Bill Anderson

Today, I couldn’t be happier to announce that I am going to be joining #TeamBayer as CEO.

I’ve spent my career focused on two major things 1) working on innovation that improves life, and 2) creating jobs and teams that are fulfilling, productive, and give people the opportunity to make a lasting, positive impact.

What better place to do that than Bayer — it’s a company with a globally recognized brand, a clear focus on the life sciences, an inspiring vision, compelling purpose and values, and a conviction that innovation is the key to tackling the biggest challenges facing people and our planet.

I’ll join the company April 1st and step into the CEO role on June 1st after working on the transition with Werner Baumann. I can’t wait to work alongside 100,000 colleagues to unleash the company’s full potential.

In a company built on innovation, work should be about following the science – not following your boss’ orders. In other words, the science is boss!

I recently had the chance to talk with four #TeamBayer scientists about how they’re applying science to make the biggest possible impact toward Health for all, Hunger for none. We’re calling the conversations “Science is Boss” and you can check out episode one right here.

In it, Ruth R. Shah, a trained cell and molecular biologist in our Pharmaceutical division, shares some of the exciting progress we’re making in using cell and gene therapies to fight Parkinson’s.

Check it out – and stay tuned over the coming weeks as we follow the science!

#science #innovation

The road to achievement can be blocked by bureaucracy and impact-killing behaviours in large enterprises (see more on that in a past post: https://bit.ly/3ha7qjz). So how do we restore progress to its proper place as a key enabler of fulfilment at work?

Let me suggest four concrete steps as a significant start:

1. Stop doing everything that doesn’t directly contribute to the mission. (Anyone can do this at any level.)

2. Make big, exciting, challenging end-to-end roles for people (not like parts of a machine) and whenever possible have individuals, not “teams,” own both the work and the result.

3. When a team is necessary, make the team responsible and accountable for all of the operational decisions, and 95% of the strategic ones, with no requirement to secure approvals from others.

4. Create the opportunity for people managers to produce content. That may mean having less of them! Managers, too, deserve the opportunity to do great work and contribute their unique talents to the mission, and not be relegated to joy-killing review-and-approve bureaucrat roles.


#relationshipwithwork #futureofwork #leadershiplearnings #achieve

Today marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. With each passing year, we lose more people who survived the atrocities of the Nazi era. It’s our shared moral responsibility to make sure that their memories are never lost. 
 
At the invitation of the World Jewish Congress, I – alongside representatives of other companies – joined a ceremony to grieve what happened here, honor the lives lost, and ensure this terrible history is not repeated. 
 
Two years ago, Bayer founded the Hans und Berthold Finkelstein Stiftung, which supports research and memorial projects to foster remembrance and makes the stories of victims and perpetrators visible, particularly regarding Nazi forced labor. The work of the foundation reminds us that remembrance is a conscious decision. And we can never forget. 
 
#WeRemember