In Conversation: Human Genome Sciences' H. Thomas Watkins

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H. Thomas Watkins is the CEO of Human Genome Sciences Inc. HGS exists to place new therapies into the hands of those battling serious disease. On March 9, 2011, the FDA approved BENLYSTA, a specialized drug to treat Lupus.

He talks about leadership and operational challenges of becoming a fully commercial biopharmaceutical company.

Read and Enjoy!

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In Conversation: Smith Barney's James W. Brinkley

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In this edition of the Thought Leadership Project, I talk to James W. Brinkley, who is the Vice-Chairman of Smith Barney's Global Private Client Group following Citigroup Inc.'s acquisition of Legg Mason Wood Walker, Incorporated (LMWW). He was previously CEO of LMWW.

He talks about leadership, operational challenges, and gives advice to graduating MBAs. As a professor, I could not resist giving him a quiz: I asked him “Say you were to write a letter to Alexander Hamilton explaining the current state of the financial industry, what will you write about?” Go on, read his wonderful response.

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In Conversation: Saatchi & Saatchi's Bob Seelert

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In this edition of the Thought Leadership Project, I talk to Bob Seelert, who for the last 12 years has been the Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s leading creative ideas companies. His journey from small-town Connecticut to being CEO of five companies in three different industries, and a member of the board of directors of nine companies in the United States, England and France, reads like a script for “The Great American Success Story.”

He talks about leadership, the importance of excellence in execution, and his favorite brand.

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In Conversation: United Company's James W. McGlothlin

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In this edition of the Thought Leadership project, I talk to James W. McGlothlin, the Chairman and CEO of the United Company. The United Company is a diversified business with interests in coal, golf courses, real estate developments, mine mill industrial support companies, pharmaceutical manufacturing businesses, electric furnace steel operations located throughout the U.S. as well as other interests in several miscellaneous companies.

In April 2009 Metinvest acquired The United Coal Company (one of United Company's subsidiaries) for approximately $1 billion.

He gives his insight on leadership, advice to the entrepreneur, and, as a veteran of the coal industry, his ideas on the US energy policy.

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In Conversation: ProLogis' K. Dane Brooksher

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In this edition of the Thought Leadership Project, I talk to K. Dane Brooksher who recently retired as the CEO and Chairman of Prologis. ProLogis is a leading global provider of distribution facilities, with more than 475 million square feet of industrial space in markets all across North America, Europe and Asia. He talks about leadership, challenges of growing and going global, operations and sustainability.

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In Conversation: LeggMason's Raymond A. "Chip" Mason

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It gives me great pleasure to launch Operations Buzz with a short interview with Raymond A. “Chip” Mason. This interview is first in a series of what I call the “Thought Leadership Project.” The Thought-Leadership project is a conversation with business leaders on what it takes to operate smart and sustainable companies. Some of the questions are on leadership, the business environment, the challenges of running large organizations; and others explore the lighter side of the person that runs the organization. The goal is to explore leadership and its relationship to running smart & sustainable operations from multiple perspectives.

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