Dr. Teddy Scott co-founded PharmaCann in 2015, acting on an opportunity that presented itself at the right time. With his background in law, pharmaceutical research and entrepreneurship, he grew the company quickly to over 275 full-time employees and recently sold the business for $682 million, making it one of the largest medical cannabis sales in US history. Dr. Scott discovered that culture, people, and the way they work together are the most important assets a company can have.
5 Big Takeaways:
- When the opportunity arose, he was the right person in the right place at the right time.
- If you don’t have a company culture, it doesn’t matter how great your strategy is.
- Being a leader is about setting the ground rules that allow people to work together well.
- It doesn’t matter how talented or qualified an employee is, if his values do not fit with your organization’s values, you are going to have problems.
- Surround yourself with a diverse team, with people that think differently and have different life experiences as you do, since the best decisions lie somewhere in the middle – between what you think is right and what others think is right.
Dr. Teddy’s biggest screwup? A lack of appreciation of company culture and of needing to be a leader for everybody in the organization, and not just your core team.
