Leadership Lessons from Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato

David K. Young: Welcome to C-Suite Perspectives, a signature series by The Conference Board. I'm David Young, the president of the Committee for Economic Development, the Public Policy Center of The Conference Board (CED), and delighted to be your host today. 

In today's conversation, we will discuss Leadership in Challenging Times, where we feature the outstanding CEOs who are the recipients of CED's Distinguished Leadership Awards for corporate citizenship and business stewardship. Today, I have the privilege of speaking with one of our 2025 honorees, Joaquin Duato, the Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, a leading health care innovation company. 

Under Joaquin's leadership, Johnson & Johnson is committed to building a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. And just how they do that is what we'll be discussing today. Joaquin, welcome. We're so pleased to have you joining us today. 

Joaquin Duato: Thank you, David.  

David K. Young:Solet's start off with the fact that you have been now with Johnson & Johnson for more than 35 years. Tell us about your journey to the role of CEO. Did you ever think you would end up as a CEO of one of the most remarkable companies in the world, and what core values are key to being a successful leader? 

Joaquin Duato: I found my way in Johnson & Johnson in Spain, where I grew up. And also while growing up, I discovered my passion for health care. Health care is rooted in my family. My mom was a midwife, my grandmother was a pharmacist, my grandfather, a pediatrician, and they all practice in my hometown of Valencia  

On my career, a story that may amuse you is that when I graduated from college, I interviewed with every company on campus, including J&J. And interestingly, J&J did not hire me. But I did not give up, no. And that's one of the reasons I always tell people when they ask me, "Tell me something about a secret in your career," I always tell people that a "no" is actually the first step in getting to a "yes."  

I am only the eighth CEO of Johnson & Johnson in almost 140 years since the company was founded. Soit's really a great honor to be able to lead this incredible organization with such a long history. I am who I am thanks to Johnson & Johnson. I have had 12 different jobs in my 36-year career at J&J, and I'm here today because all these learning opportunities that the company gave me and because I always said "yes" early on to all these opportunities that were given to me.  

I worked in our consumer sector, in our medtech sector, in diagnostics, in pharmaceuticals, and I even was interim CIO of the company for some time. So I would not be who I am today, I would not be CEO of Johnson & Johnson without these experiences and learning opportunities that J&J offered me.  

As I evolved in the company. It also evolved the way I approach leadership. And let me start by saying that, as leadership is concerned, the most important people in a room, in the room in a company like J&J are the people who are the experts. Because we are about bringing new therapies, new medical technologies to patients. So the most important people in the room at Johnson & Johnson are the scientists, the engineers, the salespeople that bring these therapies and medical technologies to patients. It's the work that they do to advance our pipeline that really brings our mission to life, and my job is really helping them succeed.  

That's why when I think about my leadership philosophy, it’s very much putting people first, putting people at the center of what we do. And it's very important for me that we nurture a culture in which people felt cared about and also that they have a clear purpose. Caring for the people we serve,it'svery important for Johnson & Johnson, and it's a sense of purpose that we all have around our credo. In many ways, the original mission that we have in our credo that was written 80 years ago is what drives the company today.  

The second element, which is important in our culture in a company that has 140 years, is that speed of continuous learning. In a high-science, high-tech industry like ours, innovation advances very rapidly. So in our business, you are as good as your last innovation. Helping our employees stay in the cutting edge of science, technology, and health care delivery,it'sa very important part of what I do because I believe that's how we build a strong company. And that builder mindset,it'svery important in the way we run the company. 

So when I look at stronger leaders, I always think that people whoare able to build, and I always am looking for those strengths that they have, that they are going to use to accelerate impact. So my leadership philosophy is very much, David, very much focused around people, is very much focused on having a clear purpose, is very much focused about learning and building. 

David K. Young: Fascinating. Thank you for sharing. And what a start to your career at Johnson & Johnson. So, Johnson & Johnson turns 140 years old next year, I believe. When you look at the company, what are the secrets to the company's longevity that's made it so successful over so many years? 

Joaquin Duato:That's an important question and something that I reflect on a lot. First, I would come back to our culture of continuous learning. J&J has thrived for 140 years because we are a learning company. We have been able to disrupt health care again and again over these years. If you stop learning, you are at risk of being disrupted. 

The second is the fact that we have a very clear purpose, which is driven by our credo. That sense of responsibility, that clarity to understand what is relevant is very important for our employees and gives us the energy to continue to evolve and to continue to learn.  

And third is that we are broadly diversified, meaning that we can really lead where medicine is going. We are unique on the fact that we can expand the whole patient journey. We have a focus on pharmaceuticals and medical technology, and we can really impact the full spectrum of disease. We go from cardiology to cancer, from mental health to vision, from cell therapies to robotic surgery. The depth and breadth of our expertise and capabilities is one that no other company can match. 

So we are very broad in the way we can approach the patient journey. And unlike other companies, we are not a one-trick company. And looking ahead, I see Johnson & Johnson continuing to do what it does best: advancing therapies, solutions that address the world's greatest health challenges. That is our mission.  

David K. Young: What an incredible mission. You've said that advances in science and technology will transform health care more over the next decade than in the last century. More over the next decade than in the last century. It's a bold statement. What makes you say it and believe it? 

Joaquin Duato:I believe that our generation is living at a time of unprecedented opportunity in health care. From discovery to diagnosis to treatments, this is a time of unprecedented opportunity. We have scientific platforms today that were unimaginable 10 years ago, and technology is also helping, transforming every aspect of health care. 

We have advances in fundamental biology and genomics that we have seen the proliferation of new ways of treating disease like cell therapies, gene therapies, radiopharmaceuticals, multi-specific antibodies, antibody drug conjugates, and unique drug-device combination, to name a few.  

In areas like cancer, advances in modern medicine have reduced cancer deaths by a third, and we are seeing incredible progress all the time in new ways to treat the disease. At Johnson & Johnson, our vision is to eliminate cancer for good. And the best way of doing that is trying to focus on the earlier stages. So we can start treating before the cancer advances and becomes incurable. And for that, we have to look not only at the treatment, but also at the diagnosis. And we have multiple examples of that in our portfolio. 

For example, in multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, that was one thought to be incurable, and now we are advancing life expectancy from around two to three years, to five to seven years, with many patients living more than 10 years. We have been innovating in this space of multiple myeloma for about 20 years, and our latest therapy, it's called health therapy, and utilizes your own immune system cells to attack the cancer. 

 We have other examples in solid tumors. For example, in lung cancer and in bladder cancer, which are highly prevalent, where we are developing industry-leading therapies that are going to clearly improve the standard of care. 

And alongside the science, we have technologies that are dramatically transforming the speed and delivery of innovation. For example, we are using AI to accelerate our small-molecule discovery programs. It's helping also us understanding better the drivers of disease, identifying novel targets, and also finally, more efficiently optimizing molecular design before they even enter into clinical trials.  

So yes, saying that we are going to advance more in this decade than in the last century is a bold statement, but I believe we have incredible advances with the combination of science and technology that are going to make this bold statement true. 

David K. Young: Johnson & Johnson is undoubtedly transforming health care with groundbreaking science and tech innovation, much of which you've alluded to. You are investing record amounts in both R&D and M&A, earning 27 approvals for its innovative medicines across major markets, and now launching 15 major medtech products just in the last year. 

And you have your site set on conquering some of the most challenging medical conditions, as you've explained, from curing cancer to preventing cardiovascular disease. How on earth does Johnson decide where to invest and when?  

Joaquin Duato: You are right. Innovation is the lifeblood of Johnson & Johnson. We are a leading investor in health care innovation. Last year, we invested $50 billion in research and development and in M&A, and we have more than 26,000 people working in R&D, in innovation, and in engineering. We have delivered 18 new medicines in the last decade and nearly a hundred new medical technologies introduced since 2018. No other company in the world has the reach and impact that Johnson & Johnson can have.  

So in terms of investment decisions, we look at a number of criteria. First is, is this an area in which we have internal expertise? We find that there's a correlation in which our internal expertise and our probability of success come together. The second one, is this a clear improvement on the current standard of care? We have to see that we are bringing transformational innovation. If it's not transformational, we should step back. And finally, we need to be able to also deliver value for health care professionals, for our investors, for all the people working in health care. 

So that's why we rely in our expertise, in our experts to analyze these opportunities and to make a judgment of which opportunities are going to have the higher probability of success, which opportunities are going to be able to really improve the standard of care. So where are we focused today? Because there's multiple areas of unmet medical need. We are focused in areas of high innovation and high growth. For example, oncology, immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular, vision, or robotic surgery. These are areas where we see incredible potential to deliver progress upon the standard of care and in which we have internally the depth of expertise that is needed to lead.  

David K. Young: Joaquin, AI, artificial intelligence, now has the potential to accelerate the pace of innovation across almost every industry. How is Johnson & Johnson advancing the latest technology, and how do you ensure that Johnson & Johnson and your 138,000 employees keep up with rapidly evolving tech advances?  

Joaquin Duato:Very important for a health care company, and I was CIO at J&J for a while. It is that technology here is not technology for the sake of technology, but technology with a purpose. It's about deploying technology in a way that accelerates our innovation and accelerates impact. I think it's important to note that it is our scientists, engineers, and the thousands of PhDs who work at Johnson & Johnson who are the primary source of innovation. Soit's about deploying the technology, deploying those tools in a way that amplifies and propels the work of our scientists. 

So when we are thinking about technology, the question that we ask ourselves is, will this improve outcomes for patients? Will this get a new medicine or a new device to patients faster? And yes, we are deploying AI and technology tools across our business in multiple ways. And yes, in many ways it's helping, it's amplifying, it’s turbocharging how we discover, develop, and deliver innovation. 

For example, in pharmaceuticals, we are using an AI-enabled platform to accelerate enrollment in our clinical studies. And we have seen that by using AI in selecting the right sites for our clinical studies, we can significantly accelerate enrollment. In medtech, we are embedding AI tools directly into our devices. For example, we are doing that in order to be able to map the heart in 3D with our electrophysiology systems.  

The question is, how do we ensure that all our employees, the 138,000 employees at Johnson & Johnson, are technology literate? It'svery important for us because we would expect that all our employees are experts in their domain, but they are also people that can use technology for their domain. In other words, that they are tech bilingual. They need to understand their area of expertise, but they need to understand also how technology is going to help them accelerate in their work.  

And in that, we're helping them. Learning and development. We recently launched an AI-powered learning platform designed to help employees acquire the skills needed to accelerate their careers and their understanding of the science and technology that is transforming our business and health care more broadly. We also host a global learning day, enabling our 138,000 employees to set aside an entire day to pursue learning opportunities that match their positions and career goals. 

David K. Young:We're now going to take a short break, and we'll be right back with more of my conversation with Joaquin Duato.  

Welcome back to C-Suite Perspectives. I'm David Young, the host of today's show. I'm the president of the Committee for Economic Development, the Public Policy Center of The Conference Board, and today delighted to be joined by Joaquin Duato, the Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson. Welcome back.  

In addition to supporting the growth of your employees, you empower the health care workforce overall. There'san anticipated shortfall of 11 million health care workers globally by 2030. Why is this shortfall such an area of concern, and how can the business and health care communities work to address it? 

Joaquin Duato:That's a great question, David. Innovation is only meaningful if it gets to patients, and in order for innovation to get to patients, we need health care workers. And you're right, we have a crisis. We have a shortage of health care workers at Johnson & Johnson. We are ready to address this global crisis in the number of health care workers. Our historical focus hasbeen on frontline health care workers. Every year, through partnerships and through programs, we support about a million health care workers, with a particular focus on nursing. 

So yes, that's an area in which we are committed to help. Community health care workers, nurses play a critical role in the delivery of health care, and Johnson & Johnson will always be there by their side in order to be able to address this important crisis. In short, resilient health care workers are the bridge between innovation and care. 

David K. Young: Joaquin, as we approach the end one, one final question for you. Access to life-saving health care is not guaranteed for many people that need it. What are some of the ways to ensure that people in underserved communities receive the treatments that they need?   

Joaquin Duato: You are right. By some estimates, there's more than half of the worldpopulation that lacks access to essential health services, and we support a range of initiatives at closing the gaps between communities and care. And as I mentioned earlier, we champion nurses and community health workers. And we also collaborate with governments, NGOs, and local community partners to strengthen health systems and improve access to medicines and technologies. 

We have strategies that help ensure our products reach the patients that need them, and that includes our access and pricing principles that help support broad access to our medicines. As an example, for more than a decade, Johnson & Johnson has ranked among the top five companies in the Access to Medicine Index. In 2024 alone, Johnson & Johnson provided more than $4.6 billion in product, including free products to patients facing affordability challenges through our Johnson & Johnson patient assistance programs. And we are also building community health capacity to meet people where they are. In the US, we support community health centers across the country where more than 32 million people get medical, dental, and mental health services. 

Ultimately, no one entity can solve this crisis alone, which is why Johnson & Johnson has a long history of collaboration and partnerships to do what we can to support access to care.  

David K. Young: Joaquin, thank you so much for sharing your insights, your reflections, and also, importantly, your own personal story. And thanks to all of you for listening to C-Suite Perspectives. I'm David Young, and this series has been brought to you by The Conference Board.