Welcome to the Transformational Leadership Podcast, where senior leaders share real-world experiences building high-performance organizations in complex, high-pressure environments.

In this episode, host Jeff Harnois is joined by Richard Finger, Vice President of Human Resources at Broadmead Inc. Richard brings deep experience from leading large-scale HR transformations, including his work at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he played a critical role during the years leading up to the loss of patent protection for Plavix — the company’s flagship pharmaceutical product at the time.

The conversation explores how organizations prepare for major inflection points, including large-scale restructuring, business spin-offs, and reinvention at global scale. Richard shares lessons from leading workforce transformation across tens of thousands of employees, navigating uncertainty, and aligning people strategy with long-term business outcomes.

This episode offers a candid look at leadership during disruption, the role of HR in enterprise transformation, and what it takes to guide organizations through change while maintaining performance, culture, and trust.

00:00 – Welcome to the Transformational Leadership Podcast 00:27 – Podcast mission and focus on real leadership stories 00:42 – Introduction of host Jeff Harnois 01:15 – Introducing Richard Finger and his leadership background 01:53 – Setting the context: Bristol-Myers Squibb and Plavix 02:34 – The market impact of patent expiration 03:15 – Scale and complexity of a global organization 04:12 – Preparing for transformation years in advance 06:08 – Workforce implications of large-scale change 09:42 – Leading HR transformation in complex environments 13:55 – Spin-offs, restructuring, and organizational redesign 18:30 – Leadership lessons from enterprise transformation 23:44 – Balancing execution, culture, and performance 28:16 – The evolving role of HR as a strategic function 33:05 – Applying transformation lessons across industries 38:12 – Final reflections on leadership and change

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