Episode 132: The Reality of Being a CEO – Leadership Lessons from the Front Lines of Biotech

Ah, the CEO role sounds glamorous until you realize the job is part strategist, part therapist, part firefighter, and always on call. You're listening to Bio from the Bayou, empowering biotech leaders with the tools, assets, and expertise to improve healthcare outcomes.

Each episode provides insights and information to expand your network, advance your product line, and help your company thrive.

Serving the entire Gulf South, but recorded in the heart of New Orleans. Welcome back to Bio from the Bayou. I'm Dr. Elaine Hamm, the executive in residence at Tulane School of Medicine. And with me is CEO of my heart and CEO of Connect, James Zanewicz. And today we are going to be—

She's buttering me up.

Oh, I am.

100% in.

Well, today we're going to be talking about that very title, which is CEO, because that is exactly what you are now. And I wanted to get your thoughts and perspectives, your clean thoughts and perspectives, your sober thoughts and reflections.

It's just not going to be my thoughts. We're going to get yours too, woman.

Well, you know my thoughts. I don't like being a CEO. I like being a COO. Because operations is my jam, and I don't like being the president of all the things. I don't like being out there in front, but that is a little bit what CEOs be, you know, what being a CEO is like. So, all right, let's start by, you are now the CEO of Connect in San Diego, which we've talked a little bit about on this show.

Yeah.

What were the biggest surprises that you had in being a CEO? You've held a ton of different leadership positions, so this is not your first time being a boss or anything like that. This, but if this is your first time really heading up The organization.

Oh, it's, it's different.

Yeah. What was the most surprising thing that you thought of that you've experienced in this process?

I mean, surprising in that, you know, people tell you, you read about it if you're preparing for it often and trying to understand it, but that, you know, for as fulfilling and exciting as it is, it is an incredibly lonely job in many ways.

Ooh, it really is.

We went deep quick.

Yeah. I wasn't prepared to talk about the loneliness until like the end, but we're just gonna dive right into it. Yeah. Because people, that's what people say. Yeah. It's lonely at the top, but there really is something about that because the biggest challenge is finding someone else to talk to. It can be very inappropriate if you're struggling with challenges to have conversations with people that report to you. With your team. Yeah, your team. And so, how, who do you actually talk to when you need advice?

Yeah, well, I mean, Ty, Dr. Elaine Hamm.

Oh, me? Is it me? Who do you talk to?

I'm like, Wait, are we pretending that we don't text and talk about things all the time? It's interesting is that I think you and I have perhaps different conversations than we used to now that I understand a lot more than I did before in many ways. And you're like, it was always like this and you just never understood. But also I, I know your pleasure and the excitement. And the other thing is it is fun to craft a universe in tandem with other people and to get to be the person that gets to partner with an incredibly talented group of people like what we have at Connect. You know, my team is just incredible. And to get to help them realize their dreams while we're kind of realizing the future of San Diego, it's just, it's a rush in addition to the lonely sadness at times. But the rush way outweighs the negatives, I think.

Well, when you and when other people hear the word CEO, what do you think people typically think of? I kind of think of just sort of like the boss, the buck stops with me, you know, the head honcho. Yeah. Like, what does that actually mean?

I think that's what people think of. I think what it actually comes down to is the person ultimately responsible for everything, whether or not they're the one doing it. And, you know, and I say this and I'm gonna get in trouble with my team, but they are the ultimate show pony for the organization.

Yeah.

Your job is to be out there doing all the things, opening all the doors, ensuring whether you're a nonprofit CEO or a startup CEO, your job is to help secure the funding. To keep the lights on so you can do the good work that you do. And whether that's advancing science or helping other people advance their science, engineering, innovation, whatnot, it's a huge part of things that you realize is basically the job. But I don't think until you're in it, you understand what that means.

It's a little bit scary. I think I was, I didn't really think about like the responsibility of that comes with being a CEO at the end of the day. Like if someone makes a mistake, Whether it was, you know, 3 levels down or not, doesn't matter. It's still your fault as the CEO. You didn't set them up for success in some way to make that failure become a success, whether you didn't provide them with resources, you weren't clear on the communication. Like, there could be a number of different things that can go wrong. And ultimately it really is, comes down to the CEO. And that's really daunting and scary sometimes. Did you find that to be true?

1,000%. Like, no notes.

Agree.

I mean, so like, it's very true, Leigh. Like, I, I don't have a whole lot else to say on that. It's just, it's always that way when you're in charge of a group or division or something, but it's very different when you're the it is. And, and it is a different relationship when your boss is the board chair versus—

Very.

An employee of the organization. And I'd say too, that's the board relationship is incredible in many ways, but very different. I've been on boards before and I've worked with boards, but I haven't been the person who reported to the board. And I'm really, I'll tell you, like, I am blessed with the support of the board that we have here at Connect. Like, it is such a passionate community and passionate group who give of their time, their talent, their cash, their resources so that we can do the good work that we do. Yeah. I think I was the one who hosted the podcast with you on board, you know, board composition and things like that. Boy, do I understand the importance even more now. I was like, oh, this is great information Elaine's giving me. Now I live it. Yeah.

That's great.

People should go back and listen to Elaine talk about both scientific boards and her other boards. Yeah.

I mean, because, because a CEO has a boss, and they don't just have a boss, they usually have a lot of different bosses. And that can be really challenging because you have a lot of different stakeholders within that. You have a giant board, which, like, the very thought of having more than 5 people is just, like, it makes me wanna vomit a little bit. But you have a pretty large board. How do you navigate all that?

Yeah, so it's, you know, it's finding ways to engage them in meaningful ways, which we're really working on as a team here is, and a large part of it was COVID and other things. where I think it went to more Zoom and less active engagement. And we are really working on how do we make board meetings valuable and intentional. And, and our last board meeting, we had a couple topics of conversation. One was, what are the wins we should celebrate? We'll be coming out with a press release on that. Here are things the board sees as, as why San Diego's better. We also brainstormed on challenges and road bumps for people out there and then challenged the board. What's one thing we could do in 90 days, whether or not we're doing it, but we're pulling together the ecosystem? What can we help affect to set in motion something to help solve that. And it's not solving it, but it's starting the conversation to solve it. And actually what we came up with will not be something that we are responsible for ultimately, but that we can be the instigator for the conversation that hopefully could solve it. And that's kind of really what our role is in the ecosystem is the connector now. Yeah. And ensuring that we come up with those things. But I think it's enabling your board to have that input is where that value comes.

Well, and enabling your employees too, because one thing I really struggle with as a CEO, or when I've been CEO, I primarily, like I said, I prefer like the COO positions, but I've had to step up and be CEO at several times in my career. And I found it to be a challenge because being in operations, I had a lot of control over different aspects of operations. But when you're CEO, you do not have that control anymore, and you shouldn't because you cannot be focused on the minutia sometimes because you have to be thinking larger and more strategic, and that can be really challenging. Is that something that you've experienced?

It's interesting. You have to be visionary and operational all at once. I think it's where coming down to good partners in your C-suite or leadership suite is really important to help kind of bring those pieces. And, and when you're too far in operations to help pull you back up, but when you're too far visionary to be like, okay, how do we implement pieces of this in a way that makes sense? That probably just didn't make sense at all.

No, that, no, that 100%. Yeah, that definitely made sense. I was just literally thinking like, how's that going for you? It's hard.

I mean, it's good. I keep saying how blessed I am that I have such an incredible team, but, you know, we're a new team working together and, and Connected had several folks who had, were at the right moment in their career to move forward. And so, it's a team of a lot of new folks to Connect to who are bringing so much passion and enthusiasm and a want to transform this region. And I think one of the reasons I love this job so much is it is such a pivotal moment for the San Diego ecosystem, for the organization where it's in a moment of transformation that this team and moment is almost refounding what it means to be Connect in this moment. And that's a super fun thing. And especially for the younger career folks on the team, I can't wait to see where they are, like, in 10 years and what they use the fact that they get to be part of this to springboard their careers into.

Mm-hmm.

Which I tell them all the time, I'm like, this is just gonna be one of your first jobs, but I think this job is gonna set you up for amazing things 10, 20, 30 years down the line, just because of what you learn in such a short time here. And the fact that I get to help people do that is huge.

And that's, again, thinking long-term, which is exactly how a, a CEO has to think. Well, one of the things that you've even shared with me, and this is before you became a CEO, is a book, The First 90 Days. And I thought that was really, really helpful. Are there other resources that you have leaned on as you have transitioned from more of a leadership position to the CEO position?

I'm ranting. I'm sure you see me now on my phone and I'm not texting, Lillian. I'm frantically scrambling for to get the book title right before you yell at me and say, put down your phone. It's The New CEO by Ty Wiggins. That was incredibly, and I listened to a whole lot of stuff, but that's one I've listened to a couple times. And that, that's one that has a chapter on the loneliness of being a CEO and where you're like, oh, it can't be that bad. Then you get in and you're like, well, it is, 'cause we don't all have dogs hanging out with us in our offices.

Well, I was looking back because I'm literally, one of the books that you recommended to me years ago, or you made our whole office, Ian included here, was to The Five Dysfunctions of Teams. Oh yeah. So that same person It's huge. It's a good book. Yeah, that same person has a book about being a CEO, and I thought it was, it's one, he tells a great story, so he really, it's a pleasure to listen to or read, but he has a book around being a CEO as well. So, that's another resource that I highly recommend as another piece.

100%.

And sometimes it's just reading a book, which appeals to the scientist person in me. And I think that's also helpful for our listeners because a lot of them are new founders or they're bio, they're thinking about making that leap, you know, into a startup and becoming a CEO. And sometimes it's just starting with the basics of like, Hey buddy, just read a book, you know, start here. This, you're not recreating the wheel here. There's other people that have gone before you and have done this. Learn from them, read a book, talk to other colleagues about how to do this job. Because I think, I think it's very like, when I think of a CEO, I also used to think about it as being a boss.

It is different in a way, because in a way you're a boss, but you're a boss if you're, I think if you're doing it well, of very few people and you're empowering them to be very good managers. If that makes sense. It's a little bit of a different twist.

Yeah, no, I like that. So what's one skill set that you didn't realize you had to really bone up on when you became CEO?

Oh, well, I mean, the one that I did that I haven't is work-life balance.

Yeah. You have never been good at that. Like, let's be real. It's been important.

I love my jobs, but I mean, yeah, like, it's like when the organization rides on you and your job is to engage with the people. It's hard to decide when can I take, especially in your first year, like, when do I take time off? Yeah, it's really, really hard. Like, you know, every night, like, I have a dinner every night this week.

And not a fun dinner. It's work.

They're all still fun, but you know, sometimes you just want to go home and watch Bridgerton. Shout out to my girl Shonda Rhimes.

That's right. Okay. And another thing that I feel like I struggled with Well, actually, I feel like now this has become my main skillset, and that is figuring out how to prioritize. And it's really hard to prioritize when everything feels really important and everything can affect your bottom line. So how do you think about prioritization?

It's an ever-failing process. I feel like it's, you know, I have my list and my list I intend to get to, and then I come in on Saturday and try and get through the list and something else comes up. And I'm trying to be better. Like, like, okay, it's 3 o'clock on Sunday. I am going to go out and have a beer or two with one of my friends and trying to balance it, or I need to do laundry today. But those things, and it's where can you do things and where is your time needed and where can you ask your team to pitch in and help out? But also, what is something that should be a thing you do? And I don't know, I think I screw it up all the time, but I think if you think you're screwing it up, you're probably doing something right because you're self-aware.

I think that's a lot of it too. And I wouldn't think the biggest mistake that CEOs can sometimes fall into is analysis paralysis and it just Sometimes have to just make a decision and move forward. A lot of the job is just decision-making under uncertainty. You're constantly making calls without perfect data and with the knowledge that the consequence is ultimately yours. And that sucks a little bit. And I thought a lot of it would be strategy, and it is, but it's a lot of people and problem solving too. That, that's a big, big piece of being a CEO that, that I find.

And you would think that would pull to the operations strings in your heart, but it doesn't.

It doesn't. I mean, the problem solving definitely does, but the people part is very, very hard for me. One way I think about problem solving or fast decision-making too, and this is something that I think would appeal to the marketing comms piece of you, James, is that knowing your brand of yourself, knowing the brand of your company and using that as your North Star and I think a lot of this, that lesson I learned was during the pandemic and thinking about our wine bar, honestly. I mean, it was easy to make decisions when we knew exactly what we stood for. And I feel like that can help navigate when there's crises and complications, as long as you know what your goal is as a company, what your North Star is, what your brand is, that can help you serve as the touchstone. And so, you're not constantly having to rethink the decisions. You're making the decisions from the same source. Does that make sense?

It does. No, it absolutely makes sense. And it's a thing you talk about a lot where most companies don't think enough or intentionally enough about what is their mission, what are their values, and what is their brand until they're built. And later on, we did spend a lot of time as a team here kind of doing that. And of course, you know, it's something that I'm super passionate about and have talked a lot about. So, so we did that early on and it kind of boiled down to, you know, that we are a team and that we're welcome to disagree with each other behind closed doors. But when we go in public, like we're one united front and We are here to support entrepreneurs on their journey. And that is a broad statement, but it's also a statement that has a lot of power behind it. And that, you know, Connect's focus is on innovation vertical entrepreneurs.

Yeah.

And how do we help them? And that helps us figure out where the holes are. How do you navigate the complexity that is San Diego? Because if you're an entrepreneur coming out and there are 300 options and they're all, hey, we're here and we're better and we're this, and this will cost you this, or, or sometimes it doesn't cost you anything, but there's definitely a reason they're doing it versus just, you know, altruistic. And how do you help entrepreneurs navigate that? And that's, you know, we've talked a lot about pathway, proof, and platform, but coming down to where you kind of have that, it's really great. So I worked with a group called Onwards out of Ireland, and their whole thing is on coaching CEOs and how to be more effective fundraisers. 'Cause I realized that's also a key part of your role as CEO.

Turns out.

It's not something that I had done. So I actually went through their course, which I found really helpful, and And we had different versions of those words, but as an English minor, I forgot how important alliteration was. And we had 3 different words, but now we have Pathways, Proof, and Platform, which is, you know, the same as what we had before, but just, it flows and it iterates. It says what we're doing. And it also gives the team something. We're like, hey, does it fit a Pathway, Proof, or Platform? And if not, should we be doing it? Because everything should fit in those buckets. And if you can't justify why, Either that means it's time for you to change your core and your mission, your vision, your values, and what that is, or it's not something you should be doing. And I'm going to be honest, I'll probably come up with ideas that don't fit in those, and I'll need my team to hold me accountable and be like, what the heck does it fit in? Nope.

I feel that for sure. And I think, again, having that, it's not just a phrase you put on your website, you know, your mission, your brand, your values are the things that will guide you. And that doesn't mean that they can't be updated for sure, but you have to all agree on that of this is what fits into, this is our lane and we need to decide.

This is where you and Gretel should hop on and talk about COOs at some point too, because it's funny, she and I were talking about this and I, you know, and I'm really honest with her. I'm like, Gretel, you know, one of the things that we have as one of her job descriptions is, does a project have an owner? And if it doesn't have a clear owner, kill it.

So hard.

Kill it, right? Like, she's like, do I get to kill it? Like, either we have to find someone who does own it, because if no one owns anything, it's not a project. A lot of those things come down to operations pushing against the CEO and be like, okay, What bucket does it actually fit in and who owns it? And if it, if you can't answer those questions, why are we doing it? And you have to have a team that is not uncomfortable pushing on their CEO, the C-suite, to ask those questions. And that's where I'm, I'm really blessed because we have, you know, Gretel Bonsaun as our COO and Trey Brackett as our Chief Brand and Engagement Officer really doing that. And even down to, to Dr. Petra Stegman, who's our Head of Entrepreneurial Programs. And I love that none of them are shy. And it goes down to Liz Dargie, our Head of Partnerships, Daniela Gama, who does our data and operations. But They'll just pop in with ideas and questions and ask why I want something a certain way. And often it's just because I'm dumb and they have a better way to do it. And I'm like, great, do it that way.

Yeah. Well, I, I wanna go back to something you said, and you said you had to take a course. And I think that's such an important piece too, of just like, people think like, oh, you become CEO, check, you've reached the pinnacle.

You won business.

You won capitalism. Congratulations.

You're back in kindergarten.

Yeah. Yeah. You, you always have to continue to learn. I mean, again, we mentioned the books and all of that, but like, I have an executive coach and that has been incredibly valuable. There's tons of different resources out there for CEOs and just even talking to other CEOs on things that they've experienced are a big piece of it. And just knowing that you're never done learning, that you constantly are gonna have to know what your weaknesses are and what your, what, how to improve them. I think that's important.

Well, and who knew? 'Cause, you know, I have this funding raising coach, which is a little different, but also I have a CEO coach who, fortunate. It's one of our board members who volunteers his time with me. It's Rick Valencia, who has a whole business on coaching CEOs because he's been a successful one. And I'll say like some of my conversations with him are the favorite because he won't ever answer a question. He just asks you a question that forces you to think about the answer and make it because again, the buck stops with you and you have to make the decision and no one can tell you what to do. It's up to you. People are going to ask questions that make you think about it from a different lens. And I think it's surrounding yourself with the people who are not afraid to do that. is what you have to do to be a good CEO. One of my favorites, Hélène, is 'cause you talk a lot about how you're an reluctant CEO. What trade-offs do you feel like you've had to make in life to switch from a COO to a CEO? Because obviously you've given something up that is less in your comfort zone. So where is that? And then corollary, is it worth it?

I think the first thing I think of when you say that is you have to give up control. That's the hardest part. Like, especially as a COO, you're much more on the operations and making sure things click and move forward. But as a CEO, you are dependent on your team, and the real job is building a team that can solve problems without you. You just can't do everything yourself. I mean, granted, like when you're in a startup company, you probably will do a lot of stuff. It's gonna be you and one other person, and you're gonna be legal, you're gonna be secretary, you're gonna be janitor, you're gonna be all the things. And so, you just really can't put yourself into one box, but But as your company grows, if you're successful, you're going to realize there's things you're going to have to let go. And even though there's things that I think are my favorite, they may not be the thing that's actually right for what a CEO does. That's what I have to constantly stop doing is that piece. And I think the other piece, and this is something that my executive coach worked with me on, and that is, I think in terms of small goals, I think of project management as an operations person of like, we have to execute this by Q2. You have to think much bigger as a CEO of like, okay, yes, it's not just executing this. Well, how does that fit into the bigger, broader plan? of the company and how does that fit with the brand of the company? And that has been, it's really just sort of been broadening out. So, is it worth it? Again, I think it's, it depends on what you wanna be a CEO for.

I love, that's the biggest thing.

If you want money and prestige, I mean, that's one thing.

No, that's not what it's about.

If you like dinners every night with a bunch of people, oh, sure. Yeah, have at it. But I think that like what I find most rewarding at being in that position is the strategy and the moving something really, something bigger than yourself forward. I think that's what the big trade-off is of control versus is moving the bigger piece forward.

I know we're just about out of time and Ian's gonna murder us soon, and he's gonna be the CEO of our murder if we don't wrap it up. The CEO of murder. Of our murders. Everybody else will be fine. It'll be murders, murders in the podcast, not murders in the building. I've, I've learned some good tips today about how to be a CEO of murder.

Wow. Well, step 1, don't tell people that you're the CEO You've gotta get found.

I'm the CEO of something. You'll have to figure it out.

I'm solving crimes.

I would say, so, so maybe as we end this, what's the, the one piece? 'Cause you come at it from a more, you've done this longer term and me newer term. What's the one thing somebody coming into being a CEO should know or do?

2 things. One, I think that part of being a CEO is absorbing uncertainty so that the team can focus and carry out the company's goals. And sometimes also, it's knowing that every stage of growth might require a different version of leadership. And that maybe means that CEO has to find ways to change, or maybe it's a brand new CEO. So, that's one thing I would say.

It's good to be comfortable with that. And I think for me, don't be afraid. While you have to be strong and you are the leader, I think it's also okay to be vulnerable, and you just have to find the right people you can be vulnerable with. And, you know, sometimes that's your team, and sometimes it's people outside your team, and you're, in many ways, your first team becomes other CEOs that you can go gather with. It's like visiting someone else's TV show instead of them living in your same one, which is kind of fun. You have to explain the characters in a little more detail to them, but they're people who can at least understand. It's like, oh, that's the equivalent of so-and-so on my team. Here's how I handled that. But it is different where when you're in a team, people already know the characters when you're talking about it with a colleague.

Yeah.

You have to do a little more backstory, but sometimes you get very different insights. And I'd say find that tribe that you can use.

And I've been really fortunate Knowing that being a CEO doesn't stop once you get that title, that it's a constant iteration and, and learning from others.

Yeah.

You know, I hope that other CEOs reach out and can share their expertise on this podcast as well, because we have a lot of budding entrepreneurs, budding CEOs in our audience, and we'd love to find ways to help them out too.

Maybe Elaine, a way for the Bio from the Bayou community, if they need that CEO network, maybe they can leverage the Bio from the Bayou LinkedIn page and comment on this episode and then inbox each other. And start to build the community like what you and I have and other folks have. It'd be a great way to kind of leverage an asset you have and perhaps give folks a means to interact with other CEOs.

I love it. That's perfect. It's another crossover event that way. All right. Thank you for agreeing to join us one more time, James.

I really appreciate it.

I know, a surprise 5th time. Snuck another one in there. Well, thanks again for your time. We really appreciate it and looking forward to seeing you grow as a CEO. And again, all of the information that we've talked about, some of the books and resources that we mentioned will be in our show notes. We hope you check it out and join us again on another episode of Bio from the Bayou.

Thanks for joining us for Bio from the Bayou, and we hope you'll join us again.

To never miss the latest updates in biotech, hit the subscribe button now.

We'll catch you on our next episode of Bio from the Bayou.

This podcast was edited by Resonate Recordings.