William A. Lumpkin is Head of New Products Strategy & Business Development for Alexion, Astra Zeneca Rare Disease Business Unit. Will shares how innovation works within the pharmaceutical industry and how marketing and science differs especially in commercialization.
William A. Lumpkin is Head of New Products Strategy & Business Development for Alexion, Astra Zeneca Rare Disease Business Unit. Will shares how innovation works within the pharmaceutical industry and how marketing and science differs especially in commercialization.
More about our guest:
William A. Lumpkin is Head of New Products Strategy & Business Development for Alexion, Astra Zeneca Rare Disease Business Unit. His business acumen, enterprise leadership, and passion for cross-functional collaboration helps bring new medicines to people living with rare diseases across the world. Prior to Alexion, he held a diverse set of U.S. and global commercial leadership roles at Takeda, Baxter, Baxalta, Shire, and Procter & Gamble spanning functional disciplines, product lifecycles and therapeutic areas. William is a proud father of three (Ailey, Sage, and Liam), loving husband (Layla), and resilient Indiana University sports fan. He also maintains interests in urban community development initiatives and was on faculty at the University of North Carolina Kenan Flagler School of Business online MBA program. He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and B.S. Finance from Indiana University.
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Episode Guide:
2:03 - What is Innovation
3:14 - How people impact innovation
6:00 - Seeing the bigger picture in life
8:05 - Bigger picture: affecting day-to-day life and effecting innovation and collaboration
8:41 - Earning trust: Top 1 priority
10:07 - Stereotyped view of Pharmaceuticals
10:52 - Large companies vs smaller companies: Providing real value to people
12:21 - What isn't Innovation
15:29 - Intersection and divergence of Marketing and Scientists
17:14 - Implications of the commercialization cycle
19:43 - Experiences that shaped Professional development views
22:22 - People: structures, connections, and excitement
22:56 - People of Color: finding energy and importance of passion
23:49 - Being "me" all day long in the Corporate America
26:14 - Advice for future innovators (and the public)
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OUTLAST Consulting offers professional development and strategic advisory services in the areas of innovation and diversity management.
/This transcript was automatically generated using AI; please forgive any inconsistencies. We are working to provide the correct and more concise copy of the transcript. For urgent need, please send us an email.
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Jared Simmons 00:05
Hello and welcome to What Is Innovation. The podcast that explores the reality of a word that is in danger of losing its meaning altogether. This podcast is produced by OUTLAST Consulting, LLC, a boutique consultancy that helps companies use innovation principles to solve their toughest business problems. I'm your host, Jared Simmons, and I'm so excited to have William A. Lumpkin . He's Head of New Products Strategy & Business Development for Alexion, Astra Zeneca Rare Disease Business Unit.
Jared Simmons 00:31
His business acumen, enterprise leadership, and passion for cross-functional collaboration helps bring new medicines to people living with rare diseases across the world. Prior to Alexion, he held a diverse set of U.S. and global commercial leadership roles at Takeda, Baxter, Baxalta, Shire, and Procter & Gamble spanning functional disciplines, product lifecycles and therapeutic areas. William is a proud father of three, loving husband, and resilient Indiana University sports fan. He also maintains interests in urban community development initiatives and was on faculty at the University of North Carolina Kenan Flagler School of Business online MBA program. He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and B.S. Finance from Indiana University. Will, thank you so much for joining us on the show today, I'm excited to reconnect and learn from you a little bit today.
William A. Lumpkin 01:31
Jared, I'm happy to be here. As you've caught out earlier, the length of time since we last connected, it's quite humbling. It's reminding me that I am getting up there a little bit and one do a better job of staying connected and two, not let so much time go pass especially for people that I care about. Thanks for reaching out and bringing us together.
Jared Simmons 01:51
Yeah, man. My pleasure and it has been a long time. I'm excited to hear about what you've been up to and what you've done since last we spoke. Why don't we dive right in, what in your mind is innovation?
William A. Lumpkin 02:06
I'll say innovation is finding a way. My view on innovation is largely through a corporate context and having worked within large organizations. A lot of the aim breaking, demonstrably change that we see in society, they may not necessarily come through these large organizations that I work in but they do have the opportunity to do this scale and ensure that more people are able to access those innovations. When I think about innovation within the context of that again, it's about finding a way to navigate some of those structures, the internal governance, the bureaucracy, and sometimes people that may otherwise be in the way of the solution finding a way to the appropriate audience.
Jared Simmons 02:58
That's well said innovation is finding a way, that is elegant. I love that. You mentioned people as part of that experience, innovation experience in the corporate world. I think that is an element of innovation that is often overlooked and underappreciated. Can you tell me more about your view on how people impact innovation?
William A. Lumpkin 03:18
Yeah, see, I think part of it is, when you work on cross functional teams, as an example, you have people entering with a bias towards whatever their specific agenda might be. In my set of experiences, one of the cool things about having bounced around from different functions, and at this point, I've literally done every function that you can do, starting at finance, and marketing, strategy, analytics, sales, operations, having a chance to touch a little bit of everything, and gives me a greater appreciation for where people are coming from. But recognizing that because many people don't get the benefit of diversifying their experiences, you sometimes have to meet them where they are, to help them get out of the way, the broader (the) team (it's) good. It's much less of, at least from my experience an intentional, being intentional barriers, or even in a single individual being intentionally disruptive or delaying of progress, but more because we are in these organizations. Often, given specific remit, moving outside of that frame is sometimes difficult. When you have eight people doing that for their specific function, it can take a long time sometimes to get things through.
Jared Simmons 04:47
Exactly. I think you're right. I think a lot of times what people interpret as intentional obstruction is actually just a misalignment of incentives and individuals don't always understand the broader picture and the way that things fit together. I can imagine your experience is very useful in terms of helping people get from, as you said, where they are to that broader view of here's the context of what's going on in the bigger picture.
William A. Lumpkin 05:14
Yeah, I think so. I feel like I've always been more engaged and receptive when I am able to see the bigger, broader picture. That's certainly an important concept to the quarter.
Jared Simmons 05:30
That bigger picture can take a lot of different forms. I think you and I met through some philanthropic work that we did together building houses in, I think it was the Dominican Republic.
William A. Lumpkin 05:39
That's right.
Jared Simmons 05:40
It was a fun trip. So philanthropy, I know, is a big part of your view of the world. It's part of my view of the world. I think when you step back and talk about in the corporate context, the bigger picture, I think, that has one lens on it, but there's a lot of different lenses, you can put on what the bigger picture might look like.
William A. Lumpkin 05:57
I mean, say outside of work. If your question is, do I see the bigger picture ultimately, in my life? I think work is a means to an end is not the end, I certainly don't. Even when asked what do I do I usually respond with I'm a dad, and a husband, and somebody that's really trying to be a productive member of the broader community, because ultimately, that's what matters. What matters to me, what am I meaningfully contributing to the betterment of other people. Now I get to, through my work, influence and impact people's lives either directly if they're on my team, and trying to help them have the type of experience do their work that they desire, but also through the type of work that I do working in pharmaceuticals. Particularly in rare disease, the really cool thing about everything that we sell, which is a little bit different from when I started my career selling dental floss and toothbrushes, is that we literally only bring medicines to market that are helping serve people that have rare and devastating conditions. So without... in the absence of these treatments being available, their lives would be much, much different. They now have the stomach to go to med school or be a healthcare professional. But to play a role and bring the solution to them is something that definitely fulfills a portion of my purpose. It's even better that it allows or forge an opportunity to then go out and do some of those philathropic things that you quite frankly, helped introduce me to, in a very meaningful way many years ago. I didn't want to take the time to thank you and others from Give Back for that exposure, because it was just something that I previously wasn't thinking was going to be a material part of my life, it's certainly something that I've carried forward in the best way that I can.
Jared Simmons 07:47
It was a wonderful experience being able to work together in that context, I think changes all. Most of the people I'm still in contact with are still doing, trying to carry that forward. It was a great thing, great experience for a lot of people. I'm glad you had a positive experience with that as well. I wonder if.. you've got this broader view of the big picture that what you're working on today actually serves. This product you're helping to deliver to the market is changing lives in a very tangible way. I wonder if your point of view on things affects the way you interact with people on a day to day basis as well, your employees, your peers, the leadership, and I wonder if that makes you more effective as an innovator and a collaborator within the space?
William A. Lumpkin 08:33
I hope so. I say a couple of things, when I'm introducing myself to new teams. What matters to me the most is that I earn their trust, especially my direct team, and I'm going to work actively to deliver that by being proactive communicator to avoid surprises. I try after receiving coaching over the years to really approach things from from an empathetic lens. Whether it's again, recognizing that people might not have all the context, recognizing that people have different motivations and certain incentives will resonate with others, and sometimes they don't, I hope that the way that I show up reflects me trying to be a whole person at work every day, and trying to facilitate or create an environment in which everybody that I'm working with feels the capacity to be who they are all day long and not need to be a work persona, a home persona. But we're just motivated and inspired by a mission to do well and good. As a result, we put our energy towards that and that goal or find ourselves are seeking our own individual glory. But in fact, we get that broader mission and doing it in a way where we feel comfortable and talk then an hour shorter.
Jared Simmons 10:01
That's amazing stuff. I'm really struck by your ability to be successful in outside-looking in. People talking about pharmaceuticals, the first thing you think of is, high pressure, high stakes, high margin. You don't think of people with you're more empathetic people focused approach just as an industry, we think about the face of the industry. It's really great to hear someone who's been successful in that industry talk in these terms, because it's important for people to understand that there is no such thing as an industry when it comes to the day to day experience. Sometimes entire companies and entire organizations get these labels that really, really only applied to certain aspects or certain areas that are easily identified and sometimes blown out of proportion.
William A. Lumpkin 10:48
Yeah, we're talking about people. I know there's, don't get me wrong, I understand the financial commitments that large companies have to shareholders. I could go on about that. At the end of the day, the business only works if you're providing real value to people. The only way that you can provide real value as a business is through people. The historical, I guess, view of the industry, don't get me wrong coming into it, I've quite frankly, were a little hesitant myself just coming from a place where I didn't have prior or previous exposure before getting in. What I've been really thankful for is I've continuously encountered leaders who have that same orientation, and have an appreciation for the fact that, regardless of again, what may be said about the price point, or the nature of, the culture of some of these organizations, inevitably is a hyper focus on delivering meaningful solutions for people doing that through people. It's been a favorable experience for me as a result.
William A. Lumpkin 11:07
If someone like you is comfortable in that industry, I now know that it can't be everything that people make it out to be from time to time. I love your definition of what innovation is around in terms of finding a way. The people focus lens that you put on that. What isn't innovation?
William A. Lumpkin 12:24
It's not saying you're innovative. It's not just simply a declarative statement or words on a page. It goes back to the action of, in my definition, finding the way, what I'm really trying to say is, oftentimes people will just index on 'we're being creative, or we're being innovative, and we're gonna have lunch catered in to this uniquely design room, and by sitting in orange, or pink chairs, or yellow couches is going to make us be more innovative by osmosis' and it's not that, it really isn't. One of the cool things that I've had, even more recently, the benefit of, is getting closer to the scientists that are at our company. What scientists do really well, is they set, they have a hypothesis, they have very specific measures or outcomes, they develop a plan to test that hypothesis. At the end of the day, you prove or disprove that hypothesis and it's an iterative thing. It's not necessarily right or wrong. It's just you're continuously learning and building. That I think is actually an even more tangible way to mobilize innovation across organizations, by creating an environment where people feel that it's okay to fail, so to speak, or at least have a disproved hypothesis, but more about the process, commitment to the process, the commitment to continuing to challenge yourself to come up with new ideas and test those ideas. If those ideas work, roll them out as quickly as possible and if they don't, do a post mortem and figure out what aspects of that you can learn and build from. I'm hoping, as I ascend into greater roles and responsibilities within organizations that I can take what I've learned from scientists and apply that to... not only continue finding a way but give people a more pragmatic approach to doing that. Set up incentives to reward people for taking on the challenge of finding new ways to do things within within large organizations.
Jared Simmons 14:56
The world needs more of that. I think what you highlight about scientists is really important in terms of that hypothesis driven mindset. It's probably a real gap. As you said, innovation isn't getting people into a room with a bunch of glass walls and post its and chairs and whatnot, it comes down to your actions and how you organize yourself to take action. I think that hypothesis driven process is a great example of the difference between talking about innovation and delivering innovation.
Jared Simmons 15:29
One thing I've found in sitting in an intersection between marketing and sales, and r&d in supply, research and development supply, the technical organizations sitting in a role is almost a translator for that group is that scientists to your point, they test hypotheses, and marketers test products. That's why they tend to talk past each other because marketers tend to test propositions and scientists tend to test ideas, concepts, hypotheses, to learn and understand. So if a proposition fails, to a scientist, you've learned something, you tested, you've proven or disproven a hypothesis and to the classic traditional marketer, if a product fails, it doesn't work. Meeting in the middle in a hypothesis driven product mindset, I think, is the best way to get everybody on the same page. To bring the best of both worlds where that hypothesis driven framework helps you learn and iterate and nowhere in the scientific method, and nowhere in engineering school, do they talk about failure, you know what I mean? That whole concept came from the marketing product side of things. Products either work or they're successful or they fail because of these criteria. When people talk about failure, I try to help them understand, like, true scientists, who are hypothesis driven, don't have that concept. This is what I think will happen, it either did happen, or it didn't but either way, I'm smarter than I was pre test.
William A. Lumpkin 17:12
That's right, though, at the same time, which you can appreciate, especially depending on where you sit along the commercialization cycle. If I own a p&l and I don't hold my number that is a definitive failure. That's binary because I made a commitment, that commitment oftentimes, is in some form, or fashion, finding its way to Wall Street. If we don't hit our number, on a quarterly basis, or biannual basis or annual basis, then there will be applications, as a result.
Jared Simmons 17:46
Oh, yes, consequences.
William A. Lumpkin 17:49
That part of it is, I'd say rational why there's that tension between the two, but what you and I both I think agree on is, in the long run, an organization is best served by not seeing things--or any particular instance or outcome--as as a failure. But more so as an opportunity to learn. Again, I can selfishly do that with my career. As an individual, I can certainly see it that way. Now, certainly never want to be in a position where I'm not meeting my committed objective. But at the same time, I also can appreciate from every experience, from every conversation, from every interaction that I have with anybody, that there's something to be learned from it. For me, that's been a better orientation, maybe a way to keep myself sane, in highly competitive, intense roles. That if the worst case scenario is, I've learned something new, then I'm better off as a human, as a result.
Jared Simmons 18:54
That's a great call out, when you make a commitment. That's right, you make a commitment to the street, when you make a commitment to yourself, when you make a commitment to the organization that does immediately create a succeed-fail, pass-fail situation for sure. I think what's unique in professional development, personal development, and also in the corporate world is how can you minimize the learning involved in those steps. How can you learn in advance that, be hypothesis-driven before you're making the commitment so that that commitment is more robust, and less likely to produce failure? Produce a failure post commitment. You want to fail pre-commitment and not post-commitment.
William A. Lumpkin 19:36
Definitely.
Jared Simmons 19:38
I love how you connected your individual development to the corporate space. What are some of the things that have really shaped the way you view professional development or experience professional development in the corporate space?
William A. Lumpkin 19:54
One is just being intentional about not letting myself get stale. Knowing that I've got a varied set of interests, I have always been the type of person to do a bunch of things at once. This is a quick aside, this is in part how I ended up meeting you. Because when I first started my career, I really just tried to dive in and be laser-focused on being an excellent financial analyst at Procter and Gamble and what I quickly learned was having come from an entire life today, where I was a student, an athlete, a leader in community groups and organizations, to try to take that who I was and be focused on one thing, it just wasn't, it wasn't a good fit. It wasn't until I got more involved in some of those things that I started feeling more like myself, and that I felt like my learning was was able to expand and find connections to things outside of work, that made me better at work, as a result. What those principles that I picked up was, don't let yourself get stale, make sure that you're always learning and this is ultimately being true to who I am or at least who I see myself. So approaching now every role or experience with that orientation, that's going to learn something from it kind of worst case, and as a result, being more willing to go after those things that scare me. Because if it's scary, then that means the learning curve is going to be even more enriching as a result, and doing those things, ultimately, to use my energy to enrich the lives of others is another way, I think that helps me stay inspired and motivated and excited to navigate the world.
Jared Simmons 21:48
Yeah, that excitement that you're describing. One thing I've found is that, just listening to your description, that excitement is important, because it feeds your energy to kind of push through the hard times, I think, if you can't find something that get energized and excited about in your work, that's when I look around and go, Alright, it's time to do something else, it's time to find something else. Adding on top of what you're already doing, if it adds excitement can be a net energy positive, if that makes sense, for me, anyway.
William A. Lumpkin 22:22
People, structurally, we try to talk about, like the strategy and the mission and the vision, those needing to be well constructed in order to keep a broader team engaged. That's true to an extent but inevitably, it's that individual connection to those things that really matters, because we can have a great ambition as an organization. But if I don't feel connected to it, and inspired and excited behind it, then I'm not going to be my best self or give my best, my best effort towards reaching it
Jared Simmons 22:57
Frankly, in the corporate world as a Black man, personally, I think energy and finding something you really connect with is even more important, in a lot of ways, because of just the extra stuff that people of color have to deal with in the workplace. I think sometimes it's easy for us to sort of minimize the importance of finding something you're passionate about, because I have a good job and all these other things. But that energy is I think, even more important, given the the additional things that you have to deal with in the corporate world.
William A. Lumpkin 23:31
Yeah, I mean, the additional stuff, which is difficult to articulate even in a 30 minute discussion, you can appreciate that. That's a very broad and encompassing.
Jared Simmons 23:43
That's why it's good to have you back.
William A. Lumpkin 23:47
I agree in that. Your ability to connect, like really authentically connect to what you're doing is, to me the biggest deciding factor on your success. Every individual gravitates towards different different things. But I can tell you, for me, the only reason that I'm still able to, and be sane while doing it, stay in corporate America, is because I've found a level of comfort with being me all day long, and only doing things that are inspiring, engaging, motivating, and doing it in a way that isn't me; changing my voice, that isn't me. Definitely not me, compromising my character. Quite frankly, these are all things that I was skeptical of, that I could anytime in my life continue to ascend within any organization while being Will from Dayton, was something that I wasn't all that confident in. But in fact, what's happened over time as I've gotten more comfortable would be me, is I found more success. I'm sure there's a positive or direct correlation that many people find when they're spending less time pretending or assimilating, in a negative way, that they're then unable to spend their time on things like innovation. Which is the premise, the focus of with this podcast.
Jared Simmons 25:26
It's all connected, I think. You articulated it well. It's a part of the broader construct of the corporate space that is complex in terms of talking about it, but it is real, and it's palpable. It's something you can feel in the room, and it affects innovation in the same way to fix everything else. Any other final parting words of wisdom or advice for listeners out there? You've done so many different things. Like you said, you referenced, you're an athlete, and I know you've suffered long in your support of who's your football, but I'm sure brighter days are coming. I just had to work that in there.... I wasn't even... Any other advice for folks out there?
William A. Lumpkin 26:17
One, be careful who you take advice from? Listen to everybody, but be careful not to internalize things, because everybody has their own unique perspective and experience of the world. So yes, you can learn from people but tread lightly. If you are willing to listen to anything that I have to say, I would say to, to really challenge yourself to pursue those things that you're most passionate about, don't let money or I guess you can get fame to some extent, through your work, be the the ultimate motivating factor, because it's not going to last. Five things that excite you, that help you wake up with a sense of purpose, where you can go be your best self, and let that motivation guide you towards impacting the world in a meaningful and positive way.
Jared Simmons 27:11
Well said, my friend, and inspiring and engaging as always, I really appreciate you making the time to talk with me after, let's just call it, so many years. I'm excited for everything you've accomplished in the corporate world and everything you've done for others and the family you've built. Thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to doing a better job of staying in touch.
William A. Lumpkin 27:34
Yeah, hopefully we can take something from that. It's hard. It's hard doing this. So I commend you even more, that you're able to put together a really cool set of discussions on a weekly basis almost for this podcast. Congratulations on this and all the best.
Jared Simmons 27:50
Thank you so much, man, take care.
Jared Simmons 27:58
We'd love to hear your thoughts about this week's show. You can drop us a line on Twitter at OUTLAST LLC, or follow us on LinkedIn where we're OUTLAST Consulting. Until next time, keep innovating. Whatever that means