To lead an organization effectively, the CEO of the organization should have certain skills, talents, and abilities to utilize available resources optimally for the successful growth of the organization. Every best performing CEO should have strong communication skills, be able to build healthy relationships, and learn from the past. Confidence in communication is key in any setting and as someone in charge. A CEO must learn how to communicate effectively to boost morale when necessary. A confident communicator is trustworthy, and able to rally those they are managing, and complete tasks and projects more efficiently. A CEO must have the ability to build relationships with employees and both current and future investors to be successful. These strong relationships often create loyalty and a positive image for the CEO and the company. A CEO must have the ability to learn from past experiences and instill lessons for the future. As mistakes happen, it is imperative that the CEO is able to understand how they occurred and how those mistakes can be used as steps to building success.
Dr. Bassam Damaj, CEO of Innovus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
Dr. Damaj is an award-winning scientist and experienced drug developer. He created a breakthrough test for anthrax and helped bring drugs to market at such major companies as Pfizer, Genentech, Pharmacopeia, Tanabe Seiyaku (now Mitsubishi-Tanabe) and Apricus Biosciences. But Damaj is much more than just a technical expert. He’s also proven to be an adept biotech and pharma chief executive, with the talent and connections needed to spot the potential for products and growth where others can’t. In a recent stint as CEO of Apricus Biosciences, for instance, Damaj pulled the company from the brink of bankruptcy and transformed it into a thriving full-fledged pharmaceutical company with a full pipeline of products and a number of important deals with major drugmakers such as Takeda, Abbott and Novartis-Sandoz. “We were able to turn the company around,” says Damaj. Investors also know that Damaj invested his own money in Innovus and did not take salary for three years, he has long been familiar with Innovus, even though he became the CEO in 2013. That’s because Innovus started as a spin-off of Bio-Quant. When Damaj was running Bio-Quant, making millions of dollars as a contract research organization for drug companies, he also had a small drug discovery operation called FastTrack. At the time, Damaj wanted to focus Bio-Quant on contract research, so he spun off FastTrack in 2009 and then it merged with another small company to form Innovus. Now he’s picking up the reins again. A final reason why investors are enthusiastic is that Innovus is a fast and nimble company. It can get products to market quickly without needing to build a sales force first because of Damaj’s network of partners. And when sales do rise, the company can meet market demand quickly simply by contracting out the manufacturing.
