In 1996, Udit Batra received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University. 24 years later, he heads a MilliporeSigma, $7.5 billion global life sciences company with a catalog of some 300,000 items used by life sciences researchers and developers throughout the world.
In 1996, Udit Batra received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University. 24 years later, he heads a MilliporeSigma, a $7.5 billion global life sciences company with a catalog of some 300,000 items used by life sciences researchers and developers throughout the world.
“I wasn’t even 20 when I arrived at Princeton, so it was a time of growing up in many, many ways,” he recalled during Princeton’s gradFUTURES forum April 30. While he loved the campus and running with the crew team along the towpath – an area he still runs during visits – it was the people surrounding him that mattered most.
“I was surrounded by incredible people,” he said. Fellow students were among the best in the nation. Then, there was his Ph.D. advisor, William Russel. “He pushed us to learn things at a very fundamental level.”
From Princeton to MilliporeSigma
From Princeton, Batra’s career took him to Merck USA as a research engineer, then to McKinsey & Co. as a consultant, and then to Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and MilliporeSigma.
“Faculty members from my student days will tell you, I’m not one who planned anything out,” Batra laughed. His career path was contextual.
For example, “If you are successful in the lab, your group grows and you become an administrator. I didn’t like it that much. I talked to a friend, who mentioned the business world. So, I registered for (evening) finance and accounting classes at Wharton and began to understand how my work in the lab influenced business.”
Curious to learn more, he joined McKinsey. That incited interest in even more things, which led to jobs at Johnson & Johnson and, later, Novartis.
While developing strategies for Novartis he had the opportunity to become CEO of Novartis Australia. He learned what that entailed and moved his family there. In just 14 months, he increased sales by more than 35% before returning to Boston.
The take-home message, he said, is to understand the context and have the humility to learn. “Be curious and do a good job, and other (good) things will happen.”
All his experiences prepared him to lead MilliporeSigma. He’s producing the type of tools he used in the lab.
“I understand how they’re used and have a natural understanding of our customers,” he said.
Never Become Complacent
Knowing when to move on is important. “Never become complacent.” For Batra, that means finding challenges and continually learning. “When I cease being challenged, it’s time to move on. If you do that, your career will progress automatically.”
There’s a caveat, though. “Associate with mentors who always challenge and teach you.”
When a Google survey listed the top eight skills of innovative people, the top seven were soft skills. But, Batra said, “I disagree. If technical skills are warranted, you’d better know them. Competence matters most.” That’s as true in business as in science. “People who speak in long, jargon-filled sentences usually don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Batra said that hit home when he was a teaching assistant. “The ability to simplify complex concepts is the task of a leader. Therefore, train yourself in writing and good communications. They are critical. Explain things so they are understood, memorable and impactful,” not just to the Ph.D.s in the audience but to everyone.
Strategies to Support Innovation
MilliporeSigma is known as an innovator, and Batra’s management style has a lot to do with that. It may be described best as “hire good people and let them do their jobs.” As he explained, “If you create common understandings, priorities and insights emerge – especially if you’re surrounded with good people. So, select good people and don’t micromanage them.” There’s also a good deal of luck involved, he admitted. After that, “Self-awareness and empathy (also) are important.”
“Innovation means making insight useful. You get insights by studying the situation and the facts, and looking for tangential ideas and observations that are not consistent with the theories,” Batra said.
For example, he recalled, “Toward the end of my Ph.D., Prof. Russel had a rule that grad students doing experimental work had to have a theory.” He chose an analytic problem that involved “the most difficult math. Physically, I could describe it, but mathematically…I struggled for two to three months with it. I was stuck.
“While sitting at Hoagie Haven, an assistant professor walked in and we started talking. At one point she asked, ‘What happens if you did the reciprocal of that function?’ I tried it, and it worked.”
So, the second aspect of getting insight is to include multiple disciplines. “Bring diverse disciplines together, and there’s magic.”
Then, to execute on the insight, “create a clear, concise problem statement before you start. Develop a regimented process to develop the product, and conduct a lot of experiments.”
Academia vs. Enterprise?
Graduates considering their future often think they must choose between academia and industry. “Don’t think of anything as binary,” Batra advised. “There are many chances to left or go right.
Regardless of the path, “Invest in your competencies. Take the courses you’re supposed to take, and pay attention! There are no shortcuts. Never let anxiety get in the way of developing your competencies.”
Developing technical expertise is paramount to career success, but so is developing the whole person.
“Grad school is a chance to get to know yourself. I took up running and meditation then, and they have stayed with me throughout my life. During this time in your life, you have the flexibility of managing your own schedule, so use it to grow your self-awareness – including compassion and empathy. Those two things are critical in your career, but they are useless if you’re not competent.”
