Gilead wanted to move beyond a set of separate talent processes and leadership programmes towards a more connected system — one capable of supporting a more agile, inclusive and enterprise-minded organisation. The challenge was to link the talent required by the business with how people were identified, developed, deployed and supported through increasingly complex leadership roles.
MJA worked with Gilead to help shape that wider architecture. Business context, workforce needs, talent acquisition, engagement, development and succession were brought into one storyline. Principles such as taking an enterprise view of talent, developing leaders for today, preparing people for critical roles, creating equitable acceleration pathways and building the capability of leaders to develop other leaders gave the system a common direction.
A levelled leadership framework connected this talent logic to the transitions people actually experience: from individual contributor to people leader, leader of leaders and global or enterprise leader. Development was considered across three phases — performing effectively in the current role, expanding capacity to achieve more in that role, and preparing selected talent for a move into work of greater scope and complexity. Horizontal capabilities were combined with vertical development so that people built practical skill while also increasing their capacity for ambiguity, interdependence and change.
The architecture was made useful through a series of tangible products. The Executive Transition Guide helped newly appointed leaders take charge of the first 90 days through four connected moves: Attune, Acclimate, Accelerate and Adapt. It prompted leaders to understand the challenge they were entering, decode the culture and context, build relationships inside and beyond their team, reflect on their own impact and turn those insights into a practical transition plan. The guide also clarified the part played by the hiring manager, peers, stakeholders and the wider organisation.
The Enterprise Leadership Experience created a deeper pathway for senior leaders. Leadership 360 feedback and individual debriefs were combined with immersive experiences, facilitated peer groups, team debriefs, masterclasses, self-directed learning and an ongoing community. Participants worked on their own assumptions and leadership impact, but were expected to take the learning back into their teams and apply it to Gilead’s real strategic and cultural challenges.
Gilead’s Leadership Commitments provided a common behavioural language across the system. Practical discussion and action-planning guides helped teams move beyond simply knowing the commitments to examining how trust, inclusion, transparency, delegation, accountability and speaking up appeared in everyday work. The focus was on observable shifts in behaviour and on the conversations leaders needed to have with their teams.
Measurement and feedback were treated as part of development rather than an end-of-programme exercise. Leadership 360 data aligned assessment with the Commitments and helped identify shared development priorities such as strategic perspective, powerful communication, relationships, enterprise collaboration and adaptability. Coaching, peer support and repeat practice then helped translate those insights into sustained development.
Together, these elements created a practical talent and leadership system rather than a catalogue of interventions. Frameworks gave the work coherence; transition and development products made it usable; assessment generated insight; and teams, managers and peer communities carried development back into the organisation. The result was a shift from event-based leadership development towards an experience that was more continuous, social and grounded in the work leaders were there to do.