Active Ingredients

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove speaks with Anish Mehta, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Synthon.
Anish Mehta is a global pharmaceutical CEO whose career spans engineering, strategy consulting, commercial leadership, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and private equity-backed transformation. From biomedical and chemical engineering to McKinsey, Baxter and Hospira, he has spent more than 25 years building businesses and creating value across innovative pharma and generics.
In this conversation, he shares how he built leadership from the shop floor up, what it takes to lead globally, and how he creates value through win-win deals. He also explains the discipline of a private equity-backed business, and why patient impact remains his North Star.

Key Takeaways
· Learn why Anish Mehta names strategic conviction, growth mindset, authenticity and stamina as the ingredients that carry senior leaders through a demanding life sciences career.
· Discover how growth creates value only when it serves a purpose, with a North Star anchored to something bigger than the profit and loss account.
· Understand why the best leaders stay unapologetically human, taking the work seriously without taking themselves too seriously.
· Explore how a summer milling antibiotic ingredients on Abbott's shop floor made Mehta a more relatable and empathetic executive decades later.
· Gain a practical dealmaking principle: grow the size of the pie for both sides rather than fight over how a fixed pie is split.
· Identify what separates a great dealmaker from a good one, namely the discipline to walk away when deal fever takes hold.
· Apply lessons on leading a private equity-backed company, where accountability is absolute, and alignment on a credible plan comes first.
· Take away why a better company means more than earnings, including a stronger pipeline, wider geographical footprint and greater patient impact.
· Uncover Mehta's advice for the next generation: align work with your values, ignore the risk-averse voice, and become as AI literate as possible.

Snippets
· "When I win, and they lose, that is not success... I focus on how we increase the size of the pie, not how we split the pie."
· "The simplest one is knowing when to walk away. Too many people get deal fever... deal fever is a real thing. I've been in the room, I've seen it."
· "Take the roles that the little voice inside you says, are you sure, should you do it, is it risky. Don't listen to that voice. Take the roles that give you a chance to shine."

Timestamps & Topics
The following timestamps are approximations:
· [00:00] – Intro: Anish Mehta's journey from Chicago to global pharma CEO
· [02:58] – Key Ingredients: Strategic conviction, growth mindset, authenticity, stamina
· [13:23] – Shop Floor: What milling APIs at Abbott taught him about leadership
· [28:39] – Stepping Up: The 2007 challenge that made him a business leader
· [42:50] – Dealmaker Mindset: Building win-win partnerships in generics
· [48:56] – Private Equity: Leading with full accountability as a PE-backed CEO
· [1:06:17] – Advice: What he tells the next generation of life science leaders

Resources
· Follow Anish Mehta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anish-mehta-66615a/
· Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don't Miss an Episode
Sign up to the Active Ingredients podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.activeingredients.fraserdove.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and other leading podcast platforms.

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Michaela Griggs, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Ansella Therapeutics.
Michaela Griggs is a turnaround CEO and board director whose career has encompassed global commercial leadership at Bayer and Allergan, CEO positions, and board appointments across healthcare, fertility, aesthetics, and biotech.
In this conversation, she talks about what drives her to take on challenges others avoid, how a dyslexia diagnosis fuelled her determination, why the best leaders choose the harder path, and the development frameworks she uses with every team she leads.

Key Takeaways
· Discover why long-range vision grows more critical with every step up, and how thinking five to fifteen years ahead lets leaders adapt when the landscape changes.
· Learn how Michaela Griggs turned a failing consumer health brand into a $100 million product by creating space to think clearly and finding the right thought partner.
· Understand why building on a person’s strengths, rather than fixing weaknesses, is a more effective development approach, and why it also lifts areas where they struggle.
· Explore Michaela’s one-page career mapping exercise that connects today’s role to a ten-to-fifteen-year vision and puts people in control of their development.
· Gain practical advice on brave leadership, including how to admit to a sceptical sales team that you got the strategy wrong and present a clear new direction.
· Discover the mantra behind Michaela’s approach to talent development: develop every person as if they could one day be your boss.
· Understand why a lattice career of lateral moves and steps back can outpace a straight-line promotion path and builds the breadth that senior life sciences roles demand.
· Learn why the most valuable feedback Michaela ever received was being told she talked too much, and how it now shapes the way she gives developmental feedback to her teams.
· Explore what Michaela believes the future of leadership requires: stronger emotional intelligence (EQ), flatter team structures, and a shift to team-first thinking.

Snippets
· “Everybody I develop could one day be my boss, so I better develop them really well so that they’re a good boss.”
· “I’ve got a rod of steel down my spine and I hide it in kindness.”
· “The one big piece of advice I would give people going into leadership today: take your people with you and really lean into that. Think team first versus self first.”

Timestamps & Topics
The following timestamps are approximations:
· [00:01] – Introduction: Michaela Griggs, turnaround CEO and board director in life sciences
· [00:01:18] – Key Ingredients: Courage, people skills with integrity, and long-range vision
· [00:09:01] – Background: Growing up, boarding school, and discovering dyslexia
· [00:17:20] – Leadership Origins: The first moment Michaela knew she wanted to lead others
· [00:23:17] – Turnaround: Rescuing a struggling consumer health brand from cancellation
· [00:38:23] – Talent Development: Developing every person as if they might one day be your boss
· [00:43:59] – Career Mapping: A one-page exercise putting people in the driver’s seat of their development
· [00:52:08] – Brave Conversations: Asking for honest feedback after being passed over for promotion
· [00:58:19] – Future of Leadership: Why team-first thinking and emotional intelligence matter more than ever

Resources
· Follow Michaela Griggs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelagriggs/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove speaks with Michael Stanek, former Vice President (VP) and General Manager (GM) API Global at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
With more than 25 years in the contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) sector, Michael has led turnarounds, integrated acquisitions and rethought how commercial and operational teams work together. He shares his dual sales model and what it takes to shift a big pharma culture into a multi-customer CDMO mindset.

Key Takeaways
· Understand why empathy, listening and curiosity are Stanek’s three core leadership traits, and why they matter most in high-pressure CDMO environments.
· Learn how to look beyond first impressions when developing talent, and why investing in people before they believe in themselves can define careers.
· Discover why tough environments build better leaders than comfortable ones, and how pressure sharpens the instincts that sustained success can quietly erode.
· Explore how to keep teams focused under pressure, from repeating purpose at every level to celebrating small wins during a restructuring.
· Identify why the disconnect between commercial and operations in CDMOs is structural, rooted in different time horizons, incentives and definitions of risk between the two functions.
· Gain insight into why traditional sales models break in CDMO, and why expecting one person to win new accounts and manage complex long-term relationships rarely works.
· Apply the dual sales model that pairs a business manager with a sales manager, eliminating handover gaps and building customer trust from proposal to delivery.
· Understand what it takes to shift big pharma culture into a CDMO mindset, and why the cultural shift typically takes two to five years.
· Take away Stanek’s advice for the next generation of CDMO leaders: stay curious, communicate openly and invest in people early, before they fully see their own potential.

Snippets
• "Tough environments teach you things that success simply can't. Success can be comfortable... it can dull your instincts."·
• "Selling in our industry is not about charisma or persistence. It requires deep technical understanding, operational willingness, and the ability to navigate uncertainty."·
• "Creating trust upfront and accountability downstream; that combination dramatically improves delivery and customer confidence."

Timestamps & TopicsResources
The following timestamps are approximations:
· [00:00] – Intro: Career spanning science, operations and commercial execution
· [00:01:40] – Key Ingredients: Empathy, listening and curiosity
· [00:06:34] – Early Leadership: Believing in people before they believe in themselves
· [00:14:03] – Tough Environments: Why pressure shapes leaders faster than success
· [00:19:59] – Commercial vs Operations: The structural disconnect in CDMO organisations
· [00:30:06] – Dual Sales Model: Pairing business and sales managers to build trust
· [00:38:00] – CDMO Integration: Shifting big pharma culture into a multi-customer mindset
· [00:49:07] – Next Generation: Stay curious, communicate openly, invest in people early

Resources
· Follow Michael Stanek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-stanek-638b453/
· Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don't Miss an Episode
Sign up to the Active Ingredients podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.activeingredients.fraserdove.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and other leading podcast platforms.

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Tom Hochuli, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Member at Millrock Technology.
Tom Hochuli is a military-trained operator whose career spans Army platoon leadership to CEO roles in life sciences manufacturing, including at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Lonza.
In this conversation, he shares how Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) training gave him the self-confidence at the heart of his leadership philosophy. He covers situational leadership, team DNA, and why reading the room sets great leaders apart.

Key Takeaways
- Explore situational leadership in practice through Hochuli’s J&J experience, where two teams with different histories required entirely different approaches to change.
- Apply the concept of team DNA to understand how aligning mission to the motivations of each group creates cohesion across pharmaceutical and life sciences organisations.
- Learn why self-confidence is the bedrock of effective leadership, and how it enables trust, vulnerability, and decisive action in life sciences organisations.
- Identify the non-negotiables of high-performance culture: mutual trust, respect, and the readiness to act when individuals undermine team cohesion.
- Understand the value of leading by example, and why Hochuli’s refusal to ask his team to do what he wouldn’t do himself built lasting trust throughout his career.
- Take away Hochuli’s hiring philosophy: why surrounding yourself with people talented enough to take your job is the hallmark of a self-confident leader.
- Discover why military leadership isn’t about giving orders, and how Hochuli’s Army training instead taught him empathy, people development, and the value of leading from the front.
- Gain practical advice for the transition from operations to CEO, including how to spot transferable skills, volunteer for stretch roles, and build a leadership team that covers your blind spots.
- See how AI is changing life sciences manufacturing, and why human qualities like connection, calm judgement, and decisive thinking will matter more as technology advances.

Snippets
- "You have to be confident in yourself to trust. You have to be confident in yourself to be vulnerable. And that's how you build trust."
- "Move obstacles for people, don't do their job... and then just sit back and be amazed at how good they are."
- "What sold our business and our product was not the product, it was the people."

Timestamps & Topics
The following timestamps are approximations:
- [00:00] – Intro: Tom Hochuli’s leadership journey in life sciences
- [01:30] – Key Ingredients: Self-confidence, trust and honesty
- [11:34] – Tower Story: What poor leadership taught Hochuli about leading
- [19:08] – Situational Leadership: Two teams, two cultures at J&J
- [26:47] – Team DNA: Aligning mission to different groups
- [37:47] – Hiring Philosophy: Build a team that can replace you
- [40:01] – Future of Life Sciences: AI as a leadership tool

Resources
- Follow Tom Hochuli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cellandgeneceo/ - Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don't Miss an Episode
Sign up to the Active Ingredients podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.activeingredients.fraserdove.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and other leading podcast platforms.

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Yariv Hefez, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Business Franchise Oncology at Merck Group.
Yariv built his career across three distinct fields: law, entrepreneurship and pharmaceutical leadership. He has built businesses from scratch, led turnarounds and scaled a €2 billion oncology franchise across more than 60 markets.
In this conversation, Yariv shares the three ingredients he believes define strong leadership: clarity, momentum and people. He discusses hiring for diverse thinking, using co-creation to build team ownership, and why taking a role before you feel ready is the only path to real growth.

Key Takeaways
Learn why clarity means making decisions without complete data, and why moving forward amid uncertainty separates effective leaders from cautious ones
Discover how talented teams still stall in large pharma, and why generating momentum through process-heavy environments is a core leadership responsibility
Understand why Yariv Hefez deliberately recruits people who challenge his thinking, and how productive disagreement leads to better decisions than consensus-first cultures
Explore why turning around a declining product is harder than launching a new one, and why approaching it with launch-level energy is the key mindset shift
Identify the three building blocks of a high-performing team: trust, productive tension that encourages challenge, and a co-created vision that the whole team owns
Gain practical advice on hiring for genuine diversity: recruiting people who look different but think alike produces diversity on paper only. The goal is diversity of thinking
Apply Yariv’s self-direction framework to your own career, including his view that waiting until you feel 100% ready for a role means that moment will never come
Take away the lesson Yariv had to unlearn early: good work does not speak for itself, and making your contribution visible is a professional skill worth developing deliberately
Uncover how AI and quantum computing could reshape drug discovery, and why tomorrow’s leaders will need the confidence to use these tools and the courage to override them

Snippets
"The way I did it was really being very open and upfront about the fact that I don't have all the answers."
"Only when you have diversity of thinking is when you have real diversity. Otherwise it's just diversity on paper."
"If you are waiting to be 100% ready for a role, it's not going to happen. You are 100% ready for a role when you are in the role, not before you start the role."

Timestamps & Topics
The following timestamps are approximations:
[00:00] – Intro: Yariv's career journey from law to global oncology leadership
[00:01:18] – Key Leadership Ingredients: Clarity, momentum and people
[00:13:51] – Turnaround vs Launch: Why reversing a declining product demands the same energy as a new launch
[00:21:41] – Team Building: Why diversity of thinking produces better decisions than demographic diversity
[00:31:04] – Self-Direction: How to take career risks and stretch roles before you feel fully ready
[00:33:25] – Unlearning: Why great work alone is not enough and making your impact visible matters
[00:40:32] – Future Outlook: How AI and quantum computing will reshape drug discovery and life science leadership

Resources
Follow Yariv Hefez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yarivhefez/
Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don't Miss an Episode
Sign up to the Active Ingredients podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.activeingredients.fraserdove.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and other leading podcast platforms.

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