On this episode of the Lead the Future Podcast, Dr. Vince Molinaro is joined by Frank Stramaglia, General Manager of Astellas Pharma Canada. At the time of this conversation, Astellas is in the middle of a culture transformation. Frank explains how multiple, significant changes in the industry are requiring his organization to operate, deliver, and approach things in totally different ways. 

Frank reflects on the past couple years, in which the organization needed to downsize a few times, and on how they are now needing to pivot and scale up as they prepare to launch multiple products in the near future. Both scenarios have presented different, but equally important challenges. 

Vince and Frank discuss the importance of investing the time to get everyone on board in projects of such high impact and different strategies for doing so.

“I think getting people to get out of their comfort zone is the biggest learning when you’re going through a period like this, we always default back to what I did before, and my experiences, and you have to remind people that while those things can help you, it’s also very important to recognize that the environment we’re in is a unique environment. 

It’s one that none of us have dealt with before. And therefore, we’ve got to really be thinking differently about how we approach business challenges.” 

– Frank Stramaglia