Reinvent

Fred Hassan is not an accidental leader. Throughout his stellar career he has had transformational impact on every one of the large, complex and innovation-driven companies that he has led among them, most recently, Schering-Plough. Turnarounds and transformations do not occur without culture change and changing culture starts by changing attitudes and behaviors. The linkage between attitude, culture, execution and driven performance has been validated by the author's own experience as a unit head, division president, CEO of three global public companies, and most recently as chairman of what began as a challenged global company. The insights, ideas, and strategies are illustrated by the author's own experiences, underpinned by his deep belief that in every aspiring and committed individual, in every team and in every company, the potential exists to deliver performance beyond what is commonly viewed as achievable. The ability to power up this potential is what creates extraordinary change. A favorite mantra is "It's in our power to do more with what we have. It's in our power to fulfill our own potential. It's not where we take our aspirations it's where our aspirations take us." Productive cultures fuel better strategies, better executions, and better governance, and provide the competitive edge in innovation. This then leads to sustained performance that can change broken companies into dynamic machines. Fred Hassan celebrates his wins, but they are inseparable from the wins of the people he leads, from advances in products that allow people to enjoy a better quality of life, and from developing leaders who may one day write their own playbook to inspire yet another generation of talented managers.