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Dave Ricks

ARCHETYPE

The Visionary

The future, and what is barely possible, reads round the next corner.

Dave Ricks reads as The Visionary, the archetype of leaders who orient an institution toward a future others cannot yet see. As chairman and chief executive of Eli Lilly, he leads a company whose value rests on long scientific horizons, and his register in conversation with David Rubenstein reflects that forward posture. Ricks frames the present as prologue, treating today's decisions as instruments for shaping what medicine, and the enterprise, will become.

IN THEIR WORDS, WHY VISIONARY

We're not really interested in niche problems. We think we're here because we're a big company to do hard problems that are scalable. That's where it makes our business work, but also is the most human impact.

ON LILLY'S STRATEGIC DISEASE FOCUS

Next year you'll see Lily start large studies in alcohol abuse and nicotine use, even drug abuse. Beyond that, we need to make important medicines for the long haul. I think brain health is really the next frontier.

ON FUTURE PIPELINE AMBITIONS

It's projected in five years there'll be a billion people on the planet who have obesity, and it's going to become a much bigger problem in the developing world than it ever has been in America.

ON GLOBAL OBESITY SCALE

THE DAVID RUBENSTEIN SHOW

The David Rubenstein Show: “Dave Ricks”

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Dave's full six-dimension Leadership Index profile is held pending their validation. The archetype shown is the OTA analyst-rated read. How we read a leader →

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