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Green & blue light beam

Building Courage to Accelerate Medtech Innovation with Merom Klein

Sep 10
3 min read

Bringing medical technology to market requires more than strong science or regulatory approval. Innovators must convince investors, customers, partners, and teams to take risks, change familiar practices, and adopt something new.


For Merom Klein, a business psychologist with more than 30 years of experience working with innovators across therapeutics, devices, diagnostics, and health IT, the key to overcoming those challenges is courage. Merom helps organizations recognize fear, understand what holds people back, and create conditions to change the standard of care.


Understanding the role of fear in innovation

Innovation can create uncertainty. Investors may hesitate to commit capital and reputation without a clear path to returns. Customers may be reluctant to adopt new technology if it requires changing established processes, while team members may struggle to adapt to shifting responsibilities. Merom argues that recognizing and addressing these concerns is essential to moving innovation forward. His approach focuses on understanding where people are in their readiness rather than trying to eliminate fear. 


One of Merom’s most useful frameworks is his five-level model of readiness. At the lower levels, people may feel uncomfortable, remain interested but hesitant, or gather information before making a decision. By level three, they begin actively learning and taking the next step. At level four, they move into collaboration, working alongside innovators rather than simply identifying problems. And at level five, they become advocates and champions for innovation.


For medtech companies, understanding where stakeholders fall on this spectrum can help prevent miscommunication and unrealistic expectations. A polite “let’s stay in touch,” for example, may not signal enthusiasm or immediate interest. It may simply mean that someone sees potential but is not yet ready to act. As Merom explains, “The art and the science of building courage is you don't have courage without fear or reluctance or some level of risk aversion.”


Designing the entire adoption experience

Merom emphasizes that innovation cannot stop with technology. Companies must consider the experience surrounding adoption, including education, support, training, and confidence users need to incorporate a new product. He compares this to purchasing an electric vehicle. The engineering may be excellent, but unfamiliar charging systems and ownership processes can erode trust when customers are left alone. The same applies to medical technology. If a device changes how clinicians work, companies need to help users develop the knowledge and confidence to use it successfully. That approach should influence the value proposition. Companies need to think beyond the product and consider how they will help users overcome the “knowing-doing gap” that slows adoption.


Building ownership within teams

Courage is also essential inside an organization. Merom recalls learning this when an employee told him, “Merom, you've gotta understand this is no longer your company. It's my company.” The comment changed his thinking about leadership. For early-stage companies, creating a culture where employees, investors, and partners feel like “citizen owners” can encourage people to contribute ideas, solve problems, and take initiative. Rather than placing stakeholders into rigid categories, leaders should invite them into the process. This creates collaboration instead of defensiveness and helps organizations navigate challenges together.


Why this matters

Changing the standard of care requires more than proving that a technology works. It requires understanding the people who must invest, adopt, implement, and advocate for it. Merom’s framework shows that fear is not necessarily a barrier to innovation; but signals the need for more information, support, or confidence to take the next step. For medtech entrepreneurs preparing to raise capital or enter the U.S. market, that perspective matters. Rather than focusing only on the size of a problem or strength of a product, companies must understand what matters to each stakeholder and demonstrate how they can participate in the journey.


What to watch

As healthcare innovators face increasingly complex adoption environments, the ability to build courage may become as important as the ability to build technology. Merom’s work highlights a lesson: innovation succeeds when leaders recognize fear, respond thoughtfully, and create pathways that help people move from hesitation to action.



Podcast promo for Project Medtech: Merom Klein portrait, Episode 277, with title on courage in medtech on a black background.

 
 
 

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