Leading in the Face of Negative Sentiment

CEOs receive our fair share of head nods and enthusiastic responses when talking to people face-to-face … only to sense the whispers of disagreement and doubt when we leave the room. It’s only natural. Many people aren’t comfortable expressing disagreement or rocking the boat. And so they talk about their concerns only among their friends and allies in the organization. 

The challenge comes when concern festers, when a general attitude that says, “I don’t know how we will do this” becomes one that says, “There’s no way we can do this.” Leading in the face of overt or subversive negativity becomes a treacherous and sometimes lonely task. I’ve found myself in this position a few times in my career. Each time, I have been reminded of a few core tenets that kept me—and kept my teams—on the right path forward.

Be clear about the reasons for your decisions, and return to them as often as possible. 

When AmerisourceBergen purchased World Courier in 2012, it was the largest acquisition we had made. And while there was palpable excitement among our associates, I heard many people outside our company wonder if we had bitten off more than we could chew. We were a company that had largely operated in the US and Canada. Now, with World Courier, we’d have operations and employees in 50+ countries. Our logistics expertise was strong, but global logistics for clinical trials was an altogether different segment. 

So we addressed the concern head-on. In every meeting and conversation where World Courier came up—both internal and external—we took the opportunity to reduce doubt and move past negativity by reinforcing the logic and the excitement behind the acquisition. World Courier gave us a platform for global expansion. It allowed us to understand local market dynamics more quickly and comprehensively. It enabled delivery of more services to meet pharmaceutical manufacturers’ needs. Repeating these points and others gave transparency to our motivations for the deal while also serving as rallying points for what we could accomplish together.

Actively solicit and listen to dissenting opinions.

I mentioned this in my last LinkedIn post: My lead team meetings take time, sometimes hours. Much of this time is spent examining issues at-hand from all appropriate perspectives. Especially in leading the organization through times of change or market uncertainty, I want my team to speak up, to voice their beliefs with conviction, to advocate for their teams or their customers or their perspectives on decisions we could or should be making. 

Visibility, accessibility and transparency matter.

Last summer, during the downturn in the pharmaceutical industry, AmerisourceBergen had to reduce our operating expenses. This meant looking at all our costs, all our initiatives, all our strategic decisions with even greater scrutiny.

As AmerisourceBergen navigated a challenging 2016, I made it a priority to communicate regularly with our global workforce. Through blog posts, emails, virtual town halls and face-to-face meetings, I addressed our associates’ questions and worked to reinforce our shared vision for the road ahead. I put focus on staying visible, and I encouraged our other executive leaders to do the same. 

One key lesson learned through this: Our associates appreciated being informed, but it was even more meaningful for them to have respectful dialogue with their leaders. The leadership team remained accessible even through the toughest times … and so our associate base remained engaged in working toward new solutions. 

Right is its own reward. 

When it’s clear that you’ve weathered the storms, when the clouds of negativity and doubt pass, it can be tempting to call out the naysayers and highlight their absence of trust, their incorrect assumptions, their lack of support. I’ve never enjoyed doing that. Instead, I’ve tried to use these occasions to celebrate the strength of our team and affirm what’s possible together. AmerisourceBergen’s purchase and integration of PharMEDium is an example of this. Some questioned whether the $2.5B+ acquisition made sense for us, with concerns around cost or timing or risk profile. 

Now we’re over a year past the acquisition, and PharMEDium has performed as a strong contributor for AmerisourceBergen—not just to our bottom line, but also to the value we’re able to create for health systems and the patients they serve. PharMEDium’s addition to AmerisourceBergen has become a leading indicator of how invested we are in the enduring success of our hospital customers. The questions around the deal have given way to curiosity over what else we can do to create additional, positive impact for those we serve. 

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Lastly, I’ll share that leading people through minefields of doubt and negativity is a trying experience for all involved. I’m always looking to learn how I might improve. If you have your own experiences to share, please leave a comment and help us all think about how we might do it better in the future.