Skills Pharma CEOs Of The Future Must Possess

As the health care industry in Europe faces up to the challenges ofconsolidation, cost-containment, global marketing and the changes to traditional drug development that the growth of biotechnology is bringing, one area that is often overlooked concerns the leadership qualities required by chief executives to steer these firms through the highly profitable but risky pharmaceutical sector.

A report commissioned by the recruitment firm Russell Reynolds Associates from MORI, entitled CEOs in the Healthcare Industry: The New Leadership Profile, attempts to define what attributes an executive will have to possess in order to rise to the position of chief executive in the next century. MORI questioned 13 high-ranking executives based in Europe from firms such as Boehringer Mannheim, Glaxo Wellcome, Novo Nordisk, Schering AG, Warner-Lambert and Zeneca, in order to ascertain the skills required to meet the challenges.

While acknowledging that the attributes required by a CEO will differ depending on a company's niche within the sector and its financial clout, Russell Reynolds says that that there is a common set of skills needed.