Cook: ‘Don’t let the world stop you’

Bloomington billionaire Bill Cook knows what it takes to be a leader. The founder of Cook Group, Inc. said Tuesday at the Whittenberger Auditorium that being a leader means being ethical and learning from your mistakes.\nHe said his business philosophy is “Ready, Fire, Aim” – prepare, execute and learn from history. His lecture was part of a speaker series sponsored by the Council for Advancing Student Leadership.\nCook explained it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be successful at business, but it does take a compartmentalized brain and help from others.\nSophomore Kristine King said she respects what Cook has done for Bloomington and cities across the country.\n“I really respect the fact that he gives to the community and gives back to the people in the community,” she said.\nCook said being a leader is a big responsibility.\n“Understand that Cook (Group) is not a democracy,” he said.\nCook explained how if a mistake is made in his company, it could kill people. He went on to explain how “greedy and stupid” companies were fined millions for breaking the law and how the costs of those fines will be passed on \nto consumers.\nHe recalled how his first business was selling shot glasses with pictures of nude women on the bottom. He said it was a “disaster.” Later, in 1963, he started Cook Medical in Bloomington. It grew to a worldwide corporation that includes 26 companies. \nHe said Cook Group was a pioneer in stents, which clear blood clots in arteries. He said it’s “surgery through a needle hole” because the process of inserting the stent involves making a needle hole and placing the stent through it. \n“We were making stents before anyone else was making them,” he said.\nCook now produces small intestinal submucosa or SIS technology. It can come in a patch form and it aids in tissue repair. It can rapidly heal burns, hernias and fill in disfigurements.\nHowever, he said, the Food and Drug Administration is slow to approve potentially life-saving medicines and technologies.\nCook said it took 15 years for the stents to get approved. He said many companies run out of money during the clinical testing of these types of products and that the SIS technology has been around since the ’80s, but has just recently been approved.\nHe faults this system and said the “nonsense” is passed on in terms of cost to the customers. He said stents that cost $500 to make sell for $2200 to cover all the clinical testing they went through.\nHe also said changes in health care will ultimately have to take place in Congress, but it can start in Bloomington.\nSophomore Emily Crohn said she thought the lecture was interesting. As a native of Bloomington, she said Cook has done good for the community. She said for a billionaire, he’s really down to Earth.\n“He seems like a really sincere guy,” Crohn said. \nDespite the challenges of starting a business, Cook said it shouldn’t bring people down.\n“Don’t let the world stop you,” he said.