Page 208 - HBR's 10 Must Reads 20180 - The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review

THE EDISON OF MEDICINE

and Mark Levin, of Third Rock—as friends, and means it. (Langer,
McGuire, and their two daughters vacationed together last year in
Bordeaux, and Langer’s daughter was in the wedding of McGuire’s.)
The investment in his network pays valuable dividends in the form
of productive research collaborations, referrals of extraordinary stu-
dents to his lab, and manpower for the start-ups. Langer not only paves
the way for lab members to launch start-ups but also taps his network
if a need at one emerges down the road. “Bob often has a great idea
of somebody who would be a great fit,” says Amy Schulman, the CEO
or executive chair of three companies that grew out of Langer Lab.
“And people often reach out to Bob when they’re thinking of chang-
ing jobs, because he is incredibly discreet and knows a lot of oppor-
tunities. So it goes both ways.”

When people who have worked with Bob Langer talk about him, one
hears a common refrain: He is an integral part of his research-to-
product model and a brilliant individual who can’t be replicated.
But this doesn’t mean that his model, including his “Mr. Nice Guy”
leadership style, can’t be replicated. What if corporations structured
their labs like his? What if they nurtured deep expertise in a hand-
ful of areas so that customers would come to them with their most
pressing problems? What if they enticed superstar researchers by of-
fering opportunities to work on issues that could change the world?
“Maybe companies could set up a research operation where the
best of the best are flowing through, trying to do something auda-
cious in a few years rather than spending 30 years there worrying
about their next promotion,” Gary Pisano says. His Harvard col-
league Willy Shih adds that such an approach would not only allow
companies to tackle more-ambitious projects but also help them kill
mediocre or poor projects faster. “The flow of people through the lab
would have the natural consequence of sunsetting ideas that don’t
stand the test of a fresh look,” he points out.
Bob Langer says, “I want to address problems that can change the
world and make it a better place. That’s the thread throughout the
science I’ve done my whole life. The companies I’ve helped found

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