Paul Hemp

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Reprint: R0407D 

Fast growth is a nice problem to have&#8212;but a hard one to manage well. In this interview, Kevin Sharer, the CEO of biotech giant Amgen, talks about the special challenges leaders face when their companies are on a roll. Sharer, who was also head of marketing at pre-WorldCom MCI and a division head and a staff assistant to Jack Welch at GE, offers insights drawn from his own experience&#8212;and from his own self-proclaimed blunders:
&#8220;I learned the hard way that you need to become credible and enlist support inside the company before you start trying to be a change agent. If you think you&#8217;re going to make change happen simply by force of personality or position or intellect, you&#8217;d better think again.&#8221;
And change there was: Under Sharer&#8217;s leadership, Amgen overhauled its management team, altered its culture, and launched a couple of blockbuster products. How do chief executives survive in that kind of dizzying environment?
&#8220;A CEO must always be switching between different altitudes&#8212;tasks of different levels of abstraction and specificity,&#8221; Sharer says. &#8220;You might need to spend time working on a redesign of your organizational structure and then quickly switch to drafting a memo to all employees aimed at reinforcing one of the company&#8217;s values.&#8221;
Having a supportive and capable top team is also key: &#8220;A top management team is the most revealing window into a CEO&#8217;s style, values, and aspirations.&#8230;If you don&#8217;t have the right top team, you won&#8217;t have the right tiers below them. [The] A players won&#8217;t work for B players. Maybe with a company like GE, the reputation of the company is so strong that it can attract top people to work for weaker managers. In a new company like Amgen, that won&#8217;t happen.&#8221;

A Time for Growth: An Interview with Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer

Reimpresión: R0407D Es un buen problema tener un crecimiento rápido, pero difícil de gestionar bien. En esta entrevista, Kevin Sharer, director ejecutivo del gigante biotecnológico Amgen, habla sobre los desafíos especiales a los que se enfrentan los líderes cuando sus empresas están en racha. Sharer, que también fue director de marketing en MCI antes de Worldcom y director de división y asistente de personal de Jack Welch en GE, ofrece información extraída de su propia experiencia y de sus propios errores autoproclamados: «Aprendí por las malas que hay que hacerse creíble y conseguir el apoyo de la empresa antes de empezar a intentar ser agente de cambio. Si cree que va a hacer que el cambio se produzca simplemente por la fuerza de la personalidad, la posición o el intelecto, será mejor que se lo piense de nuevo». Y hubo un cambio: bajo el liderazgo de Sharer, Amgen reformó su equipo directivo, modificó su cultura y lanzó un par de productos taquilleros. ¿Cómo sobreviven los directores ejecutivos en ese tipo de entorno vertiginoso? «Un CEO siempre debe cambiar de una altitud a otra, tareas de diferentes niveles de abstracción y especificidad», afirma Sharer. «Puede que necesite dedicar tiempo a trabajar en un rediseño de la estructura organizativa y, luego, pasar rápidamente a redactar una circular para todos los empleados con el objetivo de reforzar uno de los valores de la empresa». Contar con un equipo directivo capaz y que lo apoye también es clave: «Un equipo de alta dirección es la ventana más reveladora del estilo, los valores y las aspiraciones de un CEO. ... Si no tiene el mejor equipo adecuado, no tendrá los niveles correctos por debajo de él. [Los] jugadores A no funcionarán para los jugadores B. Tal vez con una empresa como GE, la reputación de la empresa es tan sólida que puede atraer a los mejores a trabajar para los directivos más débiles. En una empresa nueva como Amgen, eso no sucederá».

Es hora de crecer: entrevista con el CEO de Amgen, Kevin Sharer

Reprint: R0407D Fast growth is a nice problem to have—but a hard one to manage well. In this interview, Kevin Sharer, the CEO of biotech giant Amgen, talks about the special challenges leaders face when their companies are on a roll. Sharer, who was also head of marketing at pre-WorldCom MCI and a division head and a staff assistant to Jack Welch at GE, offers insights drawn from his own experience—and from his own self-proclaimed blunders: “I learned the hard way that you need to become credible and enlist support inside the company before you start trying to be a change agent. If you think you’re going to make change happen simply by force of personality or position or intellect, you’d better think again.” And change there was: Under Sharer’s leadership, Amgen overhauled its management team, altered its culture, and launched a couple of blockbuster products. How do chief executives survive in that kind of dizzying environment? “A CEO must always be switching between different altitudes—tasks of different levels of abstraction and specificity,” Sharer says. “You might need to spend time working on a redesign of your organizational structure and then quickly switch to drafting a memo to all employees aimed at reinforcing one of the company’s values.” Having a supportive and capable top team is also key: “A top management team is the most revealing window into a CEO’s style, values, and aspirations.…If you don’t have the right top team, you won’t have the right tiers below them. [The] A players won’t work for B players. Maybe with a company like GE, the reputation of the company is so strong that it can attract top people to work for weaker managers. In a new company like Amgen, that won’t happen.”

Es hora de crecer: entrevista con el CEO de Amgen, Kevin Sharer

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