Jeff had a goal:
To land a more
entrepreneurial opportunity
after holding progressive roles
in Big Pharma
for years
From 20+ Years in F500 Pharma
to Landing Desired CFO Role at a Series A Biotech
Jeff
Jeff* was at a major crossroads in his longstanding senior executive leadership career. He had been with the same F500 pharmaceutical for 12+ years, where he advanced rapidly to roles of increasing scope, responsibility, and challenge, with repeated success.
As a "utility" finance leader, his background was diverse.
He was in a unique position where he could leverage his diverse background, but the stage needed to be set correctly, or he would be spinning his wheels, as the market does not respond well to marketing documents that try to "be all things to all target audiences."
Through our work together, he decided on 2 specific targets:
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(1) Advancement to the next level, SVP, Finance, at a same-size or larger-pharmaceutical, where he could play to his strengths and numerous successes in turning around disenchanted teams and spearheading end-to-end change management within highly complex environments. This was a skill set that would speak strongly to a larger sized company, but not to a startup.
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(2) Position him for a CFO role at a growth biotech or pharmaceutical, but the stage had to be set correctly, or he wouldn't gain traction for this opportunity. I worked closely with Jeff to set the stage correctly, calling out success stories that would be relevant to a startup environment and his innate strengths as a roll up the sleeves type leader, etc.
Through out work together, different tailored "spin" documents were built to support his exploratory agenda.
Within 6 months, Jeff landed at a later stage biotech as CFO, his #1 ranked pursuit.
The careful tailoring and positioning strategy discussed and then embedded into documents and pitch, played a critical role in "selling" his candidacy for this pursuit.
*Name changed.