Dean’s Speaker Series: Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day on why diverse perspectives drive progress

Daniel O’Day, chairman and CEO of Gilead Sciences, was 16 years into a successful career in pharmaceuticals when a colleague asked if he’d ever considered switching to working in diagnostics.

O’Day said he considered the suggestion, and ultimately shifted from medicines to diagnostics, focused on tools required to detect, monitor, and help manage diseases.

“That was one of the most important moves I ever made because it took me even further outside my comfort zone,” he said at a recent Dean’s Speaker Series, in conversation with Venkata Gadde, EMBA 26, and Ravi Malhotra, EWMBA 26.

Yet O’Day said he’s never prioritized comfort when making career decisions, a mindset shaped in part by the years he spent working across the globe collaborating with diverse teams. In an industry based on innovation, he said, those diverse perspectives are not only helpful but fundamental to driving progress.

“Innovation, in my opinion, happens at the intersection of those cultural differences,” he said.

O’Day spent three decades at Roche before pushing himself to take on a new challenge outside the company. Accepting the chair and CEO roles at Gilead in 2019 offered an opportunity to build on the company’s scientific track record while also placing him at the helm of a U.S.-based public company for the first time.

By then, Gilead had delivered major advances in global health, including a cure for the hepatitis C virus and therapies that have helped transform HIV from a fatal disease into a treatable, preventable condition. But it was also at a critical period for the company, which was looking to define its next phase of growth.

During O’Day’s first 90 days as CEO at Gilead, he met with employees across the organization to understand their perspectives on the company—its strengths, its challenges, and where it could go next.

“One of the most important things as I sat down and listened during those 90 days was: How do you keep that culture in the organization? How do you keep that grittiness, that speed, that agility?” he said.

From there, the focus was on building on the company’s scientific strengths, expanding into new areas, and aligning the organization around what its next goals should look like.

As Gilead expands, O’Day said the focus remains on scaling a large organization that retains the speed and mindset of a smaller biotech firm.

“My impact is very much Gilead’s impact,” he said, pointing to reducing HIV rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, including for patients in underserved communities, as a reason “why I wake up every day.”

“From my leadership perspective, I will judge myself on: Have we eradicated diseases, and have we done that in a way that is fair and just?” he said.