“We Needed More Skilled Talent to Save Lives” | How Bristol Myers Squibb Used Skills Data to Solve a Life-or-Death Talent Shortage
The TechWolf PodcastShow Notes
In this in-person episode of The TechWolf Podcast, we sit down with Ben Wein, Director of Workforce Skills Enablement at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), live from the Flanders House in New York City. Ben shares the inside story of how one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies is becoming a skills-based organization—starting with a business-critical talent shortage in cell therapy manufacturing. He explains how BMS uses skills data to drive faster hiring, smarter workforce planning, and ultimately, patient impact. 💡 Final Takeaway: In pharma, solving the right talent problem isn’t a nice-to-have—it can literally save lives. Skills data is how BMS gets there. Ben shares: ✔ Why time-to-fill became a life-or-death metric at BMS ✔ How skills helped solve a manufacturing talent crisis in cell therapy ✔ What not to focus on in your first year of becoming skill-based ✔ Why AI and task-level data will define the next wave of skills strategy ✔ What pharma gets right about workforce planning—and what others can learn
Time stamps:
00:00 – Welcome & Introduction of Ben Wein (Bristol Myers Squibb) 01:11 – The cultural traits powering skills strategy: Trust & transparency 02:33 – Timeline: How long BMS has been on the skills journey 03:15 – What is a skills-based organization? Ben’s definition 04:30 – Why now? AI, business urgency & talent shortages 06:40 – Cell therapy as a high-stakes use case for skills 07:53 – Skills data in pharma: Planning 5–10 years ahead 09:18 – BMS’s starting point: Talent acquisition and internal mobility 11:42 – Skills data quality: “From zero to one” and evolving governance 13:37 – Managing expectations with the business 15:18 – Speaking two languages: Business vs. HR 16:23 – How the BMS skills team is structured and evolving 18:34 – Internal mobility as the first North Star use case 20:35 – Roles, tasks, and skills: Why jobs still matter 23:56 – Still cracking the model: Tasks and the future of work 25:10 – Change management: The real skills transformation hurdle 28:44 – What’s next? Planning for AI & the future of the pharma workforce 31:02 – Where Ben goes to learn: Peers, forums, and building internal trust 33:11 – Ben’s question for the next guest
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