With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1484213
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 BCBUSINESS 59 BCBUSINESS.CA want to do good, and that means focusing on getting products to patients." But the business of doing good comes at a price. Days after stepping in, Galbraith laid off half of the company's senior staff and revealed plans to reduce the 455-per- son team by 25 percent, saying that the or- ganization had grown "too big, too fast." January began with a bang. In the face of inflation, rising interest rates and a downturn in the stock markets, announc- ing layoffs would be a hard start for any new CEO. But Galbraith's experience hav- ing worked with some 50 global players in biotech—most recently British investment firm Syncona, where Galbraith had also re- placed a scientific founder as CEO—had pre- pared him to call it when it's time. "We did that as fairly, as quickly and as accurately as we could to get to the size I thought we should have, which is around 300 employ- ees," he maintains. Galbraith considers the composition of Zymeworks until then, which included WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS TODAY? My parents. HOW DO YOU HANDLE CRITICISM? Not very well, but I listen. ARE YOU A RISK-TAKER OR RISK-AVERSE? Risk-taker. WHAT BOOK OR MOVIE HAD THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOU? A 1983 magazine article from Maclean's describing monoclonal antibodies as "magic bullets." WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL FOR A LEADER TO HAVE? Listening carefully. " Eventually you'll realize there are things that will make you feel more complete as a person in leading companies, and those tend to be things that aren't financial and aren't in the limelight. People at later stages want to do good, and that means focusing on getting products to patients. "