Values, Courage and Transformation in Life Sciences with Paula Gildert

In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Paula Gildert, Strategic Advisor & Board Member, Xyant Services.

Paula Gildert is a procurement and transformation leader who has worked across AstraZeneca, Novartis and Takeda. She served as President and Chair of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and now advises life sciences organisations on strategy and governance.

Paula reveals how values, courage, and commitment fuel her leadership style. She shares frameworks for breakthrough thinking, champions speed and quality over pure cost, and vividly describes her journey from corporate executive to board advisor.

Key Takeaways

• Experience how courage, authenticity, and commitment ignite leadership and help senior leaders build trust across the pharmaceutical landscape.
• See why “context is decisive” in transformation. Gildert shows how reading your team’s environment sets every strategy in motion.
• Unlock how breakthrough thinking turns stretch goals into tangible results by zeroing in on what’s missing and boldly making clear promises.
• Discover how speed and quality ignite value creation in procurement and watch cost savings flow naturally as business processes evolve.
• Gain practical advice on keeping teams energised during multi-year change by celebrating progress and keeping senior leadership visibly engaged.
• Identify how communication training gives leaders a lasting edge. Gildert explains why structured frameworks for conversations pay dividends across every setting.
• Explore how a Royal Marine upbringing shaped Gildert’s early leadership. She traces her resilience, her ability to hold her ground and her openness to being wrong back to her father’s influence.
• Sharpen your listening and curiosity as a young leader. Gildert shares how face-to-face conversations and focus groups shape strategy from the ground up.
• Use Gildert’s “third chapter” story as inspiration to shape your own vibrant move from executive to impactful advisory, board and voluntary roles.

Snippets

• Business is mostly bad news with a spattering of good. If you’re in a high change environment, it’s not a balance.”
• “Once you work in the pharmaceutical industry, and you’re driven by a higher purpose, everything else will pale in comparison.”
• “Oftentimes, you have the team you need. You just haven’t rallied them around the right challenge.”

Timestamps & Topics

The following timestamps are approximations:

• [00:00] – Intro: Paula Gildert’s leadership journey in the life sciences
• [01:37] – Key Ingredients: Values, authenticity and commitment
• [03:51] – Early Influences: Growing up with Royal Marine leadership
• [16:29] – Delivering Impact: Inspiring teams through large-scale change
• [23:12] – Value Creation: Why speed and quality beat cost in procurement
• [27:03] – Breakthrough Thinking: Turning stretch goals into real results
• [34:30] – Emotional Intelligence: Leading when values don’t align
• [46:09] – Third Chapter: Leadership beyond the corporate org chart
• [56:50] – Future of Life Sciences: Access, affordability and new technology

Resources

• Follow Paula Gildert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-gildert-547b987/•
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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