CHAPTER 8
LESSONS FOR LEADERS
Be the Animator
Pfizer: Embracing Complexity
Pfizer is a large and complex organization by any measure: with about seventy-eight thousand people and over $50 billion in revenues, it is the largest research-based pharmaceutical company in the world. When Ian Read assumed the CEO role in 2010, Pfizer faced significant challenges: the completion of the integration of Wyeth; the patent expiry of Lipitor, the world’s best-selling drug; declining R&D productivity; and a sharp drop in market capitalization from historical heights in the early 2000s.1
Under Read, Pfizer has succeeded in addressing these challenges and the stock value has appreciated accordingly. How? For one reason, Read understands that a company as large ...
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