Recruiting for Resilience

Abstract

Bringing a safe and effective pharmaceutical product or medical device to market requires an astonishing amount of time and money. This research features interviews with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Scientific Officers (CSOs) and Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of many of the most successful life science firms in the USA with the goal of to capturing their thoughts on the recruitment of new hires. The executives screened candidates for emotional commitment as an essential quality to complete the long process of bench science, regulatory clearance and product positioning in the market. They sought to hire experienced team members who thought of set-backs as problems to be solved on the way to providing life-altering options for patients. These C-suite leaders needed to create a productive workplace culture, enhanced by a diverse group of professionals with a variety of experiences and temperaments. Participants noted that shared vision and resilience played a greater role in predicting performance than any particular skill-set discernible from a resume.