---
title: "Winselow Tucker: Why Effective Leadership During Turbulent Times Requires Transparency And Genuine Relationships Over Rigid Crisis Planning"
url: "https://authoritymag.co/articles/winselow-tucker-why-effective-leadership-during-turbulent-times-requires-transparency-and-genuin"
publisher: "Authority Magazine"
author: "Yitzi Weiner"
authorUrl: "https://authoritymag.co/authors/yitzi-weiner"
interviewee: "Winselow Tucker"
company: "Bristol Myers Squibb"
category: "Business"
datePublished: "2022-06-16T16:18:50.941Z"
dateModified: "2026-11-12T19:23:57.850Z"
tags: "Business"
---

# Winselow Tucker: Why Effective Leadership During Turbulent Times Requires Transparency And Genuine Relationships Over Rigid Crisis Planning

*Bristol Myers Squibb senior executive Winselow Tucker shares how overcoming communication barriers, building transparency, and empowering teams drives success in the pharmaceutical industry.*

> When I started my career, I was working with a very senior executive who reviewed a presentation my team made. We were sent his handwritten notes with a question for us, but nobody could read his handwriting.

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As*part of our series about the “*[Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times](https://medium.com/authority-magazine/search?q=Highly%20Effective%20Leader%20)*”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Winselow Tucker, SVP, Intercontinental at Bristol Myers Squibb.*

*Over the past 20 years, Winselow Tucker has had a passion for helping patients, particularly those with serious and rare diseases. This passion has fueled him to deliver his best in every role he’s held since the start of his career. Currently, as senior vice president and general manager, U.S. hematology at Bristol Myers Squibb, Winselow leads the organization’s commercial operations in delivering innovative treatments to patients and driving performance of key hematology brands, including CAR T cell therapies and next generation CELMoDs.*

*Winselow’s previous experiences have shown him how he can work with his teams to deliver strong results and continue to be propelled by the need to help our most vulnerable patient populations. He’s used knowledge from the industry to steer many teams to success across marketing and commercial operations, and aspires to continue doing so as a leader in biotech.*

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**Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?**

I grew up in New York City which really shaped who I am. From an early age, I was exposed to extreme wealth disparities and saw first-hand how access to resources and information impacts what we do and who we become. Throughout my career I’ve focused on never losing sight of this perspective. Over the past 20+ years, I’ve dedicated myself to increasing health care access for the most vulnerable patients — from those with serious and rare diseases to others in some of the world’s most underserved regions.

I’ve spent most of my career working with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies. I joined BMS almost three years ago as senior vice president and general manager, U.S. hematology. In this role, I led our commercial operations in delivering innovative treatments to patients and driving performance of our key hematology brands, including CAR T cell therapies and next generation CELMoDs.

Now, in my new role within BMS, I have the privilege of leading BMS’ Intercontinental markets, which represent a large part of the world’s population but disproportionately low GDP. This role combines my experience in serious diseases with my passion for improving health outcomes in underserved regions. The ability to drive strategy that broadens access for patients with the least amount of opportunity is something I am lucky to play a part in and I look forward to all that we will accomplish.

**Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?**

When I started my career, I was working with a very senior executive who reviewed a presentation my team made. We were sent his handwritten notes with a question for us, but nobody could read his handwriting. We had no idea what the question was or how we should respond, and his assistant indicated that the leader did not like to be asked questions! We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find someone to interpret the writing and getting differing opinions. I remember thinking how much time was wasted because everyone was afraid to approach the leader. Now, I believe we should make everyone, especially those at lower levels, feel comfortable speaking up, contributing and asking questions. Our role as leaders is to make the jobs of others easier, which starts with an open environment among all employees.

**Extensive**[research](https://www.forbes.com/sites/caterinabulgarella/2018/09/21/purpose-driven-companies-evolve-faster-than-others/#6f3565da55bc)**suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your organization started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?**

BMS was formed in 1989 with the merger of Bristol Myers and Squibb corporations. Both companies were main suppliers of penicillin during World War II and differentiated themselves with strong ethics and values — Squibb’s motto was “uniformity, purity, efficacy, and reliability based on research.”

The newly-formed BMS quickly became a leader in worldwide pharmaceuticals and in 1999 was awarded the National Medal of Technology by then-President Clinton for “extending, and enhancing human life through innovative pharmaceutical research and development and for redefining the science of clinical study through groundbreaking and hugely complex clinical trials that are recognized models in the industry.”

Today, BMS’ mission is “Transforming patients’ lives through science.” We work to bring life-saving medicines to people around the world with compassion to improve outcomes for the patients who need us most. BMS is changing the world and the lives of patients with some of the most serious diseases — this “north star” ensures we live up to the vision set forth from the start.

**I’m an author and I believe that books have the power to change lives. Do you have a book in your life that impacted you and inspired you to be an effective leader? Can you share a story?**

I always try to keep a pulse on workplace trends and frequently read leadership books to help inform my management style. I recently read “Living Forward” by Daniel Harkavay and Michael S Hyatt. In it, the authors discuss the value of taking time to visualize and document your purpose and the future you want. This serves as a constant guide for how to spend your time, what to prioritize and where to focus. Having recently taken on a new role, I used the same process to define my purpose and the future impact that I want to have as a leader and with my team. Taking the time to develop and review this plan is useful to ensure my actions are in line with the future I want to create.

**What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?**

My primary value as a leader is transparency and this is most important during turbulent times. Staying honest with your staff and effectively communicating needs is the number one way to build trust and respect. I joke that I’m a terrible cards player because I have no poker face, but I see this as an asset in business — it helps me build more genuine relationships in the workplace. I see great value in 1:1 conversations to learn about individual needs and how best to support my staff. As a result, they know they can come to me with issues and receive honest feedback no matter what the issue may be.

**When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?**

Morale is highest when employees feel understood and empowered. We employ some of the brightest minds at BMS, and I believe in trusting them to do the right thing, in the right way. We put patients first in everything we do, and this keeps us focused no matter where in the world our people are, or what hours they work.

**How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?**

If I’ve learned anything from the past two years it’s that no matter what you try to plan for you can never truly predict what the future holds. Even our wildest contingency plans have come and gone. Looking ahead, I’m focused on making plans to attract and retain top talent through formidable leadership, rather than creating crisis plans that only empower a select few leaders at the top. I’m focused on understanding individual needs and empowering us to work together to solve issues as they arise. The pandemic has taught me that you can’t make plans for what work needs to be done in times of crisis, you can only ensure that you have the best talent to do the work.

**Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?**

During difficult times, I make sure to focus on the power in purpose and mission. The goal is to inspire people to pull together by reminding them of the lofty goals we set ourselves and how our personal efforts contribute to making these a reality. It’s also important to take time to communicate and celebrate tangible examples of progress in achieving the purpose and mission. This was especially important during BMS’ recent acquisition of Celgene. By maintaining this focus, we were able to keep our teams committed to our purpose of serving patients while bringing both organizations together successfully during the integration.

**Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?**

There are a few that I see happening often. To start, many times organizations suffer from not being transparent about the challenges and opportunities they face — I believe that transparency builds trust in leaders which is needed most in difficult times.

I also see businesses underestimating the change they need to make to overcome challenges by assuming that their previous strengths and capabilities will get them through current challenges. It is important to evaluate what new capabilities are required and evolve accordingly.

Lastly, not recognizing the impact of people on applying capabilities and executing on strategy can be a huge downfall.

**Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.**

1. Leading with purpose and mission: During uncertain and turbulent times, purpose is most critical factor in keeping people and, by extension, the organization focused. We may be facing new challenges that we have not anticipated or had to face before. For example, over the past few years throughout the COVID pandemic, I have found that focusing on our mission brought our teams together and served as a North Star to guide our actions. I am fortunate that BMS has such a strong mission to help patients prevail over serious disease. Focusing on our mission, which was greater than each of us, served as an inspiration for our teams.
2. Transparent and authentic communication: In tough times I’ve learned that it is important to be transparent and authentic in communicating challenges to build trust. This served me well during a time when I had to drive a significant transformation of business which required restructuring. I was thinking about how to communicate the rationale and how optimistic to be in communicating the plan and future state of the business. We realized that we needed to build trust and bring them with us. It shaped my approach, and I personally communicated the changes to all our people leaders, clearly outlining the case for change. Many team members indicated that they appreciated the opportunity to have a real conversation about the challenges and opportunities and it helped them to feel confident in communicating with their teams. It reinforced for me the need for people to be able to trust their leaders and transparency and authenticity are building blocks for trust.
3. Demonstrate humility and empower people to take ownership of solving or overcoming the challenge or difficulty: No single person has all the answers and as a leader I have had to enlist the collective input of the team to develop the best solution. Having the humility to include others and empower them to take accountability and action builds stronger commitment to, and execution of, the solution. This is particularly important in my current role where I lead a group of 3,000 employees across more than 60 diverse markets. The collective diversity of our team is a source of great strength. I’ve learned that we need their insights to develop the best strategies, but they need to be empowered to execute those plans according to the market environment in which they operate.
4. Demonstrate resilience and support employee wellbeing: As a leader we all know that our people are our greatest assets and in tough times it’s more important that we model resilience and support the wellbeing of our people. That doesn’t mean that we don’t work harder in tough times but it does mean that we should make time for our teams to recover and support their wellbeing so that they can achieve their peak performance.
5. Recognize and share gratitude: Recognition is always important, but even more so in times of difficulty when individuals and teams are often going above and beyond putting in extraordinary efforts. Working in pharma during the pandemic, our businesses were challenged, and everyone was working very hard. It was critical to show gratitude for these individual and collective efforts as a reminder that their efforts were recognized and appreciated.

**Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?**

My favorite poem is “IF” by Rudyard Kipling. My entire sixth grade class was required to recite this poem daily. I came to realize that it has many lines supporting resilience and determination which resonate with me which I have used in tough times to keep focused on my purpose and goals, particularly the lines:

“ If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;

If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same”

These lines serve as a reminder to dream and have ambitions without getting lost in them and being analytical without getting lost in the analysis. Having humility in successes and resilience in failures knowing that these are necessary steps to achieving a larger goal or purpose.

**How can our readers further follow your work?**

You can follow my person LinkedIn [here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/winselowtucker/) and our company page [here](https://www.linkedin.com/company/bristol-myers-squibb/)

**Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!**

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Source: https://authoritymag.co/articles/winselow-tucker-why-effective-leadership-during-turbulent-times-requires-transparency-and-genuin (Authority Magazine, Business). Interviewee answers are first-person statements of the guest. Index of all pages: https://authoritymag.co/llms.txt