In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Cliff Pacaro, an HR executive with an illustrious career in the life sciences.

Cliff's unconventional journey from aspiring astronaut to transformational HR leader reveals how multidimensional thinking and embracing failure can create exceptional leadership in the life sciences.

His experience spans biopharma, CDMO, and beverage industries, demonstrating how stepping outside traditional HR boundaries and into business leadership roles builds the adaptive capabilities pharmaceutical executives need to thrive.

The conversation explores how authenticity, calculated risk-taking, and leading through the messy middle of transformation drive organisational success in an industry facing talent development challenges and increasing consolidation pressures.

Key Takeaways

• Discover how recognising everyone's human lays the foundation for effective leadership, especially when navigating pressure-filled transformations in pharmaceutical and biotech environments.
• Uncover why viewing failure as testing and evolution rather than defeat builds resilient leaders who can navigate the uncertainty inherent in drug development and organisational change.
• Understand the power of multidimensional leadership by stepping into different functional seats, allowing you to view business challenges through finance, operations, and supply chain lenses beyond your primary role.
• Explore how curiosity and asking "why" help develop authentic leadership, rather than simply copying other leaders and taking only the pieces that resonate, while staying true to yourself.
• Take away strategies for leading through the messy middle of transformation by celebrating small milestones, reassessing progress, and maintaining momentum even when things don't go to plan.
• Gain insights into breaking linear career progression assumptions by placing strong leaders in unfamiliar roles, as Cliff demonstrates through his experience stepping into a general manager position.
• Apply frameworks for staying anchored during complex transformations through meditation, reflection, and connecting with mentors who can provide perspective when chaos threatens to overwhelm progress.

Snippets

• “Don't be afraid of failure... failure is testing. It's evolving. It's trying something new.”
• “Leadership is coming with a clear understanding and direction, but it's also leveraging the skill sets and resources around you.”
• “We're all human, we're all trying to get through our lives, be successful, grow, develop, encourage others, make cool choices, build great humans ourselves, and experience the world around us.”
• “Become the leader you are meant to be through the eyes that you have.”
• “We're not developing dynamic leaders. We're developing a repetition of what we're seeing within leadership in the organisations today.”

Timestamps & Topics

• 01:35:52 -- Three Active Ingredients: Humanity, embracing failure, and authentic leadership
• 01:39:22 -- The human foundation: Why people are not obstacles but essential to success
• 01:44:19 -- The leadership spark: How a university program ignited leadership development
• 01:56:22 -- Multidimensional leadership: Viewing business through multiple functional lenses
• 02:00:39 -- Stepping outside HR: Taking on a general manager role without traditional qualifications
• 02:12:23 -- Failing forward: Using failure as a learning tool rather than an anchor
• 02:36:26 -- Future of life sciences: Talent development challenges and the need for dynamic leaders

Resources

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

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