Let’s start with your childhood. What was it like?

DAVID RICKS: I grew up in the East Bay area of California, and I had a nice childhood. I was lucky. I got to grow up in a melting pot and be around kids from lots of backgrounds, and my parents were also very big on global travel. My siblings and I were able to live abroad, so that was a helpful orientation to thinking about the world.

 

 

It’s great that you were exposed to so much diversity at such a young age. How has that shaped how you value diversity in the workplace?

 

I think it sounds like a simple thing—to be genuinely comfortable and interested in the cultures of some of the places where we do business. But there are some people who haven’t had that orientation. They’re always looking for differences instead of looking at those things as innovations.

And I think that’s the gift that my parents gave me. They showed me that there is goodness in difference.

 

What is a conversation you think needs to be had either at Eli Lilly or within the pharmaceutical industry?

 

“The status quo will always be the status quo unless some force moves it.”

 

The first order piece is, “Why should we change?” The status quo will always be the status quo unless some force moves it. And the status quo for corporate America as it relates to diversity and inclusion is no longer acceptable.

 

For us at Lilly, there’s a lot of reason to change.

 

Talent. If you start with the assumption that my future workforce profile will look like my current workforce profile, you’re excluding huge pools of talent. And my goal is to have the best people working here, so why would I want to exclude anyone?

 

Innovation. New ideas only come from different ideas, so we need more diversity—in disciplines, backgrounds, et cetera—to be more innovative.

 

And connecting with the market. The future is already going to be dramatically more diverse, so having people who can understand the firsthand experience of the patients we serve allows us to better connect them with medicines.

 

What a great leadership lesson: the value of diversity for effective business leadership. Amazing. Any other leadership lessons?

Nobody tells you this, but at some point, when you have a big organization, you need to lead by indirect example.

 That’s a big shift for people to realize, that what you do every day actually doesn’t matter that much because most people can’t see it.

What you model doing—the shadow you cast—matters, because that’s what people think you’re doing.

 I have to think about “How do people see Dave as the CEO?” I have to manage people’s public perceptions of me.

Simple things like, “How does he handle with bad news? Does he care about this place? Does he walk the talk?” For example, when I was the head of Lilly China and I didn’t speak any Chinese, I would have to communicate with actions.

My first day there, I met with customers and also met the entire leadership team instead of just a subset—because no favorites. These things are important.

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