From Pharma to People: Charting a Leader's Journey

Better People Podcast

Dive into the compelling world of Greg Cathcart, the CEO of Exellis Health. Join us on "The Better People Podcast" as he uncovers the challenges of leading a globally integrated firm, the nuances of supply chain in pharma, and the art of fostering a culture that embraces flexibility. With a peek into the merger of three companies and personal leadership anecdotes, it's a masterclass in management and growth.

Here are a few topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People Podcast:

• Greg's early days at J&J.
• Importance of supply chain traceability.
• The flexibility mantra at NNIT Inc.
• Blending cultures post-merger
• Personal leadership anecdotes

Resources:

• Excellis Health Solutions
• MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Greg Cathcart:

• LinkedIn

Connect with our hosts:

• Holly DePalma - LinkedIn
• Margaret Uhrich - LinkedIn

Quotables:

• 04:51 - The biggest issue though, around all the legislation is really around patient safety. So, and that's counterfeit drugs and or divergent drugs. Something like a cold issue, right? So if something is supposed to kept cold and it shows up in Oncology clinic for your cancer treatment and it's been warm for two days, it can't be used. Right. And if that's the same day that you're supposed to have your infusion right or whatever. So it's so important to the health of patients.
• 08:21 - I think early on there was no job markets. So we met and did recruitment at the universities. We kind of knew what we wanted. Supply chain education's very big at Drexel, very big at Penn State, very big at Stevens Institute over here in New Jersey. So we focused on those schools. We went to education days, right? We talked to the youngsters and told them our backgrounds and told them where we were today. And we said, you wanna go to that route? Or to your point, do you wanna go work for big pharma? But we're big consulting, right? Do you wanna go small consulting where you're gonna be closer to a customer or you're gonna go work for Deloitte or an Accenture? I'm not saying they're bad pass at all, but you really have to, you know, work your way up the chain of ever get in face with a customer, right? 'cause it's such a large firm.
• 24:36 - I think the transparency's the biggest. Yes, you could do lots of little things, but if you're not willing to open up and let folks know what you're either thinking or trying to accomplish,you won't get them to get on board. And the last thing you do, they might still do their job, but if they're not focused at the same goals, to your point. How can we as an organization make our goals, even though some individuals might make their goals, that doesn't help the overall organization either.
• 27:55 - Pharma is a very regulated industry. So we preach to our customers every day how to make sure they button up all the details. Similar to what you just said. So I think a lot of that's intuitive in the way we work as a company. So we've had one leader, I could tell you right now, that we had to let go a couple of years ago because that leader was not leading. That leader was, I don't wanna say abusive, but nasty son of a, you know what? And the people that worked for him were doing great work, but still getting, you know, told they weren't and this and that. And I said, I can't afford to lose the 15 people that work for them. I gotta get rid of the one that's causing the problems. But that was just a bad hire. So you have to address it. Correct. It, that's probably the biggest challenge as executives of companies.
• 32:16 - Hey, you lie about anything. People know you're lying. Guess what? They call you a liar. That's the biggest thing. Right. People are challenged by that. I see it every day. People are challenged with telling the truth. They think the truth's gonna be bad sometimes. I said, you gotta tell 'em the truth. If it's bad information, they gotta hear it too. 'cause if not, they're gonna come back and say, why'd you tell me that when it was really this. Right. So, and for the youngsters, same thing. Don't be afraid to ask. Don't sit back in the corner and hide, raise your hand. Good questions. Any questions a good question, ask it. If you don't know the answer, ask it. We'll help you understand. It doesn't mean you're not smart enough to answer the question yourself. Right. So I think that's the secret.