Episode 153: Why Every Biotech Leader Needs Executive Coaching

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Serving the entire Gulf South, but recorded in the heart of New Orleans. Welcome back to BIO from the Bayou. I'm your host, Dr. Elaine Hamm, the executive in residence from Tulane School of Medicine. And today's guest is Rod Beeler. He's an executive partner at Magellan Executive Partners, a team of experienced executives helping other CEOs and executives grow in their role. Welcome to the show, Rod.

Thank you. It is really an honor to be here and to speak with you. Thank you.

Well, and in a different capacity, because you have been my executive coach. And I've had now 2 different executive coaches, and both were very different experiences. And I was very lucky in that my last financing round of my company, Cadenza Bio, one of the investors actually included a free year of executive coaching.

Right.

And I thought, why not? I could always stand to learn something new. And I remember when we got paired, there weren't any biotech sort of background people in the actual roster, I guess, of executives. And so, I was very trepidatious, to be honest. I was like, okay, And oh my gosh, it was the absolute best experience of my career, honestly. And on top of that, you probably say, in addition to helping me with my companies, you probably helped my marriage as well. I mean, business counseling can sometimes, you know, make sure that you're not stressed out and that you bring that stress home. So it's nice to be able to have that sort of business therapy, as I'm going to call it, a little bit too. So it was—

Thank you very much. That's very nice of you to say.

Well, before we get into executive coaching and what it is, let's talk about that background that I was like, okay, what is this guy going to help me with being in the biotech industry? And you have an incredible background across a number of different countries and many, many years of experience. So I'd love to understand your sort of journey and, and kind of where you are today.

Well, I was very fortunate. I spent well over 30 years with a Forbes Top 50 corporation, global company. And had tremendous experiences both in the United States as well as internationally. So my family and I lived in Perth, Australia, Sydney, Australia, back to the US. Then we were in Geneva, Switzerland for a while, then back to the US and Singapore for about 5 years. And so in Australia, that was kind of really focused on the Australian markets and developing those.

Yep.

And when we were in Switzerland, I had responsibility for sales development for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. So that was a big piece of the geography and a lot of, to your point, a lot of different cultures and people that you had to interact with and work with. And in that Geneva office, I would say we probably had almost every European nationality, a lot of Africans in that office. So you're not only dealing with them outside, the office, but inside as well. So that was fascinating. And then in Singapore, very similar. I mean, I had responsibility for all of Asia Pacific. So everything from Korea, China, Southeast Asia, India, Australia, again, New Zealand. So about a third of the globe. And again, you can just imagine all the different cultures.

And the moving parts too.

Moving parts. And I would use in particular China and India. Because in different parts of those 2 countries, you have very different cultures, very different people, very different practices. And how you were able to adapt to those was interesting. So through all these amazing opportunities I was given, I learned a lot about— had some tremendous experiences, some that went well, some that didn't.

Yeah.

On how do you coach people? How do you help people to exceed their own expectations? And that's really what I probably enjoyed the most of my career is helping people exceed what they thought they could do.

Yeah. And how long were you with this company?

I was with Caterpillar for 31 years.

Yeah. What was your original role, and where did you end up, though?

So, I started out of college. I was hired by Caterpillar and went back to what was then their world headquarters in Peoria, Illinois. And I was basically did some staff work, and then I went out to the San Francisco area where I was a field rep and worked with the Caterpillar dealers that are independent businesses. And I'd say this is also a key part of the development opportunity. Caterpillar dealers are very large businesses. They're independent, usually family-owned. And on any one day, you can experience sales, finance, accounting, operations, customer complaints, customer compliments. I mean, you get this whole array literally every single day.

Yeah.

So it was a tremendous experience that you can call on. when I had the opportunity to coach. Yeah.

Well, so let's talk a little bit about executive coaching. What exactly is it for those who have never done it, and what is it not?

Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think coaching, executive coaching, is a lot like what we've experienced in our lives— tennis, baseball, football, basketball, soccer, music.

OK, there we go. I was like, OK, I don't do any of those things, Rod. Anything that ends in a ball, I got nothing. But music, yes.

Music, theater. I mean, we all work with other people that help us get better at whatever our passions are.

Yeah.

And I think executive coaching is exactly the same thing. It is how do we work with an individual to be more effective as a leader, or whether it's a multinational corporation, or it's a one-person shop, or whether it's something in between. I've worked with startups. I've worked with big companies. I've worked with small companies. So I think executive coaching is that. So if I gotta put a little more of a point on it, I think there's a couple things that are key. One, we make sure that everybody understands it's 100% confidential.

Yes.

What the person that we're coaching and I talk about will never be repeated to anybody else for any reason, no matter what. So I think that gives the person being coached an opportunity to really open up and ask the question they might be afraid to ask in their own organization.

Yeah.

So I think that's key. And I think you made a point earlier that I think is important. There is a certain point of therapy because executives have nobody else to talk to.

It's true.

And sometimes just an opportunity to unload and get it off their chest is an important part of Yeah. Being an effective coach, I think. So I think that's key. The other part is listening. You know, you've just gotta listen and let them talk. They will uncover what their challenges are right now. And then you customize to what is needed for that individual.

Yeah.

I think almost every session, I'll come in with some ideas of what I want to talk with that person about. But if that person has something else going on, mine get pushed off the side, and we focus immediately Yeah. In real time on what that individual is challenged with, whether it's a good challenge or a difficult challenge, whatever it might be.

Yeah.

We're gonna deal with that.

And we went through the gamut of different things. I mean, we worked on short-term problems, things that maybe even happened that day of coaching. But we've also— you really pushed me too, to think long-term and long-term strategy and long-term skill building as well for myself. And I think that that was really, really helpful. I tended to get more myopic of the problems I was dealing with right then and there, but You were really good about bringing me out of it and going, okay, but this is a common thread that you could work on that would maybe prevent or help and augment in the future a challenge that I would be facing, which was super helpful.

That's a great point. I think that really is something that I noticed with a lot of people that we coach is the nature of the job has lots of issues that must be resolved today. And you probably won't get them all resolved today. So then they go over to tomorrow and there's more issues for tomorrow. And And so forth and so on. And we'd never make the time to sit back and think, where am I steering this ship? Where is this going? What are we trying to truly accomplish? Because if you have that vision and that idea of where you're trying to go, then all these everyday things, you can kind of bounce up against them. And do they make sense? Are they as important as somebody else is saying they are? I think that's important.

Yeah.

I think that kind of links into what coaching, in my opinion, is not. And to me, it's not a formula. It's not some off-the-shelf book or here, follow steps 1 through 6 and you are an effective executive. I think it's an ongoing process and it's how do I keep doing what I can to make you better?

Yeah.

And how do you challenge me back and forth? And I think there's this very close partnership that's important. between a coach and the person being coached, and how do you guys work together to make it better? And that's really a little key, being more effective.

Well, and I've done a couple of different executive coaches, and both of them started with some type of survey or questionnaire about sort of management style. And sometimes there is a prescribed sort of— I'm going to call it coursework, but there's sometimes a prescribed process. But you and I, we kind of went off book, and you took that into consideration as you helped coach me. But You're right. Like, it wasn't any specific formula, and I feel like that was sort of the best part of it. Like, we had some guidelines, but at the same time— and you got to know me through my, my little executive profile, but at the same time, we dealt with a variety of things that wouldn't have fit that box, per se.

Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, we do— we start off with a tool called StrengthsFinders, and then we do a 360 survey, and those are useful.

Yeah.

But to me, they're more about getting to know the individual you're working with than they are to then follow a formula. I think that just provides a good platform for a lot of good discussion. And then by asking good questions, we figure out how to help you. So I think all that really is what coaching is. It's very customized, very focused on the individual being worked. And if you do that, I think it will be effective.

Well, I wanna go back to something you touched upon about sort of the, and especially as it relates to the entrepreneur journey. We have a lot of our listeners that are entrepreneurs or in startups.

Sure.

It's a very, very kind of isolating, lonely job. Sometimes you are just a company of one.

Yeah.

But even if you're a little bit of a bigger company, if you're at the C-suite level, there's really not anyone you can necessarily talk to because, I mean, you don't wanna put that on your employees and the CEO's concerns or worries may be different than someone on the VP level or even another C-suite manager about understanding how to manage across the C-suite as well.

Right.

It can be really challenging. And, you know, there's always sort of meetups of different startup CEOs so that you can all kind of talk about and commiserate together. But having someone that can help you think through specific problems and then go back the next month and go, okay, how did it go? What can we refine? I thought was really, really helpful. That loneliness, I think, is really important. And then being able to talk to someone And say, hey, this is going on, without putting that burden on employees or co-founders, for example, or even your spouse, as another example. Is that something that you found to be helpful for the people that you've coached over the time?

Yeah, absolutely. And I, I think that there's a key here also of sometimes people who've been successful in developing a biotech product, service, whatever it might be, They haven't got a lot of business experience.

No.

And they don't know what they don't know, or they're afraid to ask questions of a co-founder or of a board because they don't want to take any of the shine off their image, right? And understandably, I'm not being critical at all. I get it.

Absolutely.

I would say in my own career, there were times I wish I'd had somebody else to talk to because you're afraid, well, if I ask this, Do they think I don't know what I'm talking about or what I'm doing?

Right.

And I think when you and I were talking, I think that's why, even though I had no zero biotech background, I think that's why we were able to work together is because you forgot more about biotech in the first minute of our conversation than I knew.

Yeah.

But I was still able to at least take you out of your comfort zone and ask you some questions to get you to think. I wasn't trying to tell you what to do.

Yeah.

But by asking some questions, I think you figure out what works for you and what's gonna be more effective.

Yeah.

I've worked with some startups, and it's interesting. Sometimes they don't know quite how to handle difficult personnel situations. Or now that they've gone from 2 or 3 people to 10 or 12, there are different compensation issues, benefits issues, just policy and administration. And now you've got the whole work from home, work in the office situations. And how do they deal with all that? So Again, it comes back to this customization of what it takes. But I think you hit upon it. One, they need someone that'll listen to them. They can get it off their chest. Two, they can ask the questions that they don't want to ask anybody else.

Yeah.

And then I think it's up to the coach to say, have you thought about this, that, or the other thing? And it might even be that you're trying to get them to think out 6 or 12 months. If you do this with an employee now, what's going to happen for another employee in 6 months?

Yeah.

Yeah. And let's be thinking about some of those things. So, it's just, I think it's a lot of questions and, and discussion to help do the right thing.

Well, I think you're exactly right. I think we worked so well together because you weren't in biotech. I mean, you, I mean, you got me to zoom out from, I mean, it's so easy to get mired in all of the scientific detail and so myopic that it's not even forests and trees. It's like a specific, like, splinter on the bark on the forest and the trees. That's how, It can sometimes be, especially in, in specifically biotech. And so, you were able to zoom out and go, okay, here's the actual problem. Like, the science isn't the issue, it's these operational, it's the people management, the conflict. And I think another point you touched upon as well is this, sometimes we forget that CEOs, like, I'm the boss. Oh, no, no, no, no, you have other bosses.

Right.

And managing up to a board and managing a board can be really complicated. Thinking about investor management as well and making sure that they're happy. I mean, that's another really helpful role of an executive coach is to help think through your brand new type of bosses, which is sometimes 3 to 5 to more sometimes depending on the board you're on.

So, and I think that's the other thing. I, you know, I've been fortunate enough to be on a few boards of companies. And so then that's a different perspective. And when we were talking about it in your case, I was able to bring some of that experience. As a board member, how would I look at this, knowing that I'm doing that and some other responsibilities I have? So yeah, I think it's all about the background that you bring, and then how do you talk to the individual? Yeah.

And at what point in someone's career should they be thinking about, you know what, I should really take some time to invest in some executive coaching?

Yeah, I don't know if there is a perfect answer here. You know, it's not that when you're 33 years old or— Something. I think it has a lot more to do with, I think it's important you have led teams before.

Yeah.

So you have some of that experience of leading teams. But even in an entrepreneur's case, if they haven't led a team and they're just starting something up, maybe it is a one-person startup. There's still issues with investors, with boards, with advisors, with customers that you need to be thinking about. So I think it's a very individualized situation. I think if you're in a company, it's probably good to talk with whoever your superior is about your overall development and would a coach be helpful to you. So I think that's a pretty easy formula to start that discussion. What are you looking for? What do you think a coach might provide? That can be a little sensitive because if you're talking to your boss and say, well, you're not worth a darn coaching. I need somebody on the outside, you know, then it gets a little sensitive. So you have to think that through a little bit.

Yeah.

And maybe an individual wants to talk to a potential coach first about how could you help me? How could I address this without offending the person I work for? I think all those are important things. I think it's just, what are you trying to accomplish? What do you need? Or do you even know what you don't know?

Yeah.

I think these are all kind of issues. And I think it's, that's why I think it's good to talk with others. Maybe it's talking to a co-founder, maybe it's talking to a spouse, maybe it's talking to a friend. It can be talking to almost anybody on just what you're going through.

Yep.

And then reflect on, would a coach help me in that?

Yeah.

I actually was on vacation with some friends, and I have a colleague that works— one of those friends works for Mozilla, and he was talking about all of the different struggles he had that was about managing down, managing across departments, managing internationally. And I was like, Hey, buddy, you need an executive coach. And it, yeah, I mean, luckily he worked for a large enough company that they offered that type of thing. Now, not everyone has that luxury, but I mean, I think that our former and former boss slash current co-host at our podcast was very insistent on our staff getting executive coaching. Ian, I think that you got some executive. Yeah. Did you like it?

I did. I mean, I think of it as like a— it was sort of like work therapy. It was just like, it felt like therapy. I was able to kind of get out my thoughts and problems, but specifically for work and specifically for like, how do I— I'm not a C-suite level person, but just like, how do I solve problems? How do I manage up?

That sort of thing.

Yeah.

I think that's important. And I think it's also important that you Have the opportunity to ask those questions knowing it's not going anywhere else. Yeah, there's not going to be a report that Ian asked this question. Ian doesn't— Ian doesn't—

Exactly.

Ian hates Elaine and she goes overtime on, on a podcast. How can I help her? No, but it is helpful for that.

It's an important aspect. Yeah, that you're comfortable enough that you know it's not going any further. You can ask the quote-unquote dumb question Yep. Or bring up a point that you're just not comfortable with, and that's okay.

And it helps with team building. And so, like, I mean, I really appreciated that James wanted his employees to have executive coaching. And so I encourage startup companies and other companies to offer that professional development. It makes the team work better. I think it helps prevent conflicts down the road if we all have conflict management skills as part of our development, because they don't teach that in school.

No, they don't. They don't.

And there's a lot of good books on conflict management, but at the same time, not everything— there's always a couple of curveballs, and it's really nice to be able to talk through it with somebody that can help you brainstorm on your particular situation.

I think so. And I think it's also, you might recall, I always said, look, anybody that I'm working with, yes, we have a certain schedule that we're going to meet, but if something comes up between those sessions, Drop me a text, an email, a phone call, whatever. We'll make time to talk about that right then. Because I think this real-time availability helps you solve problems that you need at that moment. And again, sometimes it's just a voice. Sometimes you'll talk yourself into the solution, but it's just having somebody to talk to, I think, is really important.

So you're not just crying and rocking yourself in your office.

Right.

That's always a good thing. Well, we're about near the end of this podcast, but is there any one piece of advice that you think is helpful across the board or anything that you have found to be a certain pearl of wisdom that everyone has gone, oh yeah, that's, thank you for that.

Yeah.

No pressure.

I don't know that there's any one particular piece. I think that if I reflect back, I was very fortunate that I had a long road of development in my own career. So I was kind of brought along in different management responsibilities and I had some very good mentors and bosses and like that, that taught me a lot. But I think that this idea of having someone to talk to, whether you're in a big company or a startup of a one-person company, that is only going to be talking to you about you and about your challenge and your problem. I don't think I appreciated how important that would have been until I started doing this. And I see from the people I talk to in big companies and small companies alike, Yeah. how valuable it is to them. So I think if I reflect back, that was really a big deal. I just talked with a guy I'm just starting to work with now a week ago. Amazing military background. Amazing.

Yeah.

So leadership skills, amazing. But he's in a startup and he's got other challenges. And he said, yeah, I don't know who to talk to about this stuff. So that's really what he needed as much as anything. So I think as I reflect back, I didn't appreciate how useful it would be to have somebody to talk to.

Yeah. You don't have to power through it alone. In fact, it's better that you don't. So—

I think it's better, but I think it can be more effective. Yeah.

Absolutely. Well, Rod, thank you so much for chatting with us. We appreciate your time. I would love to chat with you again, hopefully as an executive coach again. So—

That would be super.

Perfect. All right. Well, as always, we will have information about Rod and Magellan in our show notes. Be sure to check them out, and thank you for joining us once again for Bio from the Bayou.

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This podcast was edited by Resonate Recordings.