielding our customers from all internal issues that arise in the business process. Those in the Med One community have always been led to conduct themselves and present the business with utmost class and dignity. That includes the importance of listening intently to customers, carefully considering their unique needs and responding as quickly and completely as possible.

Those who know Larry are aware of his innate leadership qualities. He projects authority and self-confidence and has a remarkable ability to articulate the company’s vision to employees and customers, bringing often complex ideas to life and inspiring others to confidence in his vision. Larry has an excellent sense of optimism. Loyal to a fault, he believes in those he leads and gives them opportunities to learn, succeed and contribute. From him we have learned that there is an opportunity to learn and grow in every problem that may arise. As a business leader, he was never one to get overly bogged down by what may appear to be unfavorable circumstances. He is by nature, a problem solver and especially loves to help customers solve problems. Over the years it has been marvelous to see the way he sits with a customer, listens intently as they describe a product or sales process, takes it all in, then seamlessly transitions into a creative response that offers a spot-on solution to their unique sales challenges. He sees and understands the big picture. A business has many moving parts, and he has always had an ability to see those many parts working together in unison to create a well-oiled machine.

Brent has often been best known for his quick wit, humorous and entertaining stories—always applied to important lessons about business and life, and his down-to earth personality. While he has carefully honed his entertaining persona, Brent’s good sense and business acumen have also had a tremendous influence on Med One. He has a great ability to read a room, put people at ease, quickly identify problems and recommend well thought out solutions. He is fair minded, and cares deeply about the best interest of customers and employees alike. His pragmatic side has also prompted him to ask deep and probing questions of his leadership team in a non-threatening way that encourages accountability and motivates improvement. The real genius behind Brent’s many entertaining stories is the way he flawlessly ties them into the Med One way. He has never seemed unprepared for any occasion to lighten the mood and teach important concepts with his signature humor. Creativity has always come naturally to Brent. He has an ability to always think outside the box-whether it’s creating a unique program for a vendor or sharing our story with customers. It’s no wonder that Creativity is one of the Med One’s pillars. One day we may even find the key to Brent’s vault of stories!

Larry and Brent have built a legacy company that is rich in culture. They have often said that when they began Med One, they started with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The goal was to fill the bag of experience before the bag of luck ran empty. Their company’s bag of experience has filled up, and we hope the bag of luck continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. Well, I think we can all agree that their bag of experience is full.

The valuable lessons we have learned from these two great business leaders over the past three decades have had a tremendous impact on us and have shaped our own approach and preparation to walk in their shoes. In our view, it’s not an overstatement to say that they have, in many ways, internalized what it means to live full and balanced lives. One author’s description of a life lived to the fullest depicts Larry and Brent very well:

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To himself he is always doing both.” (Lawrence Pearsall Jacks)