Name: Sanofi CEO on leadership: Remove obstacles, move faster, be decisive
Uploaded: 2020-02-25
Duration: 4 min 39 s
Description: Paul Hudson talks about the challenges of transforming the French pharma giant

[ MUSIC ] Paul, right after you became a CEO of Sanofi, you went on, what you call, a listening tour. Where did you go and who were you listening to? You shouldn't tell anybody, but the listening never stops. So, it's not just the run 'till the end of the year and a lot of travel. It's a desire, whether I'm in the elevator or talking to somebody at a railway station on the way to Leon to our vaccines center. It's asking great questions. It's being open to answers. It's being non judgmental, and I'm triangulating all the time. I'm absorbing information and trying to see is that consistent with what I've heard before. It's not about the individuals but it's about the company and how can I speed things up. Give us some of the highlights of what really stood out for you. I've been blown away. I've been blown away by a couple of things. People are incredible. They are whip smart. They are entrepreneurial day innovative. I will also say. That we haven't made it easy for them, to bring the best of all those things to the table. And what I found was incredible human capital, right ?. And I gotta help get the organisation out of That way we're required but then know how to have the organization at their back and not on top of them. What kind of questions were the people that you met with asking you from the first day they were asked me to make decisions. And and in fact, one of the things they asked me was probably you're going to make some decisions, right ?. And I think big companies get out the habit sometimes or procrastinate a little or take their time. People are like, look, we're grownups. So, we wanna know where we're going, and you're here, you need to be explicit with us. You know when the news came out that you are gonna be the new CEO, One of the other big headlines was that you're not French, you are British. How did that play out in the field when you met people? There was some criticism of my choice of soccer team right up front, and some disappointment that I won't switch allegiance to [ UNKNOWN ]. But I haven't heard it, and I've given people plenty of opportunity to say it. How's your French by the way. I am trying my best with my French and You know, it's finding the right time but I'm doing the pleasantries and the [ FOREIGN ] and I'm doing all those things. But I have somewhere to go. Listen, let's also be clear, out of respect for a culture, it is important that to speak to everybody in the organization. That I make progress on my language capability. It's not a barrier, It's a choice. And I think to get the best out of everybody and English isn't everybody's language, then I need to do much better on my French. It's all about culture, isn't it? And I hear from so many CEOs who talk about the importance of Of a company's culture and transforming their culture from which you've been able to gather about this company's- Yeah. Culture. Is it a winning culture? Do you feel you have to transform it or do something different? So I think they're all ingredients to that Have small people, inivitive, entrepreneurial, reselient in many ways, and 100 % comitted. I said to somebody recently, perhaps at a town hall, we're very close to being. Great, but that last little bit takes attention and takes commitment. And I'd like to add my value there. So Paul, you've been through your first 100 days as CEO, what's been your biggest breakthrough? And what do you see as the next big challenge? I think the the realization That our scientific story has been undersold and that I've put a lot of energy into figuring it out. And trying to identify where opportunities for transformational medicine could be, I think in 100 days will have made more progress than people realize. And I think I'll be proud of the team and myself, but proud of the team principally for getting us there for that. It's first base. The next big challenge is tech. There are limitless possibilities for patient benefit, and to accelerate and improve the way we operate. Our people Just are not fully aware of what they can do with it. We need to improve capabilities. We need to understand it better than we've ever done. And we're too far from realizing those possibilities. That's what I've got to help the organization understand, be equipped for and take advantage of. In the benefit of changing the practice of medicine. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Paul Hudson talks about the challenges of transforming the French pharma giant

Sanofi CEO on leadership: Remove obstacles, move faster, be decisive

Leadership

Paul Hudson talks about transforming the French pharma giant

Sanofi CEO on leadership: remove obstacles, move faster

Paul Hudson talks about the challenges of transforming the French pharma giant.