Bayer’s Bill Anderson: Turning a 168 Year-Old Tanker Like a Speedboat
Sequoia Capital
292,667 views
Bill Anderson runs Bayer, a 160-year-old pharmaceutical giant that had 100,000+ employees when Bill took the helm. In just two years after becoming CEO, he flattened 11 layers of management, expanded managers' direct reports from 6 to 90, and eliminated annual budgeting in favor of 90-day cycles.
Bill offers up some gems on how to scale without becoming bureaucratic, explains why "professional managers" kill startups, why peer feedback beats manager reviews, and why bureaucracy isn’t a virus that infects healthy companies but rather something that grows from within the heart of your org chart.
If you're scaling from 100 to 1,000 employees and want to avoid the death spiral that slows most growing companies, this is essential listening. Bill's created a playbook for organizational transformation that challenges what you think you know about building companies.
00:00 Introduction
01:06 Bill's Radical Changes at Bayer
01:42 The Problem with Bureaucracy
02:13 Scaling Without Bureaucracy
02:36 Bill's Approach to Management
05:54 Flattening the Organization
11:54 Dynamic Resource Allocation
29:34 Peer Feedback and Performance Reviews
35:16 Thoughts on Organizational Transformation
36:50 The Debate on Job Titles
37:53 Personal Experience with Titles at HubSpot
39:03 Organizational Structure and Influence
42:06 Implementing 90-Day Cycles
44:08 Reflections on Leadership and Change
46:54 Inspiration and Turnaround Stories
47:53 Challenges of Bureaucracy
52:36 Advice for Aspiring CEOs
58:50 Internal vs. External CEO Hires
01:08:14 Final Thoughts and Recommendations
10 Comments
Hope he has some more years to learn it.
Bayer’s Bill Anderson: Turning a 168 Year-Old Tanker Like a Speedboat
Sequoia Capital
292,667 views
Bill Anderson runs Bayer, a 160-year-old pharmaceutical giant that had 100,000+ employees when Bill took the helm. In just two years after becoming CEO, he flattened 11 layers of management, expanded managers' direct reports from 6 to 90, and eliminated annual budgeting in favor of 90-day cycles.
Bill offers up some gems on how to scale without becoming bureaucratic, explains why "professional managers" kill startups, why peer feedback beats manager reviews, and why bureaucracy isn’t a virus that infects healthy companies but rather something that grows from within the heart of your org chart.
If you're scaling from 100 to 1,000 employees and want to avoid the death spiral that slows most growing companies, this is essential listening. Bill's created a playbook for organizational transformation that challenges what you think you know about building companies.
00:00 Introduction
01:06 Bill's Radical Changes at Bayer
01:42 The Problem with Bureaucracy
02:13 Scaling Without Bureaucracy
02:36 Bill's Approach to Management
05:54 Flattening the Organization
11:54 Dynamic Resource Allocation
29:34 Peer Feedback and Performance Reviews
35:16 Thoughts on Organizational Transformation
36:50 The Debate on Job Titles
37:53 Personal Experience with Titles at HubSpot
39:03 Organizational Structure and Influence
42:06 Implementing 90-Day Cycles
44:08 Reflections on Leadership and Change
46:54 Inspiration and Turnaround Stories
47:53 Challenges of Bureaucracy
52:36 Advice for Aspiring CEOs
58:50 Internal vs. External CEO Hires
01:08:14 Final Thoughts and Recommendations
I’d be curious to know more about the DRI role in Bayer. That might be interesting to get a follow up on, and to hear about from other leaders. Especially founders. They never seem to want to give up control, and I totally get it. You need to really trust someone before you do. But you need to know what you’re looking for.
I tell CEOs that I train, there’s a DONE acronym for a great project manager, which is what I call the DRI role.
Doesn’t care about being liked, rather is likeable
Organized, takes ownership, is optimistic
No excuses
Empathetic, yet firm
Basically, it’s like a great parent. And in a similar way, they care more about the company than about their own ego; also like a great parent cares about the long-term best life for their children.