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John Bath has a natural passion for quality, so it is not
surprisingly that he has gravitated to a role which demands
100% accuracy.
As chief executive officer for a healthcare packaging company,
ensuring drugs are packaged correctly carries enormous responsibility
since people’s lives are at stake each and every day.
Making sure mistakes don’t happen requires company-wide
commitment. And John’s infectious enthusiasm has made
that happen at Brecon Pharmaceuticals.
Des Preece, training and standard development manager, nominated
John for the Leading Wales Awards. “The theory of leadership
is a discrete session within the company management development
program. The participants always manage to become actively
involved in any discussion regarding the qualities and characteristics
expected from a leader. John joined the company in 2001 and
within a very short time the tangible aspects of leadership
were obvious to all. John’s energy and vision has created
a thriving culture. Change is regarded as dynamic and the
fear factor of failure has been replaced with an encouragement
to try and in trying to learn, develop and ultimately succeed."
This isn’t the first time John’s commitment to
quality has led to significant organisational change. In the
early 1990’s John moved back from the USA, where he
had been working for six years, to head up a failing UK arm
of the business. As managing director, he was tasked with
the job of deciding the fate of the factory which was beset
with ancient equipment and disastrous employee/management
relations. It took John just one year to turn the factory
around and convince a highly suspicious workforce to buy into
his ideas. Indeed, he succeeded where many others before him
had failed.
Getting others to share his vision is something John said
he learnt at school. “I was really inspired by my physics
teacher who had real passion for his subject and I realised
that there is nothing more infectious than enthusiasm.”
Such enthusiasm spurred John, at the tender age of 19, to
pursue the study of atomic and nuclear physics at Oxford University:
“Studying the subject in the 1970’s was so exciting.
Major discoveries were taking place at the time. But trying
to find work in this field was difficult, so I decided a career
change was in order.”
He quickly rose through the ranks in the packaging industry,
entering senior management in his early thirties. He gained
an appreciation for the importance of quality from reading
the work of guru W. Edwards Deming. John explained: “A
lesson I’ve learnt now that I’m older and wiser
is that if you want to lead people down a chosen path, you
really need to know what you’re talking about. Over
time, your confidence grows as you learn what works and what
doesn’t. “
For those aspiring leaders without years of expertise behind
them, John advised, “Get a good mentor. Try and work
alongside someone whom you respect and who inspires you.”
IIn the face of adversity, John upholds his belief that integrity
and honesty are his driving principles. With a fervent belief
in doing what’s right, John will not compromise his
beliefs for the sake of success. “If I fail,”
he said, “I fail honestly”.
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