Beyond The Printed Page | February 29, 2016

Lessons In Leadership From Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' CEO Peter Hecht

Source: Life Science Leader
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By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
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From The March 2016 Issue
The Building Of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals 

The first time I sat down for a conversation with Peter Hecht, CEO and cofounder of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals toward developing the March 2016 Life Science Leader magazine cover feature, he prefaced responding to my first question by saying, “In general, I’m not a big fan of the ‘Great Man’ theory of history.  I played an important role here, but the story is really not about me.” Okay, we get it — research has shown that great leaders have a knack for giving credit when something is successful (deflect) and taking the blame for failures (accept). Having a willingness to accept personal responsibility, especially during tough times, is not only a hallmark of higher-ambition CEOs like Hecht, but a critical component of winning the trust of employees, as well as other stakeholders. During my second conversation with Hecht, he shared a story that exemplifies his skill at quickly building trust.

The Speed Of Trust

As Hecht and his cofounders began building their biopharma startup network, he recalls getting connected to a hall of fame venture capitalist, Dan Gregory founder of Greylock Partners. “He heard the story, was very interested, and asked us to send a two-page executive summary,” relates Hecht. Since the Ironwood team was new at company formation, Hecht asked if Gregory wouldn’t mind sending some examples to use as a template. Hecht’s willingness to ask questions and understand exactly what Greylock wanted from an executive summary demonstrated the straight talk so critical to quickly building trust. This sort of honesty and willingness to ask questions continues to influence how all ‘Ironwoodians’ interact: one of the company’s six core values is “humanity,” defined as acting with honesty, integrity and respect. It’s likely this kind of honesty has also contributed to why Ironwood has, at least thus far, stood the test of time.