This week marks the first working week for our newly hired CEO. The board of directors and our executives spent quite some time looking for the right candidate, with an appropriate level of experience in the biotechnology field, and I think they've found a good one. I've just met him the once, but he seemed like a very personable person and even had some good technical questions to ask me. It remains to be seen what kind of direction he is going to be taking us in. I've always held the belief that the CEO really sets the "mood" of the company .. shaping the way that people relate with each other and the ways the things get done.
To start us off, we've got an all company meeting tomorrow... at the bowling alley! Sounds like a good way to get started. I hope I can still keep it out of the gutter. It's been a while since I last bowled. But in, seriousness, I like the fact that one of his first actions is to create an informal, fun environment for allowing us to get to know him and vice versa. That indicates to me that this is not your nose-to-the-grindstone, slave-driver type of person, but rather someone that acknowledges that employees need to have good relationships with each other in order to be productive.
I personally believe that good team chemistry (a combination of trust, respect, friendly competition, openness, and the ability to have fun) is of utmost importance when you need people to perform at their best. You can have an environment where people dislike, distrust, or disrespect each other and still get work done, but those people won't be as motivated or productive as people that feel at home when they're at work.
I'm working on developing that level of comfort with the people I immediately work with and I'm excited to see that our executives are actively working to encourage it, too.
