In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Rochelle Trow, Founder of The Change Canvas and Interim HR Executive.

Rochelle shares her transformational journey from growing up under apartheid in South Africa to leading in European boardrooms, ultimately experiencing burnout and discovering the power of conscious leadership. The conversation explores fear-based versus values-driven leadership, the hidden costs of corporate performance culture, and practical frameworks for emotional regulation.

Rochelle reveals how leaders can stay authentic in corporate environments without losing themselves, offering actionable insights on self-awareness, conscious decision-making, and leading with courage and compassion in today's challenging life sciences landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Discover the three pillars of conscious leadership: self-awareness that extends beyond behaviour to triggers and empathy, conscious choices that serve the greater good rather than self-interest, and courage paired with compassion.
• Learn to distinguish between fear-based and values-driven leadership using Rochelle's framework of 20 questions that help identify when decisions stem from fear versus authentic alignment.
• Understand how burnout manifests differently - not from workload volume but from the quiet erosion of self and constant misalignment between personal values and corporate demands.
• Explore the concept of radical self-responsibility as the foundation for surviving toxic environments, focusing on your response and choices rather than blaming external factors or waiting for organisational change.
• Apply the "smoke alarm" decision-making approach by pausing before choices to ask where the decision stems from, whether it represents real warning signals, and how it aligns with your core values.
• Gain practical methods for giving difficult feedback to managers and colleagues by focusing on situations and impact rather than personality traits, maintaining integrity while preserving professional relationships.
• Take away tools for emotional regulation that enable leaders to maintain authenticity and effectiveness even in challenging corporate environments, proving that internal strength can overcome external toxicity.
• Identify the warning signs of becoming a "problems sponge" and learn strategies to avoid absorbing organisational dysfunction while still caring deeply about team and company success.

Snippets

• "Now what I do is, or at least what I think is important, is to actually pause before you make that decision and ask yourself, where am I making this decision from?"
• "My entire philosophy is you don't need to burn out. You need to focus on leading yourself first."
• "So one of the biggest shifts in myself is before I judge somebody, I go, what might be driving that person's actions."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:00 -- Intro: Rochelle's journey from apartheid South Africa to European boardrooms

• 05:42 -- Three Key Ingredients: Self-awareness, conscious choices, and courage with compassion
• 18:33 -- Career Wake-up Call: The toxic positivity meeting that changed everything
• 36:12 -- From Security Guard to Regional Manager: Early leadership lessons at Woolworths
• 45:16 -- Fear-Based Leadership: How corporate environments erode authentic leadership
• 55:30 -- Burnout Reality: The emotional weight of misalignment, not workload
• 67:45 -- Radical Self-Responsibility: Taking ownership in toxic environments

Resources

• Follow Rochelle Trow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochelletrow/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Jesse Sibarium, a seasoned life sciences executive with experience spanning supply chain and commercial leadership across multiple continents.

Jesse's unconventional path from Manhattan to Moldova, Romania, the Netherlands, and Switzerland demonstrates how cultural immersion and calculated risk-taking can create what he calls "leadership luck." His journey through organisations, including Amgen and PTC Therapeutics, offers insights into building credibility through lived experience rather than traditional career progression.

The conversation explores global adaptability, decision-making under pressure, and the evolving landscape of pharmaceutical leadership in an increasingly interconnected world.

Key Takeaways

• Learn how curiosity and inner drive serve as foundational leadership qualities, particularly when entering unfamiliar territories or industries where traditional experience may not apply.
• Discover the critical importance of selecting diverse teams with complementary skills, personalities, and nationalities who will challenge you while supporting your vision through difficult periods.
• Understand that resilience and grit become essential when carefully crafted plans inevitably face unexpected challenges, requiring leaders to adapt quickly without losing momentum.
• Explore how cultural immersion creates competitive advantages, with Jesse's language learning experiences in Moldova and the Netherlands opening doors that traditional qualifications could not.
• Take away strategies for creating "leadership luck" by positioning yourself in uncomfortable situations where unique opportunities may emerge for those willing to take calculated risks.
• Gain insights into transitioning between large pharma and smaller biotech environments, understanding when each setting serves different career development purposes.
• Apply frameworks for building international teams that can operate seamlessly across multiple jurisdictions and cultural contexts in today's globalised pharmaceutical landscape.
• Uncover how soft skills increasingly function as hard skills in leadership roles, particularly in relationship-building and cross-cultural communication within life sciences organisations.

Snippets

• "Some people see things as they are and ask why. Some people dream things that never were and ask, why not?"
• "I thought, there is no way I can quit, because if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere."
• "Don't underestimate those soft skills, because the soft skills are really the hard skills."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:16:27 -- Introduction: Jesse's journey from Manhattan to international pharmaceutical leadership

• 00:17:56 -- Three Active Ingredients: Curiosity, team selection, and resilience as leadership foundations
• 00:23:05 -- Early Formation: High school performing arts lessons that shaped professional mindset
• 00:28:12 -- Global Awakening: Meeting international people and developing an appetite for a European career
• 00:30:01 -- The Moldova Gamble: Taking risks through Peace Corps to create an unconventional pathway to Europe
• 00:42:59 -- Leadership Luck: Creating opportunities through cultural immersion and language learning
• 01:02:25 -- Future of Leadership: Diverse backgrounds, international experience, and evolving pharmaceutical landscape

Resources

• Follow Jesse Sibarium on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sibarium/

• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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In this episode of the Active Ingredientspodcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Derek McCaig,Commercial Strategist and Transformation Leader.

Derek brings decades of experience launching life-changing medicines across some of healthcare's most complex corners, from the first wave of HIV treatments in the 1990s to rare diseases and gene therapy today. His career spans leading organizations at Big Pharma, scaling biotech startups, and bringing commercial clarity to breakthroughs.

In this conversation, Derek shares insights on leading at different altitudes, balancing compassion with pragmatism, and why the most meaningful wins often come from the people and lessons rather than the product itself.

Key Takeaways

• Discover how trust, empowerment, and adaptability form the foundation of exceptional leadership, fostering environments where teams take calculated risks and deliver outstanding performance in life sciences organizations.
• Discover practical approaches for leading through uncertainty in emerging therapeutic areas, such as gene therapy, where answers aren't predetermined, and teams must collaborate to explore new solutions together.
• Understand the art of intellectual leadership when navigating between commercial realities and scientific passion, helping R&D teams broaden perspectives whilst respecting their life's work.
• Explore how to scale leadership across different organizational sizes, from managing 200-person sales forces to intimate rare disease teams, whilst maintaining core empowerment principles.
• Take away Derek's framework for building a high-performing team that incorporates diverse perspectives, robust debate, consensus-driven decision-making, and an unwavering focus on patient outcomes.
• Gain insights into leading during setbacks and failures, understanding how commercial leaders can maintain team motivation when clinical trials fail but still contribute valuable data to the industry.
• Apply lessons from Derek's experience transitioning between Big Pharma and biotech, learning when to trust teams versus when to roll up sleeves in smaller, agile environments.
• Uncover strategies for maintaining purpose-driven leadership in rare diseases and gene therapy, where individual patient stories provide powerful motivation for commercial teams.

Snippets

• I think it's really important to build trust with your team within the organization. I think a big part of that is also integrity."
• "When people don't feel that trust and don't feel that integrity, they're just a little more reticent."
• "There's nothing better than working on genuine innovation. Where you are helping the community...to really solve those problems."
• "The wisdom is in a team, you know, it's not in me.
• "I do believe that everybody comes to work in this industry with the ultimate aim of getting medicines that really change diseases and change people's lives."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:08:00 -- Introduction: Derek McCaig's journey from HIV treatments to gene therapy
• 00:09:30 -- The Three Active Ingredients: Trust, empowerment and adaptability in leadership
• 00:12:30 -- Early Career Foundation: From pharmacy school to first leadership role at age 21
• 00:17:00 -- Leading Through Innovation: HIV treatments and working at the cutting edge
• 00:28:00 -- Scaling Leadership: Managing large sales forces versus intimate rare disease teams
• 00:35:00 -- Intellectual Leadership: Bridging commercial realities with scientific passion

00:47:00 -- Building High-Performance Teams: Risk-taking, debate and consensus in biotech

Resources

• Follow Derek McCaig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-mccaig-51a15638/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Erin Federman, CTO and strategist for a startup in Germany.

As a seasoned "global American" who truly integrated into European culture over a decade, Erin shares her transformation from a fired retail manager who was "a baby dictator" to a seasoned life sciences leader. Erin discusses the reality of "de-Americanising" your worldview, from navigating salary perceptions to rewiring your brain for slower, more integrated ways of working.

The conversation explores how leadership isn't a template but lived experience, why career curiosity trumps straight-line progression, and how internal mobility challenges strangle talent development across the life sciences.

Key Takeaways

• Learn why leadership isn't a template but lived experience, moving beyond "be yourself" advice to understand that authentic leadership comes from trial, error, and evolution through real challenges.
• Discover the reality of "de-Americanising" your worldview when relocating to Europe, including salary evaluation beyond dollar amounts and embracing slower, integrated working styles.
• Explore how career curiosity beats straight-line progression, with Federman demonstrating how following intellectual spark across functions creates more valuable leaders than rigid career ladders.
• Understand moving from judgement to curiosity as a leadership tool when managing diverse, international teams.
• Take away Federman's framework for breaking down complex challenges by working backwards from end goals and creating manageable 30, 60, and 90-day implementation chunks.
• Apply practical strategies for internal mobility by demonstrating capabilities and advocating for team members to cross functional boundaries, especially for diverse candidates facing higher barriers.
• Gain insights into building teams as "living recipes" where different communication styles and personalities create stronger outcomes than homogeneous skill sets.
• Uncover how to maintain your spark through career transitions, recognising when you've outgrown systems and need to seek new challenges to avoid professional burnout.

Snippets

• "Leading is not being a dictator. Because you grow up thinking leading is telling people what to do."
• It's not just doing the thing, it's actually being able to communicate what you're doing in a way that gives other people trust and confidence that you can do the thing.”
• “Curiosity versus judgment, which sounds so obvious when you say it, but it's so easy to come from a place of judgment without even thinking."
• “It is a responsibility to not just climb the ladder and holler down some advice. Reach not only reach down and pull people up, but look to the side who is also trying to get somewhere and they just need a bridge across."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:40 -- Introduction: Erin's background across pharma, biotech and diagnostics
• 05:42 -- Leadership Foundations: Beyond templates to lived experience and three key ingredients
• 15:33 -- Early Leadership Lessons: Retail management failure and learning that leadership isn't control
• 25:15 -- Global American Transformation: The reality of relocating from Seattle to Europe
• 35:20 -- De-Americanising Your Worldview: Salary perception, lifestyle changes, and cultural integration
• 45:18 -- Career as Curiosity: Following intellectual spark across functions and building capabilities
• 55:12 -- Internal Mobility Challenges: Breaking down barriers and advocating for career transitions

Resources

• Follow Erin Federman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinfederman/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don't Miss an EpisodeRemember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Vlad Makarenko, Global HR Leader at Alphasigma.

Vlad shares his unconventional path through the life sciences industry, from achieving the head of HR role by age 32 to boldly stepping out of HR to gain firsthand business experience.

This episode explores the essential components of effective leadership through Vlad's "leadership triangle" framework, the importance of owning your career direction, and why self-development often represents the most challenging yet critical work a leader can undertake. His journey from the Soviet Union to global pharmaceutical companies offers unique insights into building credibility and leading across cultures.

Key Takeaways

• Discover the leadership triangle framework, comprising strategic leadership, people leadership, and decisive execution.
• Learn how to own your career direction by establishing a clear North Star and acting as if you're already in the role.
• Explore the power of seeking discomfort as a development strategy, where 6-7 out of 10 tasks should challenge you enough to "pull your hair out".
• Understand why stepping into the business from enabling functions like HR provides invaluable credibility and empathy when serving stakeholders in pharmaceutical and biotech organizations.
• Take away the importance of psychological investment in coaching, mentoring, and self-analysis before pursuing traditional qualifications like MBAs or professional certifications.
• Gain practical approaches for global leadership that emphasize authentic connection, servant leadership principles, and genuine care for team members across virtual environments.
• Uncover how AI can enhance human leadership by handling administrative tasks, freeing leaders to focus on empathy, coaching, and meaningful feedback conversations.
• Apply the fundamentals of outstanding leadership through empathy, asking coaching questions, providing constructive feedback, and understanding individuals' long-term career aspirations.

Snippets

• "The CEO is normally for me, the chief people officer."
• "If you really mean well for the organization and for the people and for the business, try to get to a position of leadership where you can influence things in a positive way".
• "So whenever I felt that I was comfortable, that was a signal for me to look to fork."
• "Get the basics right. Feedback, constructive, open, sometimes hard but honest feedback. How often do leaders do that? Unfortunately, not that often."

Timestamps & Topics

The following timestamps are approximations:

• 00:00 -- Intro: Overview of Vlad's unconventional career path and leadership philosophy
• 05:42 -- Leadership Triangle: Strategic leadership, people focus, and decisive execution framework
• 18:33 -- Career Ownership: Setting North Stars and acting as if you're already in the role
• 28:15 -- Bold Moves: Leaving comfortable positions and embracing discomfort for growth
• 36:12 -- Business Experience: Why HR leaders benefit from stepping into commercial roles
• 45:30 -- Self-Development: The critical importance of psychological coaching and mentoring
• 52:18 -- Global Leadership: Leading authentically across cultures and virtual environments

Resources

• Follow Vlad Makarenko on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlad-makarenko-global-hr/

• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Audrey Greenberg, CEO at AG Capital.

Audrey shares her remarkable journey from investment banking and real estate to founding a cell and gene therapy CDMO that scaled to a billion-dollar valuation. This conversation explores how C-suite authenticity, executive flexibility, and people-first leadership have powered her success across pharmaceutical, biotech, and MedTech industries.

Key Takeaways

• Learn how C-suite authenticity breeds trust and respect in pharmaceutical and biotech leadership by being genuine rather than following corporate norms, especially when handling high-stakes patient programs.
• Discover the power of executive flexibility in today's dynamic life sciences market, where political changes, biotech funding shifts, and pharmaceutical disruptions require senior leaders to pivot quickly.
• Understand why putting people first drives success in MedTech and biopharma, from hiring exceptional talent in pharmaceutical companies to respecting and learning from life sciences clients.
• Explore how curiosity and connection accelerate career growth for biotech executives by genuinely wanting to help others, taking cold calls, and building authentic relationships.
• Take away practical methods for making bold career transitions within biopharma by combining thorough research with gut instinct, ensuring the right people and aligned investors are part of your journey.
• Apply the "GSD" (get things done) hiring philosophy for biotech talent acquisition by screening for grit, positive attitude, and the ability to move multiple pharmaceutical initiatives forward.
• Uncover strategies for transitioning from corporate pharmaceutical roles to private equity advisory by marketing operational excellence to investors and packaging your track record for life sciences-focused funds.

Snippets

• "Authenticity. It matters because people know you're not faking it. A lot of people can spot a fake from a mile away."
• "Playing safe being a sheep doesn't work. You get average returns and average results when you play it. Safe opportunities come from saying yes to high-risk, high-potential moves."
• "If I'm the smartest person in the room, I need to leave that room. I want everybody around me to be smarter than me."
• "I come from a perspective of abundance instead of scarcity. People generally want to help other people. So reach out to people. Don't be afraid. People will help you."
• "Don't be afraid. Make bold moves. Leadership is taken, not given."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:14:49 -- Three Key Leadership Ingredients: Authenticity, flexibility, and people first
• 00:24:55 -- The GSK Building Story: How real estate led to cell and gene therapy CDMO
• 00:30:24 -- Becoming a Leader: Being "loud, proud and ready" in life sciences
• 00:32:08 -- Boardroom Authenticity: Communicating transparently with investors
• 00:41:12 -- Fixing the Broken, Growing the Bold: Helping investors spot opportunities
• 00:47:23 -- Leading as the Only Woman: Using visibility as an advantage
• 00:51:40 -- Transitioning to Private Equity: Marketing operational excellence to investors
• 00:56:00 -- Future of Leadership: Convergence of digital biotech and personalised medicine

Resources

• Follow Audrey Greenberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audreygreenberg/

• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don't Miss an Episode

Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring leadership insights from preeminent leaders in the life sciences. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

Feedback?

Have questions or feedback about the podcast or want to feature as a guest? Email us at [email protected]

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Frank Binder, Global Supply Chain Transformation Leader and former executive at Santen, Celgene, and Novartis.

Frank shares his remarkable journey from a self-described "non-born leader" to becoming one of the most trusted voices in global pharmaceutical supply chain leadership. This episode examines how supply chain leaders can elevate their role from operational support to strategic boardroom influence while developing the leadership capabilities necessary to thrive in today's complex global environment.

Key Takeaways

• Discover the three essential ingredients of successful leadership: ambition with purpose, listening and engaging with people, and developing a clear vision that guides team direction and decision-making.
• Learn how to transform reluctant team members into confident leaders by creating safe spaces for feedback, demonstrating vulnerability as a leader, and coaching through career transitions.
• Explore Frank's approach to building diverse, high-performing global teams by seeking people with complementary strengths rather than hiring clones of yourself.
• Understand practical techniques for managing across cultures, including the traffic light feedback system that enables honest input without direct confrontation in hierarchical cultures.
• Gain insights into creating constructive cultures where mistakes are acceptable, ideas can be critiqued regardless of source, and team members feel safe to disagree with leadership.
• Take away strategies for cross-cultural negotiations that emphasise respect, patience, and understanding different approaches to confrontation and consensus-building across regions.
• Apply lessons from Frank's military leadership breakthrough, where he learned that effective leadership involves achieving outcomes through others that cannot be accomplished individually.
• Uncover how supply chain leaders can maintain strategic relevance by managing expectations transparently, explaining trade-offs clearly, and positioning supply chain as a critical business enabler.
• Explore the future of supply chain leadership in an era of increased geopolitical complexity, where leaders must consider political factors alongside traditional metrics.

Snippets

• "If you want to be a leader, you have to know where you want to go. And because that's what people want to know from you."
• "For me, a productive discussion is when somebody in my team is able to tell me, hey, Frank, you're wrong."
• "Supply chain is not complicated, but it's complex. It's like a reflection of life. Everything fits together and is influenced by so many factors."
• "You have to trust in each other, and you have to have a unity of purpose."
• "As a leader of a cross-cultural team, you need to provide a space where people feel safe to really give their opinion."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:22:27 -- Leadership Philosophy: The three key ingredients of successful leadership
• 00:27:46 -- Leadership Discovery: Swiss Air Force experience that revealed leadership potential
• 00:45:17 -- Building High-Performing Teams: Creating diverse, complementary leadership teams
• 00:50:07 -- Cross-Cultural Leadership: Managing teams across different cultural contexts
• 01:03:26 -- Post-COVID Supply Chain: How the pandemic elevated supply chain's strategic importance
• 01:09:14 -- Future of Supply Chain: Next five years

Resources

• Follow Frank Binder on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pharmaglobalsupplychain/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don't Miss an EpisodeRemember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring leadership insights from preeminent leaders in the life sciences. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

Feedback?Have questions or feedback about the podcast or want to feature as a guest? Email us at [email protected]

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Tom Merriam, Head of Corporate Strategy and Chief of Staff to the CEO at Organon.

Tom shares his remarkable journey from MedTech manufacturing to McKinsey consulting and into pharmaceutical executive leadership, driven by a personal mission to expand access to healthcare.

After experiencing serious health challenges in his teens,Tom developed a deep appreciation for quality healthcare and has dedicated his career to solving complex problems at scale across biotech and biopharma organizations.

Throughout the episode, Tom explores how C-suite leaders and senior executives can effectively harness their energy, build resilient teams during crises, and drive meaningful change in life sciences organisations.

Tom's insights on vision-driven leadership, thoughtful execution, and caring for stakeholders provide essential guidance for pharmaceutical and biotech executives navigating talent acquisition challenges and the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Learn how pharmaceutical and biotech executives can identify and channel their natural energy toward solving complex biopharma challenges that align with personal mission and organizational values.
• Discover how C-suite leaders can translate organizational vision into compelling narratives that motivate teams across medtech and pharmaceutical manufacturing environments.
• Understand how crisis management reveals executive character in life sciences organizations and the importance of establishing clear dual mandates in pharmaceutical leadership.
• Explore strategic career navigation for life sciences professionals by choosing opportunities based on potential impact rather than conventional wisdom.
• Apply the principle of progress over perfection to drive incremental improvements across pharmaceutical operations that C-suite executives can implement immediately.
• Gain insight into building competitive team dynamics within pharmaceutical manufacturing environments through KPI tracking and operational excellence.
• Take away leadership strategies for managing high-energy executive talent by creating environments where intensity becomes a strategic asset for life sciences organizations.

Timestamps & Topics

• 05:42 -- Three Key Leadership Ingredients for life sciences executives
• 13:18 -- Becton Dickinson medtech rotational program and manufacturing leadership
• 21:40 -- Building pharmaceutical team culture through competitive dynamics
• 32:18 -- Executive mentorship and growth in pharmaceutical operations
• 36:37 -- Crisis leadership in life sciences during pandemic response
• 56:10 -- Future of life sciences leadership: Innovation, M&A, and regulatory predictions

Snippets

• "The most difficult managerial challenge you will have in your entire life is that of managing yourself."
• "If you can't find a way for your people to care, you're going to have a really difficult time accomplishing whatever it is that you're after."
• "The energy is the capacity to do work right. That's the physics definition of energy."
• "We were losing money on every prescription, right, because of the cost of the airfreight. But we still kept the product flowing because that was the right thing to do."
• "Progress versus perfection. If you allow yourself to just focus on what perfect is, you oftentimes miss a lot of things."

Resources

• Follow Tom Merriam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasmmerriam/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don’t Miss an Episode

Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

Feedback?

Have questions or feedback about the podcast or want to feature as a guest? Email us at [email protected]

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Ian Wells, former CFO at Hoya Vision Care, whose leadership approach redefines what finance leadership can be.

Ian reveals himself as "a business-focused and people-focused person" rather than just a numbers specialist, sharing how this mindset helped him build teams with zero attrition over five years.

His journey from KPMG to the mining industry and finally to life sciences showcases how finding purpose in each role shaped his leadership style.

Ian's philosophy of "eliminating the pedestal" in hierarchical structures and his commitment to being "a good human being" have created remarkable business results. With insights on empowerment through his "RA" framework - resource, authority, responsibility, and accountability - Ian demonstrates how modern CFOs can drive transformation through human connection.

Key Takeaways

• Discover the three key ingredients for leadership success according to Ian Wells: purpose, passion and vision; empowering teams to succeed; and being a good human being who is approachable and open.
• Learn how empowering teams directly impact financial results through increased engagement, better performance, and remarkably lower attrition - Ian experienced zero direct report turnover in five years.
• Explore the concept of "eliminating the pedestal" in leadership by asking "stupid questions," giving credit to team members with frontline knowledge, and creating a more flat organisational structure.
• Take away a practical framework for resource management using Ian's "RARA" approach - providing the right resources, authority, responsibility and accountability that allow teams to execute their responsibilities and be accountable for results.
• Understand how purpose-driven leadership transcends industry boundaries. Ian shows how finding meaning in mining and life sciences helped him connect teams to larger societal impacts beyond profit.
• Uncover strategies for building high-performing finance teams by defining the right structure, bringing in the right people, setting up regular touchpoints, and defining multi-year development paths.
• Gain insight into Ian's "traffic light" leadership style, where leaders primarily direct, support, and remove barriers for their teams rather than do the tactical work themselves.
• Learn why healthy leadership practices focusing on physical and mental well-being create better leaders. Ian shares his journey toward health-conscious leadership without becoming preachy.

Snippets

• “Give a man a fish or teach them how to fish. I’d rather teach people how to fish.”

• I'm not a finance-focused person. I'm a business-focused person and a people-focused person."
• "Without a doubt, you cannot be a modern leader if you're not empowering teams because, without the team's success, you as a leader will not be successful."
• "Bad leadership is just a lesson to make every leader better. Good leaders drive engagement. They have passion. They drive psychological safety, which is one of my non-negotiables of a workplace."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:15:13 - Three key ingredients of successful leadership
• 00:31:32 - Becoming CFO and COVID challenges
• 00:36:30 - Eliminating the pedestal in leadership
• 00:44:33 - Building teams with zero attrition
• 00:50:20 - Healthy leadership and wellbeing
• 01:00:59 - The future of leadership

Resources

• Follow Ian Wells on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwells-globalcfo/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don’t Miss an Episode

Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

Feedback?

Have questions or feedback about the podcast or want to feature as a guest? Email us at [email protected]

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Kenneth Lee, EVP and Head of Biopharma at Impact Global.

Kenneth shares his unconventional career journey across Eastern and Western business cultures, from his beginnings as an introverted researcher to becoming a commercial leader.

The conversation explores his formula for balancing precise metrics with genuine human connection, his experiences adapting leadership styles between Korea's intensive work culture and America's remote teams, and how taking calculated risks shaped his success.

Throughout the episode, Kenneth reveals practical approaches to leadership that combine structured systems with the freedom for teams to excel independently.

Key Takeaways

• Discover how genuine care transforms leadership effectiveness by dedicating meaningful time to team member. Kenneth follows a "70/30 rule" where 30% of his time is set aside for his team beyond task-focused interactions.

• Take away Kenneth's strategy for building credibility within your team by taking a challenging, high-impact project off their shoulders, demonstrating you're in the trenches with them.
• Understand how quantifiable, measurable metrics create freedom in remote and hybrid work environments, allowing team members to be rewarded for efficiency rather than hours worked.
• Explore the power of breaking down KPIs across the business cycle, measuring effort throughout the process rather than focusing solely on end financial results.

• Gain insight into the transformative impact of thinking in other people's shoes, a principle Kenneth applies to leadership, relationships, and business negotiations.

• Uncover how cultural transitions can catalyse personal growth. Kenneth shares his journey from being an introverted student in Korea to becoming an extroverted business leader after moving to the United States.

Snippets

• "Think in other people's shoes. If you do that, you will be successful as a leader, as a husband, as a friend, whether it be your career, your life, you will be liked and respected."
• "I had a personal motto at the time, challenge over stability, happiness over money. And that was when I was in my 20s, I set that motto and I completely followed that rule of my life."

• "It's not the work hour. It's about people's happiness, people's incentive, and a measurable and very well-defined KPI that drives people naturally."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:00 - Introduction: Thomas introduces Kenneth Lee and his unique leadership journey
• 06:09 - Kenneth's three key ingredients of successful leadership
• 07:07 - Genuine care and the 70/30 rule for leadership attention
• 08:42 - Smart but "lazy" leadership: creating systems that run themselves
• 09:42 - Taking on tough projects to demonstrate capability and build trust
• 12:00 - Early life and transformation from introvert to extrovert
• 14:25 - Career transition: from researcher to business development leader
• 17:28 - Choosing passion over finances: cutting salary in half for opportunity
• 19:23 - First leadership role and early misconceptions about leadership
• 21:51 - The most important leadership principle: thinking in others' shoes
• 24:02 - Moving back to the US to lead commercial operations
• 28:15 - Contrast between Korean and US work cultures
• 34:04 - Kenneth's commercial leadership formula and comprehensive KPI approach
• 36:32 - Creating structure that provides freedom: Kenneth's meeting framework
• 44:04 - Reflections on risk-taking and career development

Resources

• Follow Kenneth Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scholarken/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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