Harbus

Issue date: 10/20/03 Section: News

Dr. Daniel Vasella, CEO, Novartis AG, received the HBS 2003 Alumni Achievement Award last week. He has had an extraordinarily successful career, switching from the medical field to the management sector in 1988 and rising to become CEO of Sandoz in eight short years. After Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy merged, he was made CEO of the new company, Novartis AG, which he led to ever greater heights with his inimitable vision and leadership. I had an opportunity to speak with him last week and came away absolutely impressed by his unique combination of thought and pragmatism, and compassion and action, which gave me a glimpse of what makes a truly great leader.

The Harbus: Dr. Vasella, you've had a very interesting career and a lot of it stems from your decision in 1988 to join Sandoz, thus, switching from the medical to the management field. What made you suddenly join the corporate world, especially, the pharmaceutical industry?

Dr. Vasella: It was not such a sudden decision. I was mid-career, around 35, at the time, and I had to decide whether I wanted to stay in medicine or do something else. I found that I wanted to learn something new and I didn't understand anything about business or politics, and both interested me. So despite the fact that I loved medicine, I finally decided to take a chance and to at least try to go into business for two years.

The Harbus: What exactly prompted you to learn more specifically about business management?

Dr. Vasella: If you think back, this was in the 1986-87 period and that was the time when the financial markets collapsed and were much in the news.

All this impressed me quite a bit. I wanted to understand its mechanics, how it would impact the economy, impact us and the world but obviously, I had never learned anything about it. Also, the whole question of economics in the healthcare system had just started to become a topic then. So it was interesting to understand the implications of business more broadly.

The Harbus: You became the CEO of Sandoz in eight short years. So your rise through the Sandoz ranks was meteoric, to say the least. What would you attribute that to?

Dr. Vasella: I think I am a fact-based person and I made a lot of effort to learn quickly. And secondly, I'm not shy to work. I enjoy working and put a lot of energy into the work. Thirdly, I think the medical profession, especially interacting with patients, taught me a lot about interpersonal relationships and their dynamics. This combination was a desirable one on the business side and this gave me a special positioning, especially since there were not that many physicians who wanted to be on the business side.

Continued...

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