Q. Creating revenue growth and shareholder value are table stakes for aspiring CEOs. With over five-thousand participants in last year’s executive education programming offered at MIT Sloan[1], several of these leaders have ambitions to secure executive roles. As a CEO who successfully engineered two billion-dollar pharma transactions[2] with AstraZeneca and Novo Nordisk during COVID-19 when many organizations struggled to keep the lights on[3], what are the top skills which aspiring CEOs need to secure as they pursue their career aspirations?
A. (Marc de Garidel)
Just as MIT Sloan’s students should know that the mission of their school is “to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice,” their graduates need to have a clear understanding of their employer’s mission. So the first key skill is having a strategic mindset to lead the creation of strategies which support the mission and path-forward vision. The second crucial skill is being able to build a culture where the entire company can execute daily tactics, which are measurable, to support these strategic plans. Finally, an aspiring CEO needs to be skilled like a conductor of an orchestra who sets the pace of the team and guides the team of talented individuals to engage in a unified manner to achieve well-defined target outcomes. Frankly, this conductor role has always been the most challenging one, especially when you are fortunate to have identified and recruited the best of the best. When you collaborate with individuals who have been star performers for years, huge personalities often come into play. For example, with one 20-person start-up I led, we had engaged for about 18 months with a Fortune 500 which eventually did acquire our firm for $1 Billion. Still, there were some initial challenging times when some of our team were trying to call on the same executive leaders of that organization. It is similar to when a consulting team of one Managing Director and several Partners parachute into a client meeting and all of the aspiring future Managing Directors converge on the highest-ranked client for some air-time. Just as that Managing Director needs to help orchestrate her team to plan out who engages when and how; I have needed to do the same for most of my career. Still, the good news is that my teammates have been receptive to such coaching and the teams have been successful[4].
Q. Given your above comments, what potential career moves should the readership make, regardless of their industry vertical?
A. (Marc de Garidel)
First, build a solid foundation which can help prepare you for a CEO role. While it is commendable to have aspirations to become a CEO, most people do not realize how very hard these roles can be. Securing an education from MIT Sloan provides a great starting point as one has an opportunity to learn business concepts from a school which is part of the world’s leading research institution. When you are part of an ecosystem that provides a graduate engineering training ground which U.S. News and World Report has ranked number one since 1990, you should seize every moment to learn from people across the MIT community.
Second, have the confidence to stretch yourself into unchartered paths. Given the typical post-MBA career paths of consulting or investment banking, that is not an unchartered path! Moreover, planning to work in these verticals for 12 to 15 years and then joining a start-up after one has earned enough wealth is not an unchartered path. Frankly, it is a typical playbook that I have heard several times. Instead, don’t hold back and pursue your start-up dreams earlier as I have shared here.
Finally, continue to learn something new every day. Over the years, it has been interesting to observe arrogant individuals who believe they know it all. I have always been wary of such individuals because of the potential risks that they pose to team dynamics. And even if you are a recent grad who is still paying back student loans, tap into the school’s open courseware as the price is right. https://ocw.mit.edu/
Marc de Garidel joined Abivax in May 2023. Prior to that, he led the successful sale of CinCor Pharma for up to USD 1.8B, subject to the achievement of certain milestones, to AstraZeneca in February 2023, after joining the firm in July 2021. Marc also led the sale of Corvidia Therapeutics in August 2020 to Novo Nordisk for USD 2.1B in total consideration after having joined the company as CEO in April 2018. He was the CEO of Ipsen from November 2010 to July 2016, overseeing the development of its US presence. Prior to that, Marc worked for Amgen and Eli Lilly in jobs of increasing responsibilities in various international markets. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Ipsen since 2016 and has been a member of the board of directors of Claris Bio since 2020. Marc has a degree in civil engineering from the Ecole des Travaux Publics in Paris, a master’s degree in international management (MIM) from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and an executive MBA from Harvard Business School.
Partha Anbil is a Contributing Writer for the MIT Sloan Career Development Office and an alum of MIT Sloan. Besides being VP of Programs of the MIT Club of Delaware Valley, Partha is a long-time life sciences consulting industry veteran, currently with an NYSE-listed WNS, a digital-led business transformation company, as Senior Vice President and Practice Leader for their Life Sciences practice.
Michael Wong is a Contributing Writer for the MIT Sloan Career Development Office and an Emeritus Co-President and board member of the Harvard Business School Healthcare Alumni Association. Michael is a Part-time Lecturer for the Wharton Communication Program at the University of Pennsylvania and his ideas have been shared in the MIT Sloan Management Review and Harvard Business Review.
[1] MIT Sloan School of Management, Report to the President 2020-2021
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njZR8udGBTQ
[3] Gibney, Michael, “This biotech CEO secured two billion-dollar Big Pharma deals during the pandemic” ,PharmaVoice, January 31, 2023
[4] https://www.pharmavoice.com/news/biotech-ceo-cincor-corvidia-astrazeneca-novo-nordisk-marc-de-garidel/641572/
