Leadership
Great expectations
How Patrick Soon-Shiong inspires employees to make a difference at Abraxis Bioscience
By Erik Cassano
Smart Business Los Angeles | March 2007
Page 1 of 4
Patrick Soon-Shiong has business down to a science.
A doctor who was once a surgeon at UCLA, Soon-Shiong says he has the perspective of both ascientist and a businessman when it comes to leading Abraxis BioScience Inc.
The chairman and CEO says business and science aren’t mutually exclusive disciplines. In fact,business can be considered a form of science, especially when it comes to developing a criticaleye and never taking any piece of information at face value.
Soon-Shiong expects everyone at Abraxis to approach business with the same critical eye as hedoes, and he fosters a culture of critical thinking by starting with the words that come out of hisown mouth. “Our culture starts with me,” he says. “If I get in a room and nobody is challenging what I say, Iget very upset. Not angry upset, but upset in the sense that I think every statement needs to bechallenged in a very thoughtful way.”
Soon-Shiong says relentless self analysis of your policies and data is the only way you will ultimately drive your business to the top.
It might not be microbiology or astronomy, but to Soon-Shiong, business is, in many ways, justlike a science.
