Dan Stephens

Dr. Dan Stephen's career in the medical device industry started through a personal connection at my church. He intentionally developed a broad professional network to learn about trends and innovations in his career space.

His department chair in graduate school, Dr. Vernon Bishop, offered his thoughts on success in academics:

"There are four traits that can lead to success in research.

1. You are a child prodigy and you’re just THAT much smarter than everyone else.
2. You are EXTREMELY well organized. Being highly organized can compensate for areas of weakness to an extent.
3. You just absolutely outwork everyone else and get more done.
4. You’re just plain lucky.

There are very few of number one… so, that’s probably not you. Most of us get by with a combination of numbers two, three and four. Two and three are in your control, so try to be organized and work as hard as you can.”

He tries to work hard and strives to be organized. He would also include listening to people and pay attention to who you meet.