Career Imprints: Creating Leaders Across An Industry

Based on her research of 800 biotechnology companies and 3,200 biotechnology executives, Harvard Business School professor Monica Higgins discovered that one firm–Baxter–was the breeding ground for today’s most successful biotechnology ventures. This phenomena of one organization spawning an industry has also been seen in the high-tech (Hewlett-Packard) and semiconductor industries (Fairchild). However, until now there has been no suitable explanation of why and how these organizations were able to create the next generation of industry leaders. Career Imprints shows why Baxter was so successful in spawning senior executives and offers an understanding of what it takes for an organization to produce leaders that will dominate an industry for years to come. In this important book, Higgins shows that an organization’s "career imprint"¾the result of company systems, structure, strategy, and culture¾that employees take with them throughout their careers is the key to creating great leaders. By understanding these factors, staff, human resource executives, and CEOs can analyze their own organization’s career imprint and develop leaders.

Monica Higgins is an associate professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit of Harvard Business School. Her research, published in more than 40 professional articles and case studies, centers on careers, strategic human resource management, and leadership development. She is a member of the Academy of Management and the American Psychological Association.

Acknowledgments.

Foreword.

Preface.

Part One: Setting the Stage.

1. Introduction: Career Imprints and Senior Executive Mobility.

2. From Baxter to Biotechnology: The First Wave of Baxter Boys.

Part Two: The Career Imprinting Process.

3. Place: Understanding Breeding Grounds for Career Imprinting.

4. People: Characteristics and Susceptibility to Career Imprinting.

5. Paths: The Baxter Career Experience and Resulting Career Imprint.

6. Beyond Baxter: Career Imprints of Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Abbott.

Part Three: The Consequences of Career Imprints.

7. The Spawning Effect: Career Imprints and Industry Evolution.

8. The Legacy of Career Imprints for Organizations.

9. The Opportunities and Constraints of Career Imprints.

10. Career Imprints: New Answers, New Questions.

Appendix A: Research Design and Methods.

Appendix B: Analyses of Baxter's Impact on IPO Success.

Appendix C: Baxter's Business and Product Timelines.

Notes.

References.

Index.