When Research Directors Take Off Their Lab Coats

Abstract

Most of us in research-intensive corporations would not turn down a combination of Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller as the company's chief technical officer. This composite represents the scientific talent, organizational strength, leadership, and salesmanship needed to do the job in a competitive marketplace. But all of that is irrelevant if the environment is not right--if the research function is not in step with the strategies of the total organization. Such was the case at my company, American Cyanamid, in the early 1970s. Cyanamid's research community was suffering from a decade of benign neglect. The company's blockbuster discoveries--Aureomycin, the first broad-spectrum antibiotic; Orimune, the first oral polio vaccine; the versatile chemical, Melamine; and Malathion, the first environmentally acceptable insecticide--were all sad reminders of Cyanamid's scientific heyday of the 1950s. The research function's credibility had hit rock bottom in a corporation that was concentrating resources on diversifying its business portfolio rather than investing in new technology. Not surprisingly, many of the company's top scientists had retired or moved on. Organizationally, research was a staff function reporting to an operating division president. It is well known what that leads to--the classic battle between delivering short-term quarterly sales and earnings results, and investing in sustained, long-term earnings growth. But if the research director is reporting to an operations president whose first priority is making budget, it is not difficult to predict the outcome. James G. Affleck, who started his career in research and became president of Cyanamid in 1972, began to change all of that. With his appointment, he brought a deep respect for--and belief in--research and its necessity to the future growth of the company. More important, he put into motion what I call the empowerment of the research function--and he did it himself by philosophically taking on the role of chief technical officer. Affleck's beliefs were clear--and well communicated. He was looking for big ideas. No longer was research to be considered a discretionary expense. It was vital to the future well-being of the company. He knew that to be an industrial research director was almost a contradiction in terms if top management did not foster the necessary environment for science to flourish--and he took immediate steps to create that environment. Affleck once again brought research into the mainstream of the company by taking the research functions out from under the operating divisions and creating separate research divisions, reporting to the same group vice president as their operating division counterparts. However, he did not give the research directors carte blanche. Independence--not isolation--was his goal. The company now demanded that the research directors become businessmen themselves. They were challenged to give up the comfort of their lab coats, put on business suits and join top management in developing the strategies that would move the company forward. The company also demanded that the first requirement for good science be that it be relevant. And whether it is relevant can only be decided in partnership by those who discovered a product, those who manufacture it and those who sell and distribute it. This philosophy brought research into the strategic planning process at Cyanamid. It was the start of the communications process that is vital if the vision of the scientist is to become a commercial reality. And a chief technical officer will not achieve any level of credibility until he or she is an essential part of this process. The process can be compared to a relay race. Once in the race, each runner contributes according to his or her individual ability. But the race may be lost or won in the split second the baton is transferred to the next runner. …