‘Courage, Integrity, Innovation’: Interview with Harness Therapeutics CEO Jan Thirkettle

Life Science leadership discussion with Simon Allsop and Jan Thirkettle, CEO of Harness Therapeutics

December 2024

SA: Hello I'm Simon Allsop. Welcome to today's CEO interview with Jan Thirkette. Jan is the CEO of Harness Therapeutics and a board member with Epilepsy GTX. Jan has enjoyed a highly distinguished career during which he has worked at the the forefront of emerging science. After 20 very successful years at GSK Jan spent six years at the Syncona based start-up gene therapy company Freeline Therapeutics as CEO and subsequently Chief Development Officer. Today in his full-time role Jan is navigating the eye of the storm in the biotech industry as CEO of the exciting early-stage neurodegeneration RNA biotech Harness Therapeutics. Jan welcome to the CEO series.

JT: Thank you Simon

SA: In our quest to uncover the secrets of successful leadership I like to go right back to the very start because I think we start learning about leadership from very early in our careers, so Jan can you remember your first boss?

JK: Without a doubt! It takes me back to 1997, my first job in Industry when I joined SmithKline Beecham. My first boss as a lady called Anna. When I look back I probably didn't realise how lucky I was to have such a fantastic boss as a first boss. Anna was informal, great fun and very passionate about her work but particularly very trusting and very empowering. That was really the most important thing that she was somebody who really trusted me to get on and do my job and to explore different things and take risks. When I look back that trust was so important.

SA: Fabulous! Listening to you Jan it reminds me of some of my early bosses and how caring and almost parental the relationships felt. That surprised me in a very positive way; very empowering experiences. Were there any other notable mentors early in your career?

JK: In my 20 plus years of GSK I was lucky to have some very good bosses. I remember three, all of whom were coincidentally called Ian (I don't know whether there's a link there on not!) but when I look at the common thread these were people that were hugely respected not just for the output they delivered but also particularly respected for their behaviours and the environment they created. The behaviours they expected of people were extremely clear. They were managers who reduced the noise around their teams and simplified things but also set very high standards about how people behaved and engaged with each other. Integrity and 'doing the right thing' was really the common thread across those three people, who all happened to be called Ian!

SA: So when did you first become a manager Jan?

JK: Fairly soon in my career; in about 2000. I remember it being really tough because whatever background you come from whether you come from a technical background or commercial or clinical background all of your training to that point is around the content and there is very little training you get about how to be a manager, how to be a leader and how to look after and develop people and so it was a very steep learning curve that's for sure.

SA: In hindsight do you think you made mistakes early on?

JK: Oh no doubt. I'm certainly aware of mistakes. The toughest piece I think in those early years was about tougher conversations with team members. It’s relatively easy to lead highly talented people who never put a foot wrong but it's harder when you need to address people’s weak points and development areas. The important skill of being a good leader is about being able to have those conversations and help steer people. Those are the things I probably found most difficult early in my career.

SA: Some of the people we've interviewed Jan in this series cite particularly challenging times in their career as the richest learning experiences. Are there any that you would point to?

JK: I think the most formative experiences for me have been when things have not gone well but also working with a good team through tough times. During my time in GSK one of my most formative and enjoyable periods was when I was leading a team responsible for CMC activities for what became GSK’s first monoclonal and it was a tough, long haul. It was ultimately successful but some of the most formative experiences were when things went wrong that were hard to fix and it came down to people holding their nerve and convincing very senior management to hold their nerve as well. I think that taught me a lot about resilience and that there's always a solution. Sometimes you just have to keep digging. It taught me the importance not of just individual resilience but the resilience of teams, teams who have each other's back, pull together and don't give up.

SA: I love that Jan. Do you think Jan that over the years you've evolved and changed as a leader and if so how?

JK: Definitely so. My early career roles were very project or goal driven so I was leading teams with a very defined goal. I was lucky to have team members who were all incredibly skilled, talented, nice people so I benefited from the organization having developed and put those people in place. Leading those teams was very goal driven and all about ensuring that those teams were effective. Later in my career my roles now are about actually building the organisation and growing those people and that requires a lot more focus on people and creating the organisation. Creating the skill sets and creating the culture rather than just delivering outcomes. This requires much more focus on the individuals and people as people and on the long term rather than the short term and that's been a very interesting and at times challenging journey but a really enjoyable one.

SA: I want to move on to your leadership philosophy and values. I want to ask you if you are building a leadership team as you have done in recent years is there a fundamental, intrinsic core value or characteristic that you would seek in people?

JK: Integrity and Leadership. Without integrity that you've got nothing as a leader. One of the most important things you are trying to achieve is to create certainty in an incredibly uncertain environment; certainty that something's going to happen. You are trying to create certainty for the team about their goals, about the culture, about expectations and that requires trust and none of that happens unless you have integrity. So integrity is right up there. Courage and innovation are the other two things I really look for. I think courage to take on difficult challenges in this industry. If you really want to make a difference you've got to be brave and do things that seem impossible and that require a real spark of innovation and the ability to look at things differently. So courage, integrity and innovation are my top three.

SA: What a great answer. I want to pick up on something you mentioned in that answer; has creating certainty for people been harder in recent times given the general uncertainty in the industry?

JK: Undoubtedly. One of the tough things about this industry is that we are doing something that's technically hugely difficult. We are building cutting edge science, progressing cutting edge programs and that task requires years. To get a drug to market, even once the science is clear, takes around ten years so we're trying to do something very difficult over a long period of time in an environment that is changing rapidly. The financial environment and those swings of sentiment affect people in everyday lives so actually creating certainty on a plan that requires 10 years is one of the tougher things to deal with as a leader in this industry. So far we have succeeded in retaining our key people and the core team at Harness and we are all hopeful the Milestones ahead are what everybody wants to see.

SA: Good luck with that Jan. We have followed the story right from day one and you definitely have a great team in place. Jan do you think that changing societal and market conditions change the way leaders have to act?

JK: I don't think it changes the way you have to act. I think for me people and team are at the centre of everything so my leadership is all about this. That's not just about what tasks individuals do. The value is in the bits in between; the grey space about how people interact with each other, how people's roles overlap with each other. For me that's the key differentiator between an amazing team versus an average team. Teams who really have each other's back and feel like a team will prevail. Today there are greater pulls on people and greater pressures on people outside of work. There are more agendas that you have to consider and I do think individuals in life today have to manage. This can make it harder to build really high performing teams where people are galvanized around a single goal. I think it is probably harder than it was 20 or 30 years ago just with greater complexity in society. It is not impossible and doesn't require any different behaviours it just means I think we have to work harder.

SA: That’s fascinating. Ok so before we wrap up Jan a few quick fire questions. Short, sharp questions for short sharp answers.  What's the best part of your job Jan?

JK: The variety

SA: Good answer! what's the biggest pain?

JK: It is very difficult in the UK for biotech companies to find the right facilities at the right times. As companies grow it is super tough. I know but that's a that's a bigger topic but that would be my first thought

SA: Is that what keeps you up at night Jan?

JK: Actually nothing keeps me up at night I'm happy to say

SA: That's good to hear! Can you name a leader from any walk of life or profession who you find inspiring?

JK: I've always hugely admired Ellen MacArthur. I'm a passionate sailor and Ellen MacArthur is somebody who did incredible things in sailing but it wasn't just because of that. She is somebody who didn't come from background of privilege. It was a mixture of graft and determination that saw her succeed. She is someone who is actually very deliberate about finding the best people to learn from. So she has achieved great things and has actually gone on to do some very, very worthy things, giving back through her charitable work. So integrity, determination self-development, coachability and giving back to me are great values.

SA: Final question Jan; if you take yourself back roughly 10 years, or for any executive stepping into a CEO role for the first time what's your best bit of advice?

JK: I think trusting your instinct is is probably the most important thing. Trusting your instinct and doing what feels right

SA: Brilliant. Crystal clear. Jan what a great interview. As I expected through working with you over the years there's a very clear philosophy that underpins how you and your teams work. It is obvious working with your teams that integrity and doing the right thing are important. Also it has always struck me there's a calm, thoughtfulness about your leadership. It was so interesting to be able to ask these questions and listen to you today and I'm sure all our readers will be fascinated too so thank you very, very much for you time Jan. We wish you the best of luck with Harness Therapeutics and every venture you are involved in with.

JK: Thank you Simon