With a strong corporate culture in place, companies have a better chance of getting through tough times

Corporate culture.

To some, those words represent the core values that drive a company to success. To others, it’s just the title on a paper pinned to a company bulletin board, leading a list of vague, mumbo-jumbo “values” that are the subject of derision or humor.

Rob Wright, chief editor at the magazine Life Science Leader, recently told a Salt Lake City audience that in interviewing life science company CEOs, retired CEOs and upper management, he has discovered more of the former than the latter.

While it’s easier to manage a company housed in a garage or kitchen or basement, those companies often grow beyond what its founders originally expected. “And when it does get to that size, it’s a lot better if you have a formalized corporate culture program in place, because many of the executives that I’ve interviewed have talked about corporate culture being the key thing that was able to get their company through so many difficult times,” Wright said during BioUtah’s Utah Life Sciences Summit.

Wright, who also spent 17 years in the pharma industry on the commercial side of the business, acknowledged that companies can nonetheless be successful without a corporate culture plan in place or even being able to define what corporate culture is. He noted that Johnson & Johnson, founded in 1886, put its company credo in writing 57 years later.

“If you’re thinking you still have time, yes, you still have time to establish your company’s corporate culture, but I wouldn’t wait 57 years,” Wright said. “And I tell you that I’ve never seen a J&J executive who would talk where they haven’t referenced their credo as being important to their company. And I can tell you that I believe their credo has played a pivotal role in their company getting through some very difficult times.”

At its essence, corporate culture, he said, can be defined as a feeling, one that is co-created between a company’s employees and its management team.

In his own career, he has worked under different cultural approaches, including one focused on accountability and caring about employees. One even offered a self-defense training course because the company cared about employee safety.

“There are a lot of things that go into building a company with a strong corporate culture, but in my opinion, it is paying attention to the little things that really matter,” he said.

During his interviews with executives, he discovered:

• Vivek Ramaswamy, founder and CEO of Roivant Sciences, who prefers “doers over talkers.” The company gives applicants a task aligned with the job they are seeking in order to determine if they are doers or talkers. Roivant also lets new employees leave after two months, giving them a “significant financial component” if they leave. It’s a way for the company to help them find another opportunity “and do so with gracefulness” rather than just casting them aside. “They thought, ‘this person took a risk’ and they want to recognize that,” Wright said.

• Matt Patterson, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Audentes Therapeutics, who initially was skeptical about having a formal corporate culture because he had worked at companies where plans were developed but not embraced. Now, the three core values at Audentes include being bold and “GSD” — short for “get stuff done,” with “stuff” here substituting a more-colorful word.

• Robert Hariri, co-founder and CEO at Celularity, whose focus on managing corporate culture is on hiring the right people, those who will work with him and take ownership of the company vision and dream. When interviewing prospective employees, “he looks in people’s eyes and he wants to see if they have the fire in their eyes that he has in his eyes.”

Hariri has an unabashed “evangelical” style and wants employees who are excited and enthusiastic. “What happens is, when you do that, you begin to screen out those who like that environment and those who don’t, and those who like it typically want to stay and those who don’t typically want to move on,” Wright said.

• Mark Rothera, president and CEO of Orchard Therapeutics, who likewise wants employees excited to work at the company and who want to be part of shaping what the company could be.

• Bassil Dahiyat, co-founder and CEO of Xencor, who has focused more on corporate culture as the company has grown but still prefers that the culture be informal.

• Richard Pops, chairman and CEO of Alkermes, who, when trying to articulate what made the company special, believed it was self-evident. But the process of formulating the company’s value and culture turned out to be incredibly valuable. Akin to an archeological venture, “once you’re able to do that and can identify the words associated with that, then you can perpetuate it,” Wright said.

• Bruce Cozadd, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, who seeks likeminded people with an interest in a strong corporate culture. Even the company name dovetails into its values, Wright said.

“While jazz musicians are known for being incredible soloists, to be truly great they have to be able to work well with their fellow artists,” he said. “And that’s the kind of corporate culture that Jazz was striving to create, and they called it ‘individual excellence but playing well with others.’”

While some companies build their corporate cultures proactively and others do so retrospectively, Wright encouraged audience members to develop a culture and then let others know about it.

“We in the life sciences space are very concerned about our IP and we want to protect everything that we have, but when it comes to corporate culture, you need to share it. You need to talk about it and talk about it often, inside and outside the company,” he said.

Wright also cautioned that companies be aware of the individual needs and preferences of employees in developing that culture. Some people are introverts who thrive when working individually, while others are extroverts who prefer to work in teams.

“Be careful in how you respond to employees expressing frustration in your company, because that frustration in reality is actually blocked passion. And you might be tempted to get upset with them, be dismissive or say the saying that I absolutely hate — ‘It is what it is’ — because they sound like a bunch of whiners,” Wright said.

“But the reality is they care about this company more than anybody else and they could be your most passionate advocates. So, try to lean into their passion, connect on values and see if they can help you.”

Kelvyn Cullimore, president and CEO of BioUtah, said he believes every company has a culture. “Some of them are proactive and defined, and others happen just because of the way leadership acts,” he said, “and that’s not always a good thing.”