Lessons learned in running help instill a spirit of success for top chemical company
Liam Condon knows what the long haul is like and how to plan for the road ahead. Condon, head of the crop science division of German life science giant Bayer AG, has run the Beijing marathon twice, and the spirit of long-distance running garnered over 25 years has helped the Mandarin-speaking executive to set the pace at work.
Condon hails from Ireland and is a Bayer veteran who can break into a number of foreign languages with consummate ease. Apart from English, he can speak German, Gaelic, French, Japanese and Mandarin, and has risen through the ranks over the past 10 years of his career at the company.
During the interview at a student lab at Bayer's headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, Condon showed an amiable and natural, down-to-earth attitude and was sharply turned out in a dark suit and purple tie.
"It takes a long time to train for marathons, with many tough times. If you have a clear picture of the goal, you keep going, no matter what happens. Agriculture is a long-term industry and often it takes 10 years to develop a product. Even if we have a lot of quarterly financial pressures, we think about the long term," said Condon, who is also a member of the board of management at Bayer AG.
The article transsshipment from China Daily