So far, the group has mainly filled its bosses from its own ranks.
(Photo: AP)
February 8, 2023 will go down in Bayer history as a revolutionary day. In future, for the first time, the two most important positions in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical group will not be occupied by “homegrown” management. The appointment of Bill Anderson as the new CEO by the chairman of the supervisory board, Norbert Winkeljohann, is a clear culture break.
This break is intentional – and this step actually gives Bayer AG a chance to finally develop further again. Because now there are two top managers at the control points – with a fresh and unbiased view. There is enough need for change and challenges in Leverkusen.
So far, Bayer has always aspired to be able to fill the two top positions from within its own ranks. That was the case with the CEOs and later chairmen of the supervisory board, Manfred Schneider and Werner Wenning, as well as with the CEO Werner Baumann, who was to leave soon. All had decades-old Bayer stable odor. The only external CEO from 2010 to 2016 was Dutchman Marijn Dekkers. But it was controlled by Wenning.
But the culture break in Leverkusen goes even further: A German financial expert is not moving to the top of the board, as is usual. With the American Anderson, instead of another analyst, Bayer now has a scientist as boss who, as a biotech expert, is well versed in the fundamentals of both large corporate divisions.
Now it’s not bad per se when a new CEO comes from within the company’s own ranks. In fact, there are great advantages in being well acquainted with the business, culture and sensitivities. But sometimes the “intern” knows all this too well to be the right person for the desired changes.
Bayer needs a break with the past
But Bayer needs a break with the past now. Bayer still hasn’t rid itself of the burden of the takeover of Monsanto and the associated image problems. The group suffers from the fact that in its public perception and on the stock market it is mostly only about Monsanto, glyphosate, lawsuits, lawsuits and poison – and less about life-saving medical successes and groundbreaking new agricultural technologies.
An external CEO can change this more credibly than one who has grown into the structures and the past. At the same time, it is also about the future: Bayer’s businesses are affected by the biotech revolution in medicine and by artificial intelligence in research. It takes a CEO who knows the epicenter of these disruptive technologies: the United States.
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With the commitment of the American Anderson, the supervisory board has not only made a smart move for that reason. The election of a new internal boss would only have upset the recalcitrant investors – there would have been unpleasant public debates about Bayer. But the appointment of an external, foreign and undoubtedly competent manager took the wind out of the critics’ sails.
That doesn’t mean that Bayer will be in the same position as it is now in three to five years. The desired culture break in Leverkusen also means that all structures will be reviewed for their usefulness and future viability.
With the scientist Anderson, however, Bayer has the chance to be perceived more for what is anchored in the company motto: “Science for a better life”. The new CEO should use this momentum.
More: These five challenges await the new Bayer boss