Real World Leadership

Tom Sabatino, serial General Counsel for some of America's greatest corporations, is now steering Tenneco through the tempest of ESG. As he says, corporations are facing enormous pressures from investors, regulators and customers, and facing temptation to overpromise. He cautions about making long term commitments that may not be achievable. In this conversation with Garrick Isert, Sabatino offers...

A key success factor for senior leaders is the ability to find future opportunities for their organization. Dave King, former CEO and Chair of Labcorp, says that the pandemic may present unforeseen opportunities. Hear his insights in this Vanguard Network "Real Leadership" podcast.

Rosanne Haggerty is the founder and president of Community Solutions, a nonprofit focused not just on reducing homelessness but eradicating it, through data-driven action. The organization has made enormous gains in just a few years, and was recently named a finalist for a $100-million MacArthur Foundation grant. In a recent conversation, excerpted here, Vanguard founder (and Community Solutions b...

Covid has taken a terrible toll on minority communities, and brought the issue of health disparities into sharp focus. Gary Puckrein of The National Minority Health Forum says that data analytics, down to the zip code level, can help address the discrepancies.

As important as both corporate and personal branding have been across most industries in the last half-century, they’ve been something of an afterthought in life sciences, where the focus is always on the product over than the company or the people. That may have something to do with the public’s famous distrust of the industry in recent years. But as Vanguard Principal Ken Banta notes in this con...

What are the leadership skills that senior life sciences executives need to master? Matthew Meyer, Chief Client Corporate Development Advisor for Wilson Sonsini, and Ken Banta, Founder and Principal of the Vanguard Group for Leadership, discuss the critical skills needed in life sciences, and the ways advisors like Ken and Matt can help.

Atria Senior Living CEO John Moore made a bold decision early on that the 21,000 residents, and the staff who serve them, deserve to live and work in a vaccinated environment. His leadership stance, while controversial at the time, has paid dividends in safety, customer confidence, trust and employee satisfaction. Atria's experience is a classic example of "doing well by doing good." Learn more ab...

It may seem that serving on a board is a natural extension of organizational leadership. Yet, there are key differences in the roles, and a unique selection process. Are you ready to serve on a board? Do you know how to select the right board? Mark A. Pfister and Ken Banta share some of the key questions you will be asked -- and should ask yourself -- in the process of become a trustee. Looking to...

Unconscious bias can hinder decision making in the workplace, including who to hire. Dr. David Rock of the NeuroLeadership Institute shares techniques grounded in brain research to overcome these attitudes.

Who hasn't heard sinister rumors about COVID? Not just the origin of the disease, but the alleged dangers of vaccination from government control to sterilization. Business leaders need their workforce vaccinated and back in the office or in front of customers. Rumor-fueled resistance to vaccination presents a big problem. Anthropologist Heidi Larson, heads the Vaccine Confidence Project at the Lon...

Legendary CEO David Pyott explores the nuances of decision making in this excerpt from his "Leading From Experience" session with LIfe Sciences leaders. Pyott explains the critical differences between leading a startup and an established organization, and how to prepare an organization for "courageous" decision making.

Understanding your audience, and using language that resonates with them, is important in any communication -- and critical when it comes to vaccination. Psychographics expert Casey Albertson of PatientBond, demonstrates how to motivate behavior, from "self achievers" to "willful endurers."

Corporate leaders need to be as concerned with ESG as their investors and regulators. Environmental, social and governance covers a broad range of critical business factors and is not "just" sustainability. This Vanguard Dialogue with ESG expert Sally Curley and Eastgroup Properties CFO Brent Wood, offers practical advice on catching up to ESG needs and expectations for leaders and boards.

Hispanic people make up about 20% of the US workforce, and yet they are being vaccinated for COVID at a rate far lower than other Americans. Their rate of disease and death from COVID is disproportionately high. Dr. Felix L. Nunez, board president of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved says that employers have the power to improve this situation. First, understand the historical and...

The pandemic has reshaped workplace leadership as early success in the vaccine rollout has given way to hesitancy and resistance. Ken Banta Kristi Frank and Viq Pervaaz agree: It’s crucial for bosses to address those feelings head-on, both in their people and in themselves.

The 600,000+ COVID deaths in the US have impacted the lives of countless family members. By understanding the needs of these survivors, and responding to them, employers can make a big difference. Chris Kocher, Executive Director, COVID Survivors for Change, introduces us to two women whose lives -- personal and workplace -- have been profoundly affected by COVID losses.

For most of its history, the corporate world shied away from talking about mental health in the workplace, particularly when it came to executives. Even in recent years, as organizations have expanded their support for employees in need, they have rarely asked leaders to focus on the issue. Which was a big part of why Nigel Jones, a longtime partner at Linklaters, LLC, joined up a decade ago with...

A firm belief that "we all deserve to live and work in a vaccinated environment," led John Moore to mandate vaccination for residents and staff of Atria Senior Living. Getting there required both courage and strategic communication, especially to younger employees, "who just don't have the muscle memory of vaccines saving the world."

Sophie Bechu, Executive Vice President of Operations for Philips, talks with Ken Banta about company culture and behaviors that matter. She lays out five key behaviors for operational success and shares how they can influence culture, which in turn drives performance.

It's no surprise that American business was caught flat-footed by the pandemic. And, Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security knows that this won't be the last economic and societal disruption. Dr. Adalja knew that a pandemic was just around the corner -- he just didn't know when. In this conversation with the Vanguard Network's Ken Banta, he cautions CEOs to never let thei...

Business leaders are in uncharted territory when considering how best to protect employees and customers. The legal and ethical implications are dizzying. In this conversation with the Vanguard Network's Ken Banta, Dr. Art Caplan unpacks the nuances from his unique position as a global expert on bioethics. Dr. Caplan is the head of the Division of Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center, one of the w...

Donna Murray-Brown is the first black woman to chair the board of the National Council of Nonprofits, and to head the Michigan Nonprofit Association. She says the key to successful corporate giving -- and investing in diversity -- is captured in one word: community.

Jo Pisani, who leads the UK Pharma and Life Sciences Consulting Practice at PWC, explains that technology and data can increase effectiveness while at the same time reduce costs for life sciences companies.

Ajan Reginald of Celexir became a CEO reluctantly. He offers insights into the unique responsibilities of that role, and the importance of relying on others to make a company successful.

In this Vanguard Dialogue, Ken Banta speaks with Jesper Ek on the essence of leadership. Jesper is a leadership expert whose motto is "nothing starts with results, everything starts with people." Jesper tells Ken that leadership is about the longer term and it all starts with a clear vision.